BUILD YOUR OWN

Cruising Trawler.

by R. Bruce Roberts-Goodson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Victoria, Australia Bruce Roberts-Goodson was educated at Eltham High School and later

studied yacht design through the US based Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology. Bruce entered

the marine industry and for several years operated a large boat yard in Brisbane where he completed an

informal boatbuilding apprenticeship.

Bruce opened his first his yacht design office in Brisbane and in 1974 went on to open additional

offices in Canada, USA, UK, Holland and most recently Ireland. Bruce and his staff of naval architects

have designed all types of sail and trawlers from 6m to 20m+ in length; these boats have been built

in steel, aluminum, copper-nickel, all fiberglass methods, timber including wood/epoxy and strip plank.

Over 30,000 boats are currently in service that have been successfully built from Roberts designs.

Bruce has written over 100 articles and several books on all aspects of boat design and construction

including ‘Boatbuilding’ (over 100,000 copies sold to date), ‘Choosing for Cruising’, SPRAY the

Ultimate Cruising Boat’ and ‘Metal Boats’ that is already in its third printing. Bruce’s articles have

appeared in most of the popular yachting magazines in USA, Canada, Australia and UK plus others in

almost every country around the world.

Chapter 1.

GETTING STARTED

Chapter 2.

CHOOSING THE HULL TYPE

Semi-displacement or full-displacement hull types. Planing.

Planing strakes. Chine or round bilge. Power Catamarans.

Formulas and technical terms and what they mean.

Displacement length ratios. Hull construction materials.

Chapter 3.

PASSAGEMAKERS

History. Hull Design. Engineering. Number of engines. Fuel

management. Sail assistance. Stabilising methods and

equipment. Special charts and graphs.

Chapter 4.

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation; number of berths. Cabin soles. How many

heads? Designing and equipping a galley. Various fuels for

your stove (gas, diesel, alcohol, paraffin). Placement of sink

and stowage of food and other stores. Showers, hot water and

pressure water. Water tankage. Waste tanks. Comfortable

seating; measurements and suggestions. Chart table. Sail

stowage. Refrigerators and ice boxes. Lighting. Ventilation.

Decks. Deck Surfaces. Fly bridges, Cockpits, Outside seating.

Deck areas for lounging. Swim platforms. Life rails .Pulpits

and bowsprits. Handrails. Deck wash pumps and their many

uses. Awnings. Hatch covers. Bimini covers. Windage.

Single or twin. Cruising range. Diesel or petrol (gas). Single or

twin. Inboard, Stern gear. Propellers. Stern drive or outboard.

Other propulsion arrangements. Engineroom layout.

Engine compartments - Accessibility. Engine room insulation.

Engine bearers and beds. Engine mountings, Stuffing boxes

and bearings. Exhaust Systems. Understanding horsepower.

Powering your motor cruiser. Powering displacement hulls.

Powering semi-displacement hulls. Powering planing hulls.

Hydraulic-v- mechanical steering. autopilots. navigation

systems. alarms.

Electrical Installations. AC and DC systems. Managing your

electrical supply - v - usage. Domestic batteries. Engine

starting batteries. Battery chargers. Generating sets.

Radar. radios and other communications. dinghy. inflatable

tenders. rigid dinghies. davits. Anchors and chain. anchor

winch. cleats and bitts. fenders. mooring lines.

Lightening protection, bonding, fire extinguishers, smoke

alarms, life jackets and life vests, harnesses and safety lines,

man overboard, emergency steering, air bags, through hulls

and sea cocks. radar reflectors, life rafts. epirb. safe sun.

guns. things to stay away from, drugs, smuggling,

pornographic literature, carrying books or videos that may

offend other cultures. Dress code.

Location and size of space required, Building tents,

Temporary or permanent buildings.

Fiberglass materials, chopped strand mat, continuous roving,

woven roving, resin types, core materials, balsa, foam cores,

polyester resins, epoxy resins, carbon fiber gel coats,

respirators and breathing masks, acetone, release agents,

barrier & cleansing creams, fiberglass – safety equipment, ear

and hearing protection, paint scrapers, disk sanders, mohair,

rollers, other sanding devices, fire retardant resin.

Building a male mould, laying out the patterns, making the

frames, setting up the frames, the battens, adding fairing

strips, finishing the mould, open form versus solid form

moulds,fiberglass - installing the core, non-cored areas of the

hull, single skin over a male mould, laminating with a team,

finishing the hull, finishing techniques

Stern tubes, marking out the bulkheads, hardboard in-place,

deck mould, applying the deck laminate, installing the deck

core, teak-decks, bonding the bulkheads, sandwich decks and

cabin, master deck mould, female moulded and panel decks

and superstructures, bonding the deck, bulwark stiffeners,

hull deck joins, production moulds, vacuum bagging, camber

patterns, suggested joinery dimensions, interior joinery.

cold molding, strip planking – wood epoxy, building the

frames, assembling the basic hull structure, installing the

planking round bilge hulls, trimming the panels, planking the

hull, choice of adhesive, selecting the fastenings, fairing and

finishing the hull, turning the hull, solid floors – web floors,

traditional and not so traditional planking, ballast keels on

and not so traditional planking, ballast keels on

wooden boats, interior framing, deck beams, plywood decking

sheathing plywood decks and superstructure.

Creating the design, making the calculations and preparing

the cutting files. CNC Cutting, assembling the hull deck and

superstructure. Several Roberts designed TRAWLERS are

used to illustrate all of the steps in designing and building from

a kit.

SELECTION OF TRAWLERS YOU BUILD.

wooden