Fifty Feet of Grey (steel)

RobWales said:
Guessing you've ridden the lars system's we manufactured for a couple of recent DSV's, made a lot of kit for Divex on those jobs!

Anyway apologies for the thread drift, look forward to the build progressing, if you need any help with fab or machining in the future feel free to give a call.
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That narrows it down a bit to two.. yes, i work on atlantic, was part of the design and commissioning team. Arctic is probably hiding in Bergen broken again :)
thanks for the offer, There will be stuff to farm out Im sure.
 
Shouldn't the thread be called "Hanner can troedfedd o lwyd (Tata Port Talbot dur)" (Google translate....hope it's not a bunch of swear words).

I'm glad you have agreed to take hull #1; all of the issues can be ironed out before you build mine (hull #2). Trouble is I'll have to iron out the budget issues too!

It really is a lovely looking boat. (I'm torn between SD and planing myself; and going to leave the decision to which ever is the best boat that I find.)

Are you 50 leagues under the sea whilst all this hard work is going on?
 
Glad to see the start of another epic build thread. Looking forward to all the details and pics you'll be willing to share! :)

Just one thought, also because it's worth considering it as much in advance as possible - if you find it of any interest, of course.
It's related to this statement of yours, taken from the other "prelude" thread:
Robg71 said:
Makes no odds how much the stabs are, Im not fitting them :)

(unless their a tenner a side :D
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Now, as you might remember, I've been cruising with a stabilized boat for a dozen of years.
And while on one hand I've always appreciated the comfort improvement while cruising, I also thought that I wasn't missing a lot by NOT having stabs capable to work at zero speed.
In fact, wherever the sea wasn't calm enough to stay at anchor without stabs, I simply moved elsewhere - particularly for overnighting.
This is all still valid for the usage I'm making of my boat, which does NOT include diving.

BUT, and it's a BIG but, in the last few days onboard Blue Angel with BartW and other forumites, I had the opportunity to see what difference the zero speed stabs can make when the boat is used for diving. And in a nutshell, it's day and night.
In fact, as you surely know, most nice diving spots are in exposed areas of the coastline, rather than in well sheltered bays which you normally choose for overnighting. So, by dropping the hook in these places, it's very likely that you must deal with some swell.
And in these conditions, zero speed stabs mean that you can still handle the equipment and prepare for the dive safely, as opposed to being thrown all over the place together with your diving gear at the first significant boat rolling.

Bottom line, I would strongly recommend anyone willing to use a boat for diving to fit zero speed stabs. They are well worth the expense for that reason alone - though on top of that, you also get the huge improvement in cruising comfort they were originally invented for, of course.
A tenner a side will not buy them I'm afraid, but I'd rather reduce the boat size than have a bigger boat without them.

Last but not least, already now, and probably even more in the future, stabs are beginning to affect not only the boat resale value, but for a constantly increasing number of buyers they are an essential feature, without which the boat doesn't even enter in their shopping list.
Of course this might look not so important when you're thinking to buy or build your "lifetime boat", but you never know... :)
 
MapisM said:
Glad to see the start of another epic build thread. Looking forward to all the details and pics you'll be willing to share! :)

Just one thought, also because it's worth considering it as much in advance as possible - if you find it of any interest, of course.
It's related to this statement of yours, taken from the other "prelude" thread:

Now, as you might remember, I've been cruising with a stabilized boat for a dozen of years.
And while on one hand I've always appreciated the comfort improvement while cruising, I also thought that I wasn't missing a lot by NOT having stabs capable to work at zero speed.
In fact, wherever the sea wasn't calm enough to stay at anchor without stabs, I simply moved elsewhere - particularly for overnighting.
This is all still valid for the usage I'm making of my boat, which does NOT include diving.

BUT, and it's a BIG but, in the last few days onboard Blue Angel with BartW and other forumites, I had the opportunity to see what difference the zero speed stabs can make when the boat is used for diving. And in a nutshell, it's day and night.
In fact, as you surely know, most nice diving spots are in exposed areas of the coastline, rather than in well sheltered bays which you normally choose for overnighting. So, by dropping the hook in these places, it's very likely that you must deal with some swell.
And in these conditions, zero speed stabs mean that you can still handle the equipment and prepare for the dive safely, as opposed to being thrown all over the place together with your diving gear at the first significant boat rolling.

