Just Dreaming....

[gazza2006au]

Like this Noel? https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/tewa...ale/1185442870

[EdBerg]

If you are planning on building a female mold then you would need to devote a lot of time, effort and money to do so. You would also need to be doing it with the view of going into commercial production to recoup your start up costs of the molds. Much cheaper to just go and buy a boat that meets most of your criteria. If you are primarily after a wide beam for the length I would advise you to go and look for designs for a catamaran based hull.

As a one off boat for yourself, there are plenty of places you could get the plans for building one ranging from Wooden, GRP, Foam sandwich and Aluminium.
But you need to be aware that there are lots of start up cost involved before you could even begin, some of them are:

1) Place to build it.
2) Tools
3) Plan costs
4) Good building skills for the type of material you are working with, if Aluminium, do you have experience welding it, do you have a good welder capable of welding Aluminium and I don't mean a welder from the likes of Bunning etc.
5) If Fiberglass, will your neighbours or council prevent you from building in the suburbs. Do you have lots of experience in laminating GRP. Noise factor from grinding. Whilst anyone can laminate with some basic instruction it is also so easy to stuff up the boat if you don't have good experience. I used to repair boats for a living and some of the major stuff ups I have seen are unbelievable by people taking shortcuts or by not really knowing what they are doing.

A lot of people do build boats for themselves but it is not a cheap process in time and effort and more importantly money!

So you got to ask yourself do you really want to go through all this for a one off boat?

[Lovey80]

What are we talking for female mold costs?

[gazza2006au]

I guess i never factored in how thick the female mould would need to be from what i have seen of moulds for sale online they are nice and chunky but i guess they need to be if reproducing hull after hull, i thought this part would have been simple just use the thickest chopped strand mat to build up the mould am i wrong in thinking this?

[EdBerg]

Lovey80, To do a proper commercial quality fibreglass mold would probably cost $40+K ( I am being conservative here) for a smallish sized one. Factor in the design costs for the plans, building a male mock up first which has to be the same external quality as the finished product (Ie: Mirror finish), waxing, polishing and preparing that one for building a female mold from the male mock up, reinforcing the female mold, removing it from the male plug,then cutting and polishing the female mold (again mirror finish). Then waxing it multiple times, several+ months of labour (very, very conservative here) and material which would probably be thicker and cost more than the final pulls.

Gazza2006au, the reason that molds are so thick is that resin shrinks as it cures and when you coat the inside of the mold wilh gelcoat, followed by resin and glass, it actually semi sticks to the mold surface and can distort the mold surface upwards when it shrinks so when you add additional layers to the boat it locks it in and gets progressively worse and you can end up with a hooked bottom or sides, so the mold has to resist that. Usually a good design will help to eliminate that but it can still happen if the mold isn't built correctly.

I had a look at the video clip in post #17 and whilst it can be done quite easily to flop a copy as is from an existing boat, he should not have lengthened it, I have seen it done at a factory that I worked at and it didn't look good. Most boats taper down to the back on the sides and on the bottom so doing a 2-3 ft long extension of the back of that boat and adding it to the boat, then making a mold off that means that when you add it, you effectively have just made hooked sides and bottom in the new mold which sticks out like a sore thumb!. While it will float, it will not look good and lose performance as it goes over the water. I mean you can take a bathtub and put an outboard on it and it will float but hardly the most efficient design.

There are other methods of doing GRP boats as a one off pull, which would save a heap of money and time but are quite labour intensive mainly to finish off the visible parts so it doesn't look like a botched home made job. The male plug is the actual boat. All this is provided you know what you are doing and have experience, which sounds like you don't.

Then hope the female mold doesn't stick to the male plug (don't ask me how I found out about that one! ), as well as the first pull from the female mold. incidentally you have to do this for all the components of the boat as well, ie: top deck, interior and exterior fittings, seats etc,

A one off Ally boat would be cheaper, quicker and easier provided you can weld Ally and have decent welding gear which you can then sell off when you finish the project to recover some of the costs.

So at the end of the day is it really worth the effort for a smallish one off? If you do still want to build a glass boat then buy boat building magazines such as Muiltihull , etc, most newsagents should have it or something similar and it may start to give you ideas on what to do including links to designers and kit providers etc.

Just my 2 cents worth! My advice would be just buy a good cheap second hand one (as large as possible and preferably a Cat) and spend the time fishing, customize it a bit if you want and enjoy the time fishing instead of wasting a good part of your life sanding, glassing and watching the dollars drain out of your account.

Cheers and good luck.

