Dutch Barge long distance cruisers

Yes, it was a case of 4xP. and delusions of grandeur!

 

Benford Designs...

I have the Benford Catalogs, unfortunately the big problem is pretty much all the designs are what i consider extremely expensive for plans. I could not even approach the costs to order any of the plans. That is way out of my league cost wise, I would be more in the "ClarkCraft" or "Glen-L". range.

 

Benford design hulls vs motor barge

Jay gave me a copy of his catalog at the Annapolis boat show when he, Rubin and Jerry Trane were displaying the Florida Bay Coaster. We had several meaningful exchanges on the potential market for a small frieghter design cruising boat in the years before he actually did the design work. While his designs are top notch, they incorporate a lot of compound curves that are not conducive to amateur boat construction. A better representation might be the 25 foot stretched verson of Berkeley Eastman's 14 foot Candu-ez tug. It's the yellow one in the Berkeley_Engineering web site.(www.Berkeley_Engineering.com). That hull design and building method could be stretched easily for a motor barge hull and incorporates the round stern and tumble home transom with good instructions for the building of the boat Another canal cruising hull was designed by Tom MacNaughton and is worthwhile looking at although it departs from the traditional Dutch style barge appearance, and Tom doesn't state what the interior head room might be. You have to do some research to determine what design and construction medium is right for you.

 

I would like to discuss "AFFORDABLE" plans (less than $200. U.S.) for simple designs of motor barges made from steel ONLY.

 

Define "affordable"..?

 

"Affordable" steel barge and plans

I believe that the only affordable steel barge plans might be from designers such as Paul Fisher at Selway Fisher Designs who has a design for a 45 footer; however, I also believe that the price of the plans will greatly exceed $200. In building the barge itself, unless you are personally an experienced ship welder with MIG or TIG equipment, you are looking at a very long and expensive building process. Perhaps some of the steel barge builders can address this issue for you. Steel is definitely a good medium to build in if high quality steel and finishes are used. If you look back through this thread, you will find that there is good input from other folks regarding construction in steel.

 

Mate, the first steel supply even in the Phillipines will be far more than 200$ so, what are we talking here? Selway Fisher plans are unbelievable cheap. If that is too much or "unaffordable" the whole boat is!

 

My design/plans are not cheap...but they define all you need to construct. You only get what you pay for...

 

so steel for the QE2 build would be more than $200?

 

I just joined this forum and have followed the Dutch barge discussion.
I am in the process of purchasing a Dutch sailing barge and have been looking at them and reading about them for twenty years. I am wondering how to reach Rcardozo of Maryland who has posted on this forum. I had a deposit on a 72' Tjalk that was in St. Martin. He/she owns a 72' Tjalk in Maryland. Can anyone help?
FYI - If anyone would like to see one - there are a group of Dutch Sailing Barges in New York for the Henry Hudson 400th anniversary celebration for the entire month of September/09.! They are scheduled to be at the American Yacht Club in Rye New York right now, then at Hempstead Harbour in Glen Cove, Long Island on the 9/8/09, then on to the Atlantic Basin in Brooklyn on 9/9/09 before they will be on display at Governor's Island in Manhattan next Saturday 9/12/09. After that display they will travel up the Hudson River to Albany and back down to Manhattan before they are loaded onto a ship and sent back to Holland.

 

I live in "the Holland". Right opposite (literally 25 metres) a shipyard where they do nothing else than (re)build steel barges. So if anybody wants some pictures of how they are constructed, let me know.

This is the shipyard:



It should be noted that these ships lend themselves very well for building in parts. This is what is often done by the people operating these ships. E.g. they save up the money to buy a new foward section. When they have the money, they have the old section removed and have a new forward section built. Then they operate the boat again for a few years, saving up for a new aft section. After they have a new aft section, they save up for a new (often extended) mid section, etc. etc... There used to be a whole industry doing nothing else than just extending barges for a long time.

So maybe it is an option to have the sections build in a country where it's cheap to do so, have the sections shipped individually to wherever it's got to go, and connect them up there...

An original dutch barge will start at about 50.000 euro's up to anything like 250.000: http://watersport.marktplaats.nl/be...mpenaar-ideaal-om-woonschip-van-te-maken.html

 

This takes you directly to the site...http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/

 

Please post more photos! The idea of adding on as money is available is new to me. It would seem adding on middle sections would make the most sense as there would be no rebuilding of anything, just new sections added. I imagine additions are welded, but I suppose they could be bolted together. Anyway, please post more photos!

 

Here's a pic of a new 60m mid section for a barge (existing front and aft ship are rejoined later):



And this is one of the newly built ships of the last couple of years built by the yard (no she's not sinking ):



I'll have a look at the yard to see what's going on, this weekend or so... Are there any particular things you are interested in?

 

Do they ever work on the smaller canal barges that people live on?
What time is it there, should'nt you be sleeping?