16ft enclosed helm speedboat

Ok, here's what I'm looking for, but can't find. Hence I'm going to have to design something of my own and wondered what your collective opinion would be.

I need a small boat for fair weather coastal fishing/messing about for two men. It should be able to do 20 knots, have a maximum range of 100miles, should have an enclosed helm and navigator position and a small cockpit behind to fish out of.

I'd also like it to be a stitch and glue design overlayed with glass inside and out for lightness and ease of construction. And, due to my lack of garage space - it's got to be no more than 5 meters long. There's the bind!

I've made some modifications in CAD to www.boatplans.dk's 16ft speedboat, pushing the rear of the cockpit back toward the transom, adding an additional bulkhead and of course enclosing the helm. The cabin would be accessed by a concertina door with hatch above, allowing you to step inside and sit down into the seat to your left or right, a little like getting into a car. To ease this i may modify the floor of the boat to give a 4 inch drop in the floor at that point so when standing in the hatch you're lower down. Doing this would mean cutting the height of the two main back-bone runners running fore-aft under the floor. I would compensate for this by adding a third runner and either bolting plate aluminium to the two existing runners along the length of the modification or by encasing all three in glass and epoxy.

Pushing back the rear of the cockpit toward the engine well will weaken the transom, so I will reinforce this with additional members and of course all peices will be glassed.

I'd be very interested in what you guys think of this hull for the proposed use, and whether my adding the enclosure will cause issues that can't be overcome.

Here's the original design: http://www.boatplans.dk/pictures.asp?id=5
and here's a rough scetch of what i've got in mind: http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/11227/ppuser/25605

 

If you don't want to reinvent the wheel, perhaps this might be a starting point. I've always thought these had a certain jaunty flair. Good luck on your search, wherever itmay take you, don't forget to post a few pictures so we can share in your eventual success.

http://www.seaputter.com/index.htm

 

I did see that design actually. I like it but I wouldn't need an actual cabin, I'd never use the v-berth. I did wonder if I could use the hull though and build an enclosed helm into that though. Might be worth a shot. I've seen another one on the same site that used a helm position inside the cabin with a v berth that converts into the two seats. Bit too big for me unfortunatly.

 

LOL,
One man's v berth is another's catch all for things best kept from the weather or prying eyes. I'm sure the hardest part of your project is not the building but the designing. In the end, the Mark 2 version would be better than the Mark 1!

If it was me, I'd be mocking things up and faking it till it felt right. At greater expense, both time and money. As you search for designs, something will click.

 

The boat shown in the photo linked by Wally looks like it is just the ticket even if you want to change the cabin interior to suit. Ray Macke built a slightly lengthened version and has cruised thousands of miles in it.
http://egyptian.net/~raymacke/index.html

The original is 16' long and should satisfy all your needs.

 

Have a look at the range at www.platealloy.com. These are aluminium kitsets, but a set of ply construction details could be arranged. Let me know if your interested as an email straight to plate alloy will cause confusion.

 

jlparsons,

I cannot view your image, it says "image pending approval", so I don't really know your design concept. Nevertheless it seems the seaputter, which is apparently based on the Glen-L 16' Cabin Skiff, is a good boat for you. Is this basically what you're looking for?:



... or would you prefer something with a little more 'character':

 

Based on what I see in your pics, I think that you are trying to take an inshore/river boat and convert it to offshore use without taking into account some considerations that go with that type of operation such as high sides, positive freeboard and possibly much more.

If you do decide that you can build a larger boat then you have stated, I have details of a 5.5m modern styled centre console that will do these things. Construction is ply/glass as you have asked about. Contact me if you would like to know more.


Raw

 

Raw - this was what I was worried about, whether the hull I've played about with in CAD would be suitable for coastal use. I wouldn't be going out in anything but good weather, but with a planned 100 mile range I've got to be happy that it's not going to be unduly troubled by a bigger swell than I'd hoped for. On the other hand, it's a 16' boat - i know it's never going to be bluewater capable and would never be out of sight of land.

The designer's website states it is "Designed to comfortably carry up to four people, this boat is strong and stable in rough waters yet light enough to transport easily." Any opinions on this? I haven't yet played with the hull shape, only messed about with the accomodation to conclude that a 16 footer will give me the space I need. The hull depth of this boat is only 2'6'', and draft 10''.

Perhaps I might monkey about with the cabin skiff design and see if I can make that hull meet my accomodation requirements in CAD.

Hang on - just noticed on the designers site that the skiff hull depth is exactly the same. THought I'd edit that in.

 

One thing I've come to realise over the years is that speed boat/skier types have a very different opinion on what constitutes rough water than say fishermen and sailors....

I feel that you should be preferably looking at a watertight self draining deck (ie above the waterline) and reasonable freeboard to keep the water on the outside of the boat. The 5.5m boat I spoke of has a maximum depth of hull of around 1.4m (at bow) and a freeboard (at bow) of ~1.1m. Obviously, the sheer moves downward toward the stern.