Thread: Dayboat Launch

Howdy John,

Things to be aware of are that I don't think Electric power is really adequate for bad conditions yet. It just doesn't have the reserves of either power or hours of operation that internal combustion can provide. I've had some reasonable experience with electric power, and things continue to improve, but I don't think it is there yet if the conditions get nasty.

The bow of the boat is narrow to cut waves, so there will need to be a foredeck of some kind, which is good structurally. As are boxed in seats down each side plus a rear deck - the boxed in nose and tail add a lot of strength and stiffness to the structure. And being narrow the nose is not so much use anyhow. But foredeck could be reduced from the original open boat.

8ft beam does mean the bow will start to punish itself when the waves get up. The way these boats work is that they are fine forward, so they cut through the chop. A steep chop doesn't bother them much as there is not enough volume in the bow to start pitching. Good for usual river conditions.

8ft beam this type of hull would have to be around 40ft. if wanting more beam, the conventional methods of keeping the bow fine are to have a veed bottom - so you are starting to look at another boat. And there are a few. Some of Sam Devlin's boats might suit - they retain a good deal of the simple hull shell construction.

Really low cost construction is possible if you can keep the water and sun out of the boat when it is not in use.

I'm sorry this sounds a bit negative. The electric power is the biggest question mark. Maybe a careful choice of days can reduce this risk - but it is important to know even a small regular chop can increase hull drag by 30 or even 60 percent in some cases.

But I think what I am saying is that most aspects of what you are trying to achieve are reasonable with a somewhat different shaped hull - but there are some different designs around that still capture the easy build aspect.

I hope this is useful in framing the questions you need to think about when looking at different designs.

Best wishes
Michael Storer

Thanks Michael, for replying, and for such useful insights!

What is the capacity of your day boat launch, by the way? You mention six crew in your text, but this photo appears to show something like ten people on board! http://www.storerboatplans.com/Daybo...23Dayboat2.jpg

I'll second Mik's comments on electric power and add weight and range are the usual problems, assuming you have sufficient power, including reserve capacity.

I have issue with the idea of 10 - 12 people on a skinny 21' boat. The Day Boat appears to be in the 2,300 - 2,500 pounds of displacement range, though I don't have spec's, some simple math suggest so. 12 times 180 pounds per person is 2,160 pounds, which doesn't leave much for the boat. Even if it had 8' of beam, you'd pick up another half a ton of volume, but she'd still be a bit lacking in this regard. Lastly, having run a water taxi occasionally for boating events, are you sure you want that many people on a boat of this length. This is a lot and you can't breath or move around. 6 is a crowd on a boat of this size.

Thanks guys. OK, I've now got a hull so no need to build one: https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...35#post1849335

Thanks again!