Richardsons 45 flybridge

[C.Ricko]

Heres a new one we have just started,

the frames have been cut and sitting in the shed since roughly November but we have just set up the single level plug to start chopping it apart to mount the new frames for this next model.

We hope to have a finished version for the end of 2014 to advertise in the 2015 brochure.

there is a bit of thinking to do round the aft end but these give a rough idea of what she will end up like..

[C.Ricko]

more pics..

[Matt]

Looks awesome !

[BuffaloBill]

Very nice

But............Please tell us there will be NO patio furniture on top

[Boaters]

Agreed,must be a disappointment when they turn up to find them on the roof. I wonder how many chairs have ended up over the side ? If ou have hired one let us know how you got on Stunning design Clive ,as usual from your boys.

[goodall_m1]

The photos give some idea of how she will look, but one simple question...

Where will the access points be?

Up onto the roof and then down a staircase from there, I presume.

But don't you need at least two from a safety point of view.

[C.Ricko]

The photos give some idea of how she will look, but one simple question...

Where will the access points be?

Up onto the roof and then down a staircase from there, I presume.

But don't you need at least two from a safety point of view.

thats right,

also there will be an escape hatch in the front and possibly one in the rear.

the deck furnature will be inflatable so should float

[Dan]

Looks rather irrestible

The biggest pain with one central door through the flybridge is loading & unloading at the start/end of your holiday.

Dont forget to underprice it for year one, whilst it establishes itself and we all hire it

Dan

[Guest]

Sick a well with patio doors there

Jonny

[C.Ricko]

I get the aft door thing but it ruins what is probably the best cabin in the boat, there are plans for a side door as well...

all a bit in the planning stages as yet, as you can see there is very little detail in the back steps and sundeck, all this will come together as we build it.

[minor2011]

How about a sliding patio door at the rear to let lots of light into the rear cabin & also provide easier access to those less abled. A more radical idea would be curved sliding doors on each side (similar to those you get in the alpha highliner shower but with less of a curve) they could follow the contours of the boat. Or maybe just on one side with a curved glass panel on the other. Make them tinted to make them more aesthetically pleasing with the steps by the "false door" leading upto the flybridge. Kind of moving on & refining the faircraft idea.

I'm not a designer so apologies if my idea is totally rubbish

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Hi Clive, i hope you won`t be offended, but there are a couple of things i don`t like about the design. Generally, i think it`s pretty impressive, but i don`t like those long curved sides on the upper deck (they remind me of those ugly sidescreens on the Ferry boatyard boats), where i think it would be much nicer to have a more usual screen with much shorter curved, or straight sides, and the large curved side window in the salloon comes down too far to the side deck. I know the trend is toward curves, but i think you can have too many of them, whereas a mixture of curves and straight edges gives a nice balance. These are only my opinions, and are not meant in offence and i genuinely think it`s very impressive, but i do think it could do with a few more straight edges. Whatever the final design, it will no doubt look very smart, and be very comfortable, and so a big well done to you and the team for investing yet more into the industry .

I also think it would be more suitable for the southern broads, where there should be a few redundant hire fleet yards just waiting to be occupied by a hire fleet. "Somerleyton" comes to mind .

Regards to all, and no offence meant Clive ............................. Neil.

[Dan]

.....We hope to have a finished version for the end of 2014 to advertise in the 2015 brochure.

..

Ahhhhhwwww.... can it not be knocked together for next season!

[C.Ricko]

Hi all,

at the moment there no plans for patio doors in the rear cabin as it would spoil (in my opinion) the rear cabin.

Curved doors are mega costly so that is a non starter as it would probably add about 10% on the build cost

The windows and steel work are near enough as they will end up but we did change them slightly on the last two models although not a lot so we will see where we need the light inside then decide.

there have been some interesting comments so far as they coincide with some of what we already have in our minds, keep the thoughts coming as soon it will be too late to change

[C.Ricko]

Ahhhhhwwww.... can it not be knocked together for next season!

Watch this space Dan there may be a small suprise

[Dan]

Watch this space Dan there may be a small suprise

A 29ft baby flybridge at the price of Petite Gem, available for 2014????!

[goodall_m1]

keep the thoughts coming as soon it will be too late to change

Clive, are you planning on giving them dual steer positions like Alphacraft's Spitfire (i.e your Bolero class)?

On Spitfire I found a slight problem with small children who found it great fun to play with the downstairs wheel when I was steering from the fly-bridge.

On Spitfire both wheels are actually active (switching the helm position only switched over the throttle)

and the boat can do strange maneuvers when you don't realize that there is now a five year old playing with the other helm!

My other worry with the Alpha 44 was that if the kids were on the upper deck there was nothing to stop them slipping off the back of the cabin roof.

OK a stern roof rail may not be seen as essential , and may not be that aesthetic,

but it on a boat where you are expecting the crew (and especially young kids) to be on the roof then one might be advisable.

[LondonRascal]

See what you have gone and done here is have a plan for (in my opinion) the best boat for hire on the Norfolk Broads.

Elegance, both in terms of the superstructure and that sexy curvy hull you already use on Broadsman etc. Points I'd add:

The 'hoops' that come from the upper helm windows along the side I say should not curve up (far to Alpha mould like), but rake down - see photo below of my rough idea.

At the bow to have a narrow window - now I can't draw for the life of me, but the same lines of the new Broom Coupe - not flush but horizontal - breaks the curves up, make a seat out of it too - see example photo below.

