Pocket cruisers

Guillermo,

Thanks for your remarks. I wonder when the EU will tax beam as well. Cat owners look out.

The Jetpac supports 150 kg of its 400kg weight hydrostatically, stern drives and outboards are trimmed in to provide hydrodynamic lift and hydraulic trim flats do the same. I believe you mentioned that the Jetpac is not considered to be an increase to the LH. On that basis, a flotation device that partially supports the weight of the outboard(s) and acts as a swim platform as well, should be exempt, especially if the device were bolted on rather than glassed in place.

How about a clipper bow that opens up and back like a RoRo ferry and rests on the foredeck? Difficult to engineer, I grant you, but it would give the law makers a difficulty. The Sealine SEC system that extends the cockpit by nearly 500mm, how is that rated? http://www.sealine.com/aboutus_innovation.aspx

The Chinese ships of the Ming period were crewed by many nationalities including Arabs, but probably not Nabateans

"As allies of the Romans the Nabataeans continued to flourish throughout the first century. Their power extended far into Arabia along the Red Sea to Yemen, and Petra remained a cosmopolitan marketplace, though its commerce was diminished by the rise of the Eastern trade-route from Myoshormus to Coptos on the Nile. Under the Pax Romana they lost their warlike and nomadic habits, and were a sober, acquisitive, orderly people, wholly intent on trade and agriculture.

They might have long been a bulwark between Rome and the wild hordes of the desert but for Trajan, who reduced Petra and broke up the Nabataean nationality as the short-lived Roman province of Arabia Petraea.

By the third century the Nabateans had stopped writing in Aramaic and begun writing in Greek instead, and by the fourth century they had converted to Christianity[4]. The new Arab invaders who soon pressed forward into their seats found the remnants of the Nabataeans transformed into peasants."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabateans

Best regards,

Pericles

 

For changing LH, the tax issue is a minor one, mainly psychological. In most cases, the amount of tax is rather small compared to the boat price.

More important is certification and insurance.

What would happen to a 5.90m boat (certified with the the simplified process), extended to 6.10m without recertification. And that boat capsizes with casualties. At 6.10m, you would need the complete certification process. The boat may not pass since it has not be designed for it.

6.0 m is an obvious limit not to cross, but there are a bunch of other limits where under a certain LH, one kind of (safety) equipment or certification process is considered satisfactory, but above, you need a beefier one.

 

fcfc
I agree with you: equipment is also something to take into consideration. About taxes: here in Spain if you go over 7,5 m you pay a 12% tax on the price of the boat, but not so under that. So quite a difference.

Perry,
I'm not able to find out the info on the Sealine SEC system at their web pages. Where is it?
On the Nabateans, have a look at:
http://nabataea.net/who1.html

 

The Sealine SEC system extends the cockpit by a metre or two. It was primarily introduced as a way of lowering marina fees. Personally, I wonder about the additional weight and complexity that such a system introduces. Then again, here in Oz, we don't pay 3000 euro's a month to park our boats!

Pericles - trimming in a sterndrive our outboard doesn't provide additional hydrodynamic lift - at least not directly, and not in the same way as trim tabs do. Instead it vectors the thrust. In the case of trimming in, it lifts the stern to some extent by vectoring that thrust downwards. Shaft drive boats, with angled shafts, do the same.

 

Will,

Vectored thrust. Yes, just like the F22A Raptor. Now that would be a really useful power plant for a motor cruiser.

Guillermo,

Is that 12% extra VAT or a special purchase tax on which you also have to pay VAT as well?

For Sealine SECS see here. http://images.google.co.uk/images?h...G=Google Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Regards,

Pericles

 

... yes - something I'd definitely like to see - with someone else at the wheel!

 

Displacement glider

The Alsphere site has a photo of on of their hulls. http://www.alsphere.at/dg/index.shtml

If the deepest part of the keel was fitted with lifting surfaces, hydrofoils or similar?? This could be a possible result. http://www.airchair.com/

Here is a video. http://www.videovat.com/videos/2103/hydrofoil-surfboard.aspx

On the subject of extending boat length in harbour, how about designing the aft cockpit like a drawbridge so that whilst at sea it is pulled vertically up against the aft cabin to prevent swamping in following seas and lowered on cables to the horizontal, like an eight feet long, full width bathing platform with bulwarks? Un Passerelle par excellence!

Guillermo,

Off topic, but thanks for the Nabatean link. Very interesting. I enjoy archeology and geography very much. Here are 3 of my favourite sites on science and living. http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/meta/neandertal_or_neanderthal.html

http://www.scienceblogs.com/loom/

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/ Especially see http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/cholesterol_myth_2.html

Regards,

Pericles

 

There is the beneteau Antares 980 with a "sliding" transom. Rear position, you have a big cockpit, but no swim platform. Front position : moderate cockpit + significant swim platform.

I have also seen on the web an "opening" transom. like ferry ramp. At sea, the transom is vertical and closes the cockpit. At mooring, it can be rotated aft, up to the level of the cockpit sole. Make a giant swim platform the full cockpit length + transom height.

 

You pay both, this tax and VAT.
Thanks for the link. Definitely I don't like how the thing looks.
Cheers.

 

Wow...!

 

Still off topic, Guillermo and Pericles, but I think we have to drink more red wine and olive oil

 

In the same glass?

Pericles

 

I have also seen on the web an "opening" transom. like ferry ramp. At sea, the transom is vertical and closes the cockpit. At mooring, it can be rotated aft, up to the level of the cockpit sole. Make a giant swim platform the full cockpit length + transom height.


AS designed by the pick up truck folks, circa 1920.

FAST FRED

 

Raggi,
I'm not displeased with the size of my portions of red wine and olive oil....

 

Extending Cockpit

On the Bray Yacht site http://www.brayyachtdesign.bc.ca/ there is a photo of a hoist for a RIB on Slideshow 1. It is similar to the hoist on skip trucks. If both the cockpit with the RIB sitting on or in it, were to be carried on the roof of the aft superstructure, arrival in port would be followed by lowering the cockpit and RIB into the water, floating off the RIB and mooring alongside and then lifting the cockpit into its location aft. Granted this is only possible with large craft.

Innovation, thy name is Complexity.

Pericles