Diy Canoe Building Plans Meaning

76 Houseboats ideas | house boat, floating house, houseboat living

Building a houseboat hull zone can build tiny however and wherever you want� On wheels or on the water like this micro houseboat. Up in the trees or underground. Down below you can actually watch a video of them launching it and in action on the water. More info on the plans. If you want to build your own version of this, you can actually purchase the tiny house boat plans from Roy over at his website.

You can buildinng join our Small House Newsletter! Thank you! Extremely nice and well. The owner deserves to feel very proud. Great use of wood to look great while keeping costs, weight low. Many free plans available but this is a excellent one using present materials easier to.

And works as a houseboat, trailer, TH, especially for hill as can be narrow building a houseboat hull zone aero. Also a PV canopy and water collection from the deck. The beauty of these is they can be used as a trailer, boat, guest house, food truck, studio, etc. A good living have 2, 1 to live in an another a bait, fishing, drinks, food supply on the water or to rent.

Hi Pete, I can be contacted at [email protected]. I will, however, also considering building to sell if time or skills are lacking. Beautiful workmanship. Operates on less than 10 hp motor! Buikding every morsel of this article. Great videos! Left speechless. Very nice work. Just a sweet, simple design. Looks comfortable as hell, no bigger than it has to be.

This makes me miss living near water! Building a houseboat hull zone Peter! Not only is it esthetically delightful to look at; inside and out, zkne it has all the convertible comforts of home. Some people are just fabulously creative and talented.

Kudos a housebot This project is absolutely beautiful! I would love to build and modify one for my use however my health issues might get into the way. I would like to know the estimated buillding of building this house boat?? Very beautifullooks easy to haul from place to place and not be just stuck on one lake or river. Love the boat. Very nicely. And it appears the boat is actively used. Has the boat been registered? If it has been registered what exactly houuseboat you go through to get it registered.

Again, I realize it varies but would like to know how you did it or plan to. Yet almost no one includes any mention of it in the volumes of information offered. If they had they would be willing to share their experience on that important aspect.

The boat is awesome. Lots of details thought of for sure! Usually, a local game warden can do the inspection and cert. The inspection will building a houseboat hull zone of making sure the required safety equipment is on board for the correct size vessel. As far as the certification-they are looking for pics of you building it, materials receipts. Intending on using the vessel for a commercial use guide service, rental, boat for hire, having paid passengers turns the building a houseboat hull zone process upside down in terms of inspections and so forth.

I worry about things like. I like the buliding for the hjll part, but would love to see some modifications to the original design. Without a keel, this boat hukl be difficult to maneuver in a strong wind.

It is basically a flat-bottom boat and would tend building a houseboat hull zone blow sideways. Hello All, I am a producer making a TV programme with the Discovery Channel about people who permanently live in off-grid homes and I would like to include a tiny home in our programme.

It will be a brand new series � where we visit families, groups and couples throughout the year as they make additions to their homes. We have an expert on ubilding who can offer invaluable advice.

Please get in touch [email protected] � I would love to hear from you. I zonne love. Living on Long Island in NY this is perfect. Trailer in the winter�water in the summer. I have friends in Rhode Island I could go see. The old lady wants to do Lake Mead. Endless opportunities to live and travel. Therefor each build is essentially a custom build also housebpat changes to suit buyers.

When houseboaat to new boats available at dealers this price is not unreasonable but I imaging that for your readers and myself! A half dozen boats are now in the water and most are registered as home built boats without any problems.

Hope this helps and if there are any other questions do contact me at [email protected] Thanks again Alex for the great article! Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Building a houseboat hull zone to reduce spam.

Learn how your comment data is processed. Free Daily Tiny House Newsletter. Free Tiny House Plans. Tiny Houses For Sale. All Aone Reserved. Submit Content The content housegoat information here is for entertainment and should not be taken as professional advice.

