Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Hi, Hoping someone can make some suggestions, I'm building a DE23 and have realised that if I fit a rubber strip (30mm) on the plywood rubbing strip, which is 19mm, it would put the boat in the oversize category (load width) for transporting on a trailer (Western Australia). Looking at the beam on this build I probably only have about 5mm port and starboard before it becomes maximum width. It ould be wider with a permit but just want to avoid the extra costs and paperwork.
I'm finding that the average width of rubber strip starts at around 30mm, does anyone have any ideas on what could be used as an alternative that would be thinner?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

You could radius the wood and lay on stainless with an oval or solid back. More complex, but looks better. Costs more. Not sure if you can find it in Australia.

You can also go no rubber rail and use fenders at the dock.

Not sure the profiles, but can you make the wood thinner and buy some space?

I don't know how far along you are in the construction progress, but if the plywood rubbing strip were left off and instead the inside of the hull was reinforced, you could mount the rubber bumper strip to the hull directly. Or mount the plywood rubbing strip on the inside of the hull.

If it's that bad, you could carefully plane off the widest part of the boat under where the rubber strip will fit (make a more vertical flat).

You could have a section of rub strip removable, so whenever you need to trailer it you unscrew it.

peewee is on the right track. By moving the wooden rub rail to the inside, you now have an inwale. You will need to cut each frame the same size as the inwale so that it fits tight. Then epoxy it to the inside of the hull and frame instead of the outside. Then use a nice solid rubber rub rail outside to protect the boat and your all set.

Tom

Thank you for the ideas, they are appreciated. The DE23 is mostly assembled so it's too late to put a rubbing strip on the inside unfortunately.

Put the rubbing strip where you can and use something removable in places you do not have a rubbing strip , might not look as good .

Use the rubbing strip as it is intended, a piece you add that rubs against things and is sacrificed instead of the side of the boat. But also, has been suggested, deploy fenders when launching and coming into a dock. Remove them when traveling. Then when your rubbing strip gets banged up enough and needs replacement, modify the rubbing strip a lot thinner to accommodate the rubber strip. Doesn't seem you have much of a choice if you want to keep it under width restrictions.

Go with a thin stainless-steel strip. Paint the rub rail a sharp black and you are all se t. The metal willl will protect the wood and not add much width. Tom

I imagine the max beam location is not so straightforward to measure with the cabin. Would need to plumb bob down from each side, which has some error.

When do they measure the beam? At registration? Is there a reasonable chance of a roadside measurement?

Hi again and thanks for all the suggestions.
I will look at a stainless steel strip as an option.
Not sure if I need to post a separate question but I couldn't find anything on the forum regarding the volume of space under the sole of the DE23? I have been considering filling some areas with foam, limber holes or not or just empty space sealed as much as possible?
It is a requirement here in Australia to have a bilge pump on a 7m+ boat (4000 liters p h) if going offshore for 5 miles or more which is something we are likely to do a couple times a year. Thanks

I do not have the plans for the DE23 but on most plans they show the limber holes in the frames to drain to the transom and then to the pump and where to place the foam. On a boat the size of the DE23 I would recommend a pump with a capacity of no less than 1500GPH even 2000GPh would be good.

Tom

Thanks, I have looked on the plans and from what I can see there are no markings for limber holes or foam locations unless I'm missing something. Some of the DE23s in the gallery are shown with buoyancy foam under the soles but I'm not sure if foam is really necessary and limber holes? Maybe I should submit another topic question.

Check in B-239 Details and also Specific building notes for this boat. Tom

For what its worth, all the compartments under the sole of my boat are filled with closed cell polyurethane foam, except for those along the keel where the gas tanks are located. I also believe that the foam-filled compartments should be air tight, although I have no way of proving that. They don't have limber holes. The compartments along the keel that contain gas tanks are connected by limber holes and drain into the bilge.

I toyed around with making the boat self-draining, but ended up putting that in the "too hard" basket. I did put two large drains in the cockpit floor that drain into the bilge where there are 2 x LARGE capacity auto/manual electric bilge pumps and a smaller manual electric pump right on the bottom of the bilge.

Being a "belt and braces" kind of guy, I have a manual (ie man powered) bilge pump mounted at the rear of the cockpit.

I don't go off shore much or very far, but the Gulf of Carpentaria where I fish is shallow and can get very rough, and I have taken waves over the bow on a number of occasions resulting in about 6" of water in the cockpit. It rapidly drains into the bilge where the pumps kick in automatically and rapidly pump it out.

My boat is essentially double-hulled with foam between the hulls. By my calculations it is unsinkable and I believe it is likely to remain upright if completely swamped - but I have not tested that!

When I cut my transducer hole in the bottom of my boat near the transom I threw the 100mm plug into water. It floated, just. This part of the hull is nearly worse case in a sense. Thin plywood, glass both sides and aluminium filled epoxy coating. A hull that floats there will float in general.

After drying it out I took the plug to work and had the tech teacher put it in a vise. It took multiple hard hits with a hammer to break it. Even then the plywood delaminated internally and the glass stayed mostly intact. This was clamped into a vise, so no room for the plug to absorb energy by flexing. These hulls are light, and tough.

Search around and you will find plenty of threads on how to manage the bilge. In my case, they were clearly not airtight, and I almost sunk in the tortugas. I prefer limber holes. My boat currently has a few thousand plastic balls for water displacement in the bilge, and limber holes between all the cavities.

Water finds a way.

Summing up the options comes to either foam filled and sealed or open with limbers and a pump. If you foam and seal everything then there is no bilge to install a pump into. Leaks usually come from chase tubes etc, so if you have zero penetrations to below this is an option. Foam entirely below the sole could cause the boat to turn turtle if it was ever swamped, as unlikely as this is in a DE23.

You can combine options as well. I have some foam in most of my compartments but the lowest part of them are either limbered, or accessed from above with a inspection port or plug. I used some rigid polyurethane foam to form a dam for the foam to retain the pour foam. I’m aware of the risk of water entry through a port and have most of them where water will not normally gather. My boat is also trailered, which helps.

It’s up to you but if I had any empty space under he sole I’d not sleep well if I couldn’t check it.

Thank you everyone for your help, it is greatly appreciated. I will look at foaming most of the under sole hull and probably just leave the compartments nearest the transom with the fuel tank feeding to a bilge pump.

OneWayTraffic wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 3:01 pm Foam entirely below the sole could cause the boat to turn turtle if it was ever swamped, as unlikely as this is in a DE23.

You made some good points, but this statement doesn't sound right- whether it's a sealed air filled compartment or is foam filled, both weigh less than water. That does bring up the point that you should add flotation higher than the bilge, maybe under the side decks and under the cabin overhead, to provide upright flotation in an emergency.

pee wee wrote: ↑Fri Oct 21, 2022 9:29 am

OneWayTraffic wrote: ↑Wed Oct 12, 2022 3:01 pm Foam entirely below the sole could cause the boat to turn turtle if it was ever swamped, as unlikely as this is in a DE23.

You made some good points, but this statement doesn't sound right- whether it's a sealed air filled compartment or is foam filled, both weigh less than water. That does bring up the point that you should add flotation higher than the bilge, maybe under the side decks and under the cabin overhead, to provide upright flotation in an emergency.

I meant that any kind of buoyancy below the sole would have that effect, no matter what’s it’s made of. While buoyancy to the sides and higher up works against the free surface effect of water.