Fat Forty Lobster Boat

This is a  generally realistic model of an Atlantic Canadian built lobster boat commonly referred to as a Fat Forty. It's dimensions (to scale)are roughly 40' x 25' (it is drawn out at full scale and so must be scaled to 1-2 percent to fit on a Bambu plate. All walls have been thickened to allow for printing) .  It's design and use is a quirk of fisheries needs and fisheries rules in Canada. The boats are built to stay under 40 feet to avoid additional Transport Safety safety/crewing requirements for vessels over 15 tons and to meet licensing boat size restrictions. These boat stretch the bounds of length to beam ratios. They are wide, with some designs up to 30 feet! This comes at a cost: locals say they track like a doughnut, that autopilot can't keep it on course and while they are stable they have a tendency to “roll the cream out of your coffee.”  It goes without saying 8 knots is as fast as these boats will ever go. 

 They often have eight foot transom extensions built out of aluminum to add even more deck space(not shown here), but stay under the 40' limit.  This huge amount of deck space allows lobstermen to carry their entire gang of traps and store tens of thouosands of pounds of lobster. This is important in Atlantic Canada, where where the government institutes zones and seasons, unlike the US where lobster is fished year round. Opening day is a huge deal, known as dumping day. Boats race out, drop all their traps then start hauling them back immediately. The first six weeks of fishing determines the year's success; huge money can be made, with 10,000lb a day catches not unheard of. 

As for the model, I have had a hard time keeping the prop from breaking off with the supports. I recently jump the shaft size to give the blades more area to stick to. Hope you folks like a little bit of wierd commercial boat history. I should have some of the faster and more elegant downeast and Northumberland designs to post in the coming weeks including the Millenium 50, Wesmac 46, BHM 36, and the original Atkinson open boat which started the whole downeast/cape style boat craze.

As a side note: in the US (and Newfoundland, this kind of boat is referred to as a Novi. In Nova Scotia, however they are called “cape style.”  Most of the builders of these boats are in the area of Clark's Harbour, NS, and area that has the most productive lobster grounds on the planet.