TDB 14 Sea Class build Lots of pics beware

[Tony H]

One last photo for now.

If you recall as we stated we are using state of the art materials. Foam Core is where this weight is achieved. In the early stages of the Duck Boat, they used Balsa core and even plywood in these boats and they soak up resins which cause for lots of extra weight. Coosa board is is 30% lighter than wood and the foam cores used in the structural components are much lighter than wood. Probably 75% lighter and yet stronger. Then you take in to factor the fact that these boats were built using Woven roven which is another resin sucking material and extremely heavy but was the boat builders materials just a decade ago. Now we have much better materials such as biaxials to work with and they use much less resin and achieve greater strengths than the thicker woven rovens. So we will cut 100lbs off the weight of the boat which should help the amount of water it drafts and actually if we were able to retest the boat with the USCG we would gain even more freeboard due to the 100lbs lighter boat. Anyone is welcome to come check this boat out and you will see that its strong as hell you can stand on the top of the deck and there is no flex what so ever. We hope you have enjoyed the build of this boat. We will continue to update it as we install the electronics, blind and interior curtains in the near future. Then once the weather breaks we plan to do some serious testing which we will video tape and show you that as we stated we have once again brought TDB back to market better than ever before.


The Sea Class 14 weight is 578 with the straps we used to hang it from the scale so roughly 565lbs minus blind and electrical hardware.


Now we are going to move our attention to the Sea Class 17 as we would like to have it completed before the Strongsville Decoy show if everything goes as planned.

 

[RLLigman]

Tony, REALLy nice work! As someone already mentioned, you can almost smell the resin. I ran through your build materials on the supplier's websites-top-of-the-line materials thoughout the boat build porcess. I have one suggestion: I would encourage you to consider use of Ancor tinned marine wire to do all electrical circuit runs. It has about 20% more copper strands at a given gauge and it is tinned, which lends excellent saltwater use resilience. If you have a wire run that leads through an internal bulkhead, a rubber bushing installed in the fiberglass cut-out lends added protection from the vibration and pounding a hull experiences.

Nice to see an iconic duck boat brand brought back again from the ashes of its previous ownership history. My old "state of the art" TDB 14' is still getting me into the skinny water. Over time, I have had to make two minor Marine-Tex repairs on the hull and move one snap on the blind. My storage cover has faded slightly. It will be interesting to see what using current build techniques and materials does to extend the duration of use interval for the new generation of owners.

Are you putting kevlar in the bows of these hulls still? I don't think this continued after Christian sold the company...

 

[Tony H]

Rick, we are indeed using tinned copper wire. A duplex wire that has a casing around the 2 wires. Here is a link to the wire we use.14/2 AWG Duplex DC 14/2 AWG Marine Grade Duplex Boat Wiring is made from flexible tinned copper stranding (Type 3) giving this 14 AWG 2 conductor boat cable excellent resistance to the harsh marine environment. This 14/2 AWG marine wire is listed UL1426 and BC5-W2 meeting all approvals of the ABYC and USCG. This 2 conductor boat cable has DC positive and negative color coded conductors and a white overall jacket. This wire is Made in the USA.

We are NOT using Kevlar in the hull. The keel is overlapped 8" which allows it to be double thick biaxial which means its about 5/8-3/4" thick in the stress area's.

 

[Lawrence Pyne]

Tony, I've been following your project with a lot of interest. I have one of the original 14' Classics (a 1988), and it has served me incredibly well over the years. The only thing I have had to replace/repair is the gel coat. (I made the mistake of storing the boat outdoors and uncovered the first few years.)

That said, I've longed for a boat that's just a little bigger and more comfortable. Two large men, a couple dozen dekes, and a lab is a very tight fit in the Classic, and when on plane in anything more than a very light chop it will knock the fillings out of your teeth. So I've been looking for a boat that will provide a smoother ride in open water and will comfortable hunt two people and perhaps three in a pinch, yet still be marsh and wary-duck friendly.

How much bigger is the Sea Class than the Classic? Also, where are you located? I'd love to see one of your new TDBs someday.

Thanks,

Lawrence

 

[Tony H]

Mr, Payne, the Sea Class 14 is your answer. The room difference is amazing quite frankly you can sit a 14 classic inside the hull mold of the Sea Class 14. We are located in Piqua Ohio and I have a boat here to view anytime.