Photos of my dive boat

[Eric Sedletzky]

Here are some pics of my custom dive boat that I built myself from scratch.
The boat features a stainless tank rack that holds 8 tanks. Down in the holds 4 more tanks can be stored for a total of 12. All gear can be stowed down in the holds to keep the deck clear. It has a 20 gallon fuel capacity and I put a Yamaha 60 Enduro commercial motor on it because I wanted to keep it light. This allows me to launch in very hard to reach areas including Ocean Cove and across beaches. The design is based on a Glen-L Little Hunk flat bottom Pacific Dory and works very well up here on the North Coast.
The boat is only 18.5 ft. LOA and has a beam of 7.5 feet. It can accomodate 4 divers comfortably with 3 tanks each and all gear including fins, masks, weight belts, etc.
I am going to get started building a t-top for it soon out of stainless.

ZKY

 

[cool_hardware52]

Very Nice, you have been busy.

I like the well thought out provisions for stowing gear.

How does handle a following sea?


Tobin

 

[alcina]

Looks great!

? Are the hatches water tight? If not, won't they get full of water (even from dripping divers) and if so, how do you get the water out?

 

[Dryglove]

That is one great looking boat. I'll be sure to wave at you if i ever run across you at monterey.

 

[mossym]

nice boat, like the storage system

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Looks great!

? Are the hatches water tight? If not, won't they get full of water (even from dripping divers) and if so, how do you get the water out?

The bilge area below decks is all open between the bottom planking and the frames. There are longitudinal stringers that are on the outside of the frames that the planking attaches to thus allowing all the water to drain to the rear of the boat. I have 2 - 1000 GPH bilge pumps mounted in each rear corner that pump out any sea water.

She handles a following sea very well due to the 30 degrtee angle of the transom. The motor mounting area is 12.5 degrees and 20" tall but due to the flat bottom the boat only drafts 6". I've never had the water even close to swamping me even in terrible conditions. The only thing I found is that when you get surfing down the face of a swell the bow can catch a wind wave on one side and throw you a little, but as long as you're hanging on and ready for it, it's no big deal.
One problem with the flat bottom though is the fact that it can beat you to death if you want to go fast in wind chop. I normally throttle down and try and negotiate the wave on a quarter. The upside is that the flat design is very stable at rest and makes for a very nice dive platform without the constant pitching and rolling like the deep v
boats.
Another advantage of the dory boat is the ability to carry a huge amount of weight for it's size, the ability to go up shallow rivers, and the ability of launching in and out
of surf.
Also the bottom design allows for a great efficiency to power ratio. On any other deep v boat of comparable length and weight I would have to power it with at least a 90 hp or larger to get the same results.

ZKY

 

[alcina]

Thanks ZKY - excellent details

 

[jlyle]

How do you get back in the boat? Do you carry a ladder? Nice rig.

 

[Hank49]

Here are some pics of my custom dive boat that I built myself from scratch.
The boat features a stainless tank rack that holds 8 tanks. Down in the holds 4 more tanks can be stored for a total of 12. All gear can be stowed down in the holds to keep the deck clear. It has a 20 gallon fuel capacity and I put a Yamaha 60 Enduro commercial motor on it because I wanted to keep it light. This allows me to launch in very hard to reach areas including Ocean Cove and across beaches. The design is based on a Glen-L Little Hunk flat bottom Pacific Dory and works very well up here on the North Coast.
The boat is only 18.5 ft. LOA and has a beam of 7.5 feet. It can accomodate 4 divers comfortably with 3 tanks each and all gear including fins, masks, weight belts, etc.
I am going to get started building a t-top for it soon out of stainless.

ZKY

Nice looking boat. But that Yammer 60 is a bit weak for it isn't it? I had a 23 foot skiff that was just a fiberglass hull with a 60 Yamaha, and with 4 people on board is was dragging butt. What you need is a 115 Mercury four stroke. And you won't believe this, but I have a 2001 for sale. Only US$3,500 and less than 300 hours on it. Just kidding. I can't ship it to California from Belize. But I would think about more HP if I were you. You can outrun a big following sea if you need to. Hank

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Nice looking boat. But that Yammer 60 is a bit weak for it isn't it? I had a 23 foot skiff that was just a fiberglass hull with a 60 Yamaha, and with 4 people on board is was dragging butt. What you need is a 115 Mercury four stroke. And you won't believe this, but I have a 2001 for sale. Only US$3,500 and less than 300 hours on it. Just kidding. I can't ship it to California from Belize. But I would think about more HP if I were you. You can outrun a big following sea if you need to. Hank

With the Yamaha 60 with just me in it with a 15 pitch prop I can get about 35 MPH.
With 4 guys and the boat loaded with all gear and a 13 pitch prop I can go about 20 MPH.
I've never really had any trouble getting the boat up on plane with the 60, but yeah, sometimes I would like to have a little more power
I got that motor for $1800 used. I took what I could get at the time with the money I had.
If I was to buy a new motor it would be a new Yamaha 4 stroke 90.

I want to build a 26 foot dory next and I'll set that boat up first class.