Living in a sea-side town in south-east England, I thought it would be cool to have a boat. However, I did not want a big boat to beging with, as I wasn't sure if I would like boating and I wanted it to be small enough that I could launch it on my own if none of my family or friends felt like coming with me (rare - but it happens), and that would fit into my garage - so a 14-foot boat would be about right. Problem was that most boats of that size were very basic and I wanted something a little more exciting. I found a hull and a trailer on eBay - hull was sound with a good floor and transom, and the trailer was good enough to pull the boat home on. I think I'm sitting in it in deep thoughts, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. My wife likes to make the pics fancy like this one - don't know how to undo it....
Although the hull was structurally sound, most everything in it was rotted, so I decided to strip it all down and start from scratch. This being my first boat and boat project, I found a lot of good into on this very forum - an thanks to you all who contributed!!
I had some basic ideas of what I wanted to do, but when I ran them by this forum, many of them were considered doudgy and the term "overkill" was mentioned more than once. Being a stubborn bugger, I pretty much kept my heading and soldered on. I had to make side panels all around the boat, and there I have made the basic dashboard and the windshield frame - which I welded up from 316 Stainless strips and polished to a shine.
I could use the spine and the axle from the trailer, but everything else was welded up from 40 x 40mm profile with lots of rollers. We actually suspended the boat from a tree, over the trailer when we were mounting the rollers - to get them just right. The trailer is custom made for the boat with all the rollers welded in place and it makes it really easy to launch and recover. New suspension unitsm wheels, winch and hitch completed the package.
So there she is, starting to take shape and sitting on the new trailer. A few stainless bits have been added as well.
The outboard is a rebuilt one, top and bottom. I was a bit concerned that it may be too heavy for this boat and there was no dataplate on the boat, stating max HP rating. But I wanted some HPs in reserve and you can never have too many anyways, so I re-enforced the heck out of the transom, just to be on the safe side. On this photo you can also see my two helpers and now boating partners!
I wanted to build a boat that - although small - would be fast, practical and safe. To me, that meant a back up engine, dual tanks and batteries. In a boat of this size, every square inch is a valuable real estate. The 6 HP Evinrude twin resides in the stern - hopefully not required much, but nice to know it's there if needed. It's a little beauty, smooth and quiet and big enough to get me home, even with a little headwind!
I had originally planned to store the backup engine in the bow, but there was not enough space and it was difficult to get to. With all that weight in the rear, it was critical to move some weight forward, so one fuel tank and one battery went under each seat. All fuel lines, battery cables and wiring are routed under the floor, so nothing on the floor or inside the boat to trip over. The two wires coming from the Tempo tank are from the fuel quantity transmitter that I rigged to the tanks.
I wanted easy access and uncluttered appearance, while keeping cable runs and lines reasonably short. In this watertight compartment I mounted the main battery switch, a resettable 50A caster circuit breaker, the two main bus bars (two more sets up front) and the fuel line bulb. However, this boat is more of what you don't see than what you do. In the rear is a solenoid controlled fuel valve so I can switch between tanks from the dashboard, a fuel/water seperator, and three bilge pumps - two 1250 GPH Attwoods and an automatic 1100 GPH Rule under the floor. Overkill? Probably, but it's nice to know they are there and that I have the battery power to run them for a good while if needed!
The ski pole is an easilty removable stainless pipe that goes to the floor - I had not installed the rope ring on it yet. The black bits are cup holders and the speakers are waterproof (so far, so good) and there are two more speakers up front. Sound is surprisingly good and comes from a car CD/Radio installed in a waterproof housing in the dash.
The dashboard looks a little crowded, but everything in it is there for a reason. I think both water pressure gauge and a cyl head temp gauge are essential to keep a tab on the engine room, then we have volt, trim and dual fuel gauges, compass, hourmeter and tach and speedo. Now that I've run the engine in gently the required 10 hours or so, I might substitude the hourmeter for a VDO clock, as I'm always coming home late when out on the boat!
Another angle of the dash. The fishfinder, I mostly use for depth indication. I think all the fish in the English Channel has been caught and fried by now - at least I have never seen any so far. I ended up with a LOT of wiring in a limited space under the dash, but I tried to bundle them in an organized manner, everything is labled for easy identification (I'll need that if I ever have to mess with it). I used marine wire and as I'm an aircraft mechanic by profession, I had easy access to top of the line crimping equipment and heat shrink stuff so hopefully it will last.
A few extra stainless bits up front. Those air horns are seriously loud - I think I may have to tone them down by a few decibels.
I got the seats on eBay in USA and had them shipped over. They are a little large for this little boat, but very comfortable and just the right color for the color scheme I was trying to create. There are lockable, watertight compartments built into the gunwales and I made the door in the same blue trim as the E&E compartment in the back. I coated the inside of the boat with gray gelcoat and the blue stuff on the floor is Dri-Dek tiles, so I can hose the floor down when needed. I did not want any carpets for that reason - don't think carpet belongs on a small boat like this anyway.
The rear end looks a little busy, but again, all is there for a reason. With the two motors in the rear, I knew she would be stern heavy, even with the fuel tanks and batteries up front, so the Smart Tabs were just the ticket and have her up on plane in no time at all. Such a clever product!
For a small boat, I think she handles great. Very responsive without being twitchy and the 70 HP Rude has her up on plane in a few seconds. I have been breaking in the engine so I have only had her at WOT twice, but she clocked 46 MPH on a portable GPS with a 19" pitch prop @ 5200 RPM.
For a small boat, she is quite deep, so even with 4 people, she still has an adequate freeboard, but 4 is a bid crowded - this is really only a comfy 2 person boat. I may change the seating arrangement in future, but for now I'm quite happy with her.
So here she is, with my two favourite crew on standby.
Some time ago I read a report on a family in Scotland that drowned on a boat of similar size, so safety comes on top of my list. In the bow, I have "survival pack" that consists of a rolled-up 4-person Coleman inflatable dingy, attached by a string to a watertight sack that contains a rechargable high volume air pump, a portable VHF, some flares, a drift anchor and a couple of water bottles - most of it packed individually in watertight bags. I did a test last summer, and 5 short minutes passed from tossing it overboard, until I was sitting in a fully inflated dingy, ready to either fire flares or radio the coast guard - not bad.
I hope you have had some enjoyment looking at this and perhaps it will go some ways to repay you good people on this forum, as without you I doubt that I would have had the confidence to set off on this enjoyable journey!
