Boat Builder Central

As for the question "is it like Ikea furniture assembly" In many ways yes. BUT (there's always a but) dealing with fiberglass and epoxy does take some practice to get good at. When I was new I made mistakes like mixing up too much and having a lot of waste, Not getting it out of the cup qu...

It might be very intimidating but because building a larger boat like this takes years it gives you time to do a bit of research and answer a lot of these questions. Wait a second, You mean the DE25 can't be "finished" in 250 hours !? hahaha. yeah, that may be optimistic. Thank you Evan f...

The "sea keeping ability" of this boat seems pretty obvious to me! The designer says, "This is a river cruiser, ideal for protected waters: rivers, lakes, bays or the ICW." Seems pretty clear! :doh: I'm glad you are satisfied with such a vague description. Clear? It is Not. The ...

I think you'll find 3200 watts very difficult. The high efficiency 20% plus panels are very size specific. Panel mounting on a small boat no margin will be hard. Even a bath fan or vhf antenna requires space. And the thing zi ran into was cost. The cost for a decent panel was $500, because they all...

Now I am confused , you want a boat that can go 7 kt with a 25 hp , take a large breaking wave to beam and ride out rough weather , and you want the designer to tell you it will do just that . Then you say it is irresponsible for the designer to suggest it when he tells you what the design will do ...

Thanks for all the replies and information. I think I have a good idea what to expect from a $200 design package. Please don't misunderstand my questions regarding the design package details. Just because I'm asking if the package has certain details does not necessarily mean I feel I need those det...

Fallguy, being that the USCG has approved Dave Gerr's Solaris Sal for commercial use carrying passengers and it is the basis of my design, I'm not too concerned. The 500lbs of panels on a 6,000lb boat, raises the VCG by about 6 inches, not 24 inches. I've seen plenty of fly-bridges installed on boat...

How do I optimize this Cp for 6.0knts or maybe 5.5knts would be better? I wonder how much the optimum changes for half a knot? Not much I'd guess. I think I read that an SLR of 1.2 had an optimum Cp of 0.58. Is there a function that I can enter SLR and get Cp?

I agree Fallguy, the step from CE class D to C is a big one. Rick, I'm not going to stick 100+ hp on her to run from a storm, see below. SOR: Trailerable, live aboard for 2, canal/bay cruiser. Cruise at almost 6knt with 5kw shaft power (calm conditions) Per Gerr. 8hour with 40kWh battery for ~50mile...

BarraMan, The only reason I can afford to build a boat is because I don't just throw down $200 to see what I may get from it. I don't see why the people trying to sell the plans can't answer what's on the plans!? A drawing title "Details" doesn't mean anything to me. Do they detail system ...