Installing Services in the 26ft Sportfisherman

When building a boat there is a lot of effort that goes into parts of the boat that will be hidden and hopefully never seen again. Nevertheless, that hidden work has to be carefully planned and executed if there are not to be problems further into the project or, worse still, after the boat is launched.

Kevin Agee is in that stage of his 26ft Sportfisherman build. It would feel good to lay the deck and see what would seem to be another big step forward. But that would be jumping the gun. Before that can be done all of the hardware under the deck must be installed. That includes fuel, water and waste tanks, piping, valves, skin fittings, pumps, bilge blowers and the solvent-glued PVC ducting to carry hoses, electrics and engine controls.

Looking forward from the transom. PVC ducting to carry hoses, electrical cables and engine controls, installed through bulkheads and girders. The platform at the front end of the compartment in the foreground is for the batteries. The fuel tank will go into the next compartment forward and the water and waste tanks will be forward of that. The ducts that turn up against the hull sides will carry fuel filler, vent pipes and wash-down piping.

Looking aft from the front of the cockpit. The water and waste tanks are in the foreground. The next compartment is for the fuel tank. These tank compartments have plywood bottom panels, with voids beneath that form a tunnel for bilge water to run aft to the bilge pumps. All of these compartments and the tunnel under the tanks have been thoroughly protected from moisture by glass/epoxy laminates.

Preparations inside the outboard engine bracket for cables, engine controls and fuel lines. These compartments will be accessible through flush plastic access covers through the aft platform.

Well-planned access to these under-deck areas is important for later removal of tanks if needed and for reaching seacocks, pumps etc. The choices are to fit commercial hatches or make them from scratch. Whichever choice is made, the hatches need to be flush, or nearly so, or people will be tripping over them and at risk of injury.

One of the hatch gutter frames for a flush hatch. The rebate around the outer edge will receive the edge of the plywood deck, with the frame finishing flush. The gutters will drain into pipes that discharge overboard.

Bottom view of the gutter frame. The splayed face was cut on a table saw to remove unneeded timber to reduce weight. The dowels across the corners pass through the glued joints to introduce cross-grain for strength and long-term durability. The dowels will be trimmed off flush.

Another view of a finished gutter frame

This design is not on our website yet. To see our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Update on 50ft Catamaran in North Carolina

I visited the 50ft catamaran build by CRW-Con in Edenton, North Carolina last week. The first hull has been turned over and work has started on the second hull. The photos and captions tell the story.

Outboard view of the port hull. The hull has been sheathed with a layer of 1708 glass, then faired.

Inboard view of the starboard hull. The bulkhead horns projecting from the hull are for scarphing to the bridgedeck bulkheads.

Bow view. To the right is the long spar table for scarphing timbers into the hull-lengths needed to install in one piece.

Stern view, with the boarding steps taking shape. Rudder and P-bracket already installed.

Bulkheads being set up on the stocks for the starboard hull

View looking forward inside the hull.

Looking aft.

Cruising keel.

Composite chainplate being formed on plywood panel. This is the first panel that will be fitted onto the hull framing, then the others will be fitted working toward bow and stern. 

Close-up of the incomplete composite chainplate. The carbon spreads the loads down into the hull skin and structure and the shrouds are attached in the gaps with soft lashings. 

Faired-in opening for flush-fitting porthole.

Formed opening for flush-fitting escape hatch, The boxing over it is part of the 45 degree splayed panel that will connect the underside of the bridgedeck with the inboard hull side.

This boat is a modified version of out Dix 470 radius chine plywood catamaran design, stretched to 50ft. Both are sisters to the DH550.

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Hout Bay 30 Cutter New Launch

Another boat to our designs has been launched in Russia. This one is a steel Hout Bay 30, built by Aleksander Kokorin of Kranoyarsk in Siberia. He launched into the Yenisei River, which is the largest river system flowing into the Arctic Ocean.

The Hout Bay 30 is a frameless design, so the hull is built over temporary frames that are removed at the time of turning the hull over. I have a few photos from the start of construction in 2009, then a big gap through to those at launch in 2018.

The temporary frames have been set up on the building stocks and the centreline stringer fitted.

The transom has been set up. The stringers will be tack-welded to the tabs that can be seen projecting from the frame edges.

Arriving at the launch ramp.

Setting up a bipod frame to raise the mast.

Boat afloat, mast in place and bipod ready to do its work.

And up it goes.

No sails yet but she looks very pretty in a beautiful setting.

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Filling the Bilges of the Sportfisherman

Kevin Agee is building his 26ft sportfisherman in a rented industrial unit in Seaford, Virginia. He plans to complete her and launch in time to go fishing in summer 2019. Each week of evening and weekend work takes him another step closer to that goal.

Having built three big boats myself, of 36ft, 34ft then 38ft, I know very well the commitment needed for a project like this one that Kevin has taken on. It takes drive and determination to do it. The skills develop along the way, to produce a high quality boat of which he can be proud. The standard of work that is seen on the hull shows his dedication to creating that quality boat.

Work that is going on now is all below deck level and on the deck panels themselves.

The bilge is broken up into compartments by the bulkheads and girders.The large ones on centreline are for tanks, batteries and pumps, accessed via hatches and access panels and draining to bilge pumps at the transom. Most of the others will be foam-filled and totally sealed.

Looking aft into the cockpit from the cuddy cabin.

Looking into the cuddy cabin from the cockpit.

Meanwhile, alongside the boat the deck panels are being glassed, with heavy glass on the top and a light layer and peelply on the bottom.

Deck panels, with curing epoxy.

Deck of the engine bracket. The wings have been thickened up with two layers of Coosa Board, which will be glassed over and bonded to the transom and bracket with glass tabbing.

This design is not yet on our website. To see our other designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.

Cape May 25 Build in Russia

I am so often pleasantly surprised by the standard of work done by amateurs building our designs. They are dedicated to turning out boats of which they are justly very proud. I recently received photos of the gaff cutter Cape May 25 being built to a very high standard by Andrey Koslov in Voronezh, Russia.

Voronezh is a city of about a million people, in southwestern Russia, straddling the Voronezh River. The city was rebuilt after the Second World War, having been almost totally destroyed in a battle with German forces.The Voronezh River is a tributary of the Don River, flowing south into the Sea of Azov, which gives access south of Crimea to the Black Sea via Kerch Straight.

Very fair hull, nicely finished

Andrey Koslov with his hull, nearly ready to turn over.

Over she goes, with a pair of frames built around her.

Turning frames that double as her cradle. The fine hollow bow at waterline is one of the reasons why these boats are so quick in light breezes.

Ready for the interior and deck to start.

Thank you Andrey, for doing such nice work building your Cape May 25. Keep up the good work.

See more of this and our other designs on our main website or our mobile website.