Trader Explorer

Good day,

I am new to the forum.

We are a group with interests in East Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Among us there are ecologists, spice traders, wood traders, merchants and retired carpenters.

We are struggling with logistics (we can't get customers to an from important islands, can't pick up spices in remote areas and struggle to get reliable shipping even from large ports) and have decided to build/buy a boat to overcome our problem. I am writing this thread to work out if we are foolhardy/crazy to attempt it.

We have a lumber concession in Mozambique, so wood costs are very very low (Getting it out is a whole different number...). We are thinking of building a strip plank with veneer epoxy over it.

We want the vessel to carry 200 tons of cargo, 10 customer cabins and be very basic in design as to allow easy building.

On paper all of our numbers make sense, but one does not sail on paper.

I have seen a design with partial sail power. We wish to incorporate this into our design.

Any thoughts or ideas?

 

You should give an idea on what sort of conditions are to be encountered. Rivers, oceans, shallow draft, big waves, obstacles like rocks, logs, sandbars, strong currents, etc. Does the boat have to be fast, very maneuverable, self contained for long periods etc.

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/s-o-r-52163.html

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/generic-advice-new-boat-designs-designers-51424.html

 

Thanks Sam

Open ocean going. It need not be fast. I am thinking of a 800hp motor with supplementary sails.
I would love to see 10 knots. The longest single haul is about 1000 nautical miles, but mostly only coastal sailing. There are short crossings from Zanzibar to Comoros, Madagascar to Reunion and Madagascar to.South Africa. All of them maximum 500 nautical miles.

 

I forgot to say that the vessel will be calling normal deepwater ports.

 

A wooden commercial ship will be very hard to insure and get class approval from whatever flag you will register on. Without insurance, most ports won't let you operate.

 

Why ?. I see no reason for it. If the boat is well built, according to an approved project (with plans), in accordance with the rules of a CS and fees are paid, it shall be classified and registered.

 

Anyone that works with marine insurance knows that they look at wood with suspicion. Also, the rates are higher. Read the original post. They have a rough idea which they call a design. They want to modify that to include sails. Have you ever designed to class in wood? The Dennis Sullivan, Milwaukee's flagship, managed to get some exceptions by being classified as a historical ship. However, the amount of modifications required to make it legal, rendered it useless as a cargo ship.

 

The object of the exercise is to work out if one can build this vessel privately. We will have professional drawings and professional level woodworking equipment installed. The reason why we want to do this is because there is a market for this service but no obvious vessel suited to it.
I maybe need to add that most of the ports we call already have Dhows calling, and I doubt many of them have insurance. But it is good to know that we need to have insurance should we wish to expand our range.

 

When you mentioned deep water ports, I thought you were talking of large commercial ports. If you don't need to be certified by a class society or insured, it is much simpler. What is the difference between the design you have in mind and the Dhows? They seem to address your design requirements. Also, they are locally built, so they can be repaired and maintained economically. A wood/epoxy composite requires materials and expertise that won't be available in many places.

 

We currently source from Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Pemba, Nacala, Beira, Port Dauphine, Toamasina, Toliara, Reunion and Mauritius.

We want to have a well designed vessel optimized for our needs. With a dhow you get the impression there is guessing involved.

 

Check the "Fishing boats of the World no 3", ISBN 0 85238 043 7, published by the FAO organization. It has a good section on wooden designs for commercial operation.

Also contact the DNV; they had a working boat standard that covered wooden hulls and superstructures some time ago, and could Point you in the right direction.

 

Thank you!

 

There is clause in Classification society that ships built to ancient standards need not be classed (or something to that effect as the exact words is a little slow in coming). That means wooden ships need not be classed.