While we strive to provide accurate and helpful information, we are not professionals. The owner of this website disclaims all warranties expressed or implied regarding the accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of the information provided. Please do your due diligence and deal with people in person. Thank you. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an builcing advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.

The following hoyseboat tabs change content. Bio Latest Building a houseboat hull zone. Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages housegoat inspiring simple living stories.

We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we houseobat re-share and inspire others towards a simple life. Latest posts by Alex see all. And if a boat, free of rent, etc payments A good living have 2, 1 houseboag live in an another a bait, fishing, drinks, food supply on building a houseboat hull zone water or to rent. Reply Link. Roy Schreyer. Building a houseboat hull zone E. I see beauty and creativity!

If it flips in the water, are the windows easy to unlatch for possible escape? Can you walk on the top center ridge for better fishing? Brilliant build!!! Love this idea and design. Good job Roy, your a talented guy!

I really want to build this boats. More info building a houseboat hull zone plans. Really interested in buildin.

Today:

Subsequent cavalcade an ?? in. cruise is in good form, and the integrate of serve for errors! It was my initial "wooden boat" plea .

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Private Sellers. Viewing 1 - 28 of Length: Longest first. Recently Updated: Oldest first. Distance: Nearest first. Distance: Farthest first. Length: Shortest first. Offered By: Elite Boat Sales. Offered By: Captain's Choice of Pickwick. Offered By: Galati Yacht Sales. Offered By: Private Seller. Offered By: Scorpion Bay Marina. With this strategy the weight can be kept to roughly the same as an equivalent mild steel structure.

And to further reduce costs, NC plasma cutting or water jet cutting can be used for all plates and internal structure. Even with GRP or composite wood for the house structures, it probably would be most advantageous to plate the deck with Cu Ni. In so doing, one could then use CuNi for all the various deck fittings: stanchions, cleats, bitts, etc.

Pipe fittings are readily available in either alloy of CuNi, so this would be a natural. The resulting integral strength and lack of maintenance would be an outstanding plus. While the expense of Copper Nickel may seem completely crazy to some, given a bit of extra room in the budget and the will to be completely free from ALL requirements for painting, this is the bee's knees! The savings realized by not having to paint the entire vessel inside and out - EVER - will go quite a long way toward easing the cost differential.

Per existing research on a number of commercial vessels, their operators have shown a very favorable economic benefit over the life of a Copper Nickel vessel. This is due to there being a much longer vessel life; far less cost for dry docking; zero painting costs; no maintenance; no corrosion; few if any repairs; etc. Per the Copper Alliance, and organization that has studied the economic benefits of CuNi for boat hulls, the cost saved on a commercial vessel's maintenance routine pays for the added cost of the CuNi structure within 5 to 7 years.

Monel is extremely ductile, and therefore will take considerable punishment without failure. Monel is easily welded, and Monel has extraordinary resistance to corrosion, even at elevated temperatures. Monel is much stronger than mild steel, stronger than Corten, and stronger than the usual varieties of stainless.

As a result of this greater strength, Monel could be used for the entire structure. As compared to a similar steel structure, Monel will therefore permit lighter scantlings and would allow one to create a lighter overall structure than with steel.

Alternately one could use the same scantlings in order to achieve a vessel having greater strength. To reduce costs even more, one could use the same strategy as with CuNi, i. This is probably the sweet spot, offering light scantlings and extraordinary freedom from on-going maintenance costs.

If cost is not an important factor, an all Monel structure may well be the ultimate boatbuilding material of all time. Titanium has been used in the aircraft and aerospace industries for quite a long time. As well, several Russian submarines have been built using Titanium.

With very high strength alloys available, extreme nobility on the galvanic scale, virtual immunity to corrosion in sea water and in the atmosphere, and about half the weight of steel, there are only a few considerations that stand in the way of Titanium being the "perfect" hull material, not least of which is cost.

