Mini Tuna Boat Build

[cpenrose]

Alright, I know I've lost my respect on these parts for the fleetform... BUT, this should hopefully save me. So recently on facebook, Jeff Spira, owner of Spira Boats - Easy to Build Boat Plans, put a new chesapeake deadrise design up and had a "name the design contest". I suggested the Tangier and I won. I got free plans for it. They're worth $130. It's 27 ft long, with a 10 foot beam. I'm making a mini version. Im dividing the length by 1.9 so its 14.2 ft long. Since i want it to be seaworthy I'm dividing the frame measurements by about 1.5-1.7. Haven't decided yet. I'm adding a lil 2 person pilot house too. We're making it classic looking by adding lots of brass antiques, and we'll find a old wooden handle steering wheel. I'm trying to make it unsinkable like a boston whaler by filling the insides with foam.What do you guys think. The name will be Finally FIN-ished. Only people who read the fleetform thread would understand...:joyous:

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

He hasn't finished the design, but heres the sketch.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

He hasn't finished the design, but heres the sketch.

Ayuh,... I donno 'bout a Tuna boat,...

It's profile looks like a Maine Lobstah boat, like those I grew up lookin' at....
It just needs a pot-wench, just aft of the porthole...

Maybe if ya talk to Jeff, he can scale it to be 8, 1/2' or less abeam, so's it's trailerable,.. legally...

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Yeah I'm dividing the beam by 1.6 so it's beam is 6.25 ft. And I don't know, maybe I can get a comercial liscense and go out crabbing with lil pots. Good first job

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Keep Dreamin, You'll get there someday.

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

What's so hard about it? I already said it's only 14.2 ft long. And there's no real fiberglass sanding which is why I gave up the fleetform. I've built 6 boats before, built this would just be the biggest and most sophistacated.

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Thes are two of my previous builds. The first got finished and the second's tarp flew off while i was on vacation so it rotted.

 

[kjdunne]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Looks like it could be fun and kind of unique. I agree that you should ask the designer if he'll scale it down for you so it floats "correctly' at a smaller size. I hope you catch lots of mini tunas with it, they'll be delicous on the grill!

 

[matt167]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Even scaling that boat down to 14', you still need to loft the frames and re-scale everything. Possible, but that's a lot of extra work, especially if you have to recalculate the displacement when you narrow the beam.. If you started out with a boat plan that could fit your size requirements, it would make your life easier.

A 16' Glen-L Cabin Skiff or Console skiff ( same hull ) is probably well within your skills being your top completed boat is stitch and glue also. Any of these boats will take $5-7k to build and have them any kind of nice, most have between $15-20k into them.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Yeah, that's kinda why I said Keep Dreamin! Taking on a Project of this magnitude takes a lot more than reducing a set of drawings to the dimensions of your liking. It just doesn't work that way. If it was that easy there wouldn't be a need for nautical engineers. I applaud the exuberance of youth but it needs a lot of knowledgeable hands on guidance for it to become productive. That's JMHO.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Thes are two of my previous builds. The first got finished and the second's tarp flew off while i was on vacation so it rotted.

geee, how long was that vacation???????????

bob

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Guys, obviously I know that I have to scale down EVERYTHING. Why do you guys think that just scaling it down will make it so unseaworthy? Speaking of nuatical engineers, HE did the designing,I'm just making it smaller. I just asked him, so I'm waiting. I really think it will work. I mean it can't mess it up that much, a boat this small doesn't need to be perfect. I made a boat with no plans and it worked floated and drove perfectly fine. If your talking a 25+ foot yacht, obviously it needs to be perfect.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Guys, obviously I know that I have to scale down EVERYTHING. Why do you guys think that just scaling it down will make it so unseaworthy? Speaking of nuatical engineers, HE did the designing,I'm just making it smaller. I just asked him, so I'm waiting. I really think it will work. I mean it can't mess it up that much, a boat this small doesn't need to be perfect. I made a boat with no plans and it worked floated and drove perfectly fine. If your talking a 25+ foot yacht, obviously it needs to be perfect.

well if you really plan to follow PLANS and cut material on the floor one piece at a time and later, go to assemble them, and want the edges to line up even....being perfect is neccesary!! the lengths and widths of peices of the puzzle are a complex function of each other.

if its just fine on your end of hack away with a sawzall, all the extra long pieces , and splice in short pieces with a ton of wood screws, then YEAH, go ahead and wing it...at the worst is will be visually 95% of what your goal was..... and most people wouldnt notice the difference between it and perfection.

good luck!!

bob

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

What ratio are you using for your scale down? Are you being consistent with every dimension?

 

[electric603]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

If your second boat rotted away in that short period of time you used the wrong wood . If you want your hard work to last you need to use proven boat building wood species such as white oak for framing members and marine grade plywood for the sides and bottom. There are a lot of other woods beside white oak suitable for boat building. You also have to encapsulate with epoxy and fiberglass the bottom and sides if you don't want to sand it and paint it every year or two. Listen to the people on here that have the experience that you don't have. Also go to the glen-l forum as well. Lots of folks on there with a lot of wooden boat building experiences

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Why thank you to all that supported me. I just messaged him, and he said it'll be fine, just to use smaller framing than 2x4s. If you don't belive him, he is a mechanical engineer, so he should know what he's talkin about. I actually changed my mind from a tuna boat, my friend and I have decided to do a mini orca from jaws, and it just so works out that the design is perfect for it. With the rotting boat, I actually only went on a 3 day vacation, but it rained everyday. Then we had a party so my dad made me put it back in the yard. Later when I went to finish about three weeks later, It was rotted, but it could have been saved maybe. The wood is fine, just needs to be covered in fg and epoxy.

 

[matt167]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

The Orca was so top heavy they needed to add tons of weight to keep it floating. Done just for the movie cause it looked cool. That would not be a practical boat.

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

These are my plans. That's a scale person in the back.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Again, what Scale ratio are you using?

 

[cpenrose]

Re: Mini Tuna Boat Build

Haha, I heard about how HORRIBLY seaworthy the orca was. I heard the one they made to SINK was more seaworthy than the real one. It's obviously not THE orca. And sorry WOG, it's about 1:2, a little less. I'm dividing every measurement by 1.9.