Searider hull, worthwhile?

narked · 20 December 2003, 14:42

Considering buying the searider hull advertised in the boats for sale section. Is £850 a reasonable price? And is it worthwhile me going for it as a project to do up and kit out as I want?

Cheers,
Matt

Rogue Wave · 20 December 2003, 14:46

Quote:

Originally posted by narked
Considering buying the searider hull advertised in the boats for sale section. Is £850 a reasonable price? And is it worthwhile me going for it as a project to do up and kit out as I want?

Cheers,
Matt

what legth is it

narked · 20 December 2003, 14:51

4 metre, ready for a console and jockey seat installation.

Rogue Wave · 20 December 2003, 17:10

Having looked at the thread I'd say if the boat is in Good nick then it seems to be agood deal. If you do buy it bring it to us for a couple of days and we will help you fit it out.

matiboy · 21 December 2003, 22:15

Nice pipedream but bear in mind you can pick these up from £1500 squid upwards on a trailer with something strapped to the back , I would have thought an expensive option....

You'll need a Trim / Tilt 50 of some sort and they seem to go for silly money secondhand at around £1100 upwards so straight away you've spent more without having a trailer , fitting out , etc , etc.....

Allways cheaper to buy a complete package which can then be worked on...

Surprisingly a very capable simply brilliant boat for only 4 Metres , very impressed with mine

Havnt posted for a while what happened to your SIB you were getting ?

narked · 22 December 2003, 14:12

The searider does come with a trailer, but having thought about it it probably would end up costing me more to sort it all out.

As for the SIB, the fact that for the same price as a new SIB and outboard I could get a Searider or similar has got me thinking about taking the RIB path instead. Depends what I can find really.

seaskimmer · 22 December 2003, 18:13

hello there just to let you know that i to have recently upgraded from a sib(4m humber with 20hp merc on the back to a 4m avon searider. the sea rider came from a girls college in the lake district and was used as a saftey boat, they upgraded and so took the bits of to use on there new boat and i bought the bare boat and trailer for £400, since then i have bought a 40hp mariner and paid a prof company to fit it and set it up. all in all it has cost about £1500, thats every thing inc lighting board spare wheel new whinch, it's amazing just how much the little extras cost and soon add up, but all in all i am very pleased with my new rib, whitch is infinitly more comftable/seaworthy than my sib.

seaskimmer · 22 December 2003, 18:18

and here is apicture of my sib sorry the picture wont upload as it is a tif file, will change it to a jpeg and try again

Bilge Rat · 22 December 2003, 22:33

Hi guys.... Matiboy has got a really good point and i may be able to add to what he's said having done exacly what he described.
I bought an £1,800 boat trailer and engine combo back in March and have spent the rest of this year fixing it up, making it more sea worthy and fitting it out electronically.
I've also had to contend with a complete engine rebuild and an insurance claim which has not helped much.
If i'd opted for a retube and re gell of the hull i'd have spent another few grand and as it stands now i've probably spent about 6k on what was to be a bit of fun, but at the end of it i have a very sea worthy kitted out boat i can easily move around, fits in my garage and dosen't cost the earth to run.
I suppose the "boat development syndrome" has already started where by you bye a wreck and fix it into something worth having and sell it for a bit more to fund the next project.

Richard

slangley · 23 December 2003, 07:44

What Bilge Rat is saying is very true. I bought a 4m Searider in fairly good condition but wanted to personalise it and make it look new again.

I completely under estimated how long it was going to take and how much it was going to cost. So far it has taken me about 3 months and to be honest ( because of Chrsitmas being in the way ), I reckon it will take me another 2 before it is completely finished. With new engine, tubes, console, steel work and fibreglass materials, so far it have cost me about £4k plus the £2k I paid for the boat. For me, I have enjoyed doing it and I will eventually have a RIB that is exactly what I want in all aspects of colour, power and electronics etc.

pmorgan · 07 January 2004, 15:36

Hi Slangley

Just read your posting describing how you have restored a 4m Searider. As I am think of a similar project could give me some information as to how you made or obtained your new console ?

Many thank

Pete

slangley · 07 January 2004, 15:54

I made it myself. In fact I am still in the process of completely finishing it. I first made a pattern out of MDF. This was then filled with body filler, rubbed down and spray painted with car paint. It was then waxed and had 2 coats of PVA put on to stop the mould from sticking. I then put 2 coats of Gelcoat on the exterior and then laminated it with a mixture of 300gm and 450gm CSM and tissue. I left it about a week and then removed the pattern to give me a mould. I am just at the stage of creating the finished item. It should be completely done by next weekend.

The windscreen I created from Acrylic and used a hot air gun to bend it into shape. All the backrests and grab handles were created from stainless steel tubung using a pipe bender and arc welder.

Once I have finished it, I will place a photograph here and if you want to borrow the mould then you are more than welcome to.

It is designed to fit a 4m searider and has room for a Nasa VHF-DSC Radio, Garmin Fishfinder and a Garmin GPS, all flush mounted. There is also room for a fuel level gauge, speedo, tacho and tilt-trim gauge along with a bank of 6 switches for nav lights, bilge pumps etc and horn.

The console is big enough to hold a 55litre fuel tank and can seat 2 people.

