[saqa]

Lamb curry and rice first, then downsizing the pics so I can upload them at our @#$% slow internet speeds She got wet but I didnt I am happy the flare I put in when drawing the lines worked. Was getting on sunset so not the best pics

 

[saqa]

TooBads in Fiji 012 721 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 709 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 711 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 712 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 713 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 725 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 728 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 738 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 741 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

 

[saqa]

TooBads in Fiji 012 750 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 752 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 753 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

I played with the three trim settings on the motor. Had it out in the previous pics, these are in the middle hole. Seems like the best one, boat is flater and with a lot less wake. Dont know if it is getting full on the plane but seems to be moving well for an 8hp. Crossed my own wake and didnt bother the boat, very soft ride crossing wake. Had two up later on when I went to moor the boat at a private landing where she will live for the next couple of weeks while I take her out daily. With two lost a touch of speed and felt the higher trim hole might have worked better. Manual trim adjustment sucks!
TooBads in Fiji 012 754 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

Arm out
TooBads in Fiji 012 755 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

TooBads in Fiji 012 761 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 762 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr
TooBads in Fiji 012 763 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

Turning circle
TooBads in Fiji 012 765 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

 

[saqa]

Have plans for a picnic day tomoz at a local resort which has a nice sandy beach. I can then take the mrs and the lil one for a ride from there and take some better pics

 

[LeoNYC]

Awesome skiff !! Been watching this project since day one and im blown away by how nice it turned out !! Now for that first boated fish pic to seal the deal , great job !

 

[t-astragal]

Congrats! I know you are proud and excited.

 

[CDB]

Very nice. I think I need to get my garage cleaned out. I have always wanted to build my own boat. I have a degree in Naval Architecture so I should know what I'm doing from the structual/design side of things, just not so much on getting the design from paper to reality. But it will be fun to learn.

 

[Popfly]

Saqa,

You make that boat look tiny!.... Great job sir, time to get out & catch some fish!

 

[redneck_billcollector]

Outstanding! Great job, there is no way in the world that I could do anything like that, you sir have a lot of talent.

 

[DenisB]

She handles the water well Rohit
Did you adjust the motor trim a little in the latter pics , seems to have achieved a better hull attitude .
You must be very pleased with the outcome.

Now for some blood on that nice green paintwork..................it ain't a fishing boat until it is wearing some battle scars.

 

[saqa]

Very nice. I think I need to get my garage cleaned out. I have always wanted to build my own boat. I have a degree in Naval Architecture so I should know what I'm doing from the structual/design side of things, just not so much on getting the design from paper to reality. But it will be fun to learn.

Mate, with your degree you are way ahead of the rest of us. I am currently trying to grasp the maths and ratios on designing a 30' cat. Its a long study

Saqa,

You make that boat look tiny!.... Great job sir, time to get out & catch some fish!

Dennis keeps dropping hints about some big Fijian bloke! Lol I used to be 20kg bigger 3yrs ago! I might get a few more knots if I lose some blubber

She handles the water well Rohit
Did you adjust the motor trim a little in the latter pics , seems to have achieved a better hull attitude .
You must be very pleased with the outcome.

Now for some blood on that nice green paintwork..................it ain't a fishing boat until it is wearing some battle scars.

Cheers mate. Yeah, from around the arm out pic or so its trimmed down one slot

A number of things I would change if I had to build another like her. I made the hull long and slender for some rowing action. Positive is that helps at displacement speeds and the boat just glides along even with two up with motor ticking unlike a broader boat made for easy planning. Negative is that with the slender hull it heels more then I like if I have to bring my bulk over the gunnels to more aft to fore. The change would be instead of a console attached to the sole, I would have a post mounted steering wheel. I think the boat as is can be made hugely stable easily by converting it to a stabilised monohull by attaching pods to the sides of the back third of the boat. I can do this by bolting side pod to the main hull skin to skin with a 100mm spacer block. The pods of course sleek and matching in looks to the boat. I havent quite worked out if a planning type or displacement type pot bottom be better

 

[DenisB]

How many times do we say it :-
everything is a compromise..................you can't have everything
We talked about beam , one or two solid Fijians,& stability in the early posts in the thread.
I seem to recollect that part of the beam decision was what would get out the door of the "construction site" readily.
Now that you are outside adding pods is a viable approach

I would be inclined towards something like the outer hulls of a trihull giving a continuouswaterline edge (rather than a spacer, where lines can get caught up inside the outer hull)
& some depth cutting the water to maximise buoyancy

IF necessary to better handle two solid crew you can extend those pods past the transom.
You need to get your crew onboard to see stability & reserve buoyancy with crew leaning over to land those big GT & mackeral you are going to catch

 

[saqa]

G'day mate, as always, I really appreciate your input. What I have is PVC fabric sheet in white. I have enough to make a pair of pods with triangular transoms i.e. three panels , a pair forming the sides and one panel forming the top plus a transom panel. I can model and cut it using the 'Hulls' proggie. I can stitch it using upholstery thread. I have a pair of inflatable bladders I can place in em

I have enough fabric to make 6' long pods with 10" beam and 10" height

 

[madday]

Have plans for a picnic day tomoz at a local resort which has a nice sandy beach. I can then take the mrs and the lil one for a ride from there and take some better pics

congrats man.... should be very happy with the result....
just don't forget life jacket, especially for the little one.....

and more pics please....

