5.6 meter Plate alloy home design

[aussieav8r]

Here are some pictures of the boat I designed for my Father its all plate alloy is 5.6 meters has a 2.33 beam across the gunnell I desinged it after looking at a few different boats and not seeing what I wanted .
I used the old fashioned method of pen and paper then transposed it into CAD made a 3D model and lofted the panels down in 150mm increments.
I must say the cutting was a worry but a 7" Makita saw and a proper alloy blade made it really easy , it took 3 hours to plot out and draw the panels and another 2 hours cutting .
The material used is 4mm marine plate for the hull and sides and deck, 3 mm for the bulkheads 3mm for the stringers, 40X25 extrusion for the floor bearers, 4 mm for the transom and pod with a heavy 100X50 for the support in the pod, and 3mm checker plate for the floor.

SO farthe total amount of Plate used
4 5.5meterX1200X4mm plate sheets
1 1/2 3600X1200X3mm plate
2 3600X1200X3mm Checker plate floor
1 1200 X 2400 X3mm Checker plate floor
4 40 X 25 X 6.0 meter extrusions for floor bearers
1 25 X3.0 Dia X2.0 meters for the step through transom
I was very lucky to get some gunnell extrusion for the right price not yet installed
and internal combing extrusion not yet installed
Total time spent from receipt of sheet cutting marking and assembly to the pictures 52 hours , bear in mind I am designing as I go or it would have been heaps quicker, estimated time to complete with floor plate fitted and seal welded another 30 hours the install engine and fit off , we are using a 50HP Honda 4 Stroke that was also a bargain Ebay what a great place .

I will Add more info in the comming week Kind regards Tom
P/s I am an Engineer and 1ST class Sheetmetal worker so all the work has been done by hand by myself and the welding as well :D

[timothy22]

Nice work, all fair panels, good looking welds. Kinda big for it's length, what's it for? Seeing the 4mm bend like that makes me wonder if tha origami technique would work in alloy as well as steel.
http://www.freewebs.com/origamiboats/

[aussieav8r]

Yes wide for its size but in reality its only about 7" wider at the beam than most others , we wanted a real fishing boat that would give us room to move around the centre console, when I first looked at kits and buying plans it was always going to be a compromise, so I elected to give it a go and design a boat myself , thats the end result .
just for intrest sake the boat was built with no bulkheads, at all the Hull structure was just the flat plate pulled up and I could not imagine it being so easy , I took a look at a kit being built at a manufacturers and had trouble with the way they built it the construction was so difficult with chain blocks and all sorts of devices to pull the hull around , they made up a latice using the bulkheads and stringers , then tacking the hull plates in the centre pulled them upto the stringers and bulkheads, then added the transom then in cam blocks chains wedges all sorts to pull the front up .
I simply pulled the bow up on my own in around 15 mins by hand with 2 G clamps between my knees as I needed 1 hand to weld with .
I then made a simple Mast arrangement with 2 outriggers at the rear to clamp to the sheet using a common tie down strap just pulled the bow up and tacked the chine in place again about 15 mins in total , the easiest part was fitting the side plates I must admit I had help as 2 mates dropped in for a looksee and became my sheet holders the sides were wrapped and tacked in 10 mins for both.
I then added the transom bulkhead and applied a clamp to keep the hull shape , fitted the deck/gunnell that I later trimmed down 60mm as it looked to wide , and from my experience if it looks wrong it usually is , and then made up the bulkheads measured to fit the hull .
I am the sort of person who once I get an idea in my head I just do it normally I spend the time thinking and sketching bits and bobs , but once I start its full steam ahead.
As for the welding I managed to buy a Kempi Pulse Mig 3000 , using it with a 6 meter weld snake torch , very nice machine and when you know how to adjust it its even better.
I purchased the welder 18 months ago and never took it out of the box until I positioned the hullplates, I am an experienced Tig Mig and Arc welder and as my Nick Handle says AV8R I own an aviation company and designed and manufacture composite aircraft kitplanes I also was the test pilot . I will dig up the pics of the fabrication Jig and add them to the post .
Just thought that this might encourage some guys to have a go, its not rocket science gee Noah did it and he really did have monkee's helping him .
One important thing worth a mention if you are not sure ask questions, people are always willing to help, don't expect them to build it for you thats your job, if you have trouble putting butter on your toast then maybe its not for you.
I have a lot of experience in many aspects from building Hotrods, Bikes Aircraft, and Ski Boats just about anything including electronics, sure I have made some mistakes but if don't have a go you will never never know

