Hi! Greeting from Malaysia. I Want to build a Boat. Intro Here First ;)

Hi i'm Shafri from Malaysia, recently i have interest in building a boat of my own. Since i live at the edge of the sea, i want to explore more on the water side of the earth. A quick tour here, no specific intro thread i saw, so i create one here, i hope this is not a treason. While doing random googling, i stumbled here, and the interface is familiar to me, so i register in, but so far i'm clueless, i have no friend yet whatsoever, i hope somebody is kind enough to give me a treat. Hopefully, from time to time i will find something usefull for me here.

Since i'm a hobbiest photographer as well, sometime i'll go out to take pictures of our islands and to appreciate God's creation of nature. here i want to put some picture on among others, the community that we live in side by side... the "water people", we call them "palau". They feed and live on the boat (1st and 2nd picture). I have sis-in-law's husband who like to fish (3rd pic), but sadly i dont like to fish but sometime will follow him to enjoy the view and experience. We also got native boat builders (plenty of them) as in 4th and 5th pic, they dont need any calculation to build, just by the tips of their axe and drips of their sweat. I have family and frens who own a boat, from small to a big "lorry diesel engine" boat, but i dont own one yet, thats why i'm here, learn to build a boat.

I'm sorry if this is too long or load of pictures, this is my first post, so i hope i can explain my background as much as i can, relating to boating. Among other thing, i'm a teacher, teaching kids, i was a mechanical engineering student, currently got interested in electronics, and now i want to relate all the things i know into "boating in the sea" ...

 

As far as the building of my boat is concerned, what i currently have is an unoptimized design (plan) that i'm assuming to be ok, but i think not. which i got from googling the net. i only drawn it on generic 3D modeling software, not a specialized boat design software, i downloaded Free!ship and still get familiar with it, i'm not sure whether its any good or not.

I'm planning for a boat around 15-20' length that can fit 5-10 person (family boat), at first i designed a smaller 15' boat, but my fren said its not enough even for like 5 people in it. so i rescale and design another 20' boat. i'm planning 2 very small inboard engines (13-16HP each) since this is 3X more economic and faster than outboard engine. my fren said, a 13HP inboard is equivalent speed as 40HP outboard, and the inboard is 3X less fuel consumption, i'd rather to trust him, since he is an experienced boater.

my reference boat is something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007...691QQitemZ140470744721QQptZPowerQ5fMotorboats and as in pictures below.
luxurious look, cushion seats, high quality steering system, and i will add some more spec... the plan is to make the boat out of fiberglass, custom made backyard, but it will not be done atleast for this 4-12 months considering i have other work to do, learning the process of building a boat, and i know... the cost is not that cheap!

as an addition, i will add some fancy stuffs, that i have never heard before or found in the net:

1) gyro stabilized system (something like SeaKeeper's)
2) auto cruise system (navigation automated control using compass sensor)
3) pitch and yaw control in case of tidal wave disturbance, high speed etc. i'm not sure what they are called.
4) remote control driving

i know, when i mention navigation, it will pop out as GPS. but sadly GPS system is not well established yet in my place, so i have to rule that out. just for a hobby and a venture for the new possibility, i want to build the most sophisticated boat control system ever made in my place! think i'm going to dream? i'm not sure! who knows?

so i hope there will be help here, links to usefull info etc. and i'm not a serious conservative type of guy. i enjoy jokes, tease, flirt etc, and even some nasty words so if you think want to throw your nasty words? i will be glad to catch that

 

Shafri,

Hi mate, nice to meet you. The first thing that you need to look into is the desired practical use of the vessel. You have already stated that you wish it to have a VERY large load carrying capacity (5 to 10 people in a small boat is VERY large), but unfortunately the design that you have chosen is designed for speed, and can carry some load, but not anywhere near 10 people at speed (as is the design of this boat). Also the hp proposed will not move the boat very fast at all (as is the design) because it will be insufficient. Your mate that says the inboard can move better than the outboard is referring to displacement boats, the usual type of boat in your area, and also the best design for your proposed use.

A displacement boat is in the water, not on the water. It weighs the same as the amount of water that it displaces, hence the name.

I have spent many days in your waters, and find that the local designed boats are exceptionally well made for the purpose and the hull shapes have been refined over the years to be very effective and of course ornamental to the liking of the local people, so my advice would be to learn their art of design and construction, it is already in front of you. Fibreglass high speed boats of course have their place, the design you have above is totally unsuitable for your stated requirements so far.....

