Cutting up and shipping a steel yacht??!!

[pathfinder_05]

Guys,

I need help here.

I am moving from Spain to Chile. I have a car, loads of personal belongings and a 30ft steel Van de Stadt.

I want to put the lot in a 40 ft shipping container. I need your input as to how to cut up and then rebuild a steel yacht. What tools do I need to hire to do the cutting? The re-build will be done by a boat yard in southern Chile. How many pieces to cut it into and along what lines?

If you think I'm crazy then please don't tell me in the replies... I already know! I just need some good solid advice. Also, I do have a decent engineering background.

Attached is a picture of the boat (I think).

I look forward to your ideas.

DB

[lazeyjack]

well yes you may not be crazy, but the idea is
container width 8 feet? you would need to split the boat lengthwise then cut the keel and house off, and believe me you will destroy that nice wee boat
have you priced sending deck cargo?
But hey if you are bent on the idea, remove all the wood, wiring and anything that will burn, and hire a man who can use oxy acetylene and go for it, , sorry I think maybe the crazy fits:))

[RHP]

I didnt realise you couldnt buy a yacht in Chile?

[eponodyne]

Why don't you do it like a real man would and sail the boat to Chile on your own?

[masalai]

Don't they have cars and roads in Chile? and good carpenters to build furniture? I think you are too tied to possessions which are not really used.... Sell everything and have fun buying and fitting out for a leaner and more involved lifestyle instead of hording old memories "in case I might want to use it one day...." Too much clutter is bad for the soul/Karma/ability to enjoy life and what happens to be available... You cannot take it with you when you die... so live to enjoy your life does not mean hoard all possessions "in case"....

[TollyWally]

Fill the 30' metal shipping container you have that looks like a boat. Keep the tools and the means to make a livelihood, sell the rest.

[Jimbo1490]

This concept is possibly more wacky than disassembling a car and shipping it UPS across the country and then reassembling it in your garage instead of either driving the thing to the new home or just selling and re-acquiring. Unfathomable that you would think this idea has merit.

Jimbo

[welder/fitter]

If there is any other way of handling this...

Could you build a cradle & ship it over? Engineer or not, the challenge of reassembling it and having it "fair" seems almost insurmountable, and the hours of disassembly would be onorous. If no other choice, perhaps someone like Wynand will be able to make suggestions for disassembly, as he builds these designs. Honestly, and with all due respect, I wouldn't do it.

[BHOFM]

It would seem to me that if this task was completed,
and later on the boat was to be sold and was surveyed
and they saw what had been done, the boat would have
the value of the salvage metal.

I don't see that the boat would ever be right???

[masalai]

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23940&page=19

[Wynand N]

Sell the car and most belongings that's not very dear to you - load the rest on the boat and set the sails for Chile. Stop at the Bermuda's, have a cold beer and carry on to the big apple.
Visit Broadway, see a show and sail on to Miami. Visit a few strip joints, sniff some cocaine catch an alligator and the set off to the Caribbean. Visit all the main islands on your way to the Panama canal, through it and into the biggest ocean on the globe. Turn left to Chile.... or if you have balls, take her around the horn from Panama.:cool:

Pathfinder, doing it this way will be a great adventure and what a sail, wish I have that opportunity.

Or just sell the boat and buy/build another in Chile.

[pathfinder_05]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for the 'input' so far. A few thing I should have mentioned when I wrote the post was......

I have two months till departure.

I have no money.

Cars and boats are very expensive in Chile.

It is more economical to take everything with me than it is to sell everything and start again...... do you think I'm some frickin newbie to 'life'? I might be to boats but not to travelling and living in Chile you ******.

I asked for constructive comments not a giant piss take.

I can't sail over due to many circumstances.

Anyway, thanks for bugger all.

DB

[masalai]

Ask a bloody stupid question. - You got answers that in honesty endeavoured to give serious advice. What you asked was soooo far out you may as well fly to the moon as a consequence of a good solid kick in your arse - which you justifiably deserve....

