Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Well she's been in the water. Just come back from launching our od16 and I have to say it was a great day! The boats been in the local marine shop for a day and a half having the motor and steering and electricals wired up. The owner allowed me to work with the crew fitting all the gear, this primarily done by the second year apprentice, who is 18 years old, blonde going by the name of Rosie (check my gallery)! She was fantastic and knew everything about the motor, electricals and set up, by the time she finishes her fourth and final year she will be an absolute wiz.
The boat ran well, Grant (marine shop owner) realy put the boat through her paces, made several adjustments to the motor settings and pronounced her ready except for some minor steering adjustments and a lot of work on the trailer to make retrievel easier.
The whole crew loved the boat by the way (despite my crappy paint job)
I have no technical details relating to speed etc other than to say she seemed to be just about flying at wot (running a new 30hp 2 stroke suzuki).
Again I dont know how to post pics direct to this thread but have some in my gallery of the launch, not great photos but wil post more when swmbo and I take the boat out tomorrow. I still have some fittings and other minor work to do to completely finish her, but right now I am over the moon. Thanks to all for their advice and suggestions over the last tweleve months

Richard

PS Ive started looking at other boat plans already, is this normal????

rcihard wrote:Ive started looking at other boat plans already, is this normal????

I think so...

Looking good:





Well done!

Beautiful boat. Unfortunately it sounds like you have been infected with BBV (boat building virus). It's becoming an epidemic around here.

Congratulations Richard! She looks great.

Here's the link to your album:

http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.php?album=491

Probably the best looking outboard mechanic I have ever seen

Nice job on the boat, looks good. Enjoy it

She is a beauty...


nice boat too.

Congratulations! Job well done.

Nice technician too! I got to get me one of those.

Fantastic.

Yeah, it's normal

Great job, she (the boat)looks great. PS Ive started looking at other boat plans already, is this normal???? [/quote] I hear there is a 12 step program for BBV

Nice job, there are quite a few sweet looking ODs around this month.

Thanks guys for the kind comments (or were you all talking about my mechanic?).
We did not get the chance to put the boat in the next day due to weather conditions and then I had to travel to Kalgoorlie (about 1000 kms from Albany) and spend the whole week there due to work commitments. Spent the whole week thinking about the boat (very frustrating and difficult when you you are lecturing to a bunch of students at the local college and all you can think about is your new boat!!)
I hope to take the boat out this weekend and get some better photos, but more importantly to test the adjustments I have made to the trailer because it was @+%$&^#@ difficult retrieving her last time. Has anyone got any suggestions? I have a brand new trailer with lateral skids and four center rollers (Trailer is designed for a flat bottomed boat) I have adjusted the skids so that the rear ends are slightly lower than the front, hopefully this will help bring the bottom evenly onto the trailer and stop the boat moving off centre.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards
Richard

With flat bottom boats, I always use side boards on the trailer to keep the boat centered. I usually just run the boat up on the trailer until it hits the stop. The side boards align the boat and keep it in center...

Thanks Larry, looks like the answer to the problem I will get some gear and start making additions. Much appreciated

Richard

Richard,

Also make sure that the boards supportting the hull extend out to or past the transom. If the boards end under the hull you run the risk of putting a hook in the hull at that pressure point. Post some pics of the boat on the trailer to show what you may need help with.

I went and had another look at your gallery and Larry is correct about putting side boards on your trailer. Not only will it help you load it straight it will keep you beautiful hull off of those galvanized fenders! One big mistake a lot of people make when loading a boat is to back the trailer in the water too deep. When you launch the boat next, make a mental note where the hull is barely floating off the back of the trailer. This is the deepest you want to back the trailer in when loading. Typically you can load with a bit less trailer in the water than you launch with. Hope that makes sense.

Tim

Thanks Tim, it all makes sense. I checked my boards and they are about 13 inches from the end of the boat, I will have to drill additional bolt holes to extend them to the transom. Do you think a foot overhang will cause me some problems?? Its raining at the moment but i will try to get out in between showers to get some pics.
Thanks for the feedback.
Cheers

Richard

No, too much board sticking out the back is not typically a problem. Maybe I read that wrong though and you mean that the boards stop 13 inches under the boat, forward of the transom. If that is the case then yes you need to get longer boards. Look at the front of the boards to see if you can move them back 15 inches or so. If the boat is touching the front of the boards less than 15 inches from the end then you would do good to replace them with longer boards so that they stick out both in front of and behind the boat. By in front of, I'm only talking about where the hull starts to sweep up. Again, I hope that makes sense.

