Custom Aluminum Towboats

We finally decided on how to flip the boat, and decided to reinforce the boat by installing the upper decks, and floor to stiffen the boat. The cabin was installed and tacked together to help minimize distortion along the upper decks by the thermal stresses induced in the process of welding them on. The cabin will be removed before the boat is flipped and the bottom is back chipped, ground and welded watertight.

To flip the boat we are building a pipe and sling based roller. Essentially we will suspend a 30' piece of 4" pipe from a crane on one end, and hold the other end on a platform attached to our lift truck forks which has a gearhead motor arranged to rotate the pipe. 3 continuous slings will wrap around the pipe and then cradle the hull. In theory we will raise the pipe, which should raise the boat. Rotating the boat should allow the hull to simply roll in place..... we hope. We should know in a week or so.

Here's a view from above and behind showing the cockpit and rear deck. Note the gunnels tacked in place to support the sides of the boat.

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Here's a front view of the cockpit. If you look close, you can see the circular cutouts marking the corners of each of the windows. Once the boat is welded out, the windows will be cut free with a skill saw. This is being done to reduce thermal distortion during welding.

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Here's a couple side views of the cockpit. It's a combination of an Alaskan cabin, with a fireboat top. The forward sloping window keeps the drizzle off the window and eliminates glare when it's sunny. The truck in front allows extra room to keep our gear dry inside, and provides a spot for people to sit if we need to cruise across the lake to find a better launch site. There will be windows in all the panels you can see. It looks like something from a medieval jousting tournament. I haven't decided on whether to keep it, or cut it off. What do you think?

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