Building Firebugs

Mark Murrey and I have been building two Firebugs this year. I inquired about the plans in early March and we launched Mark's boat, #479 Mango Fandango, on October 25, 2002. It's the first Firebug completed in the USA. I'm still working on my boat. Hopefully, it will be the second 'Bug completed in the US.

The Firebug was designed by the late New Zealander John Spencer. A champion of light plywood boats, he designed and built Ragtime, which is still sailing on the west coast of the US. I discovered the Firebug while doing a web search on Spencer and got excited. Mark was game when I suggested a building project. We ordered the plans from Peter Tait, who handles them now. He has a great site on building and sailing the boat. The plans are accurate and complete and the boat goes together well. We wanted the boats to be nice, so we used Okoume BS1088 plywood, Douglas Fir and epoxy for building materials. Our building schedule was Tuesday and Thursday evenings. When it came time to rig the boats we had a choice of buying and fabricating pieces locally or ordering from Peter, who also handles rigging kits for the 'Bug. We ordered two kits. Having the stuff shipped from NZ, picking it up at Air Cargo and clearing it through Customs added an air of adventure and importance to a 2.4 meter boat. Importance or not, the rigging kit was a great deal and huge time saver. Mark had his boat painted professionally. It has 14 clear coats on top of the paint and looks fine, even after several hundred miles on top of the car and being out on the beach. This means the pressure is on when I finish my boat.

We launched Mark's boat down at Pawley's Island, SC. The first sail was in the channel on the back of the island. The boat sailed well and the handling was nippy. Big grins all around for this boat. A local who had worked at the old Beneteau plant told us he could "see the craftsmanship". Then we sailed the boat in the harbor area of Georgetown, SC. The next day we launched off the ocean side of Pawley's. Mark continued sailing the boat over the launch weekend.

The plan is to sail the boats on the local lakes and at the coast, plus go to the wooden boat shows in Beaufort and Wilmington, NC and in Georgetown, SC. And at some point, we'll have to let the kids have a go.

If you've got any questions about the boat, email or .

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