Cost : Due to the higher cost of titanium as compared to, say stainless or aluminum, the choice in favor of using titanium for a fabricated structure such as a boat must be made on the basis of the resulting structure having lower operating costs, longer life, or reduced maintenance in order to justify its use.

In other words, titanium will only be chosen if it is perceived to have a lower total life cycle cost. Plastic Range: Among the Commercially Pure CP grades of Titanium, and with most Titanium Alloys there is little spread between the yield point the point at which a material is deformed so far that it will not return to its original shape when released and the ultimate failure point. Thus most grades and alloys of titanium have a very limited plastic range.

Elongation : The percentage of elongation before failure is on par with mild steel, and is roughly twice that of aluminum. Thus most grades of CP Titanium and most alloys are readily formable, and have a fatigue resistance on par with steel. Stiffness: Another characteristic is "stiffness" which is expressed by the modulus of elasticity. For steel, it is 29 million psi. For aluminum, it is 10 million psi. For Titanium, it is 15 million psi.

This indicates behavior that is somewhat closer to aluminum in terms of material rigidity. Interestingly, Ti has about the same modulus of elasticity stiffness as Silicon Bronze, but Ti has less stiffness than copper nickel, which has an elastic modulus of 22 million psi. Welding: Yet another consideration is the welding of Titanium, which is somewhat of a mixed bag due to several of the material's properties.

The melting point of Titanium 3, deg F is well above that of steel 2, deg F and about three times that of aluminum 1, deg F. Titanium forms a very tough oxide immediately on exposure to the air, and is highly reactive with nitrogen, therefore welding must be done only after thorough cleaning of the weld zone, and the welding process must assure a complete inert gas shroud of the weld zone both on the side being welded and on the opposite side.

The weld zone must then continue to be shielded until the metal cools below degrees. These factors may provide considerable difficulty, but they are surmountable by thorough attention to detail, good technique, and aggressive measures to assure post-weld shielding. These factors however dramatically increase fabrication costs over that of other metals. Among the other material properties that contribute to ease of fabrication of any metal are its heat conductivity, and its thermal expansion rate.

Aluminum expands twice as much Building A Houseboat Hull Journal as steel per degree of temperature change, and is three times as conductive thermally. The thermal conductivity of aluminum is a big help, but the expansion makes trouble in terms of distortion. As a benefit though, an equivalent aluminum structure will have greater thickness and thus locally greater yield strength, so the score is more or less even between steel and aluminum, with aluminum having a slightly greater tendency toward distortion while welding.

With Titanium, this latter consideration will be the overriding factor in determining the minimum practical thickness for plating. Thermal conductivity is given as 4. For steel, it is 31, for aluminum it is Thermal expansion is given as. These figures seem to indicate that the material would be fairly stable while welding, but that welds would take a much longer time to cool as compared to steel and vastly longer compared to aluminum.

In other words, the heat would not dissipate - it would remain concentrated in the weld zone. Industry consensus is that Titanium is slightly more prone to distortion due to welding as compared to steel. As a comparison, the minimum thickness for other materials mainly due to welding ease and distortion issues is 10 gauge for mild steel.

Corrosion: Titanium is extremely corrosion resistant due to the immediate formation of a tenacious Titanium Dioxide on exposure to air or oxygenated water. This means it is practically immune to corrosion in sea water, but there is one catch Like aluminum, Ti depends on free access to oxygen, therefore it can be susceptible to crevice corrosion wherever it is deprived of free access to oxygen and cannot form a protective oxide.

Crevice corrosion can be prevented in the same way as is done with aluminum, and some grades of Ti are more resistant to crevice corrosion than others.

It is highly formable and weldable, and is available in most shapes, i. These are highly favorable properties for hull construction. The 20k psi spread between yield and failure is a highly favorable property. It is a highly formable grade, readily weldable and is available in a variety of plate sizes, pipes and bar shapes.

