thai boat plans needed..

[thailandboy2004]

hi there..i am looking for some plans to build a homebuilt version of a thailand longboat..not the ones used in the famuos boat races, but the ones used for water taxi..does anyone know where or have a set of plans i can use from? also i have access to a local custom boat builder that is willing to do the project if i can find him some plans..he would make it useing the wood frame and then use composites for the skin..so this finished boat would more or less look like a modern thai water taxi i guess you could say...thanks and any help would be greatly appreciated...tom

[thailandboy2004]

here's a picture of a common thai long boat water taxi. i would really like to build on that is more like the third picture with the shorter version and faster...

[westlawn5554X]

look into tsunami and the boat donated maybe u will find the design u need... fiberglas only i think

[thailandboy2004]

sorry the third picture shows alittle of how the boat is constructed..here's the picture of the version i really want to build..

[brian eiland]

Welcome Thailandboy.
I see you are new to the forums. I might suggest you use the "search" function button with several different words and combinations. You will probably come up with some fair amount of discussions, photos, and gallery photos.,

[thailandboy2004]

o.k., i've looked and looked and changed all the words i can think of here and else where on the internet, but still can't find anything to help me with building my own boat...i know there are people here who have some cad or designing experiences with boats, so let me change my question now..first, i have never build a boat before, but have looked over alot of plans before and their construction methods..if i were to draw up some plans and build a small balsa model of what i want, could you help me in looking at them and giving me advise as to what needs to be changed or added from that before i build a full sized boat? keep in mind, i want a simple as possible construction, and keep it low as possible to cost for materials too..i know and have read that others are wanting to build a similiar type boat...i also want to post the plans here for others too free of cost..so with this in mind, i guess i'll be one if not the first outside of thailand to embark on this project....tom

[thailandboy2004]

also for those of you wondering why i am determined to build a thai style boat, let me tell you a little story..:
i was born in bangkok thailand in '74. my mother died shorly after i was bornand i never saw her face nor did i ever know my father, so i was placed in a foster home and later adopted by an american family. i arrived here in the states the day before i turned 5 years old. since then, i have lost all my thai language skills and heritage.(i was adopted by a family of german heritage). my family took me back to thailand when i was 12, '87. while there, i revisited my foster parents and while touring the town, we took at trip up the river. it was in a thai long boat water taxi..my second earliest memory of being in a boat..the first was way back while i was younger in thailand. later as i grow up and got into the love of boats and started to live around lakes an have owned a small motor boat, i have often dreamed of the thai river ride. this is why i want to build on for myself, kind of a way of bringing back alittle of my original heritage back into my life..althought i have not ever lived or had much to do with thailand since i left, i still have a big space in my heart for the love of thailand and wanting to bring some of it near me once again..i am deaf in one ear(something i have always had), so i doubt if i will ever learn to speak thai again or go back to live, so to fill alittle emptiness would be like a dream for me to build this thai style boat to use here in the states..i do not have alot of money, but i know i can build this boat myself if only i had the plans..i am very artistic, guess that runs in my thai blood, so i know i can do it..i have and am willing to put the time into it to get it done and be proud to show it off, and yes, a thailand flag would always be flown on it along with an american one...tom

[thailandboy2004]

i also forgot to mention this too, i have no way to hull around a large boat or store a boat large as a water taxi, so i want and will build a shorter version..
one more like this one..

[masalai]

Check with Frosty, but my suggestion is "you have a thumb? then use it as these designs are traditional and built that way"

Many fishing villages would have a local builder or know of one, but being USA side tough! do your own thing.

[Frosty]

Sawadee crap Thia boy.

I don't think you will ever find original plans. these things are made up by the eye of the builder. Ive spent may a month or two in boat yards when I am hauled out.

One day a big truck came and threw a **** load of wood on the floor. 2 days later 4 people came and sorted it stacked it and planed it. Totally covered from head to toe I wasnt aware that they were two couples. It wasnt obvious by they way they worked.

They laid a keel and then and old guy came and eyed up some ribs and left. 35 days later they had a 65 foot planing type boat . Not a plan or piece of paper in sight.

I would suggest you do the same. the only difference being some are canoe stern and some have flat transoms.

More interesting is the engine mounts that can be bought in most hard ware shops and fit any engine along with a gearbox adaptor for the thrust bearing.
The props are sooo cheap. The smallest they make is tiny, about 5 inch diameter and is only 1 us dollar machined taperd and keyed. ( Not a misprint one us dollar)

[thailandboy2004]

thanks frosty, i have kinda figured i'd have to probably make my own plans, or get someone to help me out with some custom computer aided plans.....tom

[thailandboy2004]

hey frosty, do you know of the proper name for the boat that is shown in post #4? tom

[Frosty]

Rua hang Yao, pronounced rooya hang yow is what the boat is. Quite simply its a long tailed boat.

[jaydee]

i did copy a hull drawing and made a set of plans from a old thai long boat a few years back, it was made from an old flat bottom long tail boat that a thai friend of mine had that was way past salvage point. i can put them into a 3d or 2d file if you want
Jaydee

[thailandboy2004]

frosty, don't mean to bug you again, but what is the name of this type of thai water taxi?