plate boat design

[Chris Tucker]

But so so ugly expectably the Sea Adex. For me it's the Pelagic boats all the way, Ive been speaking to them about a 6.5m - 7m and nothing seems to be an issue they can and will pretty much build anything you want it just comes at a price. we spoke a lot about deadrise and he's answer was "when we design a new hull we always aim for the highset deadrise possible we can be somewhat restricted when going into survey but have a little more room to go up in deadrise under the rec boat standards". The only down side is they might not be making their stepped hull available to the recreational boating market
Ive been watching there 28 stepped hull build closely and from what ive been told from people operating there 6.5m Coastguard boats is that they have the ride sorted and rival some highly respected glass hulls.

Kingy there is a gentleman's agreement between Pelagic and Hammerhead that we won't use the "Continuous Keel Stepped Hull" concept used on the Hammerhead Dragonflies and Pelagic Coast Guard boats on pleasure boats for Pelagic. Working with multiple yards I have to try and keep everyone's products a little unique and Hammerhead had that one first. Dan can and will build you a boat with the more complicated hull geometry of his current project, performance will be marginally better but it will cost a little more and be a little less user friendly at the boat ramp.

[myusernam]

Wahoo, galeforce, hooker. Three 5m boats I have been in that have self draining decks and deep v's. I was looking at the AMM website last night. They had a 4.9 m CC. massively wide, long raked bow so that the waterline length is quite short, large reverse chines and they put the console forward! Do the people that build these boats go out in them? Even their big tournnament series which look nice are only 20deg. Is it also something to do with the absense of planing strakes? and beam must have a lot to do with it. A lot of these deep v glass boats are much narrower. Again Im not having a go personally, this is nationwide. And it's more obvious in the smaller boats.

[Chris Tucker]

Lack of planing strakes and/or more beam will always mean less deadrise for a given displacement.

[fishing111]

Personally I've never been a big rap for self draining decks as I've seen a few boats with crew standing in puddles all day because there obviously not high enough. IMO 2 little scuppers down the back are a bit of a gimmick and really only serve as a cleaning aid. To be fair dinkum they need to run right along the side of the boat to really be of any assistance if you caught a big amount of water.I'd prefer a lower centre of gravity in a trailer boat any day. (obviously with a good bilge or two)

[PB]

Wahoo, galeforce, hooker. Three 5m boats I have been in that have self draining decks and deep v's. I was looking at the AMM website last night. They had a 4.9 m CC. massively wide, long raked bow so that the waterline length is quite short, large reverse chines and they put the console forward! Do the people that build these boats go out in them? Even their big tournnament series which look nice are only 20deg. Is it also something to do with the absense of planing strakes? and beam must have a lot to do with it. A lot of these deep v glass boats are much narrower. Again Im not having a go personally, this is nationwide. And it's more obvious in the smaller boats.

I

I think one of the major points you are looking over is the boats built by the low volume builders are all customer driven at some point a client has come to them and specified exactly what they wanted and that's the product they end up with, It might not be your cup of tea and may not even be how the builder would design that boat but it's what the customer wanted. If for any reason your think it should be designed differently go to one of these builders and ask them to do it, remember it's your hard earned money you should be able to get the boat you want.
This is one of the main reasons I put very little info on my website the only boat we have built more than 1 of are our 580DF and the coastguard FRV's we always seem to start off with a previous built boat but always end up completely starting from scratch to give the customer exactly what they want

[Flex]

Id say the biggest reason is 99% of people who buy 5.5-6m plate/tinny aren't wanting to go offshore in 15knot winds where you need 24deg deadrise. They mostly head out in variable 5 knots where the 12-17 keeps the boat comfy at rest when fishing. A high deadrise boat isn't much fun to fish from honestly, adjust a testicle to far and your gunnel is nearly under water.

This is just my opinion, but if your a truly dedicated offshore fisho, then you'll be wanting a glass boat or a ally cat. There is no way a plate mono can keep up offshore against a decent glass mono or cat.
if you want a bit of an all rounder(like most 5-6m tinny's) then offshore ride is a compromise.

[PB]

This is just my opinion, but if your a truly dedicated offshore fisho, then you'll be wanting a glass boat or a ally cat. There is no way a plate mono can keep up offshore against a decent glass mono or cat.
if you want a bit of an all rounder(like most 5-6m tinny's) then offshore ride is a compromise.

I'd have to disagree with this as water has no idea if a hull is made from glass or ally, if you spend the time and the money you can replicate a glass hull in aluminium and get the weights the same also. Chris Tucker actually classes himself as a composite naval architect and has designed hulls for some of the leading boat builders in Aus, NZ, USA and across the globe. Is it harder to replicate a glass hull in alloy YES is it doable YES it is and we can now do it pretty efficiently with modern technology. On every new boat design I push Chris further and further with the hull shape and the results just keep getting better and better. Our hulls shapes are now way beyond what any Australian glass builder is currently doing and we really don't see then catching us any time soon.