Other than that, I presume will go under Ludham bridge have the usual refinements such as bow and stern thrusters and I wager now the class will be the 'best booker' of the fleet.

Roll on construction

[kadensa]

On Spitfire I found a slight problem with small children who found it great fun to play with the downstairs wheel when I was steering from the fly-bridge.

OK a stern roof rail may not be seen as essential , and may not be that aesthetic,

but it on a boat where you are expecting the crew (and especially young kids) to be on the roof then one might be advisable.

Surely the safety of any children onboard is the responsibility of the parents, not the designers or boatyard.

[goodall_m1]

Surely the safety of any children onboard is the responsibility of the parents, not the designers or boatyard.

I agree that the designer isn't responsible for the safety of their customers but they do usually consider it,

a few simple things can make things safer, and in this case Clive was asking for suggestions.

The safety of all the crew is the responsibility of the skipper.

And it is the responsibility of the parents (or whichever adult is in charge of them) to assist by keeping their eyes on the kids but it is difficult to do it all the time.

Ok so mum is down below keeping her eye on young Ryan and dad is on helm on the fly-bridge with the other kids.

Then mum needs to go to the heads...

Or dad is on the helm on the fly-bridge with some of the kids behind him when White Moth appears out of Ranworth in front of him...

On any boat that I am in charge of the kids do wear their life-jackets if they want to go out of the cabin,

(and I always do the same).

Will the brochure photos of the new boat show the crew on the fly deck with life-jackets on?

Well possibly some of the crew will have them on:

(Photo is from Richardson's web-site, I presume that Clive won't object)

Nice life-jackets for the kids, were they yard issue?

I certainly consider safety seriously when deciding which boat to hire,

but do all the other hire skippers think about it as much, probably not.

If I was going to take out one of Clive's new-builds with young kids

I would probably go for the single level version, as the kids can be out in the front well

where I can keep an eye on them from the helm, and they have to climb up if they are going to fall overboard.

But the well is outside of the cabin and hence they will have their jackets on.

[Matt]

Indeed and very well said.

[LondonRascal]

I really do not want to take this thread off topic - but the point of safety is most important and the risk of things going wrong on water is a real and ever present danger.

We all have free choice and most of us (and in us I refer to people of this good country) are responsible - yet we have the choice to not be, I am sure we have all seen the fools who do the most stupid things and risk themselves, worst the parents who do the same. But when it comes to companies who sell or provide (in this case) boating holidays, then their marking material be it website of print. I feel have only one choice and that is to promote safety in their copy and photographs used.

In recent times more photographs are used where the kids have life jackets on, and sometimes the parents too - even if they are models posing - the point is at the least the company is showing the way in being responsible. However, photos like the one below from a well known yard I think are just what we don't need - no one has a life jacket on and the child is sat legs dangled over the bow as the boat is going along doing nothing to promote safety.

Now back on topic...

The safety rails on the upper helm as per Clive's picture curve upward and then down - in mine where I tried to produce a 'downward rake' they do not - though perhaps I could have made them rake more at the aft, the point being that this would be easier for those walking on the side deck at that point to hold on. Be it they walked fore or aft - if the rails curve upward one's arm will naturally need to go up and reach the 'crest' then come down and if you are not so tall that highest point may be a little bit of a stretch - or in the case of reaching out to grab the safety rail, if they are roughly at the same height and shape it surely is easier to grab than to have to in a split second see and reach up or down for the same safety rail depending on which part of its length you find yourself at.

I've also though some more that it seems the 'in thing' (and rightly so I think) to be able to enjoy the outside 'living space' on the boat. Some have over come this with garden furniture which in my view looks awful, more over too as it has never seen a coat of varnish and has weathered to a rough finish. Others have added moulded seating and others too even sun loungers (bit optimistic this is Norfolk not the Mediterranean lol).

Now of course if you mould in seats you encroach internally too with head room and odd shapes - or you increase the air draft of the boat. But I do think that a compromise can be found with not so much a table and chairs set up but moulded seating that is not so deep as to raise the air draft to a point where Ludham is out of the question, but does provide something for the guests to enjoy up top - than just a flat area. Think of the far smaller Aqua Fibre Sapphire 32 - where the outside helm seating is actually the increased headroom part of the aft cabin and heads. Solves head room inside, creates a seating area outside.

[Siddy]

Nice looking boat, Re top level on your pics I'd have the hand rail supports going backward (could be less damage if contact with bridge - more chance of folding before pushing through roof)

What form of vents/ windows will be used to get cooling through in summer (it will be hot one day). Thinking windows and been on Carousel last month you've no comms with your crew with top closed.

As to rear rail on top I'm still reading options on this but one near steps to hold would help. Is the inside all one level or same as Carousel?

[C.Ricko]

Great points,

Robin, I mentioned earlier that the rails were open to interpretation and would probably be changed, you have drawn virtually what I had in my head

also I do like the seat/window arrangement on the Broom Coupes and would easily be able to get this but have to also consider headroom in the cabins, we have plans to move the hatch 'upward' as it is a real issue when making the headlinings as we tend not to upholster our headlinings.. however they seem to offer a good aspect from inside without compromising interiorior space too badly..

Siddy,

we did realise there is a lack of windows in the canopy of the center cockpit but the window is of such a shape that to get an opening in it the window would be about 2 feet behind the helm the interior would have a elevated level in the middle..

As for handrails, there is a minimum requirement for the RCD and the CE marking.

[galleyali]

Hmm pity this wont be ready until 2015, we are looking for a boat for next Easter (2014) and we like going on the newbuilds