A boat a motor and a trailer

Construction photos

Here are some photos of how the Julie Ann was built. I'll be the first to admit I know very little about boat building I had no plans just some rough drawings I'd made in a note book and a general idea of what I wanted, a boat that was easy and quick to build, stable in the water, unsinkable, most all material had to be available locally, safe with a lot of deck space, strong and cheap to build. I set my budget at $2,000 for the complete project boat motor and trailer. A lot of the planning was done and changed as she was built. My original plan was for a 16' boat but I settled for 12' at the waterline so I'd have enough room in the shop to work around I may add another 3' and another raised deck later. I decided on the twin hull design because I could have the bows much shorter I figured the tunnel between the hulls would help the boat go straight and would get more water to the prop in shallow water. She handled well on maiden voyage with electric power I had a 55# thrust trolling motor on the bow and 40# on the stern I also had the Briggs gas motor mounted. I'm going to add an aluminum skirt around the bottom of the railing before I venture on to the Mississippi.

Dave T
All comments questions and criticisms welcome

 

boat progress

Got a little more done on the boat, had to get ready for a family reunion so I didn't get to work on her much the last couple of weeks. Built battery trays and added some braces onto the transom. Started building the steering wheel system and ordered a steering cable should be here in a couple of days. Still have to work out throttle and shift assemblies and seats etc. Got my camper moved to a permanent spot in Buena Vista on the Mississippi and bought a golf cart to get around the camp ground hope to get up there this weekend it's 62 miles from my driveway to my camper but it sure beats hooking, unhooking and hauling the camper all the time.


Dave T

 

An interesting link here on setting up a prop on a boat.

"The Secrets of Boat Setup"

http://www.kencook.net/Setupart.html

 

boat progress

Got the steering connected and working, shift and throttle levers mounted and ordered shift and throttle cables from marineengine.com. Hope to have every thing working this week. I'll post pictures after I get them painted.

Dave T

 

boat progress

Got a little more done on the boat. Shift and throttle cables connected and hand controls for Trolling motor built and connected. Went to my camper for the weekend and went out on the Mississippi on a friends pontoon boat. I'm going to get a sonar GPS system for my boat and would like to see if anyone has any suggestions as to what is best and cheapest that will work? Bass Pro Shop has a 385ci model for $399.99.

 

boat progress

Here are some pics of my steering and shift system. Got battery covers made just have to wrap them with carpet make seats and aluminum skirt then she'll be ready for the Mississippi. I'm going to Buena Vista this weekend to install a satellite dish and build a deck for my camper hope to have the boat finished next week.

Dave T

 

hey dave i like that alot could u pm me some of your drawings and or measurments please

 

The Julie Ann on the Mississippi

Got the boat on the river she did better than I expected handled waves ok. The Briggs ran good but noisy. I could average about 4 mph upstream and up to 8 downstream it needs a bigger prop. I was planning on getting a prop and running the exhaust under water but a friend of mine made me an offer I can't refuse a 30 horse late model Suzuki outboard for free. I'm going to pick it up tonight. I'll sell the Briggs conversion with a spare 11 horse electric start Briggs motor for 500 bucks if anyone is interested you can call me at 319-462-3327 between 8AM and 2PM central time. Have to install more seats I plan on having her back on the river in 4 weeks.

 

boat progress

Got the 30 hp Suzuki mounted, had to raise the transom 5-1/2" it's a long shaft. Steering, shift and throttle connected have to pick up a new battery tonight and then I can find out how it runs. I repainted the housing and cut new stickers to make it look better. Hope to have her back on the Mississippi in three weeks. I have to get some white vynal material and make seats I found out black seats don't work they get so hot in the sun nobody can sit on them. Oh well life's a learning experience especially when it comes to homemade boats.


Dave T
" It's a lot easier to figure out how you should have done it after you do it than it is to figure out you should do it before you do it."

 

dave t it is looking very good i would love for some measurments on the toons and just basic lenth and width of boat and length and width and height of toons u made

 

timbecht

The toons or hulls are 5-1/2" high by 12' long both sides and center rail are just standard pine 1x6's the outside rail is sloped 1" in 5-1/2"s the front slope is 4-1/2"s in 36" for the bows, the inside 1x6's are vertical. They are each 32" wide with a 7" tunnel between them. The cross ties are 1x4's spaced 16" on center on the bottom and 24" on top the center rails are notched for these. Check the construction foto's and you can probably see how this was done. I hope this helps if you need more info just ask.

Dave T

 

Dave T,

Interesting little project. Do you have the weights? What does the trailer weigh, and what does the boat weigh? What is the towing capacity of your vehicle?

Thanks!

Eric

 

boat progress

Erich

The boat with all equipment and without passengers sets right at 4" in the water according to my displacement calculations she weighs 1000#. My estimate for the trailer would be 600#. The towing capacity for the Tahoe is rated 7500#. Someday I'll run her across a scale and see the what the actual total weight is. Have no problem towing she does fine running 70 with no sway and Tahoe hardly ever shifts out of overdrive.

Got the Suzuki running had to clean the carburetor it would only run at low speed now it runs great, can't wait to see what she'll do with 30 horse. I'm going to our campsite in North Buena Vista for the 4'th of July weekend but I'm not taking the boat it's too crazy on the river on Holidays. I'll work on seats and other small details when I get back.

 

boat progress

Got the boat back on the Mississippi. With the 30 horse Suzuki it worked real well. I could get 22 mph downstream and up to 20 against the current with me and my wife aboard. We had no problems with waves from big boats. The Suzuki brought the bow up good almost to full plane. I recovered the seats with white vinyl. The paint seems to be holding up real well I've been leaving the boat in the water for three days at a time and the only damage to the paint has been from my lack of experience docking, loading and unloading I definitely need a lot more practice. I'll touch up the paint and do a little repair on the trailer tonight. We'll be going back up next Sunday and staying till the next Sunday this will be a real good test on the paint as I plan on leaving her in the water all week. I'll be doing a lot of docking practice their wont be people around to laugh and maybe I'll get good at it. I need to re gear the steering but I probably wont have time this week I'm also going to try to find a heavier push pull cable for the steering I'm using a regular Throttle, shift cable now don't want it to break. I'll post some more pictures as soon as I get time.

Dave T

 

Fenders