[stevej]

cheaper would be not faffing around and just buying one done from a builder with a loan from the bank or the wife

bonus is you can actually use the boat, have warranty and good resale

some people like to inflict pain on themselves for their hobby though, each their own i guess

[gazza2006au]

Good write up Edberg thanks for that post, i thought it would have been simple just find a design flop a shell off it than make a hull from that maybe in my mind i am simplifying the process i have never done it before i can only see what i read, hear and watch online, i have previously owned hulls which were hooked sadly it went like crap i would most defiantly dislike going thru the whole process to achieve this in the end results

[tug_tellum]

Hey Gazza, To give you a rough idea, I have been in the composite industry now for 45 years and amongst other things, I have made boats for different companies. But when I want a boat I will buy 2nd hand and fix any problems. It works out way cheaper than what you are dreaming about.. Same with a fibreglass ice box. You can buy cheap ones that require a bit of work and fix them up and flowcoat them so they will look like new. You obviously enjoy the challenge and have learned a lot by modifying something to suit you,and thats great. Me,I would rather buy a boat that doesnt require too much work,do it and go fishing .My last fixer upper was a Markam Whaler 4.9. Took the deck off,replaced the transom,from inside and rotted timbers around one side of the deck,then put the deck back on. Simple and quick to do. Didnt interfere with the structural integrity of the hull by doing it this way. Made the transom thicker with ply and put a few knees in there and put the 75hp Mariners back on. Solid as a rock and didnt go to extremes with expensive exotic materials. Kept it as long as I wanted and sold it when I wanted something bigger 25' Mariner flybridge cruiser. My little cat was last seen out on Barwon Banks with the new owner having a great time. He has replaced the engines and has a strong,reliable unit without spending the equivelent of the National Debt.
My opinion only and I dont expect everyone to agree with it,but it worked for me.
tug_tellum

[Noelm]

Like this Noel? https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/tewa...ale/1185442870

Long ago, Whaler made a "proper" cat that was around 13' some had one engine on the side, wasn't too fussed about that one, my mate had one for lake fishing, any chop, it just sliced through it, cat stability and miles of space inside, great little boat.

[gazza2006au]

Tug that is what i am doing in the other thread and loving it new transom, stringers and floor plus modding it with a casting deck

Noel are cats sea worthy? know u own one, i can remember short reports about them saying they were not the best boats and people could not understand why Maritime and Marine Police use them just didn't make sense back than and still does now

[tug_tellum]

Yeah Gazza,I have read what you are doing in the other thread.
Thats way more than what I would do,but you like doing it ,so go for it mate. Me I prefer to do a little work and then go fishing.
I am still working for a living so I dont have that much spare time. Enjoy it Buddy,sounds like its giving you a lot of pleasure and you will end up with what you want.
Tug

[Noelm]

Tug that is what i am doing in the other thread and loving it new transom, stringers and floor plus modding it with a casting deck

Noel are cats sea worthy? know u own one, i can remember short reports about them saying they were not the best boats and people could not understand why Maritime and Marine Police use them just didn't make sense back than and still does now

yes, perfectly seaworthy, they have negatives and positives just like all boats, but, if you want a smooth ride and stability, there is nothing as good, in any brand.

[gazza2006au]

Well that sucks Tug i just typed a good reply before i could hit post it wiped bugger

i don't really have a set day and time to work on the boats i just feel in the mood to do some work here and there, i don't put in 8 hour days i think i would lose interest very fast if i did so all i do is 1-2 hours a afternoon i may stretch it a little longer if something needs to be completed within a time frame like fibreglassing laminates without the sanding but to be honest i really enjoy projects like this i have been a sufferer of major depression from my teenage years i am now 37 it has been a long battle but finding these things i enjoy doing in life makes me feel happy and enthusiastic and excited it kind of gives me energy because i want to see whats around the corner, what i could possibly make of something that otherwise would just be thrown away

i wish i had 10k i would go buy a nice 18 foot centre console and go fishing tomorrow even if it rained cats and dogs haha, i use to be a saver but i am a spontaneous buyer so money never last long in my pocket, i may be broke here and there throughout the builds but in the end i will be spending about 10k on the project but overall i am building the leisure craft i want with all the bonuses i can make from scrap timber bait tank, kill tank, deck, cutting board etc... none of this really cost money or little of because it's all in the labour and passion and will be made from throw away plywood


without having a project like my 18 footer or any other projects i donno where my state of mind would be its kind of a gift in life it gives me something to look forward to in the future

[gazza2006au]

I am probably still dreaming but if i had a stable house that i knew i had the backyard i have now for atlease the next 5 years i would love to build a plywood glen L bandito and use the hull to make a plug its a 30 footer cigarette similar boat just taking a mould off the bottom of hull than turning it into a high powered high speed offshore centre console would be unreal

I dont have the certanty of living here long term with mums dying heart her day could be close or far away hopefully far but i will eventually have to move into a tiny house 1-2 bedrooms likely as i wont be able to afford Sydney rent

But in saying that i would love to make one of these hulls of course wet layup would be literly impossible by just me or even with 1 other person but thats not to say it cannot be easily done with vacuum infusion i have only ever done vacuum bagging once which is kind of similar and on small scale it worked really well, unsure about the set up cost i know my small vacuum bagging setup cost about $400

How hard would it be to vacuum infuse the hull than vacuum infuse the stringers, bulkheads, floor etc? I see this methiod very user friendly as really one man could do it solo

There is a video of a few guys doing one on youtube he is doing somthing like a 28 or 34 footer and said his hull is only 6 layrrs of 600 woving roving

[gazza2006au]

Forgot the picture this is the hull