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Projects - Glacier Boats of Alaska boat projects / Re: 28 GA in Pagosa Springs colorado
« Last post by Dan Boccia on Today at 01:04:47 AM »Rheny, one of the major factors of longer-range cruising is range, and therefore both building as light as possible and putting in as much fuel storage as possible. If you want to maximize fuel storage, you really need tanks custom-fit to your hull between the stringers. I wish I had put a little more effort into making my forward tank bigger with a customized front end to the tank - even 5 or 10 gallons makes a difference. So that's one consideration.
Another consideration is building light - to do that I used only okoume, which is quite a bit lighter than other marine plywoods (and nice to work with), and my cabin is mostly made with foam rather than plywood, which has its advantages and disadvantages, but is about 40% lighter than okoume.
I stuck to the glass schedule that Brian specifies, and avoided overbuilding by putting on "extra glass". Extra glass is just not needed, I think Brian's design is proven enough at this point. Extra glass, and therefore extra resin, sneaks up on you in the weight department.
We have arrived at the moment in which lithium marine batteries are widely available and (barely) affordable. I could shed 50 lb off my boat simply by replacing the batteries, and at the same time have more battery capacity and faster recharge times.
One place where I splurged and added weight is by installing an anchor winch. The good thing is this weight is way up on the nose, which is good because it counters all the engine weight on the stern. The winch is the cat's meow of anchor retrieval systems - way less fussy than a windlass, takes up way less space than a windlass (no chain locker needed), you can easily have 600 ft of rode by using 1/4" dyneema backer, and is fast, powerful, and super convenient. Putting the hook out for lunch or whatever is so simple now I do it way more frequently and as a result have a lot more relaxed, enjoyable downtime, which is the whole point of cruising anyway, mostly.
The planning and dreaming stage is super fun - enjoy it!
Another consideration is building light - to do that I used only okoume, which is quite a bit lighter than other marine plywoods (and nice to work with), and my cabin is mostly made with foam rather than plywood, which has its advantages and disadvantages, but is about 40% lighter than okoume.
I stuck to the glass schedule that Brian specifies, and avoided overbuilding by putting on "extra glass". Extra glass is just not needed, I think Brian's design is proven enough at this point. Extra glass, and therefore extra resin, sneaks up on you in the weight department.
We have arrived at the moment in which lithium marine batteries are widely available and (barely) affordable. I could shed 50 lb off my boat simply by replacing the batteries, and at the same time have more battery capacity and faster recharge times.
One place where I splurged and added weight is by installing an anchor winch. The good thing is this weight is way up on the nose, which is good because it counters all the engine weight on the stern. The winch is the cat's meow of anchor retrieval systems - way less fussy than a windlass, takes up way less space than a windlass (no chain locker needed), you can easily have 600 ft of rode by using 1/4" dyneema backer, and is fast, powerful, and super convenient. Putting the hook out for lunch or whatever is so simple now I do it way more frequently and as a result have a lot more relaxed, enjoyable downtime, which is the whole point of cruising anyway, mostly.
The planning and dreaming stage is super fun - enjoy it!