Rovings
from Professional BoatBuilder magazine No. 148
Compiled by Dan Spurr
A Million Ideas
One look at the portfolio of Janusz Konkol, a boat designer and builder in Poland, confirms that his mind runs in many directions at once: wooden boats, composite sailboats and motoryachts, center-console outboard boats, mahogany plywood classic runabouts à la Chris-Craft, GarWood, and Riva, traditional wood blocks for Tall Ships, composite and metal parts for automotive and other industries…. For 14 years Konkol’s Haber Yachts has supplied motorboats for RothBiltBoats in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts. Haber Yachts employs about 50 people.
Missing Links
Maryland-based consulting naval architect William Hockberger said he was “searching for something else” last August when he stumbled on “a paper read before the Institute of Naval Architects, in London, in 1906.” Hockberger had found this particular monograph—“Design and Construction of Auto Boats,” by James A. Smith—buried in a once-popular but long-defunct weekly periodical called The Automobile, published in New York City and later bound in a single volume spanning the period January to June of 1906. Eleven-hundred-plus pages of newsprint—now property of the University of Michigan library system—had been digitized by Google. That conversion enabled Hockberger to e-mail Word and PDF files of his find to naval architect and friend Donald Blount, with the comment: “Maybe nothing new or interesting to you, but the kind of source it is makes me think it’s pretty obscure and probably something you haven’t seen.”
Rovings
from Professional BoatBuilder magazine No. 147
Compiled by Dan Spurr
Greenline 33 Hybrid from Seaway
As noted in the last Rovings column, there were a number of boats on display at The International BoatBuilders’ Exposition & Conference (IBEX), more than the usual shrinkwrap competition demo runabout parked in front of the Louisville Expo Center. By far the largest, and attracting the most attention, was the Greenline 33 Hybrid (32′4″/10m) built by Seaway in Zgosa, Slovenia. The company avers the model is “the world’s first production hybrid and solar-powered boat.” And further, “Greenline is arguably the most awarded yacht in boating history.” That claim is based on 21 International Boat of the Year, Design, and Environmental awards, including 2011 Boat of the Year by Motor Boating magazine and the Miami International Boat Show, 2012 Boat of the Year by the Internautica International Boat Show (Portoroz, Slovenia), and PBO Green Award by Practical Boat Owner magazine in the United Kingdom. And more from the website: “Greenline 33 is the best-selling 10m boat in the world in 2010 and 2011.” Two hundred were sold in the first 18 months of production.
Making It Fit: Rick’s Method
Fitting a bulkhead, cabin sole, floor timber, or any piece of wood against the interior surfaces of a hull is a challenge for many marine-industry personnel. Even those possessing carpentry skills often have limited exposure to dealing with the curves and changing bevels so common in boat construction.
Rovings
from Professional BoatBuilder magazine No. 146
Compiled by Dan Spurr
Joystick Evolution
“We really like this boat.”
“What do you like about it?”
“We feel very comfortable running it and maneuvering it because it has a joystick.”
That recent exchange with clients who are looking for the right cruising vessel is typical of the impact joystick controls are having on the decision making of many would-be boat buyers. The fact that a boat may have been ill suited in a multitude of ways to their needs was, to them, secondary to the value of easy maneuverability and diminished anxiety over boat handling, especially at the dock. That explains in part why joystick controls have become an increasingly common option on custom and production recreational boats.
