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Special Interest > Boating Chat

BBQ Boat project

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Sweetwater:
I thought I'd share a little project I've been playing with, with the help of a couple of Sweetwater members and my 12 year old son. Actually it's turned out to be a great little father/son deal with the lad getting on the tools and in on the planning process. Gold  :thumb

Bought a 2nd hand 14 foot CruzCat. Wasn't really going looking for one, but a mate had bought it and asked if he could drop it in the shed here. There it sat for a while.... then the grey matter got an idea...... turn it into a BBQ boat for the local lake.

Initially the idea was to make it an all electric rig, but the floatation from the catamaran wouldn't be enough for a couple of blokes and a few deep cycle batteries. So we toyed with the idea of putting 'Basser's squareback canoe up the centre of the cat to carry the extra weight and add storage space.

There it sat for a while.....

I dragged the rig around to Aussiebasser's place and he stripped some of the wind jockey stuff off it, sail, tramp etc.
There it sat for a while....

Then the rules changed for Lake Wivenhoe, no need to all electric now so the need to carry as much weight changed as well, a small 4 stroke donk would do the trick. So I became re-inspired to get this thing on the water...

After a hit with the karcher it came up pretty clean then a new coupling, winch & winch post on the front it was time to drag it back to Sweetwater for some work.

I bolted my Guide 147 canoe up the centre (as opposed to Basser's big Predator squareback canoe) and worked out what I thought it would take, strength wise to hold the weight of people above and hold the whole thing together in waves with a motor pushing from te back. I think I went a bit on the heavy side with 50 x 50 x 3mm aluminium RHS rails running full length spaced 650mm apart.
Same profile cross members are at each end.

That's where it is at at time of this post. See attached images.

Just to see how it would sit, I grabbed another mates Yamaha 5hp 4 stroke which he has been storing at my place and dropped it on the back, it sits perfectly :thumbsup . The height it pretty close to where it needs to be, but may need some adjustment. I will need to add some more supports around the motor area to handle the weight / push / pull of the motor.

Next step - Already have 4 sheets of 12mm non-structural ply for the floor. Am going to just screw 3 of the 4 sheets on top then drag the whole thing to the local ramp and push it out to see how it floats. If it doesn't sink straight up will get 4 blokes to walk around it and see how it handles the weight in the corners or everyone at one end etc. This will determine if I need to either pull back the deck area, or put rails in to stop people on boat all walking right to the end of the rig. If we still cant flip it, will bolt the yammy on and see how it goes under some power.

Then, if all that goes ok, bring it back, pull up the sheets and re-lay them properly putting some hatches in thru to the canoe.
Then will need to make hand rails, bilge pump, navigation / anchor lights, seats & carpet the floor and then give it a decent test run to get the balance right.

The final fitout will add a bimini, Humminbird 899SI and a Minn Kota iPilot up the front, and of course a BBQ.

Fingers crossed this turns into a great platform with loads of room for the kids to walk about, dive in for a swim, go fishing or redclawing on the lake. And unless I'm mistaken it shouldn't need to be registered or require a boat license to drive it.

Anyhow, there's a stack of attached pics below. Anyone got any ideas or comments?

Pics -
- Catamaran with the wind jockey stuff stripped off it
- Canoe hull mounted in centre of cat ready to be bolted in
- Canoe hull bolted in place. Aluminium RHS going starting to be fitted
- Aluminium floor frame completed
- New coupling, jockey wheel and winch  & post on the front
- Close up of how the frame is bolted together
- View from above before floor sheets go on
- Motor hastily sat on the frame to see what the hight will be like
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#illridewithyou

rayke1938:
Looks good. Will you have to beef up the trailer?
 Cheers
Ray

Sweetwater:

--- Quote from: rayke1938 on September 26, 2014, 06:18:51 AM ---Looks good. Will you have to beef up the trailer?
 Cheers
Ray

--- End quote ---

Hi Ray,

Well spotted. I'd looked at that & you might be right. I was thinking just one more decent RHS up the middle will stiffen & strengthen the trailer, I might even extend it out past the current draw bar to make it a little longer.

 It's going to get bigger wheels

Cheers,

lantana:
looks good so far , I seen one like it down RED ROCK last year only he had a big sea kayak in the middle.
 A couple of swags and they would sleep over night on the river

Sweetwater:
Well the test run showed that it floats & goes ok. The motor needs to be raised. Now to pull up the deck and cut in hatches etc.......

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