Thread: scaling down

The problem I've found is not the driving around stuff, as I haul long rigs all the time, but a ramp with a long enough inclined pad. The usual problem is the boat isn't ready to float off, before the rear most axle is falling off the end of the submerged portion of the ramp. If you've never experienced this with a long, heavy load, you don't know what fun truly is. I've found most ramps are about 30' (7.6 m) to 35' (8.9 m) long, in the water, which just isn't enough length for a 33' boat sitting on a trailer 2' above the water. This length boat will need a minimum of 40' (10.1 m) just to get the bottom wet, let alone floating. To feel comfortable about not ruining a trailer's running gear (axles, tires, breaks, etc.) you'll want 50' (12 to 13 m) of submerged ramp. This will account for small tides, waves and an uneven ramp (very common). This is the crux of the problem, identifying all the 12 meter ramps. A well maintained ramp will have a sign that says the "ramp stops here", but more often then not the ramp has nothing to suggest where the ramp actually ends.

Howdy Nemo,

Thinking simple has enormous benefits. I've lived in a two person tent for an eighteen month stretch. In reality it is not quite as restricting as a boat because you can always sit outside - often without getting a wet bum.

I can imagine myself making a lot of use of the 31ft Mundoo 2 version. It is a really simple and light boat. The Mundoo three really pushes toward most people's biases in terms of live aboard - in reality, as the others say, many bigger boats suffer from people stuffing a lot into them.

The narrow flat bottom hullform deals well with a short sharp chop that you get in Goolwa or on the lakes in a moderate day, but there are days where you wouldn't move from the river to the lake - the lakes here are quite dangerous if the wind blows up - but are fast enough to traverse quickly in good conditions to avoid the risk.

As long as two or three wave tops are under the boat they work fine, but if they are climbing up and falling off the backs they will hammer your into submission before the hull fails.

A lot of this is true of the Atkins boats too.

Considering a live aboard really means you will be staying in one place a lot of the time with occasional moves, then you can choose the right weather.

One point against a flat bottomed boat is that they can make a lot of noise when tied up. In a river there is not enough of a fetch to get waves that will make the boat noisy - or if there are they would make it uncomfortable in any boat because of rolling and bouncing around. On the Murray lakes you can either move to the river, find a little cove or tie up in the reeds around the lake when the conditions are such that the boat is noisy. It is not a serious problem because the boats are quite slender with a narrow bow, but once in a while you might have to put up with it.

Best wishes
Michael

Thanks Guys

great information.

I am really at very early stages of musing and thinking. (and drinking and sketching) Just beat (fingers crossed) cancer so priorities are all now different.

I have had a walk around a Mundoo that was (is) for sale on the Murray some where down stream of Murray Bridge ( NOt a navigator me!!) lovely, lovely looking boat and really good. Like the idea of long and narrow.

I have two boats on trailers already, so mocking up an extended draw bar to check ramps is easy. Mostly launching will be at Paynesville Vic which is a boat town and launches very large boats so I suspect the ramp there is OK (Global warming fixes Paynesville, some days the tide/wind combination floods the car park at the ramp to about 20 cm.)

As for simplicity, I design everything I do, from books to houses around the relevant industry standard sized materials so i get the message about that. (unfortunately I am also a bower bird, for our North Americans that's a bird that collects useless but pretty stuff)

If you recall Toad of Toad Hall (Wind in the Willows) falling in love with the next thing, I have to say I have just seen and fallen in love with "Gojira" Greenpeace's new ship (I would post a pic but don't know how) I also like the look of the Grumann avtracker, a folding aeroplane. Hmm

"there are few absolutely new ideas, just different combinations of old ones" Nemo

Hmmmm lots of dreaming to do. but a 22' by 5' main hull at W/L with folding wings and short amas and 7.5' fold back 'wave piercer' nose is at the front of the queue. Trails at about 25' overall for a boat that is 27' in the water
Gives a 6 to 1 L/B on water ratio which seems OK to me.
BUT
First clear the workshop
Dream and scheme
then the dory finish
Dream and scheme
then Hobart wooden boat in mid Feb 2011
then Goolwa wooden boat in late Feb.2011 with the dory
Then a small prototype one person run about a la Gojira
Launch that at Hobart/Goolwa 2013
then into it.
Also a Tubby tug and a GIS or raid in the mix somewhere.

