Re: Bantam - "Drifter"
Cam, Kenneth, and echo
I will try to answer all three of you here. Cam, You were mentioned in MAIB on the upgrade to 24 feet as you wanted 4 bunks. Yes, the double bottom upgrade was necessary for me. The original plan was drawn for protected waters, and while I do not plan on being foolish, I do operate sometimes in the Apostle Island in Lake Superior. I also explore the Mississippi and other big river systems and from experience going from MN to the gulf before I know rivers can get rough also. Tom David, as you may recall, built the first Bantam and lives on Nantucket Island. His experience with rougher water than the original plan called for resulted in PCB & Fs doing the first upgrade to give more space from the waterline to the bridge bottom. If you never plan to boat in anything except protected waters, like John Bartlett in Florida, you may not need them. I also like the fact that I get about 1000 lbs of positive buoyancy, and if I get careless and punch a hole in the bottom of
one of the hulls I won't get water inside, and in a worse case scenario there will be at least three unsinkable "logs" to grab!! :0 Windows - I did not like the idea of non opening windows, or rather windows that would only open if you folded them up, thereby needing separate screening to fasten either with Velcro or snaps. I made the frames by laminating 1/4" ply instead of simply cutting openings in 3/4" ply and screwing a large sheet of Plexiglas over them. This saved me from buying three sheets of expensive 3/4" marine ply and having most of it wasted. I then installed 36" by 54" twin track storm windows from Menard's, sideways. They work as sliders that way. They cost $36.00 each and come with the half screens. If it's buggy I just slide open the windows and the screens are already there. If it's a nice day without bugs I can still fold up the entire panel. No separate screening needed. This is what I do when locking through so I can do so from within the boat,
by myself. I ordered a 10 pack of 28" by 32" Plexiglas from Home Depot. Menard's does not sell in 10 packs, which saved me a lot of money. It took me one hour to change the glass for plexi for the first one, then 1/2 hr for each of the others. The alum windows added 12 lbs to the weight as each frame weighed 3 lbs. Now as to time saved if you don't build the folding top. A LOT!! No support poles and their supporting structure, no wires, no cheek blocks, turning blocks, thru deck (bulkheads in this case) blocks, no worm gear. If you only plan on relatively short trailering distances, I would not bother. I will be towing 2000 miles to Florida in January, and other coast in other seasons and years. Without all that windage it tows really great. Plus, The windows are protected from any damage along the way. It takes me about 20 minutes to raise and lower the top and fold the side down or up into their position for towing. If you do decide to build the folding
version let me know. I have other things to save you trouble not worth going into here if you are not going to build it. Finally, you wanted a photo of the helm. I have added a pic I had to the others in Bolger 6. It's the 11th one. I would take the time to shoot more that would clearly show how it all works, except the top is down until I get to Florida. Suffice to say that the helm with wheel attached comes off with two machine screws and lays on the bridge deck. It doesn't go anywhere because of the steering cable. Again,, not needed if you don't build the folding cabin.
Kenneth. You don't appear to be familiar with the Bolger Bantam. It first appeared in MAIB's in the June 1, 1999 issue. Then an update with Tom David in the August 15, 2002 issue. Then another update in the issue with Cam above. I don't know the issue date of that one as I only have the two pages and there is no date on the pages. Maybe Cam can tell you, since he is mentioned in the article. If you are thinking of building you should get these and read them. My boat is 8 feet wide and 22 feet long. My boat weighs more than the first plans as I not only built the double bottom upgrade, but lengthened it by two feet, plus other changes. I don't know the weight of the boat alone as yet. I have only weighed the complete boat, motor and trailer together as that is what I have to tow. 2740 lbs. Maybe next summer when the boat is in the water I will weigh the trailer. My trailer is 26 feet long as I don't want to tow 2000 miles with a lot of boat hanging unsupported, so
It weighs more than the shorter trailer used by others. How shallow can I go? I only need a foot of water with the outboard up. I can either pole, or use the trolling motor I have in front where it doesn't stick down more than that, when in shallow water. This allows me to get into some really quiet, protected anchorages.
Echo. Regarding wave handling. Even though I boat on Lake Superior, I have not had anything over 1 1/2 feet, so far. About the same for my worst day on the Mississippi. You might try to contact Tom David in Nantucket as he has been using his for several years and I just launched this last July. I imagine I will find out a lot more this winter in Florida.
Oh yes, one more thing! PCB & Fs mentions the increased stresses of lengthening the hull. To help stiffen the hull I made another change. Instead of building the two cabinets as nothing more than furniture, I made the forward end of them as half bulkheads, extending all the way out to the sponson hull sides; and just like any bulkhead is filleted and glassed to the hull on both sides of the bulkhead. I think this should help add stiffness to counter the added length. Again, adding more weight.
OK, that is ENOUGH for now, whew!
