Ric's 7.5m Plate Alloy Cat Build

[battleon]

Hope you all enjoy the pics.
Plans for the next month are as follows:

1. Finish the anchor well ready for the winch.
2. Prep final bits for internal sand blast.
3. then onto the absolute pleasure......bogging and fairing the sides. there's about 2 bloody acres to do!

thanks everyone,

Ric

Loving following the build and the pics Ric. Great effort.

[ric]

Ric - How do you manage / locate a thru hull transdcuer into one of the hulls when driving on / off your boat trailer? Concerns over damaging the unit.

Thanks Andrew

i will be cutting down the bunk from the transducer to the back of the trailer. I'm planning on not having the bunk touch the transducer at all.

[rexaway123]

I have my transducer mounted in the hull on port side of my NoosaCat....sits on outside curve up of the bottom of the hull so it does not/cannot touch the skid bunks that I sit on when driving up onto trailer
I can post a pic if u want

[rexaway123]

like this...there is no issues hitting trailer skids with the in hull transducer mounted in port hull of Cat. kind of impossible when u driving on really.
this is a B164 unit where u can get the options of tilt angle of the unit contained inside so that it shoots straight down back to vertical depending on how steep the angle bottom of your sponsoon is

IMG_0138.jpg

[Back In Black]

Rexaway, that is the one thing I am kicking myself for, not getting a through hull transducer while building the Sailfish. I didn't know anything about them at the time.

Easy enough to retrofit??

Tony

[Pimp A Shrimp]

i will be cutting down the bunk from the transducer to the back of the trailer. I'm planning on not having the bunk touch the transducer at all.

Righto. Thanks Ric

[Pimp A Shrimp]

Rexaway, that is the one thing I am kicking myself for, not getting a through hull transducer while building the Sailfish. I didn't know anything about them at the time.

Easy enough to retrofit??

Tony

Rexaway - also interested in this. Same situation as B-I-B, i'm looking at retrofitting. Anyone know what the max tilt angle can be? Prob different from model to model! As you can see on the back on my boat the sponson rises sharply from the flat square bottom before it comes in contact with the outside edge of the hull. I currently run a transom mounted transducer, and not happy with the returns at anything more than trolling speed!

Attachment 96905

[rexaway123]

The 1kw airmar B164 tranny I have comes in 0 ,12 or 20 degree option to suit your sponsoon angle depending on boat type so it can shoot straight down when mounted on angle

U can see in pic the inspection port in back corner floor in front of bait tank to be able to get to it if anything ever goes wrong.
So in theory easy to retrot fit the actual unit....drill a port hole for a stainless hatch and you can reach down thru to void to JUST get to the hull bottom (in the big cats its a long way down) ... then drill thru and fit again...
issue comes with the wiring then back up to helm... u need to think about where the conduit runs in your boat and can u get into that conduit since floor sealed now u can run it up.
I have water tight sealed bulk head chambers every 2 foot or so... u can see from build pic before floor went down and could not run cable under floor if I was retro fitting.... I have sealed conduit runs up both Port and starboard sides

P1070562.JPGDSC01386.jpg

[Pimp A Shrimp]

The 1kw airmar B164 tranny I have comes in 0 ,12 or 20 degree option to suit your sponsoon angle depending on boat type so it can shoot straight down when mounted on angle

U can see in pic the inspection port in back corner floor in front of bait tank to be able to get to it if anything ever goes wrong.
So in theory easy to retrot fit the actual unit....drill a port hole for a stainless hatch and you can reach down thru to void to JUST get to the hull bottom (in the big cats its a long way down) ... then drill thru and fit again...
issue comes with the wiring then back up to helm... u need to think about where the conduit runs in your boat and can u get into that conduit since floor sealed now u can run it up.
I have water tight sealed bulk head chambers every 2 foot or so... u can see from build pic before floor went down and could not run cable under floor if I was retro fitting.... I have sealed conduit runs up both Port and starboard sides

P1070562.JPGDSC01386.jpg

Thanks Rex

Sorry to highjack your thread Ric.

[ric]

Orbital sanding.....

[ric]

I now understand why most factory built plate boats don't fully weld there framing!!! Its strong, but its going to take some effort to get a nice finish

[ric]

The quality of finish for the paint work will be determined by my patience and enjoyment of sanding.......

[CruiserV8100]

You've gone this far and put so much dedication into a great boat you might as well finish it off with a nice smooth lick of paint.

[ric]

Port side fairing is nearly completed. (pics are a few days old)

[ric]

nearly forgot to add the bow rail..
thanks to Paul for bending them up straight away too.

I am not usually a fan of big bow rails, but dam they are practical, this one sits mid thigh height so we can easily move around the bow area and always have somewhere to hold onto.