Writing research-- anatomy of a modern power boat?

[Stella_Omega]

I can wander through a wooden ship from prow to stern, and climb all its masts to their tops (authorially, anyways, in real life I'm not so fond of swaying, swooping heights). I can make my way from the poop to the orlop deck, and I can tell you how much room you need to swing a cat...

Modern boats with engines... not so much. What kinds of engines might power, say, an 80' yacht? how about something in the 120' range? Would the controls be anything at all similar to a deisel truck's-- would someone used to piloting a small ship be able to figure out a sixteen-wheeler fairly quickly if she had to? (if not, that's good too, my character isn't any superhero)

The piloting is done from a compartment forward, right-- is that the called the bridge? And, besides the saloon, galley and cabins, what other rooms might there be under the deck? Are there any plans available online?

 

[xssve]

The pilot house would be still be aft, or amidships more likely, due to the engines - depends on what kind of engines: inboard or outboard? shallow draft or open water?

As long as the engines start, it's easier than driving a car, there's usually a throttle, works like an accelerator on an automobile, no brakes, no clutch, just a throttle and a wheel to operate the rudder.

 

[xssve]

http://www.tropicalboating.com/powerboating/deadrise-hull-angle.html

http://www.eqmarine.com/eq_harbor/choosing_your_boat.htm

 

[Stella_Omega]

The pilot house would be still be aft, or amidships more likely, due to the engines - depends on what kind of engines: inboard or outboard? shallow draft or open water?

Open, deep water, one is a smuggler making a regular run down the Florida coast, and the one that gets more description is big luxury craft from Sao Paulo or thereabouts-- modern, sleek...

As long as the engines start, it's easier than driving a car, there's usually a throttle, works like an accelerator on an automobile, no brakes, no clutch, just a throttle and a wheel to operate the rudder.

In other words, no way can she drive a rig at first sight!

 

[xssve]

A double decker, a cabin cruiser, is laid out a lot like a sailboat, except that the cockpit is going to be amidships, on the top deck, the engines will be where the cockpit is in a sailboat for inboard.

There will usually be a galley immediately belowdecks, and the usual layout, table and bunks, the bow bunk will be the same, depending on the size.

There usually will not be an engine room, unless we're talking about a yacht, the engines will be accessed through hatch's on the aft deck.

Here's the bloopers for a police boat, and outboard, a cigarette boat would roughly similar, except that they're inboards with big bastard engines.

http://www.eqmarine.com/eq_harbor/choosing_your_boat.htm

cigarette boat: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2305539287_fb2c861557_o.jpg

 

[xssve]

Open, deep water, one is a smuggler making a regular run down the Florida coast, and the one that gets more description is big luxury craft from Sao Paulo or thereabouts-- modern, sleek...In other words, no way can she drive a rig at first sight!

The throttle is hand operated, so no pedals at all, although there might be a pull choke.

Usually a fast, powerful, deep V, cigarettes are the smugglers boat of choice, called cigarette boats because they were originally used to smuggle cigarettes from Havana. The drugs are usually brought on cargo vessels, then transferred to the smaller, faster cigarettes in international waters, or at least well off the coast, who then run them to shore.

http://www.deamuseum.org/als/sea.html

Also check seizure lists - the DEA usually has a few of these for sale, they can be very luxurious, or stripped down like the one above.

Only thing to remember is that they're relatively deep draft boats, so they have to have a dock, or some natural docklike feature to unload, you can't just run 'em up on the beach, unless you don't mind being beached.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/135240965_c2868d4993.jpg?v=0

 

[Stella_Omega]

Just for the slightly slimeball design, I'm liking this;
http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/boat-tests/hatteras/2004-hatteras-80/

a 120 footer would be good... Big, flashy, and when she finds it, burned to the waterline. Hardly any survivors...

 

[xssve]

Here's a couple more smugglers boats, pretty businesslike, not as sexy as cigarettes.

https://www.piersystem.com/external/?fuseaction=external.docview&cid=586&documentID=53630

http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/586/81375/

 

[xssve]

Just for the slightly slimeball design, I'm liking this;
http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/boat-tests/hatteras/2004-hatteras-80/

a 120 footer would be good... Big, flashy, and when she finds it, burned to the waterline. Hardly any survivors...