"so much boat, so little time and money".

i can't figure out how i had time for paid work.


Nemo

Hi Nemo,

Firstly, well done with your battle withe the big "C", hopefully you are in full remission.

As to the rest of your post.
Mate you are surely dreaming.
Which I love.
If your local launching ramp can handle your boat requirements, as per the posts from PAR and myself, you have very few problems.

It comes down to you choosing a design.
The Mundoo, if you choose it is a good design given your stated criteria and there is plenty of local support for the design, if you choose to purchase those plans.

I look forward to hearing how you decide to go with your dreams..

Dreams keep all of us alive.

Enjoy a beer for me.

Paul.

Something similar to the Mundoo riverboats but a bit smaller at 22 by 8 feet?

Jolliboat

Ian

Folks

thanks for the info and thoughts

Certainly am thinking in plywood sheet sizes but simple has evaded me (grin)

ian i suspect the jolliboat plans shown would be a little 'bargie' for some of the planned waters but it sure is a simple 'cube'.

Nemo

G/Day Nemo.
Are you the bloke that did the "Duck Flat" boat building course a few years ago ?.
To trailers.
My Grey Seal Huon Seal is 22 ft long , and has a draught of 2ft 6 . Sitting on a trailer , it needs to get pretty deep before it floats.
And you will find when you get "out there" that there is often a big bank of sand , pushed up by 600hp outboards pushing up on to their trailers.
My procedure is to back down , till my back wheels of the tow vehicle are almost in the water , chock the wheels on the trailer , then take out the drawbar extension , which is about 20 ft , hook it to the trailer , and tow vehicle , take out the chocks , then keep pushing.
If I really want to show off , I'll do the pushing forward , that is I've got a tow ball on the bullbar.
I have also seen a trailer with an extendable drawbar running the length of the trailer , but you would have to be careful with the ramps you use , with that one.
Went a round with the Big C eh ?, and won !. Good for you mate !.
Regards Rob Johnson

Howdy,

Yes, you are that Nemo and that Rob who both came to the boatbuilding school.

Best wishes
MIK

Rob

I sure am the Nemo from the Hindmarsh Island Boat building course. What a great time, not the least the camaradarie at the Murray-mouth house, the Andrew Garrett sparkling red and, for an old foredeckie, sleeping on a pile of sails in a shed.

My recollection is that you were buiding a PD for the dam at home that you were going to launch using an ox/Shire horse team so I am bemused that you know about 600 horsepower sand ridges (grin)

That half finished dory i was building has been on hold and is about to be crash completed. (tho' it already holds the world speed record for dories, 201k across the Narracorte plain at 6am assisted by a red MX6, now that's dopey driving.)

nice to hear from you
Oh by the way I'm launching the dory at Goolwa Wooden boat late Feb
Nemo

Yes , I was going to say something about that Dory being the fastest in the country , by a long shot !.
And you haven't finished your boat either ! , Jeez , what a couple of slackers !.
MIK will throw a party , I'm sure , when they are completed. !.
Probly not as good as those "talk fests" at the Murray Mouth , lots of grog drank , and BS spread there !.
Now when you came across to Goolwa , leave a couple of days early , come via the Princes Hwy , and pull in to my place , half way between Port Fairy and Portland , for a spell , and maybe some sailing.
HOPEFULLY , I'll have my Grey Seal back in the water by then , and the PDR in the space occupied by the big boat now.
Ya never know , miracles sometimes do happen , and that might be finished too !.
Anyway , good to hear from you !.
Regards Rob J.