okcracoke 20 in nz

[boardmian]

Starting to look the part now Lance. Do you have an official plan for a cabin or are you going to design it yourself? Nice shot of the apprentice too.

[nzlance]

Hey thanks Hokey. I started out with all corners razor sharp until I sliced my knuckle open sanding the things, so I thought I had better play it safe and put a slight radius on all edges just for saftey sake. Like if you were to bang your knee or shin on that edge while climbing aboard after a swim or dive etc , things could get messy.

As far as cabin design goes, it definatly wont be a center consol. They dont tend to make great family boats with our weather. So Im going for tha caroliner express look which is basically a long slightly cambered deck from the bow to just past the half way point of the hull. Most seem to have the curved winscreen and side wings made from ply aswell. All this is probaly not the most practical design but the bow of the boat is quite high and with a step down created between the forward bunks reasonable headroom can be acheived.

A few of the main reasons for building like this are;

Shelter, a cabin, even if its low provides enough room for two full length bunks and a porta-pottie cut into the front section which has erned massive brownie points with Seanne (the better half)

Dry storage........ pretty self explainitry.

Gives a large flat deck up front which can be used to fish off as long as access there is properly built.

Saftey......... the one thing that really puts me off center consols is the thought of getting caught out when the weather turns nasty (we have all been there) and taking a bloody big wave over the bow. At least with a cabin structure it will deflect alot of water.

But the main reason is above all else is to try and enhance the lines of the hull by keeping cabin and windscreen as low and sleek as possible. I think Graham has done a great job of designing a beautiful boat which I dont want to destroy by tacking on a out of proportion cabin. In my eyes a long bow with raked curved winscreen tying into a low stern looks fantastic. Hopefully I can do the design justice.

[nzlance]

Not been doing a hell of a lot on the boat lately. Have been doing a long overdue renovation on house to keep the Mrs happy. So just been doing a small amount of filleting each night, which actually turned out to be very time consuming as there are a lot of corners. But it was a nice change from long boarding and sanding!

Started the internal glassing aswell. Two layers over the length of the chine. There were two layers over the outside of the chine also. All done with 10 oz double bias. Two layers sucks up alot of resin.... I doubt there will be any issues with strength. Its quite fiddly glassing around and up the inside of all the internal framing etc. Once done the whole shooting match will be covered up with a sheet of 9mm Gaboon and that too will be glassed aswell.

Under floor fuel tank and polystyrene for boyancey will be installed once glassing is complete.

[nzlance]

A couple more.

[nzlance]

Just about fiished underfloor glassing. A bit of a mission used nearly 20 litres of epoxy as I have brought the cloth right up to the top of all the stringers and frames.The plan also calls for all bottom panels to be two layers tabbed up the sides a few inches. Limber holes have been re-drilled along all the intersection points and along the bottom of the 'v' either side of the stem. The ply panel in the pics is the first bottom panel to support fuel tank. Limber holes are cut into each corner. The entire hull will be draining back to the stern where bilge pumps will take care of any water.

[nzlance]

The ply panels to form tank area are to be glassed in aswell. This is only the first one.

[nzlance]

Ok both fuel tank bottom panels glued in aswell as cabin bottom panel. They all have weep holes cut into the corners. Next step will be to fillet all corners then glass them. I placed the fuel tanks into place to check positions. The rear one only just fits....I mean I had to remove the strengthening gussets from the top of stem so the tank would fit in snugly.

The tanks are plastic 25 gallons or 96.5 litre each. Originally made for the sealegs amphibious boat company right here on Aucklands north shore. They had over 100 for sale. For some reason they commissioned Tempo to build a stack of them - only for Sealegs to not use them.

I dont have any experience in fitting fuel tanks. I was hoping to put a 150mm waterproof hatch above the filler on each tank so I dont have to run filler hoses and caps to the gunnels. ( The filler inlet is only just below the floor.... not much room for elbows etc. ) From there I wanted to connect the two seperate fuel ines to a tap so when one tank runs out, switch over to the other. Also where exactly is the best place to run the breather pipe? Im placing the fillers forward to allow maximum fuel capacity. (boats tend to sit lower in stern) Does the breather have to be taken well forward and as high as possible to allow for gas expansion? If so where exactly? The anchor well? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[nzlance]

Pics of floors and tanks.

[nzlance]

2 x 25 gallon Tempo tanks.

[hargrave]

Thanks a bunch, NZ Lance! I hope one day to build one of these, so I am examining all of your photos very closely. 50 gallons of fuel going to a 115 horse engine suggests tremendous range and endurance. Have you crunched any numbers? It just seems like a lot of gas. Keep up the good work!