Cheers Tommy

[drmiller100]

looks pretty nice!!!
how did you know where/how much to cut the bottom plates so they lined up as you worked up the bow??

[aussieav8r]

Hi Cutting the plates was pretty easy as I said in my earlier post, I drew up the boat and then layed the panels out flat this automatically gives the cut profile , I marked each panel out in 150mm or 6" increments , the dimension were then projected onto the flat sheet and a line made to link them all together , I then used the cut profile as a template for the opposite side , this worked so well that when I placed the hull plates down and started at the transom end with them lined up and just simply tacked the plates together working my way down the bow had to develope into the shape it was drawn to be , just like the segment of an orange, I was very impressed when the panels lined up with less than .25 or a mm considering I cut everything by hand using a power saw , I must be honest I did expect it to out but surprised myself even , I chose to build the chine in as part of the hull making the hull a 6 piece section instead of a 4 piece, what I meen by that is most boats are 2 hull plates and 2 side plates and the chine is added as either an angle or tube extrusion , I chose a harder method but it should work out stronger and although there are more parts there is one less weld needed down the length of the hull , so saves time and welding and distortion .

Thanks for the comments Tom

[ringoo83]

Could you show some photos for the fuel tank & soft hatch , if you have.

thanks

[aussieav8r]

I will be building the fuel tank next week I am just setting up the correct height for the motor , the fuel tank will be installed in the transom pod and only carry some 80 litres , this way I manage to keep everything airtight to the rear bulkhead under the floor , Been giving this a lot of thought so keep checking back , for what its worth the rear steps are complete , the hull plates have been trimmed down the keel is fitted off and the chines all welded and finished back , I did not want to paint the whole boat so decided to leave the chine unpainted, this meant cleaning the edges of the welds and then going back over any low cavity and building them up to give a nice clean finished look .

I will post more pics next week
Cheers Tommy

[kvstone]

Wow , it's cool

[drmiller100]

i really enjoy reading about this boat. please keep posting pictures!!!

thank you.

[orcaboatsaust]

hey way to go Tommy do us aussie sheetmetal workers proud.
nice shape and style. look forward to further pics .
check mine out www.orcaboats.com.au
Paul

[aussieav8r]

:p Well guys since my first post that was a month ago the boat is all going, it took a full three weeks from start to where it is now .
I have been told it just cannot be done well here's your proof ,
the boat rides nice and as I predicted the speed with a 50HP Honda was around 25 knots but thats with 3 120 KG guys on board and we managed to also carry an extra 200 litres of water , note to self : always seal around the engine mounting bolts lots of water can come in through them if you dont.

Well with that bit of a blunder off my back here's what we have done
I decided to fill the hull full of water from the bung hole with a hose and found the smallest pin hole in a weld in the transom that was really easy to fix and I must say that for all the welding involved not a bad effort.

The boat still need painting but the inside will be left in alloy as well as the transom area and gunnell , after taking it out on the water we have decided to leave the seating and use folding style seats that can be moved around anywhere for the moment, as you need to be standing to drive the boat ideally .
I am will be building the bait board and rocket launcher tommorrow and intend on going fishing on the weekend for some more trials, I will than build the anchor winch and shall post pictures of that as I go should be able to build a winch for under $200.00 I reckon

Enjoy the pictures Tommy

[timothy22]

Very nice, thanks for all the pics. Looking forward to the winch.