Bottom line, I would strongly recommend anyone willing to use a boat for diving to fit zero speed stabs. They are well worth the expense for that reason alone - though on top of that, you also get the huge improvement in cruising comfort they were originally invented for, of course.
A tenner a side will not buy them I'm afraid, but I'd rather reduce the boat size than have a bigger boat without them.

Last but not least, already now, and probably even more in the future, stabs are beginning to affect not only the boat resale value, but for a constantly increasing number of buyers they are an essential feature, without which the boat doesn't even enter in their shopping list.
Of course this might look not so important when you're thinking to buy or build your "lifetime boat", but you never know... :)
Click to expand...

Rob, even if you don't fit stabs, it would be crazy not to prepare for them during the build, in case you want them later, or as a selling point to future buyers. It may be that there's no need to reinforce a steel hulled boat for stabs, but you can still run any necessary services, identify a position for the fins and hydraulic pack and ensure there is good access, and leave ducts for any power or hydraulic cables you would need.

Good luck with the project
 
Mapism, I am currently still looking in to the smaller stabilisers systems. I think you are correct, and in this day and age not to fit them would be an odd choice.
Gyros are out on size. But electrics and hydraulics are being considered.
home later today, so can get on the phone and chase a couple of ideas up.
 
Nick_H said:
Rob, even if you don't fit stabs, it would be crazy not to prepare for them during the build, in case you want them later, or as a selling point to future buyers. It may be that there's no need to reinforce a steel hulled boat for stabs, but you can still run any necessary services, identify a position for the fins and hydraulic pack and ensure there is good access, and leave ducts for any power or hydraulic cables you would need.

Good luck with the project
Click to expand...
That was the original plan Nick. Even just to spend time and have the stiffeners and space to fit, during construction. Not doing that as a bare minimum would be stupid I think. Costs involved of preparing to fit, as opposed to retrofit is a big difference.
 
U4 said:
This is such a great project - I love the design images and am lookig forward to following the thread :)
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+1

Exciting exciting exciting.:)
From design through to the fabrication of the boat, in the long tradition of boat building.
A real project to get your teeth into......Looking forward to lots and lots of photo's.:)

Forget 'the day you buy and the day you sell'..........it's the day you build that's the fun part!
 
This could be a lot of fun.

We're gonna need a bigger boat !!

I am very excited about this project and even more so as much of the work is being done through the winter months so we can all get our boaty fix through regular updates.

In think it is exactly what the forum and british business needs right now.

Make sure you keep £20 back from the budget to get a long enough piece of string. :rolleyes:
 
Fantastic project Rob and I look forward to reading the story. Good luck with it all

I totally agree what MapisM says about stabilisers in post #27. As well as diving, there are many other times (recovering the tender, having lunch, rafting up, etc) when zero speed stabs are a huge advantage
 
Thanks JFM. need all the luck I can get I reckon.

I have a couple of companies looking into the fitment and detailing for stabs. Side power being one of them.
Have also e mailed Barts vendor of choice for there system. Looking at a lot of the systems, still not catered for boats of this size, but we can see who comes up with what.
 
I see that Sidepower have now gone public on two new inventions. They are now offering their new curved fins (called "vector fins") plus their new compact actuators, all very suitable for 50 footer. I made a separate thread on this just now.
 
Good luck with this rob. Can't wait to see the photos!!! Do you know anyone with a time lapse camera. Could set it up in the build shed and have a fascinating account of the build. Also be able to see how many tea breaks your chaps have :):):) best wishes
 
jfm said:
I see that Sidepower have now gone public on two new inventions. They are now offering their new curved fins (called "vector fins") plus their new compact actuators, all very suitable for 50 footer. I made a separate thread on this just now.
Click to expand...

there must be something in the water, I phoned side power today.....
 
FARSCO said:
Good luck with this rob. Can't wait to see the photos!!! Do you know anyone with a time lapse camera. Could set it up in the build shed and have a fascinating account of the build. Also be able to see how many tea breaks your chaps have :):):) best wishes
Click to expand...

They can have as many as they want... there on a price :)

not a bad idea about the camera though....
 
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