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

[Reefmaster]

Hi Ausfishes,
The process of looking for a new plate boat has been on going for sometime with so many manufactures all offering something different and sometimes unique. It soon came to my attention that it was hard to find a good all round boat that had everything I wished for in a good custom built boat. While some brands had their good points they soon were let down with equally as many bad points whether this be in the ride, stability, build strength/quality or general layout. The boat in mind had to offer a good ride, superior stability, user friendly deck, spacious cabin layout, strong build quality, full length under floor air tanks, self draining deck, lot’s of storage areas, large underfloor kill tank/esky, large underfloor fuel capacity, large transom area to house built in live bait tank, fibre glassed bait and food eskies, Batteries, fuel filter, tackle boxes and finally great after sales service. Sound easy well I think not because out of the many plate boat builders out there most have a good percentage of the above missing from their package. It wasn’t until I looked at Riptide Alloy Boats that I found an honest good all round boat that boasted all the criteria I wished for including a 2.5mtr beam which makes a huge difference in overall boat size and something many other manufactures don’t have. Riptide owner and genuine top guy Dave Claussen has been building boats all his life and worked for many other plate boat builders in Queensland before deciding he could offer his own custom built plate boat business which has now been running for over 10 years. It’s a small operation of 4 people that Dave prefers to have which enables him to build and oversee every boat that goes out the door ensuring that they are built 100% right. Not bad quality assurance if you ask me. The boat of choice is a 6.4m (7.0m length overall not including bow sprite) cuddy cab hardtop 5mm bottom 4mm sides and after some great information and advice given by Suzuki will be powering it by either a Suzuki DF200 or DF225 four stroke. The worlds best four stroke (and way better than an etec ) The main objective of the build is to have a place for everything used during fishing trips and to keep a clean deck space whilst making the boat practical with a good look. I will attach pics on a continual basis of the build process to give people a better look of how one is put together and hopefully give others some ideas who might be getting or looking at getting their own custom boat built also. Please feel free to ask any questions and enjoy.

Regards,
Greg


Pics 1 & 2 - Basic shell has been welded together using various jigs and tensioners to create the shapes.

Pic3- Some of underfloor structural work tacked in. Bulkheads every 600mm with various stringers running along the floor.

Pic4- A closer look at the under floor structural work before the inner side sheets are welded in to completed two full boat length buoyancy chambers which are pressure tested and have soapy water run over every weld to ensure the tanks are 100% sealed.

[Reefmaster]

Pic 1 showing some of the braces and supports used under the hull to prevent any unwanted distortion in the bottom sheet.

Pic2 supports on the transom.

Pic3 showing brace running along the side sheet to avoid distortion when the floor sheet is being welded in.

[Reefmaster]

Pic 1 Floor sheets welded in and centre hull sections sheeted off into sections. The back section will house a fuel tank of a minimum 350 ltrs. The section in front of that will be for a self drain (bunged also) kill tank which I will fibre glass and turn into an esky. The section forward of that is the step down cabin area and finally the area in front of that is a deep storage area which will be under the bunks.

Pic 2 Another looking back at the transom area.

Pic3 closer look at the front cabin area before the bunk frame work goes in.

[megafish71]

Looks good Greg, I hear you about how hard it is to find a builder to suit all of your requirement, looked long and hard myself before deciding on a builder. Are you having them complete the boat for you, or are you fitting it out yourself? Keep us posted.

Here"s the link to my build if your interested.http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...d.php?t=123414

Sharing in your excitement.

Cheers Ron

[Tangles]

Ill be following this thread, love seeing a build thread, looks like a winner , so whats the estimated BMT weight?

cheers
mike

[Baitball]

Hi Ausfishes,
The process of looking for a new plate boat has been on going for sometime with so many manufactures all offering something different and sometimes unique. It soon came to my attention that it was hard to find a good all round boat that had everything I wished for in a good custom built boat. While some brands had their good points they soon were let down with equally as many bad points whether this be in the ride, stability, build strength/quality or general layout. The boat in mind had to offer a good ride, superior stability, user friendly deck, spacious cabin layout, strong build quality, full length under floor air tanks, self draining deck, lot’s of storage areas, large underfloor kill tank/esky, large underfloor fuel capacity, large transom area to house built in live bait tank, fibre glassed bait and food eskies, Batteries, fuel filter, tackle boxes and finally great after sales service. Sound easy well I think not because out of the many plate boat builders out there most have a good percentage of the above missing from their package. It wasn’t until I looked at Riptide Alloy Boats that I found an honest good all round boat that boasted all the criteria I wished for including a 2.5mtr beam which makes a huge difference in overall boat size and something many other manufactures don’t have. Riptide owner and genuine top guy Dave Claussen has been building boats all his life and worked for many other plate boat builders in Queensland before deciding he could offer his own custom built plate boat business which has now been running for over 10 years. It’s a small operation of 4 people that Dave prefers to have which enables him to build and oversee every boat that goes out the door ensuring that they are built 100% right. Not bad quality assurance if you ask me. The boat of choice is a 6.4m (7.0m length overall not including bow sprite) cuddy cab hardtop 5mm bottom 4mm sides and after some great information and advice given by Suzuki will be powering it by either a Suzuki DF200 or DF225 four stroke. The worlds best four stroke (and way better than an etec ) The main objective of the build is to have a place for everything used during fishing trips and to keep a clean deck space whilst making the boat practical with a good look. I will attach pics on a continual basis of the build process to give people a better look of how one is put together and hopefully give others some ideas who might be getting or looking at getting their own custom boat built also. Please feel free to ask any questions and enjoy.

