Saving Old Seagulls

We have started building the first of three boats to use on the Murray River run in October they will
be narrow lightweight versions of the Atkins Russell R. I realised early in the planning stages that I
would not have been able to sit in a small dinghy for up to four to six weeks, these boats will be fairly
comfortable have a fridge, Porta Potti , plenty of shade and a good bed. The Seagulls should push
them along at 6 knots or better, hope you enjoy the build.

http://atkinboatplans.com/Oar/RussellR.html






Bottom ready for a layer of Kevlar



Looking good no dry areas

John

Alan has done a neat job setting up the Transom and motor mount.







With the bottom on we start to see the boats lines.

John

Great idea having a longboat. The Murray adventure has great merit but is best at leisure with a comfortable vessel. Agreed about sitting in a dinghy for such a length of time. Six hours on one day would do me in, let alone six weeks.

Keep the pictures coming. Impressed!

Kudos to Mark for instigating the idea.

What's the total length & the estimated finished weight & which model Seagull are you using?

Boat length is 21’10” - 6.65 metres
Waterline is 20’ – 6.1 metres
Weight we are hoping we are close to 100kg – 220lbs when finished
Even if we end up at 150 kg – 330lbs that’s light for a boat this size.
Each boat will carry 50 litres of fuel.

Motors: we are running a mixture of Silver Centuries and Centuries
Two motors for each boat and a couple just a phone call away but I think one
Motor will do the whole run its only 2,000 km/h.

It’s a shame Mark had to cancel the run very surprised when he rang and
Told me so many had pulled out I think there must have been 20 on the
List at the end of March plus I wasn’t interested in the backup vehicle didn’t
help. Were still hoping Mark will join us for a section as we are still doing the
Run almost to plan except we are starting at Yarrawonga.

I will post more progress photos tomorrow night.

John

2000km/h . Not bad my AD can only manage 9km/h.

Is the bottom of your hull vacuum bagged close cell foam?

If I was building that for a once around Bermuda I would be inclined to put some V into the first 6 feet as that's the bit that will hit anything first & the V will stop the bow trying to climb up out of the water, give it some strength & help the bow wave move to the sides, perhaps an inner stem made of ply might impart some longitudinal stiffness in this area.

I asked the question about your choice of Seagull models because I would have doubts about a silver century's ability to push a 21 foot hull (weighting 100 kilos carrying 2 Seagulls, tools & spares 45 kilos, 50 litres of fuel 50 kilos, lunch & a slab of VB in a chilly bin 8 kilos & 2 Australian gentlemen perhaps weighing as little as 170 kilos & all the other crap your wives think you should take along with 2 swags, 20 kilos giving a conservative grand total of around 400 kilos) at 5 knots let alone 6.

I'm sure my fellow members of this site would gladly start a small collection to buy you a couple of pairs of ear protectors.

Wish you all the best, if there are any Seagull parts you can't locate let us know, many of us might have one in our sheds!

What time of year do you plan on starting?

I can loan you my curlew if you wish and I also have a new seagull alternator kit which I believe will fit the curlew.

"lunch & a slab of VB"

Nice and cold aye!


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Be nice to see the pom proven wrong. I can load my long boat up with four people and spare out board etc, camping gear for three plus a couple of chilly bins, and boat still goes 8 knts. It is very important to put the weight in the right place. Displacement hulls are easily driven if weight is distributed correctly. lots of experimenting needed. Plastic bottles full of water are a good idea to use imitate weight.

Charles uk: Bottom is Nomex Honeycomb, Kevlar on the outside Carbon on the inside, just joking were
on a budget it’s a ply boat we have used Kevlar because we got some at the right price, Furniture will
take care of the Longitudinal stiffness. We think the Centuries will push the boat at hull speed it will be
slow getting there but once there it should hold hull speed also the river at that time of the year should
be giving us a 2 or 3 km/h push. Your about right with the weights but we do have a problem how can I
tell Moose (Alan) that he can only take one slab of Coopers (VB-Very Bad), when I left today he was
trying to work out how to fit his Coffee Machine.
At present we are still planning to start in October.

Hugz: Thanks for the offer will try the Centuries first I’m sure they will do it.

The Tinker: Exactly what we are planning to do set the boat up so it runs on its line.

Skyetoyman: Opps did I tell you about the rockets.

Thanks for the offers of help and parts.

John

Hi all here are today’s photos the Stem has been setup sheets for the sides have been scarfed ready for Monday.







Cheers John

Tink the only way for me to never make a mistake again, is to never speak, FAT CHANCE!

We will have to let the Aussies tell me how wrong I am & of course I'd trust them to not lie, unlike the Kiwis.

Tink perhaps you should carry that sort of load when racing it looks like a considerable performance improvement, maybe I'll come & collect the thick ear you now feel you owe me, next Easter.

And I thought you were a bit of an anglophile, all that work your doing to promote our products at the moment, hows that going?

It looks like a good boat and a good build.





You will need to watch the weight during the build, hard to keep a 21' boat light.

What is the white stuff you have used for the fillets ?

Keep the pictures coming.

H-A