One of my 65′ passenger ferries has been launched in Goa, India.
I assume it is foam/glass as that is what the company does. http://www.aquariusgoa.com/
Category Archives: New Designs
Zeevonk Update
I recently heard from Zeevonk’s new owner. Recall that Zeevonk spent some 15 years doing naturist tours in the Carribbean.
I understand that much of what made her perform well will be removed and replaced with more elderly solutions. It will have vertical windows, swing boards instead of vertical, self tacking jib and main track on top of the sunshade. I’m sure that I have spoken at length about all these vices and do not need to repeat myself.
Dried out on the hard.
Metrix
Recall that Greg Lynn 3D printed many of his boat parts. You can do the same without buying a 3D printer by using a shop like Metrix.
Metrix Create:Space is a modern prototyping and fabrication lab focused on digital and distributed manufacturing technologies in Seattle, Washington, USA
They will be engraving my citrine green acrylic instruction signs.
Whale Watching Capsize Thoughts
Everybody remembers the whale watching boat that sank and capsized late last October off of Vancouver Island. 5 dead and one missing.
It did occur to me that there was a catamaran of about the same size that got unexpected seawater ingress this year also.
If that alum mono whale tour boat had been the same length Holo Holo, those dead passengers would still be alive. I ran this premise past a former captain of the Holo. He agreed.
The latest thinking is that the tin mono had too many people on the top deck and that made it roll over in a bigish wave. On a cat like Holo the entire passenger list could have gone on one rail and not affected anything.
I am wondering what kind of irrational hoops the USCG will hit my guys with now. Lower picture is Holo with seawater flowing in and out after it was stolen and run onto a reef. I have pictures of the repair process and will post soon.
Holiday Discount and Updates
Is there any interest this year in the 20% holiday discount I have done for the last several years? Let me know. Maybe instead of changing the website I just put a note for a discount.
I have at least a dozen stories for here. Been too many deadlines that I have been keeping up with. Maybe I can get to these stories Friday.
Fish Expo
I have been so busy with everybody’s deadlines that I forgot to put Fish Expo on here. Today, tomorrow and Friday here at CenturyLink Field Event Center in Seattle, Washington.
Again they now call it Pacific Marine Expo. It is where you can see serious sailing equipment.
Piece of Work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMej3pFQY-g
A video of Steve Gubser’s 48′ daycharter cat under construction.
G-10
Sometimes I forget not everybody knows about G-10. It is a phenolic fiberglass sheet or shape that can be machined into anything. I am using it to fabricate hinges for the Beckson ports on the lunar lander as the windows must be much thicker than stock. I get mine at McMaster-Carr. http://www.mcmaster.com/#grade-g-10-phenolic/=zs44n4
Million Dollar Room
I just spotted one of my cat designs on HGTV show Million Dollar Rooms a couple of weeks ago. It was an 85′ unit that the developer wouldn’t pay any more than $3K for the design of. It was a spare design of course. I didn’t want to leave him in lurch, but it was not a real design fee.
Next contact was when Charlie Munger bought it and dropped by to find out what he had just bought. Over the years I have met various people who worked on it, including naval architects in expensive offices.
Ironic that it is a million dollar room, but the proper design of the fundamentals was thought to be too expensive to be funded properly.
I could not find a link nor a picture.
More Stuff Done Wrong?
An ama bow broke off during the race. 70′ trimaran? Clearly the only time we get to see inside. Most of us. Picture below.
Its time again for speculative forensics. One would assume that if they going to spend a couple of million on it, everything would be perfectly engineered. I learned long ago that just because they are famous or expensive, it doesn’t mean it was done right.
And again, I can only go off of what I can see here. If anyone knows any of it first hand, let me know.
First it sure looks like a carbon fiber keel and a carbon fiber band running down each side just above the stringer. Rule of mixtures error if so. If you use carbon for global loads, there better be enough of it to do the whole job. Regulars here already know that the stretch to failure of carbon is around 1%. The other fabrics have much more stretch. So the carbon would have to fail before the other kinds would begin to help much.
I would not have used a stringer. They increase the panel aspect ratio, which is weaker. The closer to 1:1 a panel can be, the better.
That core looks really thin to me. It looks like 12mm but am sure it couldn’t be that thin. I would have had no less than 25 mm and maybe even 40mm thick. I forget what colors of core denote what density. Maybe someone has it handy.
Finally, that hull skin fabric sure looks like e-glass, or more likely Kevlar. Dude. That has already been covered.
They could have called me.