 

[Stumblefish]

Harrumph!!!

 

[pompeypat]

Launched one year & one day from your first post...nice work Saqa

 

[saqa]

Thanks fellas

Today didnt go as planned. Few bugs to iron out. The old motor didnt want to start. Was not fun in the hot sun. Finally started when I squirted some petrol into the spark chamber. Ran very rough and turns off on dropping throttle. I need to sort this out

Also the cable steering system that I had cobbled together played up today. The cable I ran was too skinny and would get caught on one of the pulleys. Need to step the diameter up

Tomoz is a trouble shooting day

On the positive side. When it did get going I got to learn more of the sea keeping abilities of the hull. The bay was in white caps today with a 20+ knot blowing. With two up she was nice and easy ride and fairly dry in most travel directions. Also found that she doesnt really need stabilising pods while traveling under power. At rest she is a more tippy then I like if I lean on a gunnel with my 100kg frame. She travels best with driver and passenger seated where I placed console. When the steering effed up, I had to use the tiller sitting on the rear deck. The ride was still not bad but way below the quality of the allocated seating. It was a positive for me to see that what I design on the computer screen translates well on the water and a good confidence booster to attempt bigger and better projects

The motor is an old Mariner 8hp made by Yamaha back in the mid 90s sometime. I haven't found out how to engage shallow drive on it yet. The trim and tilt is locked unless in forward gear too so haven't figured out how to tilt her up in neutral

 

[saqa]

G'day fellas
I showed the hardware I made for the canopy earlier. Here is the finished product. The back flap folds over the front and the whole thing is height and incline adjustable. If I can sort out the motor tomoz then will be spending a day out on the water to see if the canopy is a keeper
TooBads in Fiji 012 782 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

Some pics from today
If any of you have been to Volivoli in Rakiraki, Fiji then this area might be familiar. My inlaws farm is at the apex of the bay. Volivoli Beach Resort, home to the boat "Half Cast" which offers GT charters run by the resort is at the northern tip. There is a private mooring half way in between belonging to one of the locals who was kind enough to let me use it for the next few weeks. I left the boat there yest eve after her first wetting. The plan for today was to drop the mrs and the lil one at the resort and then her cousin and I would go back to the mooring and and take the boat to go join them

Here is the boat at the mooring seen from the resort driveway up the hill at he start of the bay. That bit is in the lee and well protected from the prevailing winds. Was a relief to spot the boat floating lazily in calm water with the 20 knot+ blowing across the bay. Leaving home earlier in the day I could picture all sorts of scenarios from the boat sitting on the bottom flooded to hanging on the breakwall to missing altogether

TooBads in Fiji 012 793 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

Lil one having some sand time back at the resort waiting almost three hours for us to arrive. Mrs forgot to take her phone so we couldnt let them know of the dramas

TooBads in Fiji 012 817 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

The mrs is pretty cluey and used the 60x optical zoom on our camera to keep tabs on us anyway. Here is us half way across the bay having our motor troubles

TooBads in Fiji 012 819 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

Finally got her running and making our way accross

TooBads in Fiji 012 820 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

Here is a lil vid of us arriving at the resort and slowing down for the mooring area
https://flic.kr/p/ppve8n

TooBads in Fiji 012 826 by jonny.toobad, on Flickr

TooBads in Fiji 012 827 by https://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]/]jonny.toobad, on Flickr

 

[madday]

saqa,
congrats for nice day man....

and i noticed many times panga appeared in your pics.... isnt it quite reliable for offshore fishing to distant reef...???
in bali island, we have a lots of yamaha panga that will plane with only 40HP loaded with 8-10 person.... quite a design....

 

[CDB]

You might want to experiment with some ballast to address the tippiness. Weight placed low, on the centerline will lower your center of gravity and should help stabilize the boat, to a point. Do you have access to cinder blocks or other heavy weights that you can measure the weight placed in the boat? What I'm thinking is find a nice quiet area with no waves. Mark your water line fore, aft and amidships. Then take your weights and put them dead center. You will probably need about 500 KG or preferably about 1000 kg. Then load the boat in the center, move the weight forward, move the weight aft. Mark your waterline each time to see how it affects the trim and overall displacement. This will help you several ways. One it will give you a good idea how much weight the vessel can carry, how it reacts to the weights and where to put them (i.e. passengers in the future) for your trim characteristics. You can also experiment with ballasting. Put some weight on the centerline. Then place about 150-200 KG as close to the gunnel as you can, or even build a platform to rest on the gunnel and gradually add weight. Mount a pendulum on the centerline and you can measure the angle of the list as you add weight. You can also play with the ballast on the centerline and see how/if that improves the stability with an off center weight. Basically you are performing a modified inclining test on the boat. It should really help you with coming up with the best configuration for gear and passengers. If you want more info on actually running calculations and such I can dust off some of my old textbooks and come up with some basic formulas that should be helpful for you.