When I first read this post a year ago, I was straight away enthralle
by the idea. having built and rebuilt boats in the 70ft+ size, the tas of construction and costs involved in a project like this would b large, but no where near the six figure sum that has been mentioned. I you use as an example a 1/9th scale version of USS Essex CV-9 as sh would have appeared circa 1960, the scale version would b approximately 98 feet long and 21 feet wide on the flight deck and 1 ft wide at the waterline, pretty big you might say, but I know amateur who have built 100 ft schooners in their back yard ( a type of vessel great deal more complicated that what we are talking about building) During the construction phase if a builder restricted himself to usin commercial grade exterior plywood and treated pine for the hull superstructure and flight deck, costs would be reduced to betwee $4000.00-7000.00 (including paint, glue and fasteners) depending upo the area that you live. Propulsion for the hull would be achieved b twin units producing between 160-200 hp, either outboards in a enclosed well or automobile conversions turning shafts or outdrives The costs in this area will vary widely depending on your mechanica skills and choice, but should fall between $2000.00-8000.00 for use engines in decent condition. The remainder of construction costs suc as electronics, safety and related equipment can be kept to a fe hundred dollars, depending on your will power and frugalness, costs ca easily spiral if you are not careful and refuse to accept compromise with regards to fitting her out. The main idea remember, being t construct the simplest possible platform that would be large enough t launch and recover model aircraft within the proper scale. A hull thi large would also eliminate the need for remote control of the vessel The island of the ship would be suffiently large enough to accomodate small bridge team and "air boss" and the flight deck big enough to allo up to a dozen or more deck personel to handle the aircraft during fligh operations (I see volunteers lining up allready). The ship woul displace around 50 tons, therefore no Coast Guard License would b required to operate it. All in all this is a very doable project for a amateur, especially if three or four get together and split the cost and labor
-- Centau
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