Big C - 1.1 Meter long Aluminum Boat, Why not structural adhesives

As you might know Big C is the new atlantic record boat , 1.1 meters long. People are welding this washing machine size boat for 6 months and there is lot to go. As they say after welding each piece , parts sizes changes and they correct it for each time. If I make such a boat , I would use structural thick adhesives. What do you say ?

 

Use ribets instead of adhesives.

 

I think you wanted to say rivets. I want to build that boat with laser cut 4 and 3mm marine aluminum and polyurethane adhesives from published jpegs of cad files. I will pm you.

 

Yes, "rivets", sorry.
I'll study tomorrow the drawing in your PM.
I don't think much can be done with them. it's my first impression.

 

I think top and bottom of the boat is ultra complicated design. You can get a hammer and bang bang simplify it. Even an cube does the job with some underwater profile with flat panels. I would use plywood as posts and flat cut panels to adhesive. If you can even hand sketch , it works.

 

here is the big c boat design , unnecessarly complicated

 

Here is a link to Big C's Facebook page - lots of photos here, including photos of the Mark 1 version of Big C which was severely damaged last year when she was being lifted out of the water (after being rescued not long after he had set off) and was dropped on the quayside.
Big C Atlantic Challenge https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082612007911

I think that most folk were hoping that he would 'call it a day' then, but no, our intrepid buoy sailor was determined to have another bash at it.....

Here is a video of him being towed out to start his transatlantic passage last year -
28K views · 388 reactions | Big C Atlantic Challenge was live. | By Big C Atlantic Challenge | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/100082612007911/videos/220988604024660

 

Helluva project, careful planning, careful construction, . .........But why?

May the saints be with you.

 

I think he has become obsessed with getting the record for the shortest boat to cross the Atlantic........ but I would agree with you absolutely as to 'WHY'?
Even if he survives perhaps a hundred days at sea (or much longer even) cooped up inside what is essentially a floating buoy and gets the record, there will be a brief flurry of congrats and adulations (along with comments about his sanity) - and then everybody will forget about it.

My old friend Stein Hoff had rowed across the Atlantic twice - you would think that would be enough, but he became fixated on having another bash at it, this time rowing across the North Atlantic from the USA to England (the previous two trips were east to west, in the tropics) - and doing it in 2016 at the age of 70 to (try to) claim the record for the oldest singlehanded row across the North Atlantic.
Here is a link to his Facebook page about his journey - it was often pretty harrowing.
Stein Hoff - Atlantic Row 2016 https://www.facebook.com/soloatlanticrow2016

Stein spent a lot of time hove to, with his drogue sea anchor deployed, going backwards (or going around in circles) - as it is impossible to make headway to windward in an ocean rowing boat in anything more than a few knots of wind.
And he had a lot of head winds.
Here is a link to the the path that was dictated for him by the wind and sea gods - he had a Yellow Brick tracker on board, and a sat com, and he was also sending daily reports to his home base, and they then uploaded the reports to his FB page.
If you zoom in on the map, you can see the many times that he was going backwards, and around in circles.
YBlog - YB Tracking https://my.yb.tl/soloatlanticrow2016/map-only/

After about 80 days out, he was still about 600 miles from Ireland - too far for a SAR helicopter to reach him - when the inevitable (for the North Atlantic) happened, and a storm found him.
The only thing he could do was to deploy his drogue, and batten down inside the wee cabin, and hope for the best - this worked well until he lost the drogue, and he was then repeatedly rolled by the waves - it must have been similar to being inside a washing machine.
He carried two pairs of oars, and I think he lost all of them in the rolls, never mind that they were strapped down, and the boat sustained some damages as well, so his only option then was to activate his EPIRB.
And a very large bulk carrier picked him up not long after - the seas were too rough for the ship to risk lowering their rescue boat to get him, so they managed to manoeuvre this huge ship alongside his wee boat, in enormous seas, and Stein was able to then grab the rope ladder and climb up.
There was no way that they could have tried to lift the rowing boat on board, so it was abandoned.
And Stein arrived back in the USA a couple of weeks later on the ship......
He thought he would never see his rowing boat again, but some months later a young lad found the boat washed ashore at the top end of Norway - he had heard about Stein's adventure, and recognised the boat, and contacted Stein - I think the boat is in a museum now.
Stein did consider having another bash at trying to get the record, but this time his family very firmly disabused him of having any thoughts about doing this ever again.

And even if our lad in Big C can last out cooped up in that buoy shaped coffin for 80 or 100 days, I doubt that his windward ability is any better than Stein's rowing boat was - it is probably much worse, as he can't even row Big C.
So he can look forward to many days of going backwards and around in circles with his sea anchor streamed - I just hope that he does not suffer a failure with it like Stein did.

It is ultimately going to be a test of his psychological ability to cope with living in such a tiny space, and for such a long time, in extreme discomfort, and no doubt with many moments of sheer terror along the way - such as being in the path of a big ship, and not being able to get out of it's way....... and the ship traffic on the North Atlantic route is very busy.

 

I am intrigued as to why you also want to build a Big C - do you want to have a bash at the record as well?

 

This is the smallest close to the elements and cheapest to make. I will follow shore line and want to from Istanbul to Romania. I dont want exact copy but simplest boat I can make with plywood and aluminum panels adhesived , no rivets or welding. I will stay at the sea maximum 10 days in one trip . It must carry me 200 miles maximum.

 

You don't want that and I doubt it is the cheapest. If you want smallest, cheap, and close to the water try a coracle.For ten days at a time what you really want is a umiak or any other skin-on-frame mid-sized vessel. Much cheaper, much more seaworthy, more weatherly, easier on the body... the Big C is a torture machine.... He*l, even a dory would be better as they can cross the Atlantic in under 60 days even in 1876.
Alfred "Centennial" Johnson - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_%22Centennial%22_Johnson

 

I partly understand the appeal of gaining a record for an ocean crossing in a very small boat,but the discomfort and limited interest in such matters would hardly compensate for misery involved.It is possible to find small conventional cruising boats on auction sites for less than the cost of the metal and laser cutting involved in this project.Which won't set any records,but will allow a much more comfortable passage in a much shorter time to be undertaken.Here in the UK we have hundreds of neglected small sailing cruisers which have been sitting ashore or on moorings while their elderly owners fail to come to terms with the march of time and it's inevitable effect on their sailing prospects.After a while,letters go unanswered as the former sailor may have to move into a care home and the boat is essentially abandoned;at which time the marina owner may need to gain the space for a boat that pays-with the result that the boat is sold for very little money.I expect that something similar happens in most places.

 

I totally agree. Those people have no clue what they are doing. You should start a design and construction school to set the industry straight. All those curves, welding, structural supports, etc. are just expensive nonsense to make money from ususpecting customers. In fact, you should champion a class action suit against Naval Architects worldwide. I will morally support you to the best of my abilities.

 

Ugh, how much frustration is hidden behind those words.
Nobody does anything very complicated, knowingly, without a reason. Before throwing away a job, it would be advisable to analyze it with knowledge of the facts.