[Flex]

while I agree the ally boats are getting much much better and there are a few models out there that ride well, Id say currently 99% aren't as good as glass. What are the advantages of making a ally boat the exact same shape and weight as a glass boat for an offshore rig? Generally ally is advantageous as you can get 1m more boat for the same weight as glass.

Ive never heard of a plate boat that would beat an Ok glass boat offshore?
Also I believe longevity is slightly on the side of glass when it comes to punching offshore in harsh conditions on a constant basis. While a lot of ally boats are wonderfully built(my mate has a hammerhead boat and its superb I must say) ally does corrode and if does crack can be tricky to fix. Compared to glass boat that can be fixed a little easier IMO.

I think if you wanted best of both worlds and ally cat is where its at. Unpainted of course..


But it depends how hard you are pushing your boat and for how long

[Luke G]

while I agree the ally boats are getting much much better and there are a few models out there that ride well, Id say currently 99% aren't as good as glass. What are the advantages of making a ally boat the exact same shape and weight as a glass boat for an offshore rig? Generally ally is advantageous as you can get 1m more boat for the same weight as glass.

Ive never heard of a plate boat that would beat an Ok glass boat offshore?
Also I believe longevity is slightly on the side of glass when it comes to punching offshore in harsh conditions on a constant basis. While a lot of ally boats are wonderfully built(my mate has a hammerhead boat and its superb I must say) ally does corrode and if does crack can be tricky to fix. Compared to glass boat that can be fixed a little easier IMO.

I think if you wanted best of both worlds and ally cat is where its at. Unpainted of course..


But it depends how hard you are pushing your boat and for how long

What glass boats are you talking about? There are a number of glass boats the ride less then average.

I've owned top ranking glass boats, ran in a heap of alis too. There are a number of glass boats that are shockers, same for aluminum.

I currently own a 7.5m custom plate boat that behaves and rides much better then all of the glass boats ive been in for its size range. Mines a one of a kind though, 22 degrees of deadrise at the transom, 2.5m beam, reverse chines etc. A qaulity built ali boat will weigh equal or more then a fibreglass boat the same length.

Personally I like ali better then glass for my use but thats personal preference.

[Flex]

are you saying your 7.5m ally boat rides better than a 7.5m equivalent formular, seafarer, contender, haines, Caribbean, striper.bass strait?

I'm not saying your boat isn't great by any means, I cant see how a 7.5m plate boat can weigh same as a 7.5m glass boat?

[Luke G]

I haven't been in a formula 233 or a offshore 24, I would have no hesitation running next to one to see the difference. Those 2 boats were on my short list when I had a glass boat, there's certainly nothing wrong with each of those hulls for offshore work. For the set up I wanted with a tower on the roof those hulls would not be sutible for my needs.

I have owned and spent lots of time on other glass boats and can say that my current boat would have no problems keeping up with them in the same conditions.

Its quite easy to weigh the same when you have lots of stringers and bulkheads and 6mm plate.

[PB]

are you saying your 7.5m ally boat rides better than a 7.5m equivalent formular, seafarer, contender, haines, Caribbean, striper.bass strait?

I'm not saying your boat isn't great by any means, I cant see how a 7.5m plate boat can weigh same as a 7.5m glass boat?

I will go as far to say yes, the Formula hull shape is a great 23 footer its the one that stands out but small cockpit for its size, narrow helm and shoulder to shoulder width at the transom. Never been on a contender but from what ive been told a great boat and not many in Aus not sure they even make a 7.5m anymore. As for the rest well yeah ill say no more. We have even designed and built boats for one of the above builders.
we are actually finding it very difficult to get a true 7m boat under 3.5 tonne on an ally trailer at the moment as I believe weight is one of the many key features to achieving a good ride along with a good deadrise and fine entry. to be honest if someone came to me a said they wanted to make it lighter so they can make it longer id tell them to go buy a BC or an NZ import or something like that.

[Noelm]

I guess what it all boils down to is... you can have a really deep V, and a skinny beam, and the boat will be great at speed in chop, or, you can have a flat bottom, wide beam (or a cat) and have super stability, but it's hard to have both, so we compromise, some go flatter and wider to make a better fishing platform, some go more V and get a better ride, but one thing is constant, the builder has to make money, so they tend to lean towards the majority of the market public, no use making the best boat in the world if you can't sell it, the mass produced boats have the biggest market share, followed by the "semi" custom like Barcrusher and so on, that rely on TV shows to make them the best boat ever, the last group is the full custom builder, usually dearer, but far better quality and workmanship, and built to suit the individual customer.

[GBC]

Flooded hull at rest ala smuggler will buy dead rise with beam. Really keen to see a plate boat that can genuinely run next to a formula/offshore/bass strait/Cootacraft outside of the Internet.

[fishing111]

to be honest if someone came to me a said they wanted to make it lighter so they can make it longer id tell them to go buy a BC or an NZ import or something like that.

PB With your comment above what is wrong with the Barcrushers/NZ imports? Are these boats falling apart due to not being built properly? Not having a dig, but I don't get the rabbit punch comment given unless there is something that they are not up to with regards to build quality. Are there bigger boats in the range not up to the job?