Building of the new Riptide platey **it finally floats**

[rando]

Really coming together nicely,cant wait to see the end result,
Thanks for a great thread.

[Michael Sharp]

Hi Greg, she looks like she going to be a cracker, I just built a 6.3 cuttty from plate alloy boats Aust out of perth by a bloke called Swzarts designe. And I can tell you It was the best and the hardest thing I have ever done. The concertration and the attention to detail had to spot on. I powered the boat with 175 FS Suzi, and mate it hammers, my fuel is only 250lts but it's 5mm bottom 4mm all over, hard top and deck cover, comes in around 2100kg. I have v19c with a 140 fs suzi on it, and mate by going Suzi you will be soooo greatful.
I started fishing D.I.P about 4 years ago, as i mainly fish the bunker groups, and just brough a new colour sounder, I missed your talk at the boat show and was wondering if there was any way to get your info of D.I.P and sounding for reds. Thanks heeps Greg, and keep on top of that new boat, I bet your there every day hard to stay away I know. Thank again for whatever you can do.

[Blackened]

G'day

I was @ riptide on friday and I have to hand it to dave for those bollards, and your polishing work. Simply spectacular

Dave

[Reefmaster]

Kiwi
It's hard to give an accurate figure but for something similar to what I have just got done for hotwork only would come around in $28,000. ( this includes all alloy work which is completely sanded/ground back ready for paint or unpainted) This may vary depending on the extra custom work done so it may come out a fair bit cheaper or dearer.

As for a complete finished price goes well that all depends on motor, electronics, trailer, paint etc and if you do things yourself but it would come to $80,000 pretty easily for a well finished boat. The boats aren't the dear part but everything else that goes with it is.


Michael
Will send you a PM soon about DI reds.


Dave
I think the boys thought I was crazy just asking for bollards like them but after spending two days grinding, shaping, sanding and polishing them I reckon they think I'm a nut case now. But gee they came up looking like fully molded stainless steel ones. They are dirty as now because everyone just has to touch them



I have been slack and have heaps of pics to put up. Picked it up on the weekend and it's now home. Came out unreal but the huge job of painting and fitout begins. Custom alloy trailer built by Riptide gets started on next week which I can't wait for.

Pics coming soon.

Regards,
Greg

[Awesome]

Bloody hell Greggy thats one Awesome boat mate. I wanta see it with my own eyes.
Would love to catch up with you & Critter & kids sometime.
Keeps the pic's coming.

[Blackened]

They are dirty as now because everyone just has to touch them

G'day

Greg, I wasn't game!!! honest!!

Dave

[Reefmaster]

Hey Steveo we too would like to catch up soon and what better excuse then to come and have a look at the boat.





Righto haven't got some of the photo's of few good features in the boat but will get them this weekend.







The before and after shots of the rear bollards. I thought I would just clean them up a little and after two days worth of work you could say I got a little carried away.

[Reefmaster]

looking at the transom area.

A lot of thought went into this area to make the most of the space and to also help eliminate gear sitting on the deck floor and in the cabin whilst keeping it very practical also.

Pic3- shows the middle door (will be padded) which is now hinged and has folding legs to quickly fold down when not in use. You gotta keep the crew happy and with amount of driving/sounding I do I thought it was a good investment.

Pic4 - Instead of having plastic access hatches in the inner transom to access the batterys and other components I thought it would be something different to access them from the bottom centre stoarge area via the swing seat arrangement. Dave made up fantastic sliding cradles that pull into the centre section (pics coming soon) This gave for a great flat looking transom while still being practical.

[Reefmaster]

curved bait board not only looks good but made it possible to access and see the contents in the large bait esky below it.

The combing in front of the bait board was made to extend into the boat a little to reduce the risk of your feet coming out from under you from the thickness of the padded seat on the middle swinging door. This also made it possible to make two compartments for knifes, pliers etc.

[liltuffy]

Hey Greg, good to see the thread. I'm still running around in the old V-Sea off DI and haven't seen you around up there lately, the fishing especially on the snapper has been excellent the last tweve months - when the weather has co-operated. Reading different threads from you I have to congratulate you on the kids etc, looks like your beach launching days in the lagoon are well and truly over.

Mate that boat looks bloody unreal, I'm really jealous and would love to have something similar, so would a lot of other people by the numer of viewers on your post.

Enjoy it and hope to see you on the beach again soon.

Cheers, Craig

P.S. I'm keen to hear more on your red storoes as well.

[Reefmaster]

Rounded seat boxes were made with hinged lids for storage of a cooker food etc while the back of the seat boxes has a large flush aluminium door that will be hinged with a latch. The drivers side has an anchor box bulit into it (not yet pictured) that slides in and out when in use. (complete anchor system fits including 300mm foam ball) The passenger side will house tackle boxes etc


Half in- half out feet rests where made really well and this reduces the chances of hitting your shins as can happen with the full sized foot rests while taking up very little room in the cab. The outer area between the cab and the seat boxes was sheeted and a hole cut to make a good little storage area of what is usually a wasted space. (storage area has inner shelf 3/4 of the way down to make it possible to reach anything down low in the pocket)

[Reefmaster]

Construction of the cab was a very important part as a good majority of plate boats look out of proportion when glass screens are applied due to various reasons. I was lucky over the past year or so to take a lot of photos of other boats and cut and shut them on my computer until I worked out what made them look good and in proportion. Using this a starting base Dave stayed back with me late one night while he constructed the general frame work and cabin side sheets until we thought it looked right.

The main changes to make it look in proportion was raising the cabin side sheets up 50mm, keeping the roof height down to a minimum (which riptide do anyway) which made the front and side windows look smaller in height but much longer giving the cabin a longer look overall and not stumpy. The next biggest thing was getting a good angle/rake on the front window supports and extending the centre support as far forward as possible without making the front cabin of the boat look to short. We extended the very front of the cabin area forward on the gunnels to compansate for this as well as making it a lot more rounded for a better look also.

Usually when using clears on the side windows you can curve them to give for a better look but since we were going glass sliders on the side windows this was not possible so he made the strip of alloy that runs around the hard top curved to
a nice point around where the end of the cab meets the hardtop whilst running another curved strip from the top end of the cab to the hard top giving it a sleek look.

The hardtop with 8 rod holders was also extended back to give shade while in a good fishing position but still plenty of room to get well clear of it when need be.

[Reefmaster]

Before and after shots of the dash. Wrap around dash will house flush mount gps, sounder and engine gauges. Turned out really well and just another good example of Riptides workmanship. The left side on top of the dash has a built in glove box with a hinged flush mount alloy lid.

[Reefmaster]

some pics of it still sittng on the ground. It's got a very mean look from the front and Riptides signature cut out on the cabin windows makes it look like a mean eye.

[Reefmaster]

Dave's dad was nice enough to give us his trailer to get it home while Dave makes an alloy one over the next week or so. It looks big on a trailer and even got the oldman to do some modeling in front of it to give an idea of size.

Not a bad size for Riptides advertised 6.4m boat. It's 7m from bow to stern (not including sprit) and 7.6m from the tip to rear of the transom.

More pics to come soon.