#1943 22m Longline Fishing Boat Manakai

 

The Manakai project is the result of a collaboration between Phillip Carey – a well known designer of commercial fishing boats in New Zealand – and LOMOcean.

 

Manakai’s owners – well used to their smaller 18m Carey design approached Phillip for a larger version, which – due to the cost of both timber and labour – proved uneconomic to build using the traditional wooden boatbuilding techniques more familiar to him.

 

LOMOcean was then approached to re-design the boat using modern wood composite construction techniques with a brief for extreme robustness.

 

The result is a traditionally styled New Zealand longliner built in infused epoxy resin with E-glass reinforcements and a combination of plywood and foam core materials.

As with all LOMOcean projects, the vessel was fully 3d modelled, allowing the production of NC cut files for all temporary moulds and jigs as well as nearly all structural components of the vessel. This approach dramatically reduced labour costs and offered improved accuracy.

 

Two years after her launch and with more than 5000 hours of operations under her belt in extremely challenging conditions, Manakai has proven her immense toughness.

 

Photo credit: Rochele Davey