.....rethink the purpose and requirements of the boat that you feel you want...write down all the parameters that you can think of and ask again what sort of boat would fulfill my requirements....we may all be able to help you achieve your goals.

Ta, John

 

Hi John, thanx for your reply. I want to make the boat as small and as light as possible so i can use smaller engine at decent speed. The 5-10 person load is not that important requirement if it can hinder my original purpose which is lighter, speed and economic fuel consumption. So i have to find the balance, but my problem is the knowledge, i dont have necessary knowledge to do that, so i'm still clueless and just doing a random design. Maybe my spec is not clear enough, so maybe i should state the primary purpose then...

Main purpose: A boat that can be driven by a total of 32HP engine(s) at 20knots (50km/h) when 2-3 person inboard.

as my mate is concerned, he has a 17" plywood boat using just single 13HP inboard and according to him is very fast (designed for speed), i'm yet to see and ride his actual boat. But his boat will be my reference boat in term of speed and performance. Pls noticed above that i'm planning to use double powered engined as i mentioned (26-32HP) compared to his boat 13hp only, so i'm planning double the size/weight/load of his boat including the fancy accessories such as cushion seats etc that will increase the weight (but improve appearance and comfort). But for the appearance, my reference is as pictures provided above.

I also have googled a bit on displacement and planning hull. Having a mechanical engineering knowledge at my back, i believe that will help me alot in the process, but finding an optimized design for marine vehicle is something different and has its own art i think. As John has mentioned, our local native may have tuned the boat to its best from years of experience, i agree i have to do my own local reserach on it, but i expect more... something that local didnt know, something like more proper designing and engineering method. a sound and proven method, so i will not waste my time and money to keep designing and building over and over again.

I'm glad if somebody can give me some useful links for me to read, in the mean time i will be lurking and walking around all over the place here in boatdesign.net looking for information as i saw there are thousands of threads here. Thanx again

 

Westlawn had a competion last year for a very nice little planing boat using minimal hp, try their site for more info, you can read their excellent newsletters.

You will NOT get 20 knots from a deep V design using the hp you suggest with 2 to 3 people.

 

from the google i've made. 2x 13HP engine for 15-18 footer might be irrational due to my stupidity. And i've seen my friend's boat and now i know why he said his can do faster with only 13HP, its a 15 footer, but.... only 2 feet wide far from enough for me! mine is 5-6' width. So i'm moving my eye into diesel engine around 50-100++ HP. will have to look around the engines junkyard later

 

Hi, I am Julia from USA just join this community need your welcome hope that i ll gain so much from here


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Power is the same regardless of where it comes from. Your friend is categorically wrong saying that an inboard's horsepower is more than and outboard's. At your level of knowledge it will be better to buy a standard plan or get one of the free ones. Another possibility is to find a local builder that will let you do some of the work and save money. The fact that he has the place and tools set up will make it worth your while.

 

Hi Shafri, maybe this thread might help shed some light on getting started ?
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/open-discussion/dummies-guide-boating-stuff-33407.html

Best of luck ..

 

thanx vulkyn and gonzo for the advice.

in the mean time i already/just moved to my new house, and at the back area is still alot of tall grass where i will plan to build my boat. gotta clear it up first, organize back my stuffs, manage for comfortable working area etc. and i also got 2 nonworking generators from my father, i can see each unit got worth of 800W 2 stroke small engine (i dont know how to translate it to HP, i'll figure it out) and built in alternator/charger.

i will try to salvage it, characterize it using my available knowledge. since i got advice to build smaller boat on my another thread, so i think these 2 small engine will fit in, beside from its main reason that i got it for free. i know maybe its not going to be a fast engine, not effective, easily rusted since its not designed for salt water environment etc. there are lot more aspect to take care and figure out. learning is in progress.

 

Would be a good idea to visit web sites who have a wide range of plans like beatue and glen-l for starters (links in my previous post) it will definitely give you ideas.

Starting with smaller boats is always sound advice if you are new (like me) should help make mistakes less costly and any failure wount put you off boats ...

 

Shafri,

The small two stroke engines will be useless in a boat, they are only 1hp, but need high revs to get there, and very little torque...do not waste time with them for this use.....

Go down to the rivers and see what others locally are using, one would expect that they have done their homework over the years and worked out the best for the area...it will be at least a good place to start.

 

aye aye captain!

 

800Watts are about 1.1HP. Maybe enough to move a dinghy.

 

Where in Malaysia are you?