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BUILD "BETTER FOR LESS" WITH BRUCE ROBERTS BOAT PLANS SEE - WHAT'S NEW !

Illustrated Custom Boatbuilding. We recommend that you read  this hardcover book - Order now  and we will pay the postage.

After you have reviewed this page - go have a look at the pages linked below:

 TRAWLER YACHT STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES   POWERBOAT STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES    POWERBOAT DESIGNS

ASSEMBLING TRAWLER STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES     ASSEMBLING EURO STYLE POWERBOAT STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES

ASSEMBLING A POWERBOAT STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES
Over the past thirty years the Bruce Roberts Design team, lead by chief designer Bruce Roberts-Goodson,  has produced hundreds of designs and developed numerous building techniques from which over 20,000 boats have been built world-wide. These designs include both power and sailboats, commercial vessels and fishing boats. The Bruce Roberts team has gained a depth of knowledge and experience allowing them to participate in advanced computer development for metal boats. Their work has resulted in a huge range of designs for building in all metals. The STEEL and aluminum designs are now all available in "flat pack" STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES form for delivery world wide.

These STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES provide the elusive link between computer-aided design and the latest fabriCATAMARANion techniques. Individuals and shipyards, can now benefit from modern cost-effective methods without major investment. With these techniques, you can obtain millimeter accuracy with outstanding surface finish. To quote from one builder, Roger Lasham, building a Coastworker 30 in the UK, "I had completed the bottom plating which was only tack welded in place, yet when it rained overnight and the wind pulled the tarp aside allowing water to collect in the bow, it did not leak away so accurate was the fit".

Steel STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES only require semi skilled labor for assembly and all steel plates, are shot blasted and primed with "Sigmaweld-MC" zinc rich primer which is especially formulated to allow the builder to weld the plates without destroying the adjacent prime coating. Another feature of this weld primer is that it does not give off toxic fumes nor is there any weld "splatter". As each STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES is "computer developed" and the parts are all nestled including all the plating so that you can easily assemble the hull, deck and superstructure in a very short time compared to conventional building and THERE IS NO WASTAGE. All windows, doors, scuppers, prop and rudder tube holes are cut out and a pre-cut building cradle is supplied. The Bruce Roberts organization is able to develop any existing design into a steel STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES or provide modifications to an existing design to be incorporated in a STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES. They offer a worldwide service and a special facility for builders and boatyards in developing countries where STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES can be supplied tack welded or fully welded and come with full technical backup and access to the latest building techniques and designs. Labor saving can be as much as 75% on conventional hull building times.

These metal STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES are produced in such a manner that even an inexperienced builder will save many hours on the preparation work because the plates, frames, longitudinal and stringers and further necessary parts for the hull and superstructure are supplied pre-cut and accurate. NO TRIMMING IS REQUIRED. All the parts fit perfectly. All plates have marking lines for positioning of frames, etc. and all plates are numbered and come with clear instruction and part drawings showing all items.

Following are a series of photo's which show the stages of putting a STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES together. All the equipment that is needed is a welder, a grinder, a lifting device and for the competent home handyman a spare ten to twelve weeks..

METAL STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES….WRITTEN ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

INTRODUCTION: Throughout these instructions the word metal may apply to either steel, aluminium or copper-nickel. There will be variations between the handling of the various materials and these will be drawn to your attention as necessary. You will need to read and absorb all these instructions BEFORE you start the assembly of your STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES. These instructions are intended to introduce you to building from a STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES but are NOT intended to replace good metal boatbuilding practice. If you are not already a competent welder then please seek assistance.

Few of you will understand (or want to know!) the huge amount of work that is required to turn any boat plan in to a cut-to-size boat STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES. Every part has to exactly match that of its neighbor, the slots need to be exactly in the correct locations and everything must fit perfectly together to enable you to complete the assembly of the hull, deck and superstructure with the minimum of problems.

The first thing to realize is that the STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES differs in many ways from the methods you would use to build a metal boat from scratch. Most metal boats built from scratch are built upside-down…most boats built from cut-to-size metal STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES are built upright. Not only is this a more appropriate way to assemble the STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES but it saves cost and inconvenience of having to turn the hull.

To make sure that you take notice of one very important piece of advice, we will state it here as well as at the appropriate time: You must tack weld the complete hull deck and superstructure together before you run any final welds. Failure to observe this advice will almost certainly ensure you will end up with an unfair boat requiring a considerable amount of filler.

 RECEIVING YOUR STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES: Depending upon your location or delivery arrangements you STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES may arrive on a flatbed truck or in a container. You should be aware of these arrangements before the actual date of delivery so you can make the necessary preparations to receive your STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES.

The STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES are normally packed on pallet(s) and can be lifted off the transport using a small crane, front-end loader or similar equipment. You may find it more convenient to "drag" your STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES from the truck or container using a pair or planks as a ramp. Once you have unloaded your STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES you must make provision to keep it covered until assembly is underway.

You should go though the STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES and identify each part or group of parts so you can store these in the order that they will be required. Due to the requirement of packaging for transport it is impossible for the STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES manufacturer to stack everything in the order you will be using the various parts…you must take care of this. Later in this text we will suggest the order of assembling your STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES so you will be aware of which parts will need at each stage. If you do not find a particular part at this stage there's no need to panic, there will be so many pieces that it will be easy for you to overlook one or two at this stage. If after several checks you find one or more parts missing then do contact us so that we may put the matter right.

 STARTING ASSEMBLY: The first item you will need is the setting up jig. The transverse profile jigs will be supported by the metal "castles" that come as part of your STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES. The setting up jig is intended to get the assembly of your hull started and the jig is NOT INTENDED TO SUPPORT THE BOAT during the entire building process. After you have both sides of the bottom plates tacked together you should consider adding extra support and bracing to the structure.

Do not attempt to fully weld the plates into one length on the floor. The plate joins should be only tack welded in three locations, one weld at each of the ends of the join and one in the centre. These tacks should be no more than half inch or 12mm long. If you weld the plates on the floor you will end up with a "hard-spot" in the hull plating.

Some plates will need to be beveled before tacking in place or you may prefer to make the bevels after you have tack welded the plates and just before running the final welds. In all cases good metal boatbuilding practices will prevail.

POWERBOATS: In most cases you can start by laying the bottom plates in the transverse profile jigs and with the aid of the "castles" position the plates so that you can start tack welding the hull plating together along the centerline. You will next install the bottom sections of the frames and webs in their correct location.

 ALL HULLS: Once you have set up the bottom hull plates and tacked these along the centerline together with installing the bottom sections of the frames, the remainder of the hull structure will grow upwards. The better equipped your workshop is with overhead lifting equipment the easier and more smoothly your job will proceed. We do recommend that you read Bruce's book METAL BOATS, which will answer many of the general metal boatbuilding questions that are sure to pop up as you proceed with your project. Also, please remember that we are only a phone, fax or email away and are only to happy to offer advice should you require it..  

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TRAWLER YACHT STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES   POWERBOAT STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES   POWERBOAT DESIGNS