Tag Archives: Patrick Ropp

Single Outrigger Motorboat by Russell Brown

Readers’ Projects, Issue 29

Single Outrigger Motorboat

Russell Brown designed and built this single outrigger motorboat for his friend Josh Sutherland. Although not completely finished when the photo was taken, it was “pretty well tested and didn’t seem to have any really bad habits,” says Brown. It is 24′ long and built fairly ruggedly. It uses a 20 hp Yamaha four-stroke and goes about 18 knots with three people on board.  Russell, the son of legendary boat designer Jim Brown, designs and builds foils, boats, and other composite projects in Port Townsend, Washington. Visit www.ptwatercraft.com.

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Bounty Hunter after sheathing with WEST SYSTEM.

Giving BOUNTY HUNTER New Skin

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

Above: The 65′ strip-planked Bounty Hunter after sheathing with fiberglass and WEST SYSTEM Epoxy. After 5 years, she still looks as good as she did then. In addition, her new fiberglass skin quickly paid for itself through increased performance.

Five years ago, Captain Glenn James decided it was time to make improvements to his Coast Guard-inspected charter fishing boat operating out of Edgewater and Solomon’s Island on the Chesapeake Bay. Bounty Hunter is a 65′ cedar-strip planked hull, a one-off Davis™ hull that was built in 1967 at Harkers Island, North Carolina. The planks are fastened to frames on 16″ centers with monel fasteners. The cedar strips are narrow, less than 2″ wide, and are edge nailed with monel nails and edge-glued. Continue reading →

resin-rich ratios

Epoxy Composite Tank Guidelines

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

Epoxy composite tanks have been built for water, sewage, gray water, ballast, and diesel fuel since the early 1970’s. The regulatory environment has evolved within the few decades and has placed safety restrictions on various aspects of tank building, specifically potable water and gasoline. Continue reading →

sister beams

Beam Me Up

Sister Beams  Reinforce a Sagging Ceiling

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

Above: The sister beams reinforce the failing ceiling beam to easily carry the load, with capacity to scare. Rebar is embedded into the bottom surface of the sister beams where the tensile load is at its maximum. (Figure 6)

While working in my shop/converted (never to be seen by a car) garage, I noticed that the double 2×8 beam supporting my ceiling joists was sagging about 2 to 3 inches in the middle. The builder of this forty-year-old garage didn’t use full-length 2×8’s to span the 19′ width, but four 2 x 8’s nailed together with staggered butt joints. Over the years, gravity took its toll. The nail holes elongated, the butt joints opened up, and the beam sagged ominously. Continue reading →

Gluing Plastic Dimensional Lumber

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

More people are using recycled plastic/wood composite lumber for decks and other various projects. Although each manufacturer of recycled plastic lumber has his own blend, we found that most are using very similar ingredients: an equal amount of melted recycled plastic mixed with recycled wood chips or sawdust and then extruded in the form of dimensional lumber. Since the wood is encased in plastic, the plastic/wood composite boards are supposed to last longer than traditional decking materials and carry a good warranty. Many of these boards are not intended for use as structural members, but they Continue reading →

Nose for Speed

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

Some people just have a knack for things. We commonly say that someone may have an “eye” for beauty, an “ear” for music, or a “taste” for art, and now you can have a…“nose” for speed. Nose cones on outboard and sterndrive lower units are common in the world of boat racing. Whether it be outboard hydroplane racing, outboard performance craft (tunnel hulls), offshore powerboats, or customized recreational boats, all have factory-built “speedo” lower units, which are very fast, but expensive. However, adding a nose cone to your existing lower unit is affordable, quick, and fun to do. Continue reading →

Building Payson’s Rubens Nymph

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor

My oldest brother, Jeff, was searching for a small boat to take his kids out fishing and just messing about. Since he had more money than time, and I had more time than money, we pooled our resources. I would build two boats and he would buy the materials. We looked at numerous plans and finally found one of Harold “Dynamite” Payson’s (Phil Bolger’s design #516) Instant Boats that appealed to us. The Rubens Nymph is a beamy (4′ 6″ wide), 7′ 9″ long, double chined, rowboat. The Nymph looked easy and quick to build due to a modified stitch-n-glue technique. Continue reading →

The Phoenix Racing Team Steams On

by Patrick Ropp—GBI Technical Advisor
Epoxyworks 13

Cover Photo: “The last thing I needed to worry about was whether or not my boat would stay intact.

Tiptoeing on the edge of danger, I was crouched down on my knees in the cockpit of my ten-and-a-half foot “sheet of plywood” hydroplane, screaming across the water at speeds reaching 65 mph. Crossing the start line with wide open throttle, I, along with eleven other boats, aimed for the first turn pin. Who will make it there first? With just inches between boats, whitewater from the roostertails engulfed my boat and hammered against my helmet’s visor. These roostertails, which extended thirty feet behind the engine and turn fin, were difficult, almost impossible, to avoid. During this moment of frenzy, I prayed that another hydroplane had not stalled in front of me, or worse . . . flipped. Continue reading →