I have the safe-t QC steering system for it. I can post a picture next week of the pattern if you like so you can get a rough idea.

In cost terms, including all the fibreglass, stainless steel and acrylic, foam and vinyl for the seat, the final product would cost about £300 to make excluidng electronics.

pmorgan · 08 January 2004, 08:45

Great thanks for the answering my questions. As I mentioned it is still early days yet and I am still in the feasibility stages of the project. Have a huge amount of fun in your new rib. Its sound as though you will have an excellent craft at the end of the project.

Rgds

Pete

mojofilter · 27 January 2004, 06:21

hi slangley

did you ever post a photo of the finished console as i am about to embark on a similar project, except i will probably make the console from ply and then glass over it, would be interested in your dimensions though

slangley · 27 January 2004, 08:40

Unfortunately, I havn't had chance to make the finished product yet. I am hoping to get it finished this weekend, weather permitting. The problem is, I can only really work outside and once the temperature drops the fiberglass wont cure properly.

Once I have done I will post a photo here.

The pattern is the hardest part and took the longest to build. The biggest problem is getting any joins flat with filler. Once you have your pattern perfect the rest is pretty straigh forward. I designed the console to seat 2 people and also accommodate a 55L fuel tank underneath with a bit of storage space to spare.

Realistically, you only have 44cm of width to play with due to the fact that the whole has raised kinks going across to strengthen it.

Rick · 27 January 2004, 10:16

Hi

I am going through the same process at the moment, making a rear bench seat. Over the weekend I finished making the pattern and as you say this takes the longest time. All my materials for making the mould and the final product arrived last week so hopefully I will get the mould made this weekend.

I noticed that you left a week before taking the mould off the MDF plug. How difficult was it to remove as I know there is slight shrinkage when the resin sets.

slangley · 27 January 2004, 10:27

The pattern came away pretty easy. This is the way I did it all after completing the pattern:-

It was sprayed with 2 layers of cellulose undercoat and 2 layers of topcoat. This was done over one day.

I put 7 layers of SlipWax onto the pattern. They were put on about an hour apart with a polishing cloth.

I then sprayed 1 layer of PVA and left it to dry and then put a 2nd coat on. This was done with a realtively cheap spray gun on a cheapy compressor.

Once dry I put the first coat of Gelcoat on with a roller and brush. I left this about 2 hours and put a 2nd on. I lef this overnight.

I then applied about 8 layers of GRP. The first one was tissue, the next 2 were 300g CSM and the last 5 were 450g CSM. Some layers I put more than one on at a time. There was about an hour between each sets of layers. After each layer had sort of dried I cut off any excess.

Once the last layer was on, dried and cut, I applied a final coat of gelcoat over the top with a wax solution added.

This was all left for about a week ( didn't need to be this long, it just fitted in with my work plans ).

I didn't have to use any wedges. Tapped it all over with a rubber hammer and forced air with the compressor into the small bits that had seperated and then forced water down there with the compressor. A little bit more banging and the mould came away.

I washed the mould in warm soapy water and polished it with Farecla G3 Liquid.

This is the stage I am at now apart from I have put a few coats of slipwax onto the mould.

Rick · 27 January 2004, 10:58

Thanks for that,

I was not thinking of using as many as 8 layers of CSM, only two or three. Did you use that many to ensure there was no flex in the mould?

I was going to bond some wooden supports into the first or second layer to provide the additional stiffness. Do you think that would be sufficient or should I go for the additional layers of CSM.

slangley · 27 January 2004, 11:03

The reason I did this was because the console is quite tall and once I had created a female mould, the only way I will be able to laminate it is to get right inside it and it would be a tight fit with my body. I put all the extra layers on so that it would not bend too much while I was laminating it. That's the theory. If you can work from the outside of the mould to laminate it then what you are doing will be fine.

I will find out if the theory works once I laminate the mould which should be the end of this week. Hopefully in a week or 2 my console should be finished time and weather permitting.

I must admit, it has been a hard struggle with lots of problems along the way. The pattern was definately the hardest part to do. Creating the mould was just time and wasn't that difficult. I dont think the final stage will be difficult either apart from what I mentioned above. The mould is very stiff now. I can sit on it and it doesn't bend.

jwalker · 27 January 2004, 11:56

A few points which might save you some effort and time. If you use pva release agent, apply it with a piece of foam, a wee sponge will do fine. It sounds as though it will leave a horrible finish but just wait until it has dried and you’ll see it’s fine. A second coat is not necessary. If you are making a light mould, reinforce it with wood and csm after the actual moulding is complete. Do this BEFORE it is removed from the plug and allow a reasonable time for the lot to cure. If the moulding is removed too soon, you will get surface distortion as the cure progresses. If much too soon, the whole effin’ thing might distort. Been there, done it (impatient). If you make the mould a dark colour (black), you can see any imperfections easily. Resist all temptation to bang the mould to achieve a release (star cracking, here we come). As slangley said, water is good because it will dissolve the pva and the moulding will float out.
Making a plug.... no reverse curves tapers or parallel sides. Ideally, you need to aim to have a minimum of 2 degrees taper to all near parallel surfaces (more is better). The old techy term for this is draught.