Showing posts with label my. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my. Show all posts

My first Blog

Sunday, April 24, 2016



This blog was created to document my building of a 44 steel trawler designed by Bruce Roberts. Technically the boat is considered by Bruce Roberts to be a 43 model as the length on deck is 4310". From this day forward Im rounding up and calling it a 44 trawler for the purpose of paying harbor fees as the overall length has grown to 48 with the addition of a bow pulpit for my ground tackle ( anchors and anchor rollers in my case) and a 2 swim platform on the stern. The beam of my yet to be named trawler is 15 and she draws 5 of water depth. Her hull form is full displacement. She should displace around 30 tons with a D/L of 398. The D/l is boat speak measuring the displacement to length ratio and pretty much tells one that she is a stout boat and is considered a true trawler.

Im building this boat during my spare time in my barn and have been working on her for a little over five years now. Due to height restrictions in my shop Ive had to build her in two sections and join the sections together outside of the barn for fitting of the wheel house and salon cabinetry. Once Ive fitted the wheel house and salon cabinetry Ill lift the upper module off the hull and transport the two units to the river for final fit out and launching. Ive kicked around the different options of how to build and transport this boat and the two module approach seems to work best for me.

If all goes well and I keep my welds to the correct side of the lines ( remember to measure twice cut once.....) she should look something like the picture above. Check back often as Ill be posting pictures and twisted opinions of how things are going here at Conalls boat build.



Conall
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My Purpose For This Free Boat Plans Blog

Thursday, February 11, 2016

My purpose for this free boat plans site is to reveal how easy it is for you to have a boating lifestyle. So I will be making regular posts here sharing information and tips about how you can create a boating lifestyle for yourself.

I discovered the thing a long time ago that brings with it great joy to my life. It was boating. I just love the challenges and pure relaxation (most times) that this amazing lifestyle offers.

Those of you who have boating in your blood know the tremendous joy and satisfaction it is to live this lifestyle. I want to share with you ways to get into this wonderful lifestyle because, if like me it is in your blood then you don’t want to depart this life without living your dream.

One of the most important tips I can pass on is boat plans. Building a boat yourself is one way you can get into the boating lifestyle cost effectively. There are also plenty of builders who can build your boat for you if that is what you prefer.

By the way, I have just spent days surfing the internet for free boat plans, but I have found that so much stuff out there is rubbish. I checked out stores but still didn’t find what I wanted. After days of searching I found what I was after (quality boat plans and boating information for amateurs). Click here if you would like to see this information.

So make sure you make a note to visit this page regularly to get more information about free boat plans and lots of other tips, tricks and updates about boating.

Kev
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Holes in my Maser

Thursday, February 4, 2016

One difference as I have aged is I dont mind cutting holes in my boat. I wouldnt have even contemplated such an undertaking as a youngn.

Last fall I was trying to figure out why I had paint cracking on the aft deck of my Maser. The aft deck seemed very soft. Three mm. plywood is flexible but this seemed worse than usual. The only way I was going to find out was to cut two holes in the aft deck. It turned out that there was a mini-frame, about 50 mm. deep, of 3 mm. plywood, set aft about 300 mm. from the main aft bulkhead. It had cracked on both sides about 150 mm. in from gunwhales, probably when I had moved aft on that area on a heavy-air reach.

To make the frame whole again, I sistered the frame at both the cracks.

The following photos show the process of working backwards to get a watertight aft deck once the repairs had been made.

Backing pieces glued on. Plywood top piece cut to fit. I used a top piece of pine as a gluer for the plywood top piece on the aft side. This also gave some added I-beam strength above the mini-frame. (I cut the hole right next to the mini-frame repair and didnt have room for an aft backer strip.)


Close up of the open hole with backers in place.


Both plywood pieces in place, glued up. Top aft I-beam pine piece glued down.


Repairs glassed over with 9 oz biaxial cloth.


I was eventually able to get some primer down and that is how she looks at the present time. Good enough for a Tweezerman repair.


Click here for the original Maser post.

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