The Spirited 480 project in Port Stephens is progressing well. Tony has begun painting, with the interior completed and priming underway on the outside. The paint colour chosen for the inside is a light grey which works well and defuses the space. With everything painted internally, its easier to gain a sense of the layout which flows well. This stage always looks quite plain inside without trims, benchtops, floor coverings, associated appliances and fittings. Because painting was underway the photos of the outside are quite dark however all surfaces are ready for priming. With all construction behind him Tony can now purely focus on the cosmetics and achieving a good finish, a pleasing thought!

We will keep you updated as this project progresses throughout the painting process.

This 8.5m Stow Away project is being built in New Zealand and is now well underway. This is a DuFlex balsa kit with some customised areas for the owner. The project started in September last year and the builders have made good progress since then.

This design is part of the Stow Away range which is a power-sailer concept set on semi-displacement hulls. The hulls are extremely efficient for both sail or power performance with a good beam to length ratio. The semi-displacement hulls have proven to be very comfortable at sea due to the fine entry hulls. This boat will be fitted with twin 50hp outboards and in flat water estimate to achieve a 15 to 20 knot cruise speed. Under sail this design should also perform well with an estimated average cruise speed of 8 knots. With a 4m beam this boat will fit into a standard monohull marina berth. Internally the design has full headroom throughout due to a wider cabin design that creates the headroom in the hulls. 

For more information on this design you can see it on the following link here

Below shows the majority of the panels joined

Below one of the hulls assembled and ready for taping

Current stage shown below with the decks being fitted 

We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and all the best for 2018! 

We wish you fair winds and sunny days!

We appreciate all the support we have received over 2017 and look forward to the New Year!

We are closing on the 21st December 2017 & will be re-opening on the 9th January 2018.    

For any of those who have spent any length of time with someone unfamiliar in the confines of a boat, this is worth a look. We commend Michael and Larissa on their bravery in taking a chance on a relative stranger for this long passage. Luckily it all worked out well and there is some very interesting commentary from the new crew member about his experience. Also some great footage of the Spirited 480 performance offshore and a quick humurous tour of the boat by Bobby the learner sailor. Check this out on the sailsurfroam website...

Michael and Larissa cross the Tasman two up. Larissa describes the trip with some beautiful images captured along the way. For anyone interested in this design or just interested in offshore sailing this is a good read...

The Ripple tender range of designs and kits has been very popular and a consistent seller. We recently had a call from a customer who we built a 3.6m Ripple for in 2014 and his tender had been stolen. The owners were devastated and dearly loved their tender and wanted another one. The design was the same however a few upgrades were incorporated. The options included large diameter beaching wheels, a built-in fuel tank, composite rod holders, lifting fittings and spray rails. As per the first boat the structure was Duflex foam finished in hardtop polyurethane. 

Related to the 3.6m Ripple design, we have personal experience with this exact design and can shed some insight into its suitability as a tender. We have the boat on a trailer so we load the boat from home and launch fully loaded. Most of the time supplies even for just the weekend can be considerable and heavy so the boat has been well tested under these conditions. The engine fitted is a 9.8hp Tohatsu which even when technically 'over-loaded' with 4 passengers, will still get the boat on the plane and cruise well. With this engine we actually haven't had a time where we couldn't plane the boat. Empty with one or two passengers the boat is lively and responsive with a good turn of speed. Also it leaves very little wake which is always good in an anchorage with other boats around. The comfort is quite impressive in choppy conditions and relatively dry. Another advantage we found is if anything large and flat needs to be carried such as plywood etc, the tunnel is ideal. And for a work platform we have even used the tunnel as a work bench to mark out and cut large sheet material sitting on the gunnel while doing this. The good stability is key to achieving this and generally moving around the boat. Something else that we noticed is when in the shallows because of the outboard leg being behind the open tunnel, its possible to motor the boat until it grounds. It also tows well without any signs of zig-zagging etc. 

We can fully understand the above owners devastation with the loss of their Ripple, and we would be the same...

