My new boat build - 20ft Offshore stepped V

[mariawhitetrash]

We've been working hard here and are probably around 10 days away from a first test.

I couldn't find any seats on the market that were affordable, lightweight, strong, and the right shape for offshore racing. I borrowed a mould off a friend and made my own









They were the first proper fibreglass items I've ever made, and I'm really happy with the results. A mate of mine is a wheelchair engineer and is helping us make some shock mitigating memory foam padding for the bottom, and I have some self adhesive neoprene for the headrests to stop our lids bashing them.

[mariawhitetrash]

I made a bracket for the gear shifter, as I didn't want to bolt straight through the stringer as it would interfere with my plans for a removable carbon fibre / kevlar seat base which I will be making as soon as the materials arrive



The narrow dash of the race deck means it's tough to find a flat surface to mount my ICON taco and speedo in a visible position, so I made a couple of pods using mixing cups as a mould. Final mounting will wait until the seats are fixed to get the best position.





We got some sponsorship from a local Garmin dealer, who hooked us up with a 751xs Plotter for the navigator in the back, and a GMI screen for me in the front. They'll both be networked to the motor, and the screen in front can display me a 'course to waypoint' when racing

[mariawhitetrash]

We fitted some custom CNC solid top mounts to the motor, together with solid rubber lowers. This combined with our twin side ram steering makes it pretty much nuke proof. The stock rubber mounts and Seastar steering allows far too much movement. All of the bushes in the saddle and swivel bracket have been replaced with bronze, the tilt tube is machined from a solid piece of stainless, and the wing plates cut on a water jet from 10mm stainless





We fitted the refurbished Stainless Marine lifter to the transom, which meant the motor could be hung. It's dead centre on the transom, and will allow us to run dead level with the keel halfway through the 5" travel

[mariawhitetrash]

I used the lower spreader plate on the inside of the transom to mount the distribution block for the steering. The seastar hoses are mounted around the starboard side using p-clips on the rubrail bolts, and are split into the 4 hoses that run to the rams



All of the rigging is run through rubber grommets as neatly as possible. The trim pump for the lifter will be mounted on a carbon/kevlar bracket on the starboard side of the transom, and there's 33c cables for trim and lifter gauges on the dash






That's it for now!

[AZMIDLYF]

What steering system are you using? Helm, rams?

[mariawhitetrash]

What steering system are you using? Helm, rams?

the helm is a Seastar 2.4, the Rams are from a French company called Lecomble & Schmitt, and the wing plate and tilt tube were made by a local engineering shop, based on a design by Swedish company SEM

[AZMIDLYF]

Thanks..I like the dual ram set up. Who sells the solid mounts and bronze bushings?

[mariawhitetrash]

I can supply you with the solid top mounts, they're done by the same company that did my wing plates and tilt tube. The bronze bushings were done by my brother to suit, the factory tolerances are too sloppy for off the shelf bushes

[aeneas]

Looks very good!

[whipper]

Yes looks very sexy good!!

[AZMIDLYF]

Modified the gear cases allowed?

[mariawhitetrash]

Yes we can add cones and low water pickups, and alter the skeg shape. They must remain at the factory ratio of 2:1 though, and there's rules on how low
and how far back the pickups can be. Mounts can be changed, everything else must be stock

[mariawhitetrash]

Well she's finished!











We've had a couple of shakedown runs, and the speed & handling has surpassed our expectations so far! It's incredibly well balanced and easy to drive hard in offshore chop, and we now need to buy some bigger propellers for flat days to get us into the mid 70s

Here's a short video of Tuesday night. It's not the crazy speeds some of you guys are capable of but it's hauling for a stock 115 green motor! 14.75 x 27p Hydromotive 4 blade, easily revving to the peak rpm at very low slip, a great sign that we can chuck a load more pitch on

https://www.facebook.com/paul.etasse...56903634625076

[AZMIDLYF]

Looks like it's moving along pretty good. Steering wheel is getting a workout.

Are those suction handles for the passenger? Interesting idea.

[mariawhitetrash]

Looks like it's moving along pretty good. Steering wheel is getting a workout.

Are those suction handles for the passenger? Interesting idea.

yeah the auction handles are temporary to give us a better idea of where to mount some proper handles. The steering is extremely responsive, only needs small inputs to keep it running true. Next step is a torque tab on the skeg to get the case tracking straight, you can see in the video it's cocked slightly to starboard because of the prop torque