Best Trawler plans?

[Skripo]

Hello, I am new to the forum and have done some searching here. I have just laid out $100 for the beautiful (to me anyway) TY 520 study plan. After a couple of searches I started to see some negative remarks about Bruce Roberts designs, plan quality, and support.

What other designers offer plans for a 50' or bigger trawler? Do they also have cutting files for the steel? Any help and pointers would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Skripo]

I have done some more searching and have come to some conclusions. There are a lot of virtual ships out there and I am not interested in buying plans or cutting files from anyone who does not have at least 1 real world counterpart. 3D renderings are nice but they are nothing compared to the real thing.

I saw some critical remarks about the Bruce Roberts' designs but I will say one thing, he sure has a lot (comparatively) of boats credited to his designs. The Anemone is a beautiful example.

[Gilbert]

The only negative thing I've heard from a yard who has built a Roberts 46 foot powerboat design is that the estimate of the hours to weld up a design are very... shall we say optimistic. When I saw it, it was not finished, but most of it was welded up, and I thought it looked like a very nice vessel. This was about six years ago and they said it looked like it was going to cost the owner about $480,000 US.

[Guest-3-12-09-9-21]

Being from the Northwest I have always loved the William Garden designed trawlers...I'm not sure if there are any steel ones or if there are only wooden ones. Here's a listing of a 56' design:

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/19...awler-93573427

[fcfc]

You probably know this : http://www.dieselducks.com/index.html

[FAST FRED]

Define what "best" means TO YOU.

FF

[Skripo]

sound design, completeness of the plan, extensive coverage of every aspect of the build, detailed and clear instructions, accuracy of cutting files.

[FAST FRED]

So Seaworthy , Seakindly , Range under power , internal room , offshore ability, ease of operation , steadyness at anchor , ability to repair , maintain , dink retrival and all that are covered under "sound Design"?

I would be looking for a boat that suits ALL the desirements of a sound offshore boat , that has all the compromises you chose to prefer , and then see how it gets built.

The boat design is far more important than weather its a quickie build .

FF

[Skripo]

Already asked and answered. Any one knows that those are the first ones to ask. Now back to my first question.....

[daiquiri]

Hello!

We have just finished building a Roberts' Euro 1200 here in Italy.
I have to say that boat plans and cutting files shipped by Roberts were really very accurate. The steel sheets, cut with water jet cutter, have layed into their place with an astounding precision.

I guess that the quality of the final work depends a lots about the precision of CNC cutting machines. If something goes wrong during that process, you will end up spending a lots of time trying to figure out what's going on with those damn sheets, grinding, shortening, filling gaps ecc.

Now, when it comes to customer support, I can't really say. We just kept working and resolving the inevitable small glitches ourselves... Also because I've changed a lots of the design features of the original boat (basicaly, only the hull form remained unchanged ), so the logic wants that by doing so we have voided every kind of warranty.

Now, the estimate of the hours needed. Roberts (and I guess the other designers also) will give you the project of the boat structure only. It means no furniture, no hydraulic, plumbing or electrical plans, just some hints on propulsion and that's all.
We have seen that, having the sheets cut out so precisely, the workflow has been very steady - the boat structure was ready (welded, sanded and primed) in 3 months.
It took us another 6 months to complete all the rest. And when I say "all the rest" - believe me, you can't even imagine how many things is that. and big part of them are as small as a fingernail.

Being this one our first boatbuilding enterprise, we have had to find (from the scratch) the solution for every single, sometimes really microscopic issue that would come up during the process.

The boat is in water now, she has allready made a maiden voyage of more than 2000 NM across the Adriatic sea and we are very satisfied with her. We still have to resolve some minor things, prevalently related to the top speed. the seakeeping is very good and the helm is very responsive (but that was part of our modifications).

In conclusion, in my opinion Bruce Roberts' plans are well done. But they stop at a certain point and from there on it's all up to your skills.

Good luck!

P.S.
You can see the slideshow of the finished boat here:
http://www.slide.com/r/AtDmlgoo7T9xe...t_embedded_url

[Tad]

On the original question...

Have you contacted Chuck Neville, Steve Seaton, or John Simpson? Also talk to Vripak (Dick Boon) in Holland.

Any of these guys will supply first class designs, superior in every way to a BR design. Also they will charge more for their service.

[KnottyBuoyz]

Patrick Bray, Thomas Colvin and Dave Gerr are a few others to look at in your search.

[Ausiwik]

Hi Skripo
You might try Jon Sayer, of Sayer designs. Hes a Kiwi designer based in Aus.
while is main line is very fast offshore race boats which he's beaut at, He also deigned fishing trawler's in NZ that were very efficient. I had him do my under water hull lines for most fuel efficiency and speed.
I figured if you can design a boat that will move on a breath of air you've got to know how to get the most from hull shape, power or sail.
I know hes got other trawler designs and supplies cutting files for aluminum production and custom boats.

<jon@sayerdesign.com>

Steve Marshall
here's the hull he designed for me
http://marshalldesign.blogspot.com

[Ausiwik]

And Hi Rick I'm still alive building carbon race car wings !!!!??? !!
Steve M

[KnottyBuoyz]

Originally Posted by Ausiwik

And Hi Rick I'm still alive building carbon race car wings !!!!??? !!
Steve M

Heya Steve. How' ya feelin'? Hope all is well. What kind of race cars? F1's? How's the progress on the trailer trawler? I was looking at the pics yesterday.