Our primary product is our premium aluminium Marine Kit® designs.  Our Marine Kits are globally recognised and provide an efficient, rapid and low stress method to build class leading aluminium vessels.  Each Marine Kit design package is comprised of the hull and superstructure structural aluminium CNC pre-cut package, detailed and informative construction drawings, plus unlimited design support for the duration of the Marine Kit assembly.

In its simplest form, once router cut, our Marine Kit designs include the complete aluminium to build the hull and superstructure, marked and packed in a flat pack ready for transport.

This allows the builder to begin assembly from the day the kit arrives. As opposed to the conventional method of boat building which requires ‘lofting’ (drawing the frames out full size on the loft floor), the time and cost savings begin immediately. There are no decisions required on the workshop floor as to utilize the available material as in ‘conventional’ boat building. The components have already been ‘nested’, onto plate material making optimum usage of the material.

The largest time savings are in the pre-cut frames and stringers. Yes!! the hull stringers are all pre-cut to drop straight into the stringer notches in the frames.

The vessels are then constructed and delivered in a country of choice. Export of the kit is made possible with the vessels’ pre-cut flat pack (complete knock down) form resulting in efficient transport.

Where we provide you with the aluminium Marine Kit, we ensure the certification of the aluminium materials by arranging the cutting of the kits ourselves. Along with the quality of router cutting and kitset packing, we guarantee the kit’s precision, consistency and accuracy, providing a better outcome irrespective of where our vessels are built.

Marine Kits® is a registered trademark of Global Marine Design.

Sometimes when speaking with a prospective owner or builder for the first time we will be asked “How much for the design?”. 

The short answer is “It depends”, the longer answer is that the design investment will be proportional to the size and complexity of the vessel, desired survey or class, required design labour, travel costs and number of vessels to be completed. 

The focus during early discussions should be regarding the vessel purpose and technical requirements, then meeting these requirements within the desired budget.  There’s no point pricing a vessel that isn’t going to do the job.

We truly believe that investment in good design is just good business.   Design is the foundation that holds together the thousands or even millions of dollars of equipment, material and labour that go into a custom aluminium vessel.  In the grand scheme of an aluminium new build the money invested into design will typically be less than the construction labour, material cost, engines and gensets, painting and fit out.

There is some economy of scale.  As a rule of thumb, you could expect the design investment on your project to be:

• 7% – 15% of a trailer boat build total build price.
• 4% – 8% of a 15-25m total build price.
• 3% – 5% of a 35-40m total build price.

Please be cautious of designers who sets their actual fee based upon a percentage of the total contract cost.  This arbitrary pricing method used by some designers gives no consideration to the actual amount of work required from the designer and encourages a high risk “lowest price” mindset for the entire build. 

It is wise to treat the vessels design as an investment in your success, just as you would for quality materials, equipment and workmanship.

Global Marine Design is proud to offer the industry’s most comprehensive aluminium Marine Kit design packages. 

The Marine Kit Design, Drawing and Cut Licence Package will be tailored specifically to your needs and typically includes:

• Guaranteed unlimited design support for the duration of the build.
• Detailed construction drawings as scheduled in our commercial agreement with you, guaranteed to achieve plan approval.
• Kitting and nesting of the aluminium hull and superstructure, ready for cutting.
• Cutting Licence for the agreed number of vessels.
  • This is the right to use GMD developed Intellectual Property to produce a GMD Marine Kit® at the cutting facility of your choice. We send the cutting file (nest) and material list to your local aluminium supplier.  You pay your local supplier directly for the metal and processing.  Includes re-nesting to available sheet stocks.
• Aluminium materials purchasing list, including extra material to account for wastage from bending, cutting, and forming.
• In-house Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to confirm hull performance for all new designs.
• 3D PDF reference model of the assembled structure.
• GMD attendance on site, launch day, stability test and sea trials as detailed in our commercial agreement with you.
• Stability Manual for the selected survey/class, ready for approval.