Shipping (assuming all was cut to pieces and stacked inside several containers) would cost more than all the other options presented.... and you would end up with container loads of scrap iron to sell.... Use what little brainpower you have left to advantage and think....

[pathfinder_05]

If a boat was put together in sections, as a metal boat is, then I assumed it could be taken apart and rebuilt in sections again, just larger ones.

There is enough knowledge in you forum users combined to be able to rebuild the Titanic but I obviously asked my question on a day when you all climbed out of the bed the wrong side or you didn't get laid the night before.

As I mentioned I have a decent engineering background so answers regarding problems to do with strength, extra weight or mis-alignment after the rebuild would have been what I was looking for.

It's people like you guys that hold the 'little guys' back, I put up with this **** in the army. Why not make your comments constructive so others can learn from them. The next time I have a serious question I think I might be better off visiting www.pathetic-answers-and-comments.com or www.shoot-the-newbie-down-in-flames.com

Stick your forum up your arse... you help no-one!

[Butch .H]

Can you not get some one to sail the boat to Chile for you.It may just be cheaper that way. Calc your cost of having some one sail her over and compare the cost of rebuilding her.I think the fact that she is such a good looking boat may well be the reason you are getting the advice you are.I assume this transfere came out of the blue.

Regards
Butch

[ACuttle]

Ignoring cost or surveying factors, if you wanted to chop a boat up then put it back together I'd have thought the best you could do is:
Work out the biggest possible units you could manage (with respect to structural elements). I'd have thought for a hull like that you'd want one big central section as wide as possible with two wing sections - though you'd have to be careful not to loose all your vertical structure (or replace it with something else). You'd have to look quiet carefully at the structure of the boat as it stand now before choosing the cutting lines.
Heightwise you might have a problem choosing where to split but you'd best go for somewhere you can easily access to re-weld when you come to put it back together.
Before cutting cross brace both sides of the area the cutting line would go through - this will help stopping any torsional forces built into the hull from twisting is out of shape.
Put on maker points at key hull areas including a fore to aft straight line of points. Also include marking points that should line up on cuts when you come to reassemble.
Cut with a stepped cut so that the parts meet back up when reassembling.
Ship and then reassamble, when rewelding cut back and replace with a new stepped section any severed internal structural components and replace them so that there isn't a single uniform welding line.

Well that you be my thoughts anyway.

[eponodyne]

you help no-one!Just because you didn't get the answers you were hoping to get--that doesn't mean no help was forthcoming. The overwhelming opinion of the community (some of whom have literally forgot more about boats than you will ever learn) is that your idea is bloody stupid. Instead of recognizing this as genuine help, you choose to get all in a huff.

So go take a **** in your hat. Then go **** straight off.

[Wynand N]

If a boat was put together in sections, as a metal boat is, then I assumed it could be taken apart and rebuilt in sections again, just larger ones.

Never assume, that is the mother of all Fu*kups...

Small boats are not build in sections, but formed by hand from a - z piece by piece. Some plates are forced into place before welding. And welding put a lot of stress into plates and as another member tried to explained to you, the hull will twist out of shape when you try to cut it to pieces - I for one believe stiffener braces will be of little use.
To give you an idea of the amount of welding that goes into a hull - I'm building a 43ft radius chine now and the hull only has 355 linear meters of welding on the OUTSIDE alone. Double that for the inside as well. Then add the welding to the stringers, frames etc and add the deck.....

If you manage to cut that nice boat into chucks and achieved the impossible by getting it together again, please post a photo of the finished product - we need a few laughs around here:D I believe the end result will be disastrous.

No one here tried to piss you off, but your outrageous suggestion mystified our minds a little and perhaps we are still from the old school. But then again, try to read between lines and see the humor intended and lighten up.

[RHP]

Life´s a box of chocolates and I would like to thank Pathfinder for cheering me up on what has been otherwise, a pretty shitty day.