Nice yacht, not really a smugglers boat, but anybody who gets their info from Hollywood will buy it.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Oh! No, this isn't the smuggler's boat, this is the one the smuggler comes across...

 

[xssve]

Boat like that will usually have all kinds of electronics crap, GPS, marine radio, navigational crap of all variety, depth sounders, etc., etc., some of those things look like spaceships, very complicated looking, but still, just a throttle and a wheel.

 

[xssve]

It will also look more like a Five Star hotel belowdecks - couches, curtains, the works - still a boat, so everything secure, but posh.

 

[Stella_Omega]

It will also look more like a Five Star hotel belowdecks - couches, curtains, the works - still a boat, so everything secure, but posh.

Well by the time she finds it, it has smoke and fire damage up the wazoo, and all those fancy electronics are a stinking pile of polycarbonates... I just need to get an idea of how her route might go while she explores it in a haze of terror and nausea...

 

[xssve]

Similar to a sailboat of approximately the same size, shorter maybe, higher ceilings, the floorplan should be similar - there aren't a whole lot of options on this scale. Main difference being the location of the cockpit.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

If it's burned to the waterline, I am hard pressed to believe that there would be any survivors. Modern yachts are all made of fibreglass and when you do get that stuff to burn, and it's possible though not easy, it gives off toxic fumes the like of which you don't want to encounter. Figure a house fire in a room full of synthetic carpets, foam furniture and man-made fabrics. You'll die long before you burn.

 

[trysail]

Stella,
It looks like you've received adequate responses to your original questions. This response describes a long-range cruising vessel rather than an enlarged Don Johnsonesque "Miami Vice" type which likely has a much shorter range.

A vessel of the sizes you specified might have a "flying bridge" ( i.e., a station with wheel and controls high on the superstructure ) though the normal bridge is almost always going to be located high on the forward end of the superstructure ( for the obvious reason of visibility ). All the navigation, monitoring and communications equipment will be located on the bridge, though there may be a separate navigation station with chart table, tools, manuals and reference material.

Power is likely to be twin diesels ( housed in an engine room, of course ) along with a bow thruster.

There's an aphorism among blue water cruisers that goes, "There're only two things that can kill you out here: fire and ships." My rule for abandoning ship is simple: I'll only do it when it's necessary to step UP. ( Obviously, that doesn't apply to a situation where there's a fire aboard. )

Depending on the circumstances, driving a boat onto the beach would be a reasonable response to an uncontrollable fire aboard ship.

Having once witnessed a vessel burn to the waterline in the middle of a 15-mile channel between two islands, I will testify that it's a scary, nasty sight. VM is right; it's essentially identical to burning plastics.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Stella,
It looks like you've received adequate responses to your original questions. This response describes a long-range cruising vessel rather than an enlarged Don Johnsonesque "Miami Vice" type which likely has a much shorter range.

A vessel of the sizes you specified might have a "flying bridge" ( i.e., a station with wheel and controls high on the superstructure ) though the normal bridge is almost always going to be located high on the forward end of the superstructure ( for the obvious reason of visibility ). All the navigation, monitoring and communications equipment will be located on the bridge, though there may be a separate navigation station with chart table, tools, manuals and reference material.

Power is likely to be twin diesels ( housed in an engine room, of course ) along with a bow thruster.

There's an aphorism among blue water cruisers that goes, "There're only two things that can kill you out here: fire and ships." My rule for abandoning ship is simple: I'll only do it when it's necessary to step UP. ( Obviously, that doesn't apply to a situation where there's a fire aboard. )

Depending on the circumstances, driving a boat onto the beach would be a reasonable response to an uncontrollable fire aboard ship.

Having once witnessed a vessel burn to the waterline in the middle of a 15-mile channel between two islands, I will testify that it's a scary, nasty sight. VM is right; it's essentially identical to burning plastics.

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Thank you, Trysail! Yes, this is the vessel that she finds. Would it be possible for the superstructure to have been burned out while the under decks areas are more or less undamaged? A fire (begun by some sort of science-fictiony flame-throwing technology) that sweeps the deck wouldn't really descend, but would take out the controls and barbeque anyone on the bridge... below, she'd be aware of the stink of polycarbs, and find her single miraculous survivor.

