Buoyancy calculations

I suggest strongly, before you get too far into this and have a lot of money sunk into it, you talk to this person at USCG HQ. po.l.chang@uscg.mil and take a look at Boatbuilder's Handbook https://www.uscgboating.org/regulations/boatbuilders-handbook.php. Besides learning the basics, like how much buoyancy the boat has (basically how much of a load it can safely carry) there may be regulations you have to comply with such as safe loading and built in flotation. Flats boats typically have difficult with these because of the nature of the design. Then again if this is basically a paddle board there may be nothing you have to comply with, but its better to find out ahead of time, rather than having to change a lot of stuff after you have built the boat. If you are going to sell or rent the boats, they will more than likely need a Hull Identification Number which means you have to get a Manufacturer ID Code from the Coast Guard. The e-mail address is on the same page as the handbook.(its free)

 

We actually did contact the Coast Guard very early on in the process and they were very helpful. They suggested that we take the boat to this point and get back in touch with them to determine how much and where we place floatation. That was the next thing on our agenda but I wanted to reach out to people on this forum because there seems to be a huge pool of knowledge to draw from on this site.

Thank you for the reminder about the Boat Builders Handbook. I bookmarked that site very early on as well and haven't been back to the site in quite some time. I will definitely take a look at that as well.

 

You might want to look at Boat Building Regulations | Safe Loading And Capacity https://newboatbuilders.com/pages/load.html It discuss safety loading and how to determine capacity

 

I will absolutely do that. Thank you so much for the guidance.