Following on from our last post, the work on 'Siva' continued this year with further extensions to the job list. Although the new electronic engine controls were operational and did the job for the owners over their Christmas holidays in Port Stephens, there was some fine tuning to be done. One of the new jobs on the list was four new Solbian solar panels fitted to the cabintop alongside the existing two unisolar panels. Combined with the two panels fitted on the davits, the solar input is impressive. The Solbian panels are classified as 'semi flexible' and there was concern that they may not be flexible enough to lay on the cabintop without distortion, however they took the curved surface without issues. The bottom wiring leaves a clean uninterrupted surface when fitted. The owner also wanted a gas line run to the Port side of the cockpit for the new BBQ location. This brought to light some inadequacies with the gas installation and further unplanned work with a total upgrade of the gas locker, lines and valves. The BBQ itself needed to be mounted with custom brackets etc.

The owners also had trouble with the existing anchor windlass which was replaced with a new Muir winch. This involved remodelling the winch base and some wiring upgrades. Also needing attention were the daggerboard control lines which continually jammed. 

Another job that needed finishing was the additional water tanks in the saloon. To simplify this work flexible bladder tanks were used and plumbed into the existing system adding an extra 150 litres of capacity. One thing that the owners noticed when using the boat over Christmas was that the new position of the engine controls was too exposed and at risk of damage. So 're-work' of the 're-work' commenced with a custom matching composite bracket/shelf to re-mount the control levers further inboard and away from the side deck. For some reason the main head and ensuite had missing floor boards so these were made to match the original mounts. Also the ensuite never had a door so one was made and fitted along with the manual toilet getting an upgrade to electric. The ensuite had a small clothes washing machine mounted on the bulkhead however the wiring and plumbing were not hidden so another job was to re-route all services out of sight.

There were a myriad of other jobs that were done including things like re-clearing the carbon fibre wheels, hull pin stripes and polished 'Spirited 380' badges to finish her off.

The owners of 'Siva' called in mid last year to say hello in Port Stephens on their way North. They mentioned that there was some damage on the Starboard hull side from a docking accident they would like repaired. We booked the job in for mid July which coincided with their return trip home. With regular comunication the list of jobs/improvements grew. Some of the jobs were things like electronic engine controls to replace the existing morse system and also relocate the engine control levers which were in an unpractical position. With this system we fitted a remote on the opposite helm which provides 'walk-around' control when docking on this side. Another change was to remove the plastic hatches in the top of the aft cockpit seat and fill-in, then cut in flush style doors in the front. Some other major jobs internally were to enlarge the fridge capacity which entailed cutting and modifying the cabinet, as well as increasing water capacity with three additional tanks. 

On deck above the existing water tanks there were ugly raised covers which the owners wanted removed. These covers were unfortunately hiding a multitude of problems and this unplanned work was substantial. The covers were screwed into the deck and also the forward webs/dividers between the tanks and had let water into the balsa core. The affected area spread below anchor winch and surrounding fittings. Part of the instruction for this area was to enlarge the chain locker hatch which was fitted with a plastic spin-out which didn't allow adequate access. Another job in this area was to fit an electric halyard winch opposite the windlass and behind the rope locker. This entire area became a significant part of the work list. We also found that when the original openings were cut the blade had cut into parts of the tanks which required repair.

While cutting out the hatches in the aft cockpit seat more unplanned work was discovered with rotten balsa core which required the Port half of the seat top to be replaced. This was caused by a drain that was cut but not backfilled etc as it should be done. The owners also asked for the 5mm aluminium checker plate to be removed from the aft bottom hull steps and a new 3 rung swim ladder fitted. The checker plate was not only unsightly and heavy but very hot to tread on in hot conditions. 

The long list of other jobs were too many to mention but most people know that there is no such thing as a 5 minute job on a boat! 

It was touch and go to have the boat ready for launch on the 21st of December which was the last day of operation at the boat yard before Christmas closure but we got there!

Although not all the jobs got done we can now finish all loose ends on the water.

We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and all the best for 2017! 

We wish you fair winds and sunny days if you are going boating.

We appreciate all the support we have received over 2016 and look forward to a busy and prosperous New Year!

We are closing on the 23rd December 2016 & will be re-opening on the 9th January 2017.                                              

This is our latest factory-built Ripple project for a customer from Queensland. Built from the Duflex foam kit it was kept as light as possible. The owner requested some personalised extras such as an in-built fuel tank under the Port forward seat with deck filler, fore and aft tow fittings, large beach wheels, davit lift fittings, gunnel fender strip and composite rod holders. For more information about this design check out the Ripple page