Our intention is that our Marine Kits include all of the aluminium material necessary to construct the vessel.  Once produced, our typical aluminium Marine Kits includes but is not limited to:

• Transverse frames and bulkheads with riders and stiffeners,
• Longitudinal stringers, pre-cut where they are curved in the forward section of the hull and supplied as extrusions in the aft end where they are straight,
• Keel, skeg, foil keel or keelson if applicable,
• Longitudinal girders in hull bottom and deck,
• Panting girders and breast hook plates on larger vessels,
• Engine girders and beds if inboard engine, transom knees and supports if outboard engine,
• Entire shell plating for bottom, sides and deck,
• Fuel tank components, built in or free standing,
• Vessel spray rails (developed plate components on larger vessel and special extrusion on smaller vessels),
• Above deck bulwark framing and capping, air vents where applicable,
• Entire superstructure shell and internal components,
• Navigation mast material,
• Gunwale/fender pipe when rubber is not required,
• Material for welded grab rails,
• Stern tubes (when applicable),
• Rudder tubes (when applicable),
• Materials for bollards including the insert base plate,
• Gussets for all watertight bulkhead longitudinal terminations,
• Tripping brackets for frame/stringer intersection, standardised for 90° brackets and customised elsewhere,
• Frame chine and knuckle brackets as required, standardised for 90° brackets, and customised elsewhere,
• Draft mark numbers and load line symbol when required by class,
• Recessed anode box components,
• Stairs, treads, styles,
• Material for all ladders,
• Walkway mesh for tank and machinery rooms,
• Bow/transom and side fendering structure (if agreed upon during quotation,
• Crane, A-frame, winch inserts and bases (if agreed upon during quotation),
• Vessel lifting lugs and inserts (if agreed upon during quotation).

We have over 110 component groups on our design system kitset checklist and 55 groups on our Marine Kit extrusions checklist. For every vessel that we produce in kitset form, we cross check all components to ensure that you have a truly comprehensive package.

Where available we also supply photos of the same or similar hull from start to finish so that you have your ‘virtual builder’ at your side during construction.

Absolutely!  Our Marine Kit design, drawing and cut licence packages include supply of a nest file and material list to your chosen aluminium supplier, that they can use to produce the aluminium Marine Kit.

If your established shipyard has a aluminium router cutting facility you can be supplied the cutting file direct under licence, meaning you can then produce your very own Marine Kit using our nest file and materials list.  This is a great way to save on shipping costs and to produce the Marine Kit as the shop floor requires it.

We will even renest our existing designs for free, to suit the plate sizes stocked at your local supplier.  We do this in-house to ensure the Marine Kit is nested in a logical manner that saves material as well as valuable time on the workshop floor.

Your shipyard may want the simplicity of the aluminium Marine Kit just arriving at on the workshop floor, ready to go.  We can organise the production and delivery of the Marine Kit from one of our trusted aluminium suppliers for free, you only pay for material, processing and shipping costs.

When we arrange supply the pre-cut aluminium Marine Kit, we cut at select, dedicated aluminium cutting facilities in Western Australia, Singapore and the UK. 

If you would like to have your kit cut at your local aluminium supplier, please ensure:

1. The router cutting is performed on a dedicated, all-aluminium cutting bed. This is essential to avoid contamination from iron oxides, which occurs when cutting facilities cut both steel and aluminium on the same cutting bed. These contaminants, if not removed, become included in the weld, resulting in porous welds with inclusions. These welds would likely not pass NDT required by class societies.
2. All reference marking is done by spirit-based pen. The Marine Kit marking is an integral part of our kit design for both labels and alignment marks. Powder marking (applied with oxy acetylene torch) or scribe marking is not acceptable.
3. Prior to cutting and marking, the machine must be calibrated over the full length of the largest plate, requiring the cutting and/or marking head to return to within 2mm of its origin. The maximum error we allow is less than 0.02%, essentially 2mm over a 9m sheet.
4. The plates are lifted onto the cutting bed using non-marking suction clamps. They are removed after cutting, with non-marking lifting clamps. This means the plates have minimal scratches and/or marks caused by handling.
5. Cutting is executed at the correct speeds in accordance with the corresponding plate thickness. We have witnessed first-hand, lesser facilities that cut fast to maximize their profits, as well as running their consumables too long to minimize costs. The resulting product has low quality cut edges requiring increased labour by the builder, to bring the edges up to a suitable finish prior to welding.
6. The supplier has stock of IACS (DNV, BV, Lloyds, ABS, etc.) certified plates, of alloy 5083H321 or 5083H116, MARINE GRADE ONLY and can supply valid class material certificates to match.

We believe once cut, our Marine Kits design packages are the highest quality aluminium vessel kits produced anywhere in the world, incorporating a high level of intellectual