Discussion of 'stuff'
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Working on the SteemDreem
I'm in the deconstruction phase now and I will be for quite some time. As I've mentioned several times in the past the boat MUST have been full of water. Perhaps several times. Most likely it was rain or lakewater. I see no evidence of salt. That doesn't really matter since the foam water logged and all the wood is rotted or mildewed.
notice the water in the bottom of that hole? I dug the foam out to the fiberglass hull...water seeped in...
I'm not complaining...I expected as much. All I wanted was a sound hull. I think it is. The trailer is just a freebie.
That said...I'm thinking about how to re-build it.
The possibililties are almost endless.
I'd like input on this. Discussion.
Let's start at the bottom....
The hull is what I have been led to believe is called a 'cathedral hull'...
This is the rear.(stern)
This is the front (bow)
The shape is similar to that of a tri-maran in the front, but gradually fused together to the rear.
The center hull is almost a 'deep-vee'.
It was designed to plane. It had some serious horsepower.
I don't intend to do that. I dunno what I'm going to do for power yet other that I intend it to be solar...but it won't be a 'go fast' boat.
So..that brings to mind...BALLAST.
Weebils wiggle but they don't fall down.
Suppose I were to fill the 'deep vee'...up to floorboard level, with something heavy...
Comments?
This boat needs some maintenance to have adorable new look...
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ya think?
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I have absolutely nothing intelligent to say, but I salute you for undertaking such a project. Good luck!
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I'm have as much nautical knowledge as your average Cactus. - I cant help you with anyithing like that, I'm afraid.
It looks like a serious project you have on there...
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yup...I expect it to take a year or more before it goes into the water...perhaps years more before it's complete.
No reason I can't continue to work on it when it's in the water is there?
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As long as you fix any holes in the bottom, first......... - you should be fine.
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no holes in the hull discovered so far. Not counting the transom. I very much doubt that there are any. Harvey left us a present...about three foot of rain. When I checked on the boat after the rain...it had more than six inches of water in the bottom where i'd removed the foam.
It was NOT draining out.
I figure that if it can keep water in...it can keep water out.
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I'm not gonna even google transom - I'm sure it's important.
Thar's a logic in them thar thoughts.
I wouldn't bet my last dollar on the logic being correct though...
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Even an ill wind blows some good, it seems. Perhaps having a solar powered boat is less wacko than it might have seemed before you got Moses' flood dropped on ya.
... and I think you can look forward to conducting various tests of a multitude of design ideas. I sure hope I can look forward to your posts about them =)
Edit: errr, I suspect I meant Noah. =p
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I'll blog about them.
feedback is appreciated.
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I am excited at the prospect. There's little I enjoy more than tinkering and testing, and then enjoying the fruits of experiment.
Balaklava may be the only thing.
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but wait..! There's MORE...I just discovered AIR-CRETE!!
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Well, I'm back online!
Regarding ballast, some is good, but too much isn't. Too much will cost energy, as the boat will ride deeper in the water, and that causes drag to increase.
An alternative is outriggers (which I mentioned another time, when we discussed pneumatics, and inflatables). These alternatives aren't mutually exclusive, and can complement each other nicely.
Outriggers also increase drag, but surface drag is (in my limited experience) less power demanding (due to cavitation, the dragging of bubbles of air under the hull. Air acts as a lubricant, as it is less dense than water).
You are gonna have to buckle down and do some math, and you will need to know how much weight will be above the waterline, how many passengers you intend to be able to float, and how ballast and outriggers will compensate that, for the hull you are floating.
I like that hull, btw. The 'vees' to the sides act to greatly increase stability at speed (or even at rest), and also increase the tightness of turns. It's a great design. I take back some of my misgivings about going fast =p.
The engines were a lot of weight below the waterline, and it might help to have an idea of what they weighed in reckoning how it was ballasted before. That should give you an idea of what to aim for now.
Hope that helps!
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Are you worried that the boat will be so light that it will not rest in the water down to about the lowest step and instead sit so high out of the water that it will flop from side to side?
I'm not so sure that would actually be a problem. Flat-bottomed boats generally have a very stiff rolling motion, whereas rounded boats like a sailboat will roll smoothly and gently. In your case, if the boat does sit too high, it will begin to roll softly like a sailboat, but as it gets into a steeper roll angle, the resistance will sharply increase when the 'outrigger' part of the hull enters the water. It might give a funny ride, but it won't flip over.