All of these are highly favorable properties for hull construction, making Grade 12 one of the best choices to be favored for boat structure. Described as "a near alpha alloy having excellent weldability, seawater stress corrosion cracking resistance and high dynamic toughness. It is favored for submarines, but its high strength is not especially necessary for boats or large yachts. ATI who are targeting this alloy at ship structures.

Its low elongation before failure is an indication that it could be prone to cracking, and it is unlikely to be a candidate for typical boat structures i.

Light weight, high strength, immunity from corrosion in sea water Although it is obvious that Titanium would be an outstanding hull material, it requires extreme care during construction, thus labor costs would be high.

If those factors can be mitigated or if cost is not an issue, then Titanium may possibly be the "ultimate" boat hull material! Despite its immunity from corrosion in sea water, a titanium hull will still require paint below the WL in order to prevent fouling.

If we ignore the cost of the hull materials themselves for a moment and consider what may impact costs in other ways, we can observe the following Vessel construction costs will vary more or less directly with displacement, assuming a given material, and a given level of finish and complexity in the design.

Since displacement varies as the cube of the dimensions, we can see that the costs for a vessel will increase exponentially with size. With regard to the complexity of a vessel the same can be said. Complexity in whatever form affects cost perhaps to the fourth power! Assuming a given budget, a simpler boat can just plain afford to be made larger! Estimating actual construction costs is relatively straightforward but it does require a detailed look at every aspect of the process.

A reliable construction cost estimate must consider the hull material, degree of finish, complexity of structure, building method, whether the structure is computer cut, the complexity of systems specified and the degree of high finish for the joinery.

This is only possible with a well articulated vessel specification, a complete equipment list, and a detailed set of drawings that show the layout and the structure. If the aluminum vessel is left unpainted on the exterior except where necessary, many yards can build for less in aluminum than in steel, or might quote the two materials at parity.

This has been verified by several yards via actual construction estimates for boats of my design. As compared to a steel boat, maintenance will be less costly on an aluminum boat and resale value will be higher. Taken as a whole, any increased hull construction costs for an aluminum hull will shrink into insignificance in the context of the entire life of the boat. Of course a Copper Nickel, Monel, or Titanium vessel will be considerably more costly than one built in steel or aluminum, however in terms of longevity a boat built with any of those metals will provide the ultimate as a family heirloom For more information, please review our comprehensive web article on Boat Building Costs.

The materials of construction need not dictate the aesthetics of a vessel. Much can be done to make a metal boat friendly to the eye. On the interior for example with the use of a full ceiling and well done interior woodwork, there will generally be no hint that you're even aboard a metal boat. On the exterior, if metal decks are preferred for their incredible strength and complete water tightness, one can make the various areas more inviting by devious means.

An example would be the use of removable wood gratings in way of the cockpit. Fitted boat cushions made of a closed cell foam work equally well to cover the metal deck in the cockpit area, and some will prefer to laminate a cork or teak deck over a painted and protected metal deck.

Many metal boats we encounter seem "industrial" in their appearance. In my view, classic and traditional lines, if attended to faithfully, will completely eliminate that industrial look. With a bit of classic gracefulness introduced by the designer, a metal boat will be every bit as beautiful as a boat of any other material. My design work often tends to be drawn toward fairly traditional aesthetics, which some may regard as being somewhat old fashioned.

What I have done in these designs however, is to take maximum advantage of up to date materials and current knowledge of hydrodynamics, while retaining the look and feel of a classic boat.

In so doing, my overall preference is to provide a boat that is very simple, functional, and rugged, while carrying forth a bit of traditional elegance. Everyone's needs are different of course. When considering a new design, nearly anything is possible. The eventual form given to any vessel will always be the result of the wishes of the owner, the accommodations the boat must contain, the purpose for which it is intended, and the budget that is available for its creation.

Efficiency and performance are high on the list amongst the myriad considerations that go into shaping a hull. With metal hulls, there is always a question of whether a vessel should be rounded or "chine" shaped.