 

[trysail]

Thank you, Trysail! Yes, this is the vessel that she finds. Would it be possible for the superstructure to have been burned out while the under decks areas are more or less undamaged? A fire (begun by some sort of science-fictiony flame-throwing technology) that sweeps the deck wouldn't really descend, but would take out the controls and barbeque anyone on the bridge... below, she'd be aware of the stink of polycarbs, and find her single miraculous survivor.

Stella,
I hate to say it, but it does stretch the imagination a bit. If you think of a plastic fire, imagine the rain of sizzling, super-heated, gooey liquid falling downward and the intense heat. Those kinds of fires are notoriously difficult to put out. Is't possible that she might temporarily leave the vessel for the safety of a tender and be the serendipitous beneficiary of a terrific tropical cloudburst? I'll be honest, I'm not 100% certain that even a tropical downpour could extinguish a raging blaze on one of today's "plastic" boats— but I suppose it's not absolutely impossible.

ETA: Here's a thought: any possibility of working an explosion caused by a leaking propane tank attached to a barbecue into the plot? Leaking propane in an enclosed area is a nautical nightmare because that gas is heavier than air and, thus, doesn't "vent" upward— rather, without proper venting, it will sink to the bilge and with a spark...

 

[Stella_Omega]

Stella,
I hate to say it, but it does stretch the imagination a bit. If you think of a plastic fire, imagine the rain of sizzling, super-heated, gooey liquid falling downward and the intense heat. Those kinds of fires are notoriously difficult to put out. Is't possible that she might temporarily leave the vessel for the safety of a tender and be the serendipitous beneficiary of a terrific tropical cloudburst? I'll be honest, I'm not 100% certain that even a tropical downpour could extinguish a raging blaze on one of today's "plastic" boats— but I suppose it's not absolutely impossible.

oh snap. it would be like napalm!

And we can't have any lung damage on our cute little love interest can we... Interestingly injured, yes, but not fatally disabled.

 

[trysail]

Stella, a late "ETA" was added above.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Stella, a late "ETA" was added above.

ETA: Here's a thought: any possibility of working an explosion caused by a leaking propane tank attached to a barbecue into the plot? Leaking propane in an enclosed area is a nautical nightmare because that gas is heavier than air and, thus, doesn't "vent" upward— rather, without proper venting, it will sink to the bilge and with a spark...

Well, that would be an accidental fire-- this boat was attacked by the Horribly Evil Bad Guys.

 

[Weird Harold]

Well, that would be an accidental fire-- this boat was attacked by the Horribly Evil Bad Guys.

A Lazer bolt from the horribly eveil bad guys that ruptures a propane tank would provide the kind of damage youwant without the lethal quantities of toxic smoke and without melting the control into unuseability.

Anything much bigger than a cigareette boat made after about 1980 is going to have (computerized) "fly-by-wire" throttle; anything newer than about 1990 is as likely to have a game-style joystick combining steering and throttle as it is a traditional steering wheel.

The propane tank explosion from a stray phaser bolt would work well on the 2004 Hatteras 80 you linked. an explosion on the "patio deck" just behind the cockpit would peel the superstructure off the boat while possible leaving a secondary set of controls protected from bad weather relatively intact. (whether the "2004 Hatteras 80" actually has a set of secondary weather controls a moot point; with electronic/fly-by-wire control systems, it is a simple custom option for a paranoid owner to add.)

 

[Stella_Omega]

Thanks, guys, I'm getting a clearer picture now. I hadn't thought of her trying to use the boat, just getting the hell off the water... but that could work!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hey, with the AH, who needs Wikipedia?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Open, deep water, one is a smuggler making a regular run down the Florida coast, and the one that gets more description is big luxury craft from Sao Paulo or thereabouts-- modern, sleek...In other words, no way can she drive a rig at first sight!

To answer you rig question...I assume you are talking about the eighteen wheeler you mentioned earlier?

No. It may take her a couple of minutes to find the starter and the ignition switch. She will also have to be able to drive stick shift or standard transmission. A big rig can have over 6 forward gears and 3 reverse. There may also be a manual supercharger to deal with.

As for a yacht, unless she is familiar with that also she would need a couple of minutes to figure out the controls. Also if he "yacht" is big enough, there may be crew needed in the engine room to actually carry out the commands from the bridge as far as engine speed and direction is concerned.