First time boat-builder

[timplett]

Hi

I'm completely new at this, so any advice would be helpful.

My plan is to build a small boat, 10' long, roughly 5' beam. It will seat two people, and will have a 40 HP outboard (I can get one cheap) to begin, and possibly somethign larger later if needed. I have a rough design sketched out on paper that I would like to get drawn up and posted for advice at a later time (btw, is there a good free program for that, or should I just use Autocad, which I already have?). My plan was to frame the hull out of steel, probably roughly 3/8" steel rod or something comparable. The plan was to space these framing members every foot along the length of the hull. I will then cover the frame with a (roughly) 1" square chicken wire, or perhaps something a little heavier, to get closer to the actual shape of the boat. The plan is to then apply layers of fiberglass to either side of the chicken wire to form the final hull.

The main purpose of this boat is to be small, relatively easy to build (I'm very good with my hands, can weld, work with wood, etc.), and go fast as possible to be a heck of a lot of fun. What I want to know, is if my build method is good or if I should scrap the idea and do something different. If this method is functional, what kind of fiberglass will I need and how many layers? I am on a fairly tight budget, so I don't have the money to buy Kevlar or carbon, or 50 layers of FG or anything like that. The steel will be free, and engine will be cheap or free, so I would say roughly $250 would be the aim for fiberglass costs, but obviously cheaper is better. For calculation purposes, I think the hull surface are is roughly 5 sq. yds.

Thank you in advance for any help,

TIm Plett

[timplett]

Perhaps I am completely out to lunch when I say $250. My reasoning was 4 layers of FG alternating between 24 oz. woven roving and 1.5 oz matt (.: 2 layers of each) as I have read that alternating the woven roving and the matt makes for a strong laminate. I thought that a total of 4 layers would be strong enough, seeing as I figure the boat would weigh 800 lb. MAX w/ engine and passengers.

[frosh]

Tim, you are way off the track. Most of us would believe that you are not able to design any sort of boat, after reading your posting. Maybe you will get the idea if you read this thread. Please click on it and have a read. After that do some research on Google on fibreglass boat building methods. Maybe come back when you have a few mainstream ideas.
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13162

[lazeyjack]

your 40 is more than adaquate
your plan is way out of whack so far as to be nutty, I,m sorry but there is no easy way of explaining that what you propose is, in fact, nutty
go to careen, or a free programme, type in your parameters, and in a couple hours you will have a print out of the developed :chines" to cut from ply
you can get the sections also, make a temp frame from them and screw the ply to the temp frames, vee out the joints and then later glass over the lot
you will see free programmes here in software
best of luck !! really!

[lazeyjack]

oh and buy some very cheap ply and do a practice one first

[timplett]

Originally Posted by frosh

...Most of us would believe that you are not able to design any sort of boat, after reading your posting...Maybe come back when you have a few mainstream ideas.
http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13162

First of all, I would like to point out that you have no even seen the start of my design, which is still in progress, therefore you have absolutely no idea whether I can design a boat or not. Now perhaps you are a little skeptical, or downright condescending of the method I thought of to build it, skeptical is ok, but perhaps not being a jerk in your way of saying it would be nice.

Now as far as my rational argument for my idea, basically it would be a steel ribbed fiberglass hull. No, it is not mainstream. I never had any intention of making it mainstream. I have no intention of shelling out thousands and thousands of dollars to make fiberglass molds and start making $200 000 dollar yachts. The basic idea is 1) steel structural frame, 2) fiberglass shell. Details are to be worked out, but while this may not be conventional I don't think you can really claim that the idea is total crap.

Just for further reference, 1) I'm not way dumber than you, 2) Show respect and you'll get it.

Tim Plett

[lazeyjack]

i never said that i,m willing to help and even call you, with a life time of building, i actually can help, now please calm down, Stu

[timplett]

Sorry lazyjack, that was directed to frosh.

Tim Plett

[lazeyjack]

pm me I,ll help you

[timplett]

Thank you.

[frosh]

[quote=timplett]First of all, I would like to point out that you have no even seen the start of my design, which is still in progress, therefore you have absolutely no idea whether I can design a boat or not.

You are very much mistaken, I DO KNOW!

[SeaSpark]

Hoi Tim,

Just in case you did not contact Lazeyjack yet, there was a typo in the software name, it is Carene available for download here:

http://www.epoxy-resins.co.uk/Carene/caren.htm

I think the way you want to produce your boat will result in something that rusts very quickly. When the mesh starts to rust it will push apart the fibreglass layers this will minimize their strenght and couse leaks. You will be unable to paint the inner side of your frames if they start to rust. Producing a hull with a fair, smooth, surface this way seems highly unlikely to me.

For the beginning designer/boatbuilder the multy chine plans carene produces are very good. You can build your boat out of steel plate but using ply will make it much more light so faster and safer.

Jeroen

[timplett]

My idea was mainly based on the fact that I would have access to a bunch of free steel, so it seemed practical at the time, but I have seen that it probably was a bit of a foolish thought. I ended up using Free!Ship to make my design before any of these other programs were suggested. I found it fairly easy seeing as I have used AutoCad a fair bit, and it had its similarities. If there was someone willing to take a look at my design and tell me if it's good or bad I would really appreciate it. The design was an attempt at an equal balance of looks, my limited knowledge of boat design, and design cues taken from other designs and pictures of other boats, so it might not be that good, so I would appreciate a second opinion. I can export from Free!Ship in many different formats so whichever you need I will see if I can get it for you. The DXF file format I think would probably be the most common.

[SeaSpark]

Iges format can be imported by anyone seriously interested in boat design it is much better than DXF for exporting curved surfaces. You can also post the Freeship model as Freeship is free most designers have it if only next to their main design package.

[timplett]

Here's my boat design in Iges and Free!Ship format. The top "cover" is not necessarly going to be as shown, the design of the hull is the more important part. Any input would be great!

Thanks,

Tim Plett