A fellow builder from Maine.

[nzlance]

Yeah a SWS yamaha 115 is surposed to return around 1km per litre, tanks hold around 193 litres that = long way. Im not really hoping to have to fill both tanks every time I go fishing as petrol here at moment is $2.11/litre. The second tank is more of a reserve backup. Its nice to know if you are a long way out and the weather turns bad that you arnt gonna run out if juice punching home through a head sea. At the very least the empty tank will act as a boyancy chamber if things turn pear shaped!

[nzlance]

Dry fitted floor over weekend.

[nzlance]

steering helm and bunks.

[Michael Newhouse]

Great job nz lance! Inspiration to all who are thinking about taking a project like this on! I like the cabin aspect. I was thinking of a walk- through windshield version as well as a motor "sea drive" bracket rather than having it directly on the transom with splash well and all. My take on the fuel tanks is that they should be vented aft as far possible. Don't want fumes in your face! And U.S. Coast Guard requires a blower on below deck "permanent" type fuel tanks. I don't know what your local marine regulations are on marine fuel on board vessels. But anyway, looking forward to seeing it underway! Best, M.

[Michael Newhouse]

Forgot to ask! Is this model able to be rigged with a self bailing interior cockpit? Thanks!

[nzlance]

Thanks Tumblehome. I managed to track down Perko fuel filler caps that also takes the vent pipe, so any petrol that is pushed out during the thermal expansion cycle that tanks go through will end up back in the tank. It looks like USA is about to have some laws implimented by EPA reguarding the diurnal cycle of tanks. In other words they are no longer to be vented into the atmosphere. A holding canister will have to be fitted along side the fuel tank to take vented gas. A bit like the overflow bottle next to the radiator in your car. That should sort out global warming hopefully.

The cockpit floor is high enough to be self bailing, but the dury is out wether or not just to just go with a bilge sump and a couple of pumps.. (one as a back up) Im not sure I want holes cut in the back of my boat. The boat will be beach launched alot which usually means waves hitting the stern when rolling off the trailer and I also do alot of drift fishing with a sea anchor which also allows waves and slop to hit the back of the boat. Im worried about the self bailing venturies letting in more water than they let out. Now that the hull is no longer a cc its probaly not quite so important as the deck and windscreen will deflect most of the water comming at you.

[Michael Newhouse]

I'm the same way about drilling holes in a boat, but If the interior floor is high enough with a full load then there shouldn't be too much going on back there plus some one-way scupper flaps. Just curious. Need to have the pumps anyway! I hope you never have to take one over the bow!

I took a big Hatteras wake over the transom of my Boston Whaler last January. I'm sorry, unsinkable or not, out in the ocean with Freezing water up to your ankles, the water never leaves the boat fast enough!

I spoke to B&B today about getting a kit. We'll see?

[hargrave]

Hey Lance, a common solution to your self draining floor up here in Maine is to drill holes sized for rubber plugs that cam shut. They have a lever that squeezes them when flipped, making them larger, plugging the hole. These can be purchased in the US at any decent boat shop, and are common equipment on dinghys, aluminum skiffs, etc.I presume you have them in NZ as well. When you get to the boat, you install the plugs, preventing water from entering while you are using the boat. At the end of the day, you remove them, allowing rain to flow out of the boat. They are so common here, that I always assumed that anyone building this boat would install them without a second thought. I certainly plan to. I haven't looked, but I am sure that both West Marine and Defender carry them. You probably already know about these. Hope this helps.

[hokeyhydro]

Hey Lance, a common solution to your self draining floor up here in Maine is to drill holes sized for rubber plugs that cam shut. They have a lever that squeezes them when flipped, making them larger, plugging the hole. These can be purchased in the US at any decent boat shop, and are common equipment on dinghys, aluminum skiffs, etc.I presume you have them in NZ as well. When you get to the boat, you install the plugs, preventing water from entering while you are using the boat. At the end of the day, you remove them, allowing rain to flow out of the boat. They are so common here, that I always assumed that anyone building this boat would install them without a second thought. I certainly plan to. I haven't looked, but I am sure that both West Marine and Defender carry them. You probably already know about these. Hope this helps.

I like the plugs with a T handle one screws tight to bulge plug and keep it in place. One can also get plastic plugs w/threaded fittings. Those plugs have little ears to keep them from going astray when loose.

[Michael Newhouse]

They also have the clear external cup with a ball in it that when water comes in contact with, the ball floats covering the hole. I'd prefer scupper flaps if they are above the water line but the ball works well as long as no bilge gunk or garbage is interfering with the balls seal. My experience