James letter to Martin re Buc Buc

Martin,
 
The best way to judge the work of Andy Smith is to move off this forum site to http://www.wharram.eu/photos and study the photos of the boats he has built as a professional builder and above all the 65 foot Islander he is building at this moment.
 
Lets lay this ‘boc boc’ issue finally to rest. Anyone who would have contacted Andy or this office with concerns over buc buc would have been given an explanation. This forum is not the place to air allegations raised by people who obviously have their own reasons to pull down the reputation of one of our builders. It would turn into a public free-for-all; as you say this is NOT what the forum is for.
 
Razzle Dazzle - the boat with the alleged 'boc boc' infestation - was built between 1999 and 2001 by Andy Smith and a handful of Philippino workers, rather in the same set-up as Brian (kebang) is working under now.  
 
This boat was built BEFORE Andy set up his yard at the present location and became a franchised builder.
 
When the basic boat was built, the owners took over and spent another year working on extra bits for the boat before she was launched. After launching, she was hardly sailed, neglected some of the time, and left moored up a river, with planks running ashore. The general impression was that the owners didn’t really like the sailing life.
 
The 'boc boc' was discovered about 2 years after the boat left Andy’s hands, and under the circumstances it is not at all certain when or where this alleged buc buc (it is now thought to be termites) entered the plywood.
 
This boat has since been sold twice, every time at a higher price, so her state is nowhere near as bad as has been implied. The present owners have sailed the boat to Darwin (without it falling apart) and are making repairs. From what we have heard, they only found ‘termite’ damage in one tumble home panel and the dorade vent adjacent to this panel.
 
Andy has been aware of the Razzle Dazzle wood-borer problem since it was first discovered. As a result, his yard is extremely vigilant in checking for wood-borers. As preventative measures, Andy has built his boat building sheds out of steel with clean concrete floors, which are swept and vacuumed daily to prevent build-up of wood debris, in which borers and insects can breed. Plywood and timber is treated with insecticide on arrival at the yard and stored in closed steel containers. It is fumigated regularly while in storage.
Again see photos of Andy’s yard at http://www.wharram.eu/photos  
 
Martin, I groaned when I read the first part of you letter, the frustration of having so much positive material, of having so many new ideas, both in writing and design, the ongoing work in developing this new website, does evoke thoughts of “Sod it all”. We have our 63’ Spirit of Gaia, we are ocean sailors, “Let’s up anchor and sail away”.
 
James