[For DEPTHCHARGE] Possible mods...

[Brian.Dixon]

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 Brian, I have a couple of questions:
     1. What's the difference between the Prince Rupert and Newports cabins? Since the interiors are interchangeable I'm assuming it's to have a choice of styles. I'm partial to the Newport. It looks good with the upswept bow.

     2. Is it possible to add a flybridge on the roof? Weather usually isn't much of an issue and the added height helps to find "fishy" spots.

[Brian.Dixon]

[Merged in from old Drupal forum]

Hi,

  The Prince Rupert and Newport pilot houses are similar since both basically 'box in' space for you to configure as you like.  The Prince Rupert, as shown, has a longer pilot house ...but the construction manual describes how to make the cuddy (sleeping area) shorter or longer, how to make the pilot house shorter or longer, and what the limitations are.  Otherwise, the Prince Rupert has the following differences as compared to the Newport:

  - A 7" bulwark along the fwd sheer
  - A taller cuddy (more headroom inside)
  - Backswept windshield, rather than forward, together with a larger "Grand Banks" style visor
  - Coaming around the cockpit area that forces water on the sheer to drain off the sides or into the drywell and also allows the boat to roll further by a few degrees before water spills into the boat.

  The Prince Rupert is slightly more seaworthy as a result of the above mods, but the Newport is fine as well.

  As far as a tuna tower type of arrangement goes, I will leave that up to you, noting that if you add one that you should keep it light, and don't put a lot of weight up there (like someone MY size) if the seas don't allow it... You'll mostly likely lose someone over the side that roll the boat, but who wants to do that?

Brian

[Brian.Dixon]

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Thanks for the quick reply Brian!  Don't get me wrong, I don't want a traditional metal tuna tower. I just want a helm station on the pilothouse roof.  I think what I'm asking is if the roof could support a couple people walking around on it and if it can't, is it possible to reinforce it appropriately to allow it?

[Brian.Dixon]

[Merged in from old Drupal forum]

One thing to keep in mind is that the number one thing that prevents good economy in boats is weight, with the deadrise and hull form being number two, all other things are a distant 3rd and further.  This boat is light for its size, so you really don't want to add lots of weight up on top.  So, yes you can reinforce the roof any way you want ...and that adds weight up high.  A helm station adds weight even higher, and 2 people really add weight up on top.  I'm not sure I'd encourage a helm station up there, but one person and railings in calm weather doing 'look out' duty would work while someone else stayed below and steered as directed... but the boat is light for it's size and weight up high is going to want to make it want to roll more.  Again, I'll leave those ideas up to the builder as an experiment and they can report back on how it worked out!   It IS possible for me to model this from a stability perspective, but I'm going to be short on time for many months ...job related work, long hours and what not.  Without doing that work, I really can't answer this question with much precision.  Note that structures up high also cause windage issues.  The reason the Sea Sport with stepped pilot house wasn't very popular is because it had windage issues... and that boat was much heavier than the Great Alaskan.  (As you can tell, I run conservative on most things ...and on all things when it comes to boats that go offshore.)

Brian