Media and Press

Published in Australian Dual Hull Boats -- 2006

The sailing catamaran Southern Clipper cc37 which featured in the Multihull world in Number 68 2004 is now the Southern Clipper 40 and at the hull cladding stage with the second one having the frames being built. The design by Col Clifford is unique in the sense that it is built utilizing aircraft build technique . . .

That is aluminium alloy tube both round and square pop riveted, screwed and in some cases bolted together to form the frame. Alloy used are three dimensions of tube 40mm round in 1.6 and 3mm thickness and square tube of 25.4mm all 6060T5 grade The advantages are extreme strength, maximum area utilization, lightest weight and very small panels where the skin keeps the water out and is not required to contribute greatly to the hull integrity.

Col Clifford designed four types of patented joiners made from cast aluminium alloy to fit into the tubes and allow them to be joined together. The method of construction is firstly to build the 11 frames out of the square tube ……some with ply, stand them up and join them together with the rounds before cladding the hull. All very simple…….well it is now the bugs have been sorted out, which in reality weren’t that many. I stopped working on the frames off the full scale drawings early on with the first boat and spent 3 months figuring out how to solve my first real challenge and this was : Because of the multi chine design the idea was to lay the square tube along the drawings, fit the joiners at the chins, rivet them together and therefore complete the frames one by one. However the @#$%^!!! Tubes and joiners "walked " all over the place and even with another person became impossible to maintain accuracy.

Several hundred liters of wine beer and gin later I came up with the idea of laying the frame drawings out on chip board and drilling holes where the round tubes used for joining the frames at the chine lines met… Instant success.!!! I did this for every frame and when built this way assures that every boat ends up looking exactly as the drawings say it should……supposing the frames are spaced correctly. Therefore I withdrew the kit as such and in it’s place will sell a frame built kit to the DIY market. Essentially a teenager can now build this boat

After the frames were completed they were stood upside down (to allow the glass cloth to fall over the hulls and bridge deck ) and spaced out, propped etc and the chines and stringers screwed and riveted in place. If any frame is out at all, the rounds going along the chine lines will point it out themselves and the alterations if there are any can be carried out there and then with some drilling out of rivets and replacing etc. The heavier walled tube is used on the keels and stem and the gun’l In fact the first boat was subjected to laser beam alignment and found to be within 15mm anywhere with the hull ready to cover

The result is an extremely fair finish on which to place the cladding which runs between the rounds. In between the chine lines very clever design sees the same square tube used to make the frames utilized as stringers which are fixed with glue and screws and results in the small panel areas. So far only the stems have been bent by machine, the rest is pulled around into place. The cladding on the first boat is 9mm AA marine ply with glass cloth and epoxy on the outside and epoxy on the inside. These sheets will be glued and screwed to both the rounds and the stringers. The skin could also be aluminium, glass or composite foam. The owner of the second boat is favoring solid glass sheets and we will probably build a table to make the sheets which will be around 4.5 mm Even using the ply, displacement is finished at 4.24 tones and I don’t know of any production cat near this size within a tone and more of this. Two outboard wells allow the complete withdrawal of engines, a single dagger board, and a fast design I wouldn’t expect to be spending much time between ports…….as you shouldn’t

Clever Col again manages to make the inside be of straight panels with only hull curvature……this leads to very easy fitting out and a variety of material becomes an option. As can be imagined the area inside is huge in comparison to conventionally built vessels.
I intend to build three to lock up in the water,….that is hull finished on the outside, including rudder boxes and foils, dagger board, chain plates and cabin soles etc. I will then decide if I want to finish them. I believe that these first three…( two actually as one is sold ) can be completed from this stage for around $250,000 in total, as long as conservatively priced rigs and gear is used. The frame kit which is the frames completed and the materials supplied is currently $68,000 plus tax and freight and the two built to lock up $98,000.