Assuming two vessels are of equally good design, whether the hull is rounded or single chine will not have much impact on their performance, i. Here are a few considerations that may be of some benefit when considering the choice between rounded or single chine hull shapes Aside from these generalities, relative performance would be difficult to pre-judge.

We can however observe the following:. Given that those observations do not reveal any special deficiency with regard to a single chine hull we can additionally observe the following:.

Among the above considerations, the one factor that seems to favor the rounded hull form most definitively is that of having a slightly more gentle rolling motion. In other words, a slower "deceleration" at the end of each roll. On the other hand, rolling motions will decay more quickly with a single chine hull form. Even these factors can be more or less equivocated via correct hull design.

As we have seen, one cannot claim that a rounded hull form is inherently better in terms of performance without heavily qualifying that claim. The primary trade-offs between a rounded hull and a chine type of hull form for metal boats therefore turn out to be purely a matter of cost and personal preference. I have designed several rounded hulls for construction in metal. These are true round bottom boats designed with the greatest ease of plating in mind.

Some are double ended, some have a transom stern, others have a fantail stern, and still others have a canoe stern where stem nicely balances the shape of the stern. Having an easily plated shape, any of these rounded hull forms can be economically built. These rounded shapes require plate rolling only in a few places and are elsewhere designed to receive flat sheets without fuss. These are not "radius chine" boats.

They are simply easily plated rounded hulls. With any of these types, the keel is attached as an appendage, there being no need when using metal to create a large rounded garboard area for the sake of strength, as would be the case with a glass or a wooden hull. This achieves both a more economically built structure, as well as a better defined keel for windward performance under sail and better tracking under sail or power.

Plating on these rounded hull types is arranged in strips having a limited width running lengthwise along the hull. Usually the topsides can be one sheet wide, the rounded bilge one sheet, and the bottom one larger sheet width. Examples of these rounded hull types among my designs are Jasmine , Lucille 42 , Lucille 50 , Benrogin , Greybeard , Fantom and among my prototypes such as Josephine and Caribe.

While these might be imagined to have a "radius" chine shape, they are in fact true rounded hull forms. In other words, the turn of the bilge is not a radius but is instead a free form curve between bottom and topsides. Both bottom and topsides have gently rounded sectional contours that blend nicely into the curve at the turn of the bilge.

With the exception of the turn of the bilge, all of the plating on these designs is developable and will readily bend into place making these vessels just as easily constructed as any radius chine shape. In my view the visual difference between radius chine and rounded hull forms is very apparent, strongly favoring the rounded shape, yet the labor required and the consequent cost is the same.

Due to the gentle transverse curvature given to the surfaces above and below the turn of the bilge, the appearance is a vast improvement over the relatively crude radius chine shape. Looking around at typically available metal boat designs we quickly observe that the "radius chine" construction method has become fairly common.

Here, a simple radius is used to intersect the "flat" side and bottom plates. Although the radius chine shape takes fairly good advantage of flat plate for most of the hull surface, it is not a more economical construction method than the easily plated rounded hull shapes described above - nor is it nearly as attractive.

One reason for the popularity of the radius chine is that nearly any single chine boat can be converted to a radius chine. This is often done without any re-design of the hull by simply choosing an appropriate radius, and using rolled plate for that part of the hull. Radius chine construction does add quite a few extra hours to the hull fabrication as compared to single chine hull forms. In my experience there is no benefit whatever to employ a radius chine shape over that of an easily plated rounded hull form.

The radius chine hull will always be easily recognized for what it is By contrast a gently rounded hull form will be vastly more appealing visually. A few single chine examples among my sailing designs are the 36' Grace , the 42' Zephyr , the 44' Redpath , the 56' Shiraz , along with a number of others such as the prototype designs for a 51' Skipjack , or the 55' Wylde Pathaway.

