Sailboat hull around a steel shipping container

Search bourne boat building on youtube. Its on there but his website has gone.

 

Thanks mate, you have a good memory. Here is a link, but I'm sure there is more on this site about it.
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/bourne-method-boat-building-17840.html

 

Thank you Mr. Efficiency, for the information on The Bourne Method of Boat Building.

 

had your pills today.

 

shipping containers have 4 main pillars in each corner, thats the only real strength they have. These 4 pillars are very hefty and if you build a hulls around it they are located in areas you dont need strength in that direction or location. The steel walls of the container do a little work in shear to keep the 4 pillars in column but if loaded transversely they are also somewhat flexible so they could not be relied upon to provide stiffness in their own right for a boat hull.

creating a rounded traditional hull around a square container also means alot of wasted space - means you end up with a large boat without much space for its size.

All the extra framing etc to create the hull would cost almost the same as if you didnt have the container in there at all.

The total framing cost as a fraction of the total build cost is probably less than 5% of the total cost to build a sailing yacht. This whole idea wont save you any significant money, but it will cost you lots of useable space, result in a heavier than nessesary structure with poor sailing performance, and thus a poor resale value EVEN IF you can make it look half decent... sorry for the bad weather on parade day...

 

Well Mr. Groper;
(since I started to call everybody Mr.)
Thank you for your comment.
No problem about the bad weather on my parade day.
It is reasonable what you are saying about the strength of the container.
I will consider the 4 pillars.
The wasted space is not a problem for me, and I am not planning to sell it.
The poor sailing performance might be a problem, but that might mean
different thing to me than to you.
Thank you again,
Sincerely

 

To say that the "only real strength" in a shipping container is the corner pillars, strikes me as a significant exaggeration, it is commonplace to see such 40' containers on trucks and trains (not submarine trains) supported only at those corners, and with tens of tons of freight inside, without buckling or bending. None of which bears too much relation to the advisability of using one as a core element to a boat, the sense of which has yet to dawn on me.

 

I have met Mr Bourne at his farm, and made detailed inquiries about the method. Note that his website has been "offline" for years now.

The last project he undertook was a large yacht with a steel mesh shell, with the lining and interior supported by a thick layer of foam.

The foam was a low density insulation product, and he only used Polyester resin for the shell.

The obvious trap is the ingress of water over time through Polyester, and the absorbtion of water into the foam.

Also, he never got the engineering specs done to ensure that the foam and steel was sufficiently engineered. This would preclude getting insurance for a considerable investment of time and money by the builder.

Knowing how much weight that dense foam adds to small boats, it would seem more sensible to rely on the steel/glass structure alone, and be able to drain and pump any bilgewater rather than have it soak into foam.

Containers rely on the rails and the ribs for the support of the cargo. The curved shape of a boats hull and inside ribs and strakes is far more robust than container sides and rails -as the pressure is largely from the bottom , rather than on top.

Then there is the support of the tonnes of ballast to consider.

 

Obviously shipping containers are purpose-designed, and being nested into a boat hull as some sort of core element isn't what was in mind, they are not going to be any heavier than they need to be for the obvious reason they are deadweight and not cargo, but also need sufficient structural integrity to not fail in service. But the boat idea looks like a crock, which ever way you look at it. I suppose the OP could proceed with a hydrid incorporating the Bourne method, suggested name, Double Jeopardy.

 

Somewhere around here is a picture of a yacht up on the rocks by the name of Unsinkable II.

 

You could always use an old railroad boxcar, strong as all heck, halfway to the submarine train, or come to think of the weight, all the way to the submarine train.

 

Go somewhere else. I do not want your pills.

 

I think, I get it. You guys are all Australians. I am at the wrong place.
Good bye.

 

Australians are bad news, imo.

 

I thought we were friends. Come back.