[northerncat]

so what weight did you end up with?
sean

[aussieav8r]

Well thats a good one , so far there is 225KG in 4mm plate another 26KG in extrusion and a further 90KG in floor plate
that rounds it up at 341KG + engine but I need to run it over a weigh bridge to be exact , will probably do that next week , I may find it heavier than I think , ah yes and add another 10KG for a roll of wire

[aussieav8r]

SO guys sorry for the lack of new pictures but we had our first sea trial on Saturday , left port at 5am and decided that since I was going out on the bay I may as well go fishing , what a difference the boat is now, I had put a set of fins on the engine cav plate , that was a bad move as all they did was slow the boat down, make the steering heavy and cause the prop to cavitate on turns, once removed it was a new boat up and planning easily, no cavitation in the turns just a nice thing , now I measured the craft from the bow sprite to the engine pod/ transom plate and its exactly 17 feet 9 inches, no wonder it looked like a big boat, remember that most of this was built out of my head as I went along.
the GPS said we were doing 28knots no bad for a 50hp Honda and so smooth with the fuel consumption of my old Aunt and a glass of port at a family get together,

The best thing was she layed at anchor very nice and the water was like a mill pond for at least 4 hours, the idea of the sea trial was to see what it would handle like in some weather , that was expected to be 20 knot winds and 2-3 foot waves, all arrived as predicted and the boat handled it easily, I even madeit a point of tracking 90 degrees to the waves to see whatthe roll would and well I am here writing about it .

The BAit board and rod holders went on at 1800 hrs on Friday and for waht its worth it even lost its virginity in the fishing as well , I caught 5 small Snapper, one 4 foot port jackson shark, 1 eagle ray, 3 banjo sharks,
I have fitted the Bimini and might just have to try it again this weekend as well .

Here a few pictures of the rod setup, sorry for the pics they were taken with my phone , great for making phone calls crap for photo's

Regards Tommy

[aussieav8r]

Well here's some more shots of the Boat taken with the bimini added , its a nice touch and was very easy to install, This is an off the shelf item Made here in Australia by Ocean South , the price was very reasonable at a little over $200.00 and all the fittings are great, one advantage is they also make a set of rod holders to go on the frame that can be added to later .

I am going off for another fishing trip tommorrow and Saturday
Please enjoy the pictures and add comments I wont mind either way

My Dad is all excited in getting his new boat and will take delivery after Easter when the holiday prices for the ferry to Tasmania tend to be a bit nicer to the wallett as a pensioner retiree its always about the money you just gotta laugh
I had an email today an enquiry from China to build a 40 meter ship so keep an eye out that could be the next project

Cheers Tommy

[aussieav8r]

Well after finally tweeking and fiddling I ran the boat over my mates weighbridge and thisis how it worked out
840KG on the trailer with full fuel and gear

Worked out the trailer is 185KG
Fuel is 90 KG
Gear and tackle another 20kg

this gave a total weight of boat and engine 545 KG
I am very happy with the outcome although the anchor winch is not fitted yet I guess perhaps another 20KG for that
All up the boat runs great averages 23knots thats smack in the middle of where I predicted with the 50HP honda , should see my dad very happy as being retired its always the dollar factor,
one thing I must say is that the Honda is so economical its incredible, I have had more that 10 outings and onlyused around $30.00 fuel
I am planning to build another boat another meter longer and about 150mm wider in the beam.
My Dads over to pick up his boat and will be taking it back home to Tasmania with him so I will need to build another for myself, it all worked out so well and I think I could do it even quicker next time around, without the 40 degree C summer days welding
+ I forgot how much fun local fishing can be

Cheers Tommy

[Kreso]

Very nice job Tommy !
I like it very much, thanks for everything you gave us in your post.
You said your boat goes average 23 knots, I assume with 85% max HP ?!
Could you tell me what displacement boat had on sea trial (while its speed was 23kn) and its draft.
Boat................455 kg
Honda BF50.........90kg
Fuel...................90kg
Gear and tackle....20kg
Persons...............?
Supplies..............?

Thanks

Kreso

[TollyWally]

What a fine project!