Building an E-Boat

Hello Operose

Welcome aboard. Your two questions spread out to a few more and I doubt if any will be answered defintively. A proposed "D" type build could be a proposition as detailed plans are still available - the cost would range from 'astronomic' (several millions -if actually paying for Artisans and Shipwrites etc) to very expensive (if having that expertise available for 'free' - but relying on UK prices for the hardwoods involved - if you could obtain them) - the figures would certainly be in the several hundred thou I would guess. I would also guess that detailed plans are still available of the later Mk's of E-Boat I would suggest that you trace the Schnellbootwaffe web site (I did spot it once & I shall try and dig it out) .

I would guess that your quest may raise some pertinent answers here - even if only to shoot me down in flames  

Hi,

"If you were willing to forgoe historical accuracy and use modern techniques and materials, would it cost any less?"

Take a mould off S-130 and build a fiberglass one, you need never take it out of the water and if the gel was grey no need to paint! - loads less money (not much cheapness)

Is the 'D' more desireable because there are none? we still have 2 'C' types, will we want them when they are gone or perhaps a 72' whaleback?

Hello all,

  many thanks for your thoughts thus far - they make for interesting reading :)  Armed with the term "Schnellbootwaffe", I managed to track down these two sites; http://www.pt-boat.com/ who has some CAD drawings of e-boat frames and http://www.christian-schmidt-fachbuchhandlung.de/product_inf o.php?products_id=2519&language=en&osCsid=7b5c3c43e3 f8bec387f3e0e64434a226, which is a 2-sheet, 1:25 scale plan for a late model e-boat, although you have to pay some 25 euro's for the pleasure...

   Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by composite construction?  I've been to look at S130 down near Plymouth - it's a massive boat and has various dubious patches on the hull...4 million sounds an incredible sum though...surely you could just build an entirely new boat for that!?

  The thing that confuses me, though, is what do the owners of these big motorboats like MTB-102 and MGB-81 *do* with them?  Do they charter them or hire them out for film work or something?  I would have thought that their running costs compared to the income the generate must be painfully disproportionate?  I personally think that building a replica of a Fairmile D would be a culturally laudable pursuit, but what would you do with it once you'd built it?

  Does anybody have any more details or pictures of LRRC 030?

Many thanks,

Best Regards,

O

BBQ off shore :)

I met a chap once who'd bought an amphibious tank and did just that off the beach near Brighton :)

It would certainly be a niche in the market not yet exploited; "Off Shore BBQ aboard authentic WWII Power Boat - £1000.00 a head! (bring own sausages)"

I've looked at the pictures of 030 now...what a loss!  Amazing how quickly the hull has deteriorated to practically nothing.  There's a boat with a fairly similar hull-shape moored in Penzance, though (or there was a few months ago when I visited)...does anybody know what it is?

I think the question of historical content is a pertinent one; I've read of "restorations" entailing new planking, frames, decks and superstructure - is that really a restoration?  It's tempting to go to the HLF and say "I want to build a WWII boat from scratch, will you fund it, please?", as the end result would, arguably, be the same as a typical restoration...if only there were more hours in the day, I'd do it myself :)

Again, thanks for indulging me,

O

I think the two 'c' are houseboats.

John, how about the P.S. Ryde? she would make a nice houseboat. I assume she is way beyond repair but how did the MQ compare when the work was started and are you allowed to tell us how much 'cash' she has cost so far (never mind the free man hours)