In the marine industry, even those who are design engineers cannot rely strictly on calculations to determine the stability of a craft. After all the calculations are done, they still do an inclination experiment to determine the stability after everything that is normally part of the vessel is on the vessel. This experiment involves moving a known weight a measured distance from side to side and then reading off the angle of inclination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclining_test
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Are you worried that the boat will be so light that it will not rest in the water down to about the lowest step and instead sit so high out of the water that it will flop from side to side?
Nope...hadn't even considered that actually.
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I wish I could make an intelligent comment or suggestion for ya here mate, but not owning a "real" boat myself, other than a fishing kayak, I'm at a bit of a loss. Got all my resources tied up on a house on an island with a dock out back, making this defensible. Just wish I could be in your boots for an hour or so to walk around in her. She looks like a promising craft.
I have a reading suggestion you might like though... Ever read any books by Wayne Stinnett? Esp. the Jesse McDermitt series? Stinnett is an ex-vet, ex-trucker turned novelist who writes about chartering his boats in the southern Florida area. At any rate, his stuff is pretty good and may inspire.
As for me, if I had the time and means to do what you're doing, I'd go with sails. Damn motor boats don't take the time to enjoy the voyage in my opinion. If I had my way I'd rig it like the cat in "Waterworld" (w/ Keven Costner). And I'd mount a 5-pounder on the bow and a 50cal. on the stern - just to discourage pirates, hijackers, and other water rats. As for ballast? How 'bout silver? Makes for great ballast!
Good luck mate! ~ @longshot
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Thanks for the info...I'll have to look up Wayne Stinnett
I was considering sails. Perhaps make a motor sailer out of it? Or a kite?
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Something so you can hear the wind & stars on the way.
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on the way where?
it's the journey...not the destination.
When I first float my boat...in two or three years (maybe sooner but I doubt it)
it'll be in a lake...most likely lake Travis.
Since I'll be about 70 at the time...
...fill in the blank.
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Hell I'm older than that! In 2-3 years you just may have to use it out on the bigger pond! Keep doin' what yer doin' fixing it up. Hard work is exercise you'll be glad kept you in shape when you need it.
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speaking of 'silver' ballast.
How about bullets?
You got me to thinking about gun safes and ammo boxes, watertight, locked....in line down the keel...under the floor mats.
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All that stuff should be added into your weight calculation for sure. Might want to consider a more secure & not so apparent "safe" than "the first place one would look," like "under the floor mats"... Perhaps a design that looks like something else to someone searching in a hurry? A bilge pump hatch that has a trigger to open someplace else? (Yeah, I know... I'm paranoid ~ but with reason!)
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Man I wish I were a water and boat engineer. If you fill up that deep V hole with something solid just curious on what that does to water displacement and what the overall effect that might have. Came across this water displacement calculator. Not sure if this could apply to what you are doing.
http://www.blueheronwings.com/bh/comps/bdesign.html
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Thanks...
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Hmmmm Hammer Recip Saw and gut her .... Power washer clean and then design your steem dream ... Salvage what you can and you will have a nice clean space to work in and rebuild.. put the fridge and seating in first ... you will need it when you sit and drink a cold one lol ...
Well thats my
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fridge and seating are already there...(I had a battery powered fridge on the truck which I kept)...benchs are built in plus a I have a stool and a chair I found in the dumpster.
Got a Recip saw, Hammer drill, drill, and circular saw (DeWalt 18volt )...
awesome tools...
all of the wood not embedded in flotation foam is gone. All of the hardware is gone...I'm pressently digging out waterlogged foam . It's like an archeological dig...I use a wire brush and a trowel.
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Ya the foam is a great thing if dry but it will waterlog and becomes useless ... might want to go with open bilge and a good pump ...easier to get at things and keep it in shape ...and also a place to keep your beer cold lol ...
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I was kinda thinking about a drainage pipe along the keel to, as you say...a bilge pit at the very rear, with a pump. There's a drain hole there as is...I assume it should be plugged before going in the water?
the engine compartment is separate from the cabin as it is...and watertight (up to about six inches above the hull.
Something else to consider.
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Yeah, the hole in the stern will drain water out when at speed. It is kinda surreal to watch water drain out UNDER WATER when you pull the plug out.
However, at rest, it will need to be plugged.
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I don't ever expect to be AT (that)speed...So I'll plug it.
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you might get one of these out also
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got one.
used it..
pretty handy.
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