Tim

Tim, my discription was a bit out of whack! I did mean I was short of the transom by 1 foot. I have adjusted my winch bar so that the boat now sits further up the trailer, but I suspect that I will need longer boards as they do not run forward far enough to reach the sweep of the sole, though the boat does sit on centre rollers for the length of the center stringer.
Larry I made up some side boards from ceder covered with scraps of carpet, took the boat out on Wednesday and retrieval was much much easier.
The boat ran very well and we had a great day, the longer we were on the water the bigger the grin on my face!! By the time we got back to the ramp I was amazed at the impact this build was having on me, an overwelming sense of achievement that I had not experienced during the whole build process!
There were about half a dozen people at the ramp all with fairly modern commercial boats and most of them came over to check out the dory!
It took five minutes to load the boat but about an hour before we left because of all the questions and compliments ( I would of stayed longer but my mate was in a hurry to get going and said that I would not be able to get in the car because my head was getting to big!!)
Anyway as I have said before thanks to all the members of this forum and the team at Bateau for the great advice and design, cant wait to start the next boat!

Richard

Sounds like you are enjoying the fruits of your labor Richard. Congrats!

The issue with the boards can be fixed in time, it is not an urgent item. Over time of sitting on the trailer and especially the ride to/from the ramp is when you might form a hook.

Enjoy your boat!
Tim

Have done a bit more work on the boat (in between the rain!!) Have added deck tread, I used international interdeck, polyurethane, like the brightside it takes an age to fully dry. You have to be careful not to apply too thick a coat.
Waiting for material for windscreen, and will look at fish finders next week.
Havn't had the boat back in the water due to poor weather. Southern tip of Australia gets really wet during winter (thank god for open fire places and single malt whiskey otherwise it would be really depressing!)
Considering a T Top or bimini, not to sure which way to go (though I did like evilds' t top.
Will update when the other bits are stuck on the boat
cheers

Richard
http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pos=-13621

The interior looks great! I really like how the tread is set off with the masked out areas. Excellent work!

If you fish much requiring a lot of casting, I find that a T-Top gets in the way on a boat of this size.

Congrats again, and I know what you mean about the rain. I've gotten over 5" at my house today. We have already gotten our yearly average of rain before July is up.

Tim

That interior really looks good It would look even better in my boat

Tim, Larry thanks for the comments. The longest part of the process was setting down the tape, after that I just brushed on the deck tread. It really works well, I put a can of beer on the gunwhale without the tread and it slipped right of the edge (I caught it - it was half full!) Then put the can on the tread, didnt move an inch!
Tim I do like fly casting, I have a five and an eight weight fly rig that I use for sight casting along the beach and plan to use them on the boat, so you do make a good point about the T Top. It will cut out at least half my target area from the casting deck. Will have to consider a fold down bimini maybe?
Still have to fit the shield and fish finder first before that.

Cheers

Richard

Just found Jacques instructions for posting photos in a message (while reading a post by Cracker Larry), so I thought I would try it.


Here goes
Richard

That worked well. Thanks Jacques for the instructions, very clear and very simple (which helps for non technicals like me!)
Richard

Again I'll say that is a great job! Is the console the one included with the plans or is that your own design?

Larry, I did change the design of the console. Mine is about 1 metre across the base ( approx 3') and 850mm across the top. It stands 800 high whichI think is 50mm shorter than the plans say. The front seat houses the batteries and again is not as deep or high as the original plans.
The consol width does not inhibit movement around to the pointy end, (there is about 320mm width between hull side and console at the deck level.) The top of the consol is 220mm wide on which I plan to position my fish finder and some other gadgets if swmbo will let me spend the money!!
I have a seat box behind the console which is 900 x 350 x 400 high divided into two compartments that hold 2 x 25 litre eskies (I think you guys call them coolers??)
I still have to paint some of the internals of the console, apart from that its just a matter of fitting gadgets (I have a 30mhz marine radio located inside the console).

I will post pictures when I have finished the internal painting (cant do it this week rain is forcast for next five days, so back to the fireplace and whiskey!)
Cheers
Richard

Very nice Thanks for the information on the console.

Your bow and side decks really came out great, also. I hope mine can look that professional

Wow! That's yet another very impressive OD16. Nice job!

Very nice Richard, its nice to see others consoles. The meter seems to leave you plenty of room, in the OD16. Like the colors, very classy.

Tom