Regards,
Greg


Pics 1 & 2 - Basic shell has been welded together using various jigs and tensioners to create the shapes.

Pic3- Some of underfloor structural work tacked in. Bulkheads every 600mm with various stringers running along the floor.

Pic4- A closer look at the under floor structural work before the inner side sheets are welded in to completed two full boat length buoyancy chambers which are pressure tested and have soapy water run over every weld to ensure the tanks are 100% sealed.

I think the criteria you have been looking for in the boat you want could easily be be met by a number of plate manufacturers.
I'm glad you have settled on the boat you want to buy for your purposes, however this sounds to me like a discounted boat advert for Riptide to me.

[megafish71]

I think the criteria you have been looking for in the boat you want could easily be be met by a number of plate manufacturers.
I'm glad you have settled on the boat you want to buy for your purposes, however this sounds to me like a discounted boat advert for Riptide to me.

Believe me, its not as easy as one might think, alot of builders have things their way or no way.

Ron

[Reefmaster]

Hi Ron,
Foxy pointed out your boat post that I somehow missed and I was hoping you would have posted more pics of your beast but I guess it's a little hard seeing your so far away from her. Mate I'm getting the complete hull done then doing paint and fitout myself which I must say I'm not looking forward too.

Mike it's hard to say but I reckon fully loaded ready for a trip it would have to come in around 2800kg. Will weigh on a bridge when finished.

Ahhh Baitball
As Ron has stated it is not all that easy to find what you want from most builders and I wouldn't have said it unless I really meant it. I can assure you that at no stage was putting this thread on Ausfish part of any deals with Riptide. This thread is not all about a name but more so to give members some interest of a boat being built and to help and give others ideas who may be going through the same thing. Gee I wish that others had done more of it over the past because it's hard to find ideas during a build process.

Regards,
Greg

[TCSunCoast]

Reefmaster, thanks for the post.
I want to have an order placed by the end of the year and I am using this forum to get valuable feedback. I am even considering buying a second hand boat of the same make to help me decide on tdifferent things and to use over the next twleve months just to be sure (and get more fishing in). I look forward to more posts.

Baitball, mmmmmmmmmmm there's always one. I believe the purpose of this website is for exactly what reefmaster is doing, letting his experience be known to others.

Expect to see many photo's including the brand of my new boat plus good and bad comments once the time comes.

Tony

[PinHead]

You getting flames on yours, Greg ???????

[mirage]

You sure it's not a 40 footer Greg? That shot with you in the boat, it looks huge!!
Keep the photos up, Cheers.

[Vindicator]

Mirage, no Greg is actually a midget!
Looks like shes certainly going to be a nice one Greg. Looking forward to seeing the end product. Will be watching your posts closely. I like the idea of fiberglassing the kill tank, has given me an idea of doing my own as I'm sick of always adding ice to it. Any idea of when she'll hit the water?

Cheers
Kezza

[chris_s]

Great to see her coming along Greg. And keep the photo's coming as well.

As for your post and what others have said, i totally agree with you. This is probably the best place to do a little homework, and I myself have said similar in my posts regarding my Riptide.

After all, isn't this the boating forum.

[pilchardjones]

top post greg,
keep up the good work.
i know when i was having my goldstar plate boat built (in perth) i was forever pestering the builder for more photos as i was unable to visit during construction. keep up the good work as i am sure a lot of readers will be interested in the process.
it looks like being a very nice boat.
i have found that you just can't beat the 2.5m beam plate boats for sheer room and fishing cockpit space.
steve

[polky]

Keep the pics coming Greg, I,am abot 12mths away from getting a 6mtr platey built, have already picked up on one of your thoughts. Polky.