Bob
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I will try to answer all three of you here. Cam, You were mentioned in MAIB on the upgrade to 24 feet as you wanted 4 bunks. Yes, the double bottom upgrade was necessary for me. The original plan was drawn for protected waters, and while I do not plan on being foolish, I do operate sometimes in the Apostle Island in Lake Superior. I also explore the Mississippi and other big river systems and from experience going from MN to the gulf before I know rivers can get rough also. Tom David, as you may recall, built the first Bantam and lives on Nantucket Island. His experience with rougher water than the original plan called for resulted in PCB & Fs doing the first upgrade to give more space from the waterline to the bridge bottom. If you never plan to boat in anything except protected waters, like John Bartlett in Florida, you may not need them. I also like the fact that I get about 1000 lbs of positive buoyancy, and if I get careless and punch a hole in the bottom of
one of the hulls I won't get water inside, and in a worse case scenario there will be at least three unsinkable "logs" to grab!! :0 Windows - I did not like the idea of non opening windows, or rather windows that would only open if you folded them up, thereby needing separate screening to fasten either with Velcro or snaps. I made the frames by laminating 1/4" ply instead of simply cutting openings in 3/4" ply and screwing a large sheet of Plexiglas over them. This saved me from buying three sheets of expensive 3/4" marine ply and having most of it wasted. I then installed 36" by 54" twin track storm windows from Menard's, sideways. They work as sliders that way. They cost $36.00 each and come with the half screens. If it's buggy I just slide open the windows and the screens are already there. If it's a nice day without bugs I can still fold up the entire panel. No separate screening needed. This is what I do when locking through so I can do so from within the boat,
by myself. I ordered a 10 pack of 28" by 32" Plexiglas from Home Depot. Menard's does not sell in 10 packs, which saved me a lot of money. It took me one hour to change the glass for plexi for the first one, then 1/2 hr for each of the others. The alum windows added 12 lbs to the weight as each frame weighed 3 lbs. Now as to time saved if you don't build the folding top. A LOT!! No support poles and their supporting structure, no wires, no cheek blocks, turning blocks, thru deck (bulkheads in this case) blocks, no worm gear. If you only plan on relatively short trailering distances, I would not bother. I will be towing 2000 miles to Florida in January, and other coast in other seasons and years. Without all that windage it tows really great. Plus, The windows are protected from any damage along the way. It takes me about 20 minutes to raise and lower the top and fold the side down or up into their position for towing. If you do decide to build the folding
version let me know. I have other things to save you trouble not worth going into here if you are not going to build it. Finally, you wanted a photo of the helm. I have added a pic I had to the others in Bolger 6. It's the 11th one. I would take the time to shoot more that would clearly show how it all works, except the top is down until I get to Florida. Suffice to say that the helm with wheel attached comes off with two machine screws and lays on the bridge deck. It doesn't go anywhere because of the steering cable. Again,, not needed if you don't build the folding cabin.
Kenneth. You don't appear to be familiar with the Bolger Bantam. It first appeared in MAIB's in the June 1, 1999 issue. Then an update with Tom David in the August 15, 2002 issue. Then another update in the issue with Cam above. I don't know the issue date of that one as I only have the two pages and there is no date on the pages. Maybe Cam can tell you, since he is mentioned in the article. If you are thinking of building you should get these and read them. My boat is 8 feet wide and 22 feet long. My boat weighs more than the first plans as I not only built the double bottom upgrade, but lengthened it by two feet, plus other changes. I don't know the weight of the boat alone as yet. I have only weighed the complete boat, motor and trailer together as that is what I have to tow. 2740 lbs. Maybe next summer when the boat is in the water I will weigh the trailer. My trailer is 26 feet long as I don't want to tow 2000 miles with a lot of boat hanging unsupported, so
It weighs more than the shorter trailer used by others. How shallow can I go? I only need a foot of water with the outboard up. I can either pole, or use the trolling motor I have in front where it doesn't stick down more than that, when in shallow water. This allows me to get into some really quiet, protected anchorages.
Echo. Regarding wave handling. Even though I boat on Lake Superior, I have not had anything over 1 1/2 feet, so far. About the same for my worst day on the Mississippi. You might try to contact Tom David in Nantucket as he has been using his for several years and I just launched this last July. I imagine I will find out a lot more this winter in Florida.
Oh yes, one more thing! PCB & Fs mentions the increased stresses of lengthening the hull. To help stiffen the hull I made another change. Instead of building the two cabinets as nothing more than furniture, I made the forward end of them as half bulkheads, extending all the way out to the sponson hull sides; and just like any bulkhead is filleted and glassed to the hull on both sides of the bulkhead. I think this should help add stiffness to counter the added length. Again, adding more weight.
OK, that is ENOUGH for now, whew!
Bob
---------------------------------
Sponsored Link
Mortgage rates near historic lows: $150,000 loan as low as $579/mo. Intro-*Terms
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]