Sea Stomper
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2010
- Messages
- 158
In 2007 I bought a 1977 Orrion 15'10" tri hull, pretty much a generic one for the vintage. It looked like this:
Over the next 5 years I evolved it into an ocean fishing animal, but my 2012 ocean season was the last for the normal type of windshield setup and fabric canopy. In 2011 I decapitated it, gutted it, new transom and deck, greatly strengthening it in the process. My son and I had a great fishing season in 2012 with it, having my fourth ocean fishing season in a row each with 11 Pacific Halibut (the Alaskan type) and I don't know how many King Salmon. It's not a likely candidate for that type of service but it has proved itself a very seaworthy design when operated with good knowlege of the ocean. It's a really fun boat in the ocean.
The boat is right now getting a little pilot house windshield and canopy. Details on it later but here are some images. I will post the rebuild as the days go.
After the transom, stringer and deck job, it looked like this:
And the bow cover hinges open like this:
So with the windshield inadequacies like leaking in drizzly and rainy weather and the top windshield frame very close to breaking my nose in rough pounding swells in the ocean, I decided to start a mini pilot house project that sweeps the windshield forward, moving the roof much farther forward with some other benefits like keeping it much less wet and generally warmer when the wind is blowing out there. It also gives a much more roomy feel inside. Forward sweeping windshields instantly clear themselves of water spray when on the run, because the wind force is assisted by forward sweep for the downward traveling spray droplets instead of the drops traveling downward and forward resisted against by rearward sweep. More simply stated, the it's easier for the wind to push the water down and back than it is to push it up a normally rear sloping windshield. That is why so many ocean boats use forward sweep. The pilot house and bow cover deck will be white to match the hull when I'm done. So right now, it looks like this with a couple of weeks to go on this project:
The hard canopy will slide back away from the wind shield frame on captive tracks like a fighter canopy would for visibility and fresh air, and the "hood hatch" will still open forward with the wind shield attached.
The whole mess will be removable in about 10 minutes to have an open boat but I won't do that often if at all. It's smaller than it looks, the wind shield frame is only 19 inches high. The center roof piece is 9mm thick Aquatek mahogany ply, and the outer roof panels are 5mm Hydrotek mahogany ply. The wind shield frame is 12mm Hydrotek, and the fore deck that it's mounted to that hinges up and forward is 18mm Hydrotek. The Aquatek is lighter than Hydrotek. The whole thing will probably be no more than about 80 lbs of weight added by the time it's done. A few more views.
Started with the center piece as always and built out from there.
Different views to get the correct perspective.
It will be trimmed and configured a little differently than here, with some twists and curves not yet made. More stuff to come going through the deck job from start to finish. That part was pretty standard fare as far as deck jobs go here.
Over the next 5 years I evolved it into an ocean fishing animal, but my 2012 ocean season was the last for the normal type of windshield setup and fabric canopy. In 2011 I decapitated it, gutted it, new transom and deck, greatly strengthening it in the process. My son and I had a great fishing season in 2012 with it, having my fourth ocean fishing season in a row each with 11 Pacific Halibut (the Alaskan type) and I don't know how many King Salmon. It's not a likely candidate for that type of service but it has proved itself a very seaworthy design when operated with good knowlege of the ocean. It's a really fun boat in the ocean.
The boat is right now getting a little pilot house windshield and canopy. Details on it later but here are some images. I will post the rebuild as the days go.
After the transom, stringer and deck job, it looked like this:
And the bow cover hinges open like this:
So with the windshield inadequacies like leaking in drizzly and rainy weather and the top windshield frame very close to breaking my nose in rough pounding swells in the ocean, I decided to start a mini pilot house project that sweeps the windshield forward, moving the roof much farther forward with some other benefits like keeping it much less wet and generally warmer when the wind is blowing out there. It also gives a much more roomy feel inside. Forward sweeping windshields instantly clear themselves of water spray when on the run, because the wind force is assisted by forward sweep for the downward traveling spray droplets instead of the drops traveling downward and forward resisted against by rearward sweep. More simply stated, the it's easier for the wind to push the water down and back than it is to push it up a normally rear sloping windshield. That is why so many ocean boats use forward sweep. The pilot house and bow cover deck will be white to match the hull when I'm done. So right now, it looks like this with a couple of weeks to go on this project:
The hard canopy will slide back away from the wind shield frame on captive tracks like a fighter canopy would for visibility and fresh air, and the "hood hatch" will still open forward with the wind shield attached.
The whole mess will be removable in about 10 minutes to have an open boat but I won't do that often if at all. It's smaller than it looks, the wind shield frame is only 19 inches high. The center roof piece is 9mm thick Aquatek mahogany ply, and the outer roof panels are 5mm Hydrotek mahogany ply. The wind shield frame is 12mm Hydrotek, and the fore deck that it's mounted to that hinges up and forward is 18mm Hydrotek. The Aquatek is lighter than Hydrotek. The whole thing will probably be no more than about 80 lbs of weight added by the time it's done. A few more views.
Started with the center piece as always and built out from there.
Different views to get the correct perspective.
It will be trimmed and configured a little differently than here, with some twists and curves not yet made. More stuff to come going through the deck job from start to finish. That part was pretty standard fare as far as deck jobs go here.
, I plan to add a hardtop. so long as it doesn't make it top heavy or bow heavy, and you like it, don't matter what others think. as far as floating in the ocean, sounds like you have enough sense to stay out of bad weather.