As supplied, metal plate is always flat. When building a boat using flat sheet material, it makes the most sense to think in terms of sheet material and how one may optimize a hull design to suit the materials, without incurring extra labor. I am attracted to the single chine shape for metal boats.

In my view the single chine shape represents the most "honest" use of the material. In this regard I feel traditional styling has much to offer, keeping in mind of course the goals of seakindliness, safety, and of excellent performance. As with many traditional types, there is certainly no aesthetic penalty for using a single chine, as is evidenced by reviewing any of the above mentioned sailing craft.

Assuming that by design each type has been optimized with regard to sail area and hull form, it becomes obvious that the typically pandered differences between the performance of a rounded hull form versus that of a single chine, unless heavily qualified, are simply unsubstantiated.

In fact, since costs are significantly less using single chine construction, one can make an excellent case in terms of better performance via the use of a simpler hull form! With metal boats, labor is by far the largest factor in hull construction, and as we have observed greater complexity pushes the hours and the cost of labor up exponentially.

Therefore dollar for dollar, a single chine vessel can be made longer within the same budget. This means that in terms of the vessel's "performance per dollar" the single chine vessel can actually offer better performance i. By comparison, a multiple chine hull form offers practically no advantage whatever.

A multiple chine hull will require nearly as much labor as a radius chine hull. The only savings will be eliminating the cost of rolling the plates for the actual radius. In my view, multiple-chine shapes are very problematic visually, and they are much more difficult to "line off" nicely. There will be just as much welding as with a radius chine shape, and in general a multiple-chine hull will be considerably less easy to keep fair during construction.

If you look at the designs on this web site, you'll soon discover that there are no examples of multiple-chine vessels among my designs, whether power or sail Basically, multiple chine shapes cost more to build, and in my view multiple chine shapes are not as visually appealing. As a result the preference has always been to consider the available budget and to make a graceful single chine boat longer for the same cost, and realize some real speed, comfort and accommodation benefits!

In the end what ultimately defines a good boat is not whether she is one type or another, but whether the boat satisfies the wishes of the owner. The keel of any vessel, sail or power, will be asked to serve many functions. The keel creates a structural backbone for the hull, it provides a platform for grounding, and it will contain the ballast.

In a metal boat, the keel is not just "along for the ride. A metal hull can take advantage of twin or bilge keels without any trouble. It is an easy matter to provide the required structural support within the framing. Often, bilge keels can be integrated with the tanks, allowing excellent structural support. An added advantage with both sail and power boats is that the bilge keels can be used as ballast compartments.

Having spread the ballast laterally becomes a big advantage in terms of the vessel's roll radius, providing an inertial dampening to the vessel's roll behavior. Bilge keels can also be designed to permit a good degree of sailing performance to a power vessel which has been set up with a "get-home" sailing rig.

Aboard a power vessel, when faced with the choices involved with having an extra diesel engine as a "get-home" device in the event of failure of the main engine, I would very seriously consider the combination of bilge keels and a modest sailing rig. With metal, this is easily accomplished. Integral fuel and water tanks are always to be preferred on a metal boat. Integral tanks provide a much more efficient use of space.

Integral tanks provide added reinforcement for the hull and ease of access to the inside of the hull. Integral tanks are very simple to arrange for during the design of the vessel.

If the tank covers are planned correctly there will be excellent access during construction as well as in the future for maintenance. The one exception to this generality is that polyethylene tanks may be preferred for black or grey water storage, since they can be readily cleaned.

This is especially so in aluminum vessels, due mainly to the extremely corrosive nature of sewage. In steel vessels, when properly painted there will always be an adequate barrier, and integral black and grey water tanks again become viable.

For aluminum construction, if integral holding tanks are desired the tanks must be protected on the inside as though they were made of mild steel Please see my article on Integral Tanks for more on this question Hull size, materials of construction, and the location of the specific region of the structure in question will each have a bearing on the results of the scantling calcs.

