Newbie Here. What's wrong...

F w i w . If i built a houseboat i would put a spud at each end for anchoring in shallows.

 

If your shantyboat had a smoother transition at the stern, as in an upward curvature to the bottom, it would offer less resistance. The bow could stay as it is without any real penalty.

 

What is a spud?

 

Thanks, Mr. Efficiency. I've seen some designs that have that curve.

 

Well, I was hoping the "Oleboynow" would do a little bit more then just declare Egress would "crab" around, which doesn't say much, except that he (or she) doesn't know much about steadying sails. It appears he said a bit too much and got himself booted from the forum or possibly elected to remove himself. Too bad, I was prepared to defend with Bolger like deftness,, lean, shallow, efficient power craft, especially those with a steadying sail (when necessary), but he seems to have eliminated himself instead.

Connie, it's not that I dislike shanty boats so much as dislike what they can't do. Many will talk and tell of fine passages, with few difficulties, but frankly (and again) this type of hull form (barges and similar) don't do much well except sit at a dock. They don't turn well, require more power to propel, they pound and slap unmercifully and generally act as what they are. Given you're looking for a cruiser, you're going to want something that can cruise, with reasonable efficiency, unless you don't care about fuel usage and are willing to place twice the HP outboard on it's butt than necessary with more refined shapes.

As to your drawing, well it looks 100% better than most of the folks coming here hoping to self design something. It's a very nice first attempt, but before it's all over, you'll have dozens of drawings and many more sets of changes and upgrades. Welcome to yacht design. Your initial SOR looks pretty good, though A/C can be a real issue in terms of power requirements on small craft. Everything else on your list is certainly doable, except the barge hull thing. Yep, it's fairly easy to build, but as I mentioned, not the best set of shapes to propel, steer or feed at the fuel pump. On the other hand, it does offer a shallow and large footprint to place your accommodations. I'd suggest you can have your cake and eat it too in this regard.

Drive down to the local marina and look around for flats boats the fishermen use to hunt bass with. The hull is shaped to get up a scoot, but the deck is all but square (rectangular really), to provide as much deck space as practical. You can do this with your boat, which does complicate the build some, but the reward is a hull that can take on rough waters occasionally, will steer and maneuver well, plus offer the wide footprint for accommodations, without killing you at the gas pump.

The reason Egress is narrow (seemingly) is to make her efficient underway and to control weight. Wide, fat and blunt objects don't push well through the water, requiring more power per pound and this is what efficiency is all about - available power per pound. I can push Egress around at about 10 MPH on a 20 HP outboard, while a similar area barge like hull will be lucky to see 6 MPH on a 30 HP outboard. This is because she's narrow for her length as this type of boat goes, so she distributes the water less as she's being pushed. The same is true of the other shapes used on her, such as her rocker. There are a lot of considerations when working out the shapes used in any particular hull. Egress was made long enough to bridge most wave trains she'll encounter, which softens the ride and improves efficiency.

Don't be confused with Oleboynow's comments. I'm not sure who or what he was, but he literally tried to compare Egress (my riverboat design) with an Etchell.



This is a fleet of Etchell's racing, so not really a very fair comparison, suggesting he spent too much time in the engine room breathing diesel fumes. I do dare anyone to compare any houseboat with my riverboat series (okay all but the 50' Belle, which is really a big two story house that floats). There are certainly better boats, but few that can play the role of cruiser and offer the accommodations of a houseboat, as well.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you want a cruiser, you should focus on a cruiser's hull form and maximize the accommodations they offer. If you're looking more for a snowbird retreat, with occasional day or weekend trips, you can back off the cruising hull priority a bit, picking up some accommodations volume, of course at the cost of some efficiency underway.

Wow, this thread is active and 'y'all are posting as I type. Connie, a spud is a post like thing, that get driven hard into the bottom to hold a boat in place, usually while it's working (driving piles, drilling, etc.). A spud could work, but your watt count is just going to make another big jump and unless it's quite powerful (the spuds), as the flow moves in and out, the boat will slap and pound pretty good.

 

"Drive down to the local marina and look around for flats boats the fishermen use to hunt bass with. The hull is shaped to get up a scoot, but the deck is all but square (rectangular really), to provide as much deck space as practical."

Is this the kind of hull you're talking about? http://www.marshallbergharbor.org/images/HOUSEBOAT_2.jpg

 

There's some sort of lock on that like Connie, can you fix it?

I've been playing with the smallest Riverboat I can get, while still having practical headroom an it not looking too boxy. I tried it at 20', but prefer the 22' on deck length to stretch out the cabin and boxiness.

It's not a very refined image, but you should get the idea of what I'm after. The raised pilothouse will make steering and see what's around easier, plus additional room for a V berth under the foredeck.



This is the boat shape I mentioned. You can see its deck area is essentially rectangular, but the hull isn't. This offers the footprint from lots of accommodations, yet the boat has a pointy end to improve fuel efficiency.

 

That trihull is certainly a lot better than a barge, though they also have a lot of drag associated with them (not especially efficient).

 

A spud is a hard point used to secure the boat to something. For instance, tugboats tie to barges called spud barges.

 

Spuds are great on muddy river bottoms. A lot of competition bass boats have 1 fitted on the transom. I think those have a small electric motor. You pull in to the shallows or river bank press the button and you are anchored . Not much use in rough water but i doubt you would be camping in rough conditions anyway.

 

The spud is the post that these barges have on each corner thats all.

 

I don't know what Oleboynow now posted but it got removed. Why was he so upset. Were we supposed to accept his word as gospel and not dare to contradict him.

 

That was the hard point I was referring to. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

 

I misread it. Sorry.