Building a New Boat

Over the last 3 months I have been building a new boat, I wanted a good strong seaworthy hull that is not too heavy. After a lot of looking around I chose to have a hull made by GKS Fiberglass.
I talked to them regarding my specifications and settled on a 17.5ft Center Console with a pod for the motor, I also wanted underfloor storage and a big 150lt fuel tank. I had them fit racks for my Spearguns to keep them safely off the deck, and drop the back half of the topdeck by 100mm to make it easier to get into from the water. The first step was to get a hull laid up.






My hull laid up in the mold

After being removed from the mold the box section ribbing was made up and glassed in, I had them divide the center section into 2 parts. The forward section for the fuel tank and rear section for storage.


Box section fitted and glassed in.



Deep "V" and flared Bow.

After the Box section was glassed in the hull was removed from the mold. The floor was them made up along with the console, the deck and the floor hatches.



Floor being trimmed to fit.

The floor was then fitted and glassed down, then the deck was fitted and glassed in place.



Floor and deck glassed in place.

 The console was then fitted and the floor marked so the console could be glassed down at a later date. This is done so there is plenty of room to move when finnishing the other work.

Console in place for marking.

The Motor Pod was then made fitted as was the Marlin board.

Pod and Marlin board in place.



Side profile of my boat, the console still needs to be fitted.

 The boat was coming together nicely all that was needed was to organise a Motor and Trailer. For the motor I chose a 115hp Yamaha 2stroke. The trailer was built by John Papas Trailers and is a tandem Axle, combined Multi/ Keel roller trailer.

Trailer in the front yard ready for the new boat.





I have chosen to fit Hydraulic steering, Binacle throttle controls and electronic gauges, a VHF Marine radio and a compass will also be fitted. At a later date I will add a GPS/Sounder combo but for the moment I will just run a hand held GPS and a basic Sounder.

In early December I picked the boat up from GKS and took it to have the motor fitted at Magnum Boating in Wangarra.

The completed hull leaving the MAnufacturers.

 Once the motor was fitted I had the boat fitted with a Hull Identification Number then came the process of and registration and insurance. With a short stop at home for some photos.



My completed hull ready for a water test.

3/1/2013
Now the Boat is complete and fully registered and insured it is time for a water test which is scheduled for today.

5/1/2013
Well the test went well with the exception of a strong South Westerly messing things up a little, we hit 40 knots at 5000rpm and about 2/3 throttle, though we didn't get enough of a run to gauge the fuel consumption. There was still plenty of grunt left in it so it should be good with a full load of fuel, divers and gear. I have fitted all the hatches and grab rails and the VHF Marine radio. We are headed out to Rottnest tomorrow so we will get a pretty good idea on the fuel consumption out of that trip.