SPLASH! TT35 Hull #1

[cardude01]

Yeah that tailgate was a silly idea. Nice changes.

[DavidM]

Just looking at the picture on GH's opening page for the TT35 here: https://www.greatharbourtrawlers.com/tt35.html, it looks like the boat rides too low in the water aft. The outboard in that pic looks like it is almost underwater. Further down that page, a rendering shows the outboard where it should be, but not the real world pic above.

Raising the floor 3" is a fix but I am afraid it is a kludge. GH needs to totally redesign the boat to bring its attitude back level. That would solve the water coming in from the aft gate.


David

[HenryD]

Pea and Dan,
Congratulations. I hope Marisol ends up worth the wait and expense, taking you to some wonderful cruising grounds.
Safe travels
Henry and Debbie

[ssobol]

Originally Posted by cardude01

Yeah that tailgate was a silly idea. Nice changes.

Some models in Beneteau Swift Trawler family has an opening gate that opens the transom to the swim platform so that the "Transom opens to extend the cockpit space connecting it with the swim platform, creating a real terrace over the sea." They seemed to have made this feature work ok.

[Miz Trom]

GAS TANK ISSUES from original build


Thanks for following along. I am having fun going through all my photos to create these posts! And re-living the excitement we felt as our boat came together this past year.


If you click on each photo below, you will see my photo labels that correspond to the following descriptions for each photo.


1. Our surveyor snapped this photo, taken inside the bilge, of the metal gas tanks sitting in bilge water. At this time, the boat was sitting on its trailer at the builder’s facility, prior to the lake trial. Metal tanks sitting in water is a pretty big no-no, for obvious reasons.

In addition, the original cockpit sole was installed on top of the tanks, which our surveyor noted could potentially lead to stress cracks in the tanks ("decks can flex").


2. This photo is for perspective. Here is the original fold-down tailgate in the open position. Note the ginger ale can in the lower left just inside the cockpit.


3. A close-up from the cockpit: Above the ginger ale can you can see that the gas tank VENTS were installed INSIDE the cockpit.


4. American Boat Works (ABW) removed the two gas tanks in order to build supports that would raise each of the tanks 2.5 inches above the bilge floor. Since they were also raising the cockpit sole 3 inches to solve the water intrusion issue (see my previous post), this would give us a half inch clearance between the tops of the tanks and the bottom of the sole. Three problems solved!
ABW also strongly recommended that they paint the tanks with an epoxy primer which should double the life of the tanks. Here are the tanks after painting.


5. This is the Pettit Epoxy Primer that ABW used to paint the aluminum gas tanks.


6. Here is the new support structure inside the bilge for the gas tanks, made of very thick starboard and topped with rubber strips. In addition, ABW fiberglassed in a 3-inch high core along the top of the original stringer in order to support the new higher cockpit deck.


7. Just a photo of Mariso in the shop, with the yellow lift behind her that they used to remove & reinstall the gas tanks (this photo brings back the smell of awl-grip in the morning!).


8. Gas tanks re-installed.


9. Gas tank VENTS re-installed on the OUTSIDE of the cockpit.


10. New cockpit sole after glassing & painting and before the non-slip coating was applied.


Again, if you click on the photos below you can see the labels for each photo. And, I have to reiterate what a pleasure it was working with Kevin and Paul, and their shop manager Tony, at American Boat Works. They are all such wonderful, conscientious gentlemen. We were very fortunate to have found them.


The next installment will cover the electrical issues that we had repaired.


Cheers,
Pea

[Benthic2]

I appreciate your willingness to relay the story for us. I also admire your ability to see all the positives, and not have become bitter about it.

[danderer]

Originally Posted by Benthic2

I appreciate your willingness to relay the story for us. I also admire your ability to see all the positives, and not have become bitter about it.

+1

[sean9c]

I'm surprised that GH hung the outboards on brackets, rather than extend hull back to the motors. It might have given them the extra buoyancy they needed. Not all that hard to do now, extra waterline length and extra buoyancy. It'd be a fun project.
Thanks for the updates. A cool boat.

[sunchaser]

Originally Posted by sean9c

I'm surprised that GH hung the outboards on brackets, rather than extend hull back to the motors. It might have given them the extra buoyancy they needed. Not all that hard to do now, extra waterline length and extra buoyancy. It'd be a fun project.
Thanks for the updates. A cool boat.

