Marine Designs
We have boat plans (both yacht designs, catamaran designs and power designs) for all sizes. From the 12ft Mushulu Dinghy stitch & glue yacht tender to the Oceansky 57 catamaran. We design timber boats, plywood boats, strip plank boats, fibreglass composite boats, steel and aluminum boats to very modern styling for both monohull designs or multihull designs, powerboat or sailboat and in round bilge, multi-chine or radius chine hull forms.
A few weeks back, Craig dropped in, telling us of a High school project involving the building of a "floating" model boat. It had to be powered by a 1.5 volt electric motor and a solar panel. (Electric motors/ solar panels/ prop shaft etc to be supplied by the school) and made from re-cycled materials. His grade for the subject would be based on how well the boat is built, floated, speed and could it make it across the swimming pool. So did we have any idea's
Throwing a few ideas around as the boat needed to be built cheaply, we thought,
"Why not a model of the Mushulu 12"
Being that the plans are drawn to 1" - 1ft, this meant the boat panels and bulkheads could be lifted straight from the plans.! Being so simple, it also meant that he'd need only bulkheads 1, 3 and 5 to form the bottom and topsides panels around.
Too easy.
So we went over how to build the model, only needing one 500 gsm cardboard sheet (which can be purchased from you local newsagent for around $2 ( sheet size is 640mm x 510mm), superglue for the stitching and some paint to coat the panel for water proofing and to seal the joints. With the "plans" in hand Craig was off.
Well, Craig dropped in yesterday with his Award Winning Boat in hand. He scored "Top of the class" and was awarded an "A" or for his subject. His Mushulu 12 model boat blitzed the entire class !!! He reckoned after cutting out the bulkheads and panels, the boat took 15 minutes to "stitch" together. He used a foam block, shaped it to suit the motor and then he whittled away at the hull for the shaft angle and tube. Being that the boat will run along a guide wire strung across the pool, he used small foam blocks to suit the vertical string guides in the transom and bow sections.
When it came to actually "test tanking" the boat, he connected up the small solar panel (provided by the school) and laid it in the boat. With the string guides attached and the prop prop spinning, he sat it in the water and let it go. He said it screamed so fast across the pool, that when it reached the opposite side, it hit so hard that the solar panel flew OUT of the boat and into the water !!
Recovered and ready to for the finals, now down to the wire for 2 boats, they sat their boats in the water waiting for the gun. BANG. They was off !!
Craig's Mushulu 12 model killed the opposition.
IT WON BY HALF A POOL LENGTH. !!!!
Mushulu 14 video
