Interesting aluminum design

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Stutts, May 30, 2009.

  1. Ad Hoc
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    Ad Hoc Naval Architect

    Stuuts

    If you are considering a new boat and wish to avoid glass, what are the repair facilities like near you?..since if your preference is for an ally boat, but there is no one local to you that has the skills or knowledge to repair, when, something goes wrong...you may be kicking yourself for buying an ally boat when moored alongside all those glass repair yards....just a thought.
     
  2. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member

    [​IMG]

    No problems around here on the Gippsland lakes port regarding metal boats. Lots of metal work boats of alloy and steel. Fishing and servicing the offshore gasfield here. 2 large slipways [120 and 100 tonne]. Nobody building glass boats here that I know of, although any type of repairs etc. would be no problem.
     
  3. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member

    Just a bit of a heads-up regarding boat building and servicing in Australia. Due to our small population of 20m there is no glass cruising sailboats made here [or motor cruisers for that matter after the collapse of that crappy brand of cruisers on the Gold Coast in Queensland called 'Riviera'].

    All our glass sailboats are all imported and mostly European, whether monohulls or cats. Almost all of the boats built here are steel or alloy workboats. So there are good reasons to go metal, steel or alloy. I have an Adams 45 steel [built in Port Macquarie New South Wales] at the moment for good reasons, because any repairs I need can be done by experts at any port in Oz., Tasmania or NZ [anywhere in the world actually] which have been my main sailing areas.

    Sure glass can be repaired here too [and Tasmania and NZ] but there is no serious glass construction here except for small fishing boats and Hobie type cats. Ditto for Tasmania and NZ.

    I live in Paynesville on the Gippsland lakes which has the largest slipway [120 tonne] outside of Melboune and Western Port bay in Victoria. I also have a sheltered swing mooring I can see from my lounge room window.
     
  4. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    Did Northshore finally die?

    http://northshoreyachts.com.au/
     
  5. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member

    Since when were Northshores ever a serious cruising boat?
    Give me a break mate. As a cruiser they would be a piece of crap. Nice on the lake [300 square km] on our Tuesday race day, but I'd hate to sail one to NZ and hit a Tasman storm!
     
  6. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    I have cruised the 38 and the 46, they are fine. The 33's have gone a long way as well.

    But whatever you think, I'm sure its right!

    Have you ever been on a 46?
     
  7. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    The 38's in the 98 Hobart did well, even stood by and aided other boats. I have seen how they where made and its better than most of the mouths and bar room ******** artists in Australia would know!

    Name one that has failed at sea, I can't... I know of one that a goose rolled on the Southport Bar, I think he only bent the mast... from memory, anyway the boat came up good all things considered.

    Having sailed them extensively in all conditions I would be happy to take one to NZ, well ahead of most of the imports.
     
  8. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member

    There is stuff all of them sailing so big deal they haven't yet come to grief. Southport bar? Oh give me a break. I grew up on the Gold Coast in the 1950's. Only an idiot comes to grief there nowadays but many prawn trawlers did come to grief in the early days when it was then a nasty piece of shifting bar work. Countless times from when I was 14yrs old and up, I crossed that bar many times in a 12' tinne on fishing expeditions and also with Ben Cropp [shark happy] a friend of the old man.

    Bolted on keels and spade hung rudders do not make
    a good cruiser, except with luck on it's side. I'd rather go a
    design that doesn't require so much luck.
     
  9. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    That's personal choice, many of the "cruising designs" I have sailed can't claw their way to windward in a blow, there are lots of long keel dogs out there that are plain dangerous... they will not go uphill in a blow and all they want to do down hill is turn around and go the other way! In my experience the long keel dogma is just BS, the simple fact is a design is good or it is not (any keel), it is well built or it is not, end of story.

    The centreboard version of the 46' is a powerhouse to sail to windward in heavy air and tracks well downwind, nothing about it to dislike IMO. There is no luck in it, they are great sea boats! And seriously if you'd seen the way a 46's keel is put on I doubt you would have any qualms about it at all! You would have to do something totally devastating to knock it off... unlike certain Farr 38's which ironically have a better bar room reputation than Northshore... we just love to pee on success in this country, anyone else would be proud of what was a good line of boats for their day and our conditions.

    Seriously most people talk out of school about Northshore with very little real knowledge of the brand, for a production boat they where quite good indeed.
     
  10. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    Anyway moot point now, I'm not sure how good the current builder is... they where sold a while back... kinda surprised they are still there given the way the world is.

    Anywhooo we are Off TOPIC!

    Sorry guys... LOL
     
  11. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member

    Cruising boats and bolt on keels with spade hung rudders just ain't a good cruising design. Go on luck in this area and hard work for an auto-pilot.
     
  12. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    That's just not right! It all depends on the design, they can be very light on their pilots indeed! You have some really entrenched and unfounded biases there!

    Northshores are by and large skeg hung rudders, not sure about the latest designs I'd say they are spades, never looked.

    I can't think of a long keel design I would take as a cruising boat, the shoal draft, centreboard combo with a skeg would probably be preferable for me (design dependant) but I have sailed an Adams 13 extensively and sailed/trimmed correctly (i.e. if you can actually sail a boat properly!) they are a good boat and quite light on their tiller pilots! (Autohelm 2000 on this one) Only a two person cruiser really because they are a snake box but they get around nicely and make a good express cruiser. Now they are a love hate boat... but I have to say I never had a nasty moment with one.
     
  13. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member


    Centerboard version?
    Ok, a great cruising boat you say. Lets all bow down to centerboard cruising boats and the excessive bouncing around they involve. Cruisers? Not on your nelly. They are racers.
     
  14. Stutts
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    Stutts Junior Member

    Geez, what am I thinking. Go with what you like re Aust. boats. Sorry, not for me as far as cruisers go. No big argument as I haven't the experience with this and that boats. Love what you like. With the 45' Adams I have it has been through a force 9 gale going to NZ. no worries. Now I would like a cat because these boats have come a long way since the 60's and 70's and I'd like to sail the shallow waters here and elsewhere.
     

  15. Zed
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    Zed Senior Member

    With respect... you are wrong. CB's don't = bounce... the Adams 13 was always a fast cruiser in concept, never a racer, the CB is just that, a board, no weight, all the weight is in what you would call a long shallow moulded keel, not bolt on, not a fin, internal ballast, lead.... the CB is just to provide windward performance, just like the NS 46', also no weight in the CB. They work as shoal draft boats to a reasonable degree if you can't be arsed to drop the board. Anywhooo... A 45' Adams is not that dissimilar to a Northshore 46' scheel keel in shape under the water, a touch flatter and saving the construction details and that all depends who built the Adams how... which I have also sailed a bit (steel multi chine and a round bilge version) anyway so what...? I have taken a Farr 1020 through Force 9, what does that prove? They are also good little sea boats and well built by our Kiwi friends.

    You have no problem with cats but can't wear a NS46... give me a break! A NS46 will suffer a fool far more readily than a cat, I love cats... well some of them... agian it all depends on the design... well done they are great.... the only issue is that most of the owners and builders are dreamers with no decent experience... now taking condos to sea is silly!
     
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