Your extension approach requires careful thought on the part of the designer. It would appear Cutwater did a hull extension - oops.

A look at the big Scouts, Intrepids, etc with triples, quads and fives show some interesting stern attachment designs.

[DavidM]

Look at my avatar on the left for a boat with a well integrated stern bustle/outboard mounting bracket. It adds both water line length and bouyancy aft. This seems to be exactly what the TT35 needs but not sure how it would work with twins.


David

[Donsan]

Originally Posted by ssobol

Some models in Beneteau Swift Trawler family has an opening gate that opens the transom to the swim platform so that the "Transom opens to extend the cockpit space connecting it with the swim platform, creating a real terrace over the sea." They seemed to have made this feature work ok.

Also, Pacific Trawlers had an open transom configuration and it was somewhat popular. Certainly, the cockpit on the Beneteau and the Pacific Trawler is well above the water line. In the case of the TT35, the builder just made a poor design decision that probably could have been avoided if they had used a Marine Architect.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Donsan

In the case of the TT35, the builder just made a poor design decision that probably could have been avoided if they had used a Marine Architect.

And while they recognized it in making changes in future builds, they didn't do anything to remedy the already completed boats.

[Miz Trom]

djmarchand - I agree with you that the TT35 photo on the GH website shows an outboard that appears a smidge too low in the water. That is a photo of hull #2, which was finished by the builder before our boat, and delivered to her owner long before our boat went out the door.

If you look at the photos of our boat in post #1, you will see that our brackets & outboards appear higher than hull #2's outboards. However, we were at idle speed in those photos of our boat.

When accelerating rapidly, our stern squats for a little while before it gets up on plane, as is normal. Looking at the small bow wave in the website photo, I am wondering if the hull #2 photo was taken during such an acceleration, perhaps causing a misleading impression?

Our experience with our boat is that additional buoyancy aft would likely cause the outboards to cavitate. The original awash cockpit was not caused by a lack of buoyancy aft.

It was caused by a poorly designed cockpit sole just below the waterline and a poorly designed tailgate that sucked water into the cockpit from underneath & around the sides of the tailgate. (The cockpit sole was originally 11 inches below the cabin sole, now it is 8.)


As Don and BandB noted & agree, this could and should have been avoided if only the builder had employed a naval architect instead of designing it himself.


And thank you for the kind words, Benthic2! Now that she has been modified, we think we have the perfect shallow draft boat for the Gulf Coast of Florida and the Loop.


Cheers,
Pea

[durangodawgs]

Congrats you two! We are still waiting for the completion of our TT35.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by durangodawgs

Congrats you two! We are still waiting for the completion of our TT35.

What number is yours and when was it originally promised?

[JLD]

Pea,

I and very happy to hear that you and Dan have been able to splash your new boat! Congrats!!

I have read your trials and tribulations getting to this point. Thank you for starting this thread so that we all can share in your 'corrections' to the new boat. It looks like you were able to get a great group of professions to fix your new boat.

Hopefully y'all will be blogging you Great Loop adventure. If so, I know that I will be reading along. We hope to do at least half of the Great Loop when I retire in a couple of years.

Jim

[JeremyZ]

Seriously thank you so much for detailing the issues with photos and all. I am talking to Great Harbor about possibly getting one of these. It is so helpful to see what the problems are with this model.

[Stevereed]

Great post and very helpful. I had hull #9 on order and cancelled the order about 18 months ago. Still considering the TT35 and would appreciate continued updates to help make my decision! My biggest concern was the 10' Beam for extended time onboard!

[Joe Pica]

Below is a picture of a full hull extension bracket wearing twins on my new to me Rosborough 246 HSV. I originally planned to order a TT-35 however felt it was a bigger boat to tow than I wanted. I was involved in the early stages of the concept ended up with little input (I was looking at from a looper/cruisers perspective). Also, when I found out that Lou Codega was not involved I backed out as I have the greatest respect for Lou's expertise with hulls and hull performances and didn't want to be a Beta Tester without his professional naval engineering and architect input. I enjoyed great cruising in an N-37 hull of his design. After 40,000+ miles I am still impressed at it's comfort and capability. It is a great cruising couples boat. The Rosi will be a huge adjustment after the luxury of the N but I feel comfortable trailering it and it is well equipped ... just such limited storage.

[Carl Martin]

Congratulations! The boat is awesome!