Thanks mate and dont forget to take the glue.
Richard

[lazeyjack]

Life´s a box of chocolates and I would like to thank Pathfinder for cheering me up on what has been otherwise, a pretty shitty day.

Thanks mate and dont forget to take the glue.
Richard

hey Rich
do you ever sign RIP? :))

[lazeyjack]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for the 'input' so far. A few thing I should have mentioned when I wrote the post was......

I have two months till departure.

I have no money.

Cars and boats are very expensive in Chile.

It is more economical to take everything with me than it is to sell everything and start again...... do you think I'm some frickin newbie to 'life'? I might be to boats but not to travelling and living in Chile you ******.

I asked for constructive comments not a giant piss take.

I can't sail over due to many circumstances.

Anyway, thanks for bugger all.

DB
WE WERE ATUALLY doing you one big favour, one day you will see thsi, good luch, , , oh not quite sure how the spar was going into container, chop it up too:)) nah seriously good luck mate, one day you will have money, then like me you can lose it again:))

[Brent Swain]

I'm sure lots of cruisers would love to cruise to Chile from Spain just for the cruise if you give them lots of time to do it.
Brent

[RHP]

hey Rich
do you ever sign RIP? :))

No. :D

[Fanie]

Geeezzz, no wonder the guy has no money :D Put the thing in a container and ship it. You can always find someone else to blame if it gets out stuffed the other end. Worst case scenario you can have a big BBQ with the wood.

[Fanie]

do you think I'm some frickin newbie to 'life'? I might be to boats but not to travelling and living in Chile you ******.
If you are so 'experienced' in life why ask anyone ? Mmmm. new to boats eh. Good luck, it's almost the same as driving your car, just a slight bit different.

[FAST FRED]

IF you live near a port , go and talk to some of the ship captains.

Yours would not be the first to be hauled aboard , out of port and splashed outside a harbor , for you to sail in.

NO money wont work , but little may.

FF

[pathfinder_05]

Ok, ok........ I'm calling a ceasefire. My hands are in the air, I'm stepping away from the cutting equipment!

I had a bad few days and some of the comments rubbed me the wrong way.

I'm glad to have caused some humour in here....

I'm sorry to have annoyed some folk .......

I still have my head up my arse!

I bid you all farewell.

[Butch .H]

Good Luck to you I hope you get your boat over.

[lazeyjack]

dont give up!! for 5000 pounds I will cut it up very neatly for you, oh plus airfares:))

[Brent Swain]

You could sell her there , and build a boat in Chile for less hassle and expense
Brent

[Wynand N]

I still have my head up my arse!

then we advise you not to breath;)

[Arvy]

then we advise you not to breath;)

hahahahaha lol good and sound advice Wynand!

[welder/fitter]

Sure, you could weld in solid steel bulkheads to keep the shapes & cut alongside them. Of course, the sections would still be twisted & warped. Unless they're giving out magic wands to engineers these days, you'll still be left with a bunch of scrap metal. Being an engineer, if you have any experience with metals, you'd have already realized this. After reading your responses, however, I'm more inclined to think that you're a wanker, than an engineer. You ask the impossible... no money, unrealistic approach & intolerant/disrespectful of the suggestions made. I sincerely hope you do it. At least, someone in South America will have a good laugh!

[FAST FRED]

Many folks claim the hull is only 15% of the coat of a boat. How about disassembeling every thing , and simply building (or having built) a new hull ?

All the parts and pieces should fit into the box.

FF

[Arvy]

well, fast fred, I find that rather optimistic as it would still cost a lot of work to do.

Most interior parts are made to fit the hull, and hoping that 2 hulls are identical..

[masalai]

OooooWaaaah, some have difficulty in detecting a "gentle stirring" or are far too serious for a Sunday (Unless the sermon was particularly thought provoking and serious?)... hehehe

Then again listen to - was it Alfred E Newman who suggested "Thimk" - - remove bilge pumps radios and other removable items (NO mention of cutting some of the important bits out) the words were "Disassembeling every thing" - - - But I am sure not in all seriousness as I think the dummy has been spat....