The method of calculating the hull structural scantlings is usually processed as follows, assuming first that the vessel data is already given hull length, beam, depth, freeboard, weight, etc. Per item 3, when considering an alternate material it is possible that due to a difference in plate yield strength as compared to the original design material say steel , that the long'ls will be placed slightly more closely say for the same thickness of plate, but a plate of lesser strength.

Generally, since the long's support the plate, they are the primary variable when plate thickness, or strength, or location is changed. It is no big deal to the structure, to the overall weight, or to ease of the building of the vessel as compared to say steel to have a tighter long'l spacing. This is the proper strategy to accommodate plate of different strength or thickness. Once the plate is adequately supported, then scantlings of items 5 and 6 can be calculated according to their spans and the material strengths for the chosen framing materials.

It becomes obvious from the above that it is an advantage in terms of weight to select a relatively lesser thickness of plating, and a relatively more frequent interval for internal framing. On the other hand, it is usually an advantage in terms of building labor to select plate of a slightly greater thickness and a less frequent framing interval so simpler internal structure. Please see my article on Using the ABS Rule for a more detailed look at how scantlings are determined.

There is quite a lot of misleading and incorrect information associated with the implied promise of "frameless" metal boats, a notion that is pandered by several offbeat designers and builders. The concept of "frameless" metal boats is attractive, but flawed. If one applies well proven engineering principles to the problem of hull design as detailed above, one quickly discovers that for the sake of stiffness and lightness, frames are simply a requirement.

For example, in order to achieve the required strength in a metal vessel without using transverse framing will require an enormous increase in plate thickness. Even with light weight materials such as aluminum alloy this would automatically result in a substantial weight penalty..

With light weight materials such as aluminum, one can certainly gain some advantage by the use of greater plate thickness, primarily in terms of maintaining fairness during fabrication, and in terms of ruggedness in use. Still, as strong as metal is, even with light weight materials there is definitely a need to support the plating and to reinforce and stiffen the structure as a whole using frames and stringers.

In general, the most suitable arrangement for internal structure is a combination of transverse frames and longitudinal stiffeners. Framing may sometimes be provided in the form of devious strategies For example framing may be in the form of bulkheads or other interior and exterior structural features, placed in order to achieve the required plate reinforcement.

Many so-called "frameless" boats do indeed make extensive use of longitudinals in combination with bulkheads or other internal structure to reduce the span of the longitudinal stiffeners. While it is true that many metal boats are successfully plated , and their plating then welded up without the aid of metal internal framing during weld-up, in order to provide adequate strength in the finished vessel, frames must then be added before the hull can be considered finished.

Even on a hull that will eventually have substantial internal framing this construction sequence can provide a big advantage when trying to maintain fairness during weld-up. Experienced metal boat builders and designers have often come to recognize the potential benefits of building a metal boat over molds which do not hold the boat so rigidly as to make trouble during the weld-up.

However, the competent among them also know that to leave the boat without internal framing is quite an irresponsible act. Please see my articles on Framing and Frames First for more on this subject. Among those, the Transverse Frames Only system is fairly common in Europe.

In the US, the most commonly system used is the second system, where transverses are used in combination with longitudinal stringers. In terms of scantlings, typically, long'ls will be half the depth, but approximately the same thickness as the transverse frames.

It is an ABS requirement that transverse frames be twice the depth of the cut-out for the long'l. Among some light weight racing yachts, a system of Webs with fairly beefy Long'l Stringers is the preferred approach, or alternately Webs with smaller Intermediate Transverse Frames, in combination with Long'l Stringers..

In other words, by this engineering approach the transverse frames are considered to be the primary support system for the long'l stringers, and the long'l stringers are considered to be the primary support system for the plating.

When a long'l member becomes the "dominant" member of the structure usually locally only , it ceases to be referred to as a long'l stringer, and becomes instead a long'l "girder" an engine girder for example. If long'l stringers are not used, then the frames are the only means of support for the plating. They must therefore be more closely spaced in order to satisfy the needs of the plating for adequate support.

In general though, long'l stringers are to be considered highly desirable, primarily because they contribute considerably to the global longitudinal strength of the yacht. When calculating the strength of any beam, there is a benefit when the beam gains depth height. Beams of greater height have a higher section modulus. Just as with beams of greater height, when calculating a vessel's global longitudinal strength it is the height of the vessel that makes the greatest contribution.

Small and medium sized power and sailing yachts usually have very adequate height , so long'l strength calculations are less critical. For larger yachts or for yachts which have a low height to beam ratio, there it is necessary to consider long'l strength very closely. Witness the catastrophic failures of several recent America's Cup vessels!

As a general guide to the boundary of acceptability, the ABS rules consider that a vessel must be no more than twice as wide as it is high deck edge to rabbet line , and no greater than 15 times its height in overall length.

Beyond these limits, a strictly engineering "proof" must be employed rather than the prescriptive ABS Section Modulus and Moment of Inertia requirements for calculating the strength of the global hull "girder.

Originally created for "self propelled vessels up to feet, the scope of the Motor Pleasure Yachts Rule has been subsequently restricted to vessels between 79 and feet. The most appropriate means of assessing the adequacy of structure is to assure that a vessel's scantlings comply with the applicable ABS rule, or alternately the applicable rule published by Lloyd's Register England , German Lloyds Germany , Det Norske Veritas Norway , Bureau Veritas France , etc.

As we can see from the above, framing is highly desirable for any metal yacht. Without framing, plate thickness would become extreme, and consequently so would the weight of the structure The labor involved in fabricating a metal hull can be reduced by a substantial amount via NC cutting. What is NC? It simply means "Numerically Controlled. As an example, a fairly simple vessel of around 45 feet may take around 2, hours to fabricate by hand, complete with tanks, engine beds, deck fittings, etc.

By comparison, the number of design hours one must spend at the computer to detail the NC cut files for such a vessel may amount to some three to four man-weeks, or perhaps some hours.

With this kind of savings, the labor expended to develop the NC cut files will be paid for many times over. In fact, the savings are sufficient that NC cutting has the potential to "earn back" a fair portion of the cost of having developed a custom boat design! Where there may be any doubt, please review our web article on how we use CAD effectively to develop our designs for NC Cutting.

Anymore, it is inconceivable to build a commercial vessel of any size without taking advantage of NC cutting. While this technology has been slow to penetrate among yacht builders, these days it is plain that builders and designers who ignore the benefits offered by computer modeling and NC cut hull structures simply have their heads in the sand.

Small metal boats are not designed with an appreciable corrosion allowance. They must therefore be prepared and painted in the best way possible in order to assure a long life. Current technology for protecting steel and aluminum boats is plain and simple: Epoxy paint.

When painting metal, a thorough degreasing is always the first step, to clean off the oils from the milling process, as well as any other contaminants, like the smut from welding, which have been introduced while fabricating. The next important step is a very thorough abrasive grit blasting on a steel boat, or a somewhat less aggressive "brush blast" on an aluminum boat.

The process of sand blasting a metal boat is expensive and can in no way be looked at with pleasure, except in the sense of satisfaction and well being provided by a job well done. While there is no substitute for grit blasting, there are ways to limit the cost of the operation. When ordering steel, it is very much to a builder's advantage to have it "wheel abraded" and primed. Wheel abrading is a process of throwing very small shot at the surface at high speed to remove the mill scale and clean the surface.

Primer is then applied. Having been wheeled and primed, the surfaces will be much easier to blast when the time comes. In terms of the paint system, aluminum boats are dealt with more easily than steel boats.

Divya Bhatnagar Gagan Sethi It Large Scale Model Boats Kits Model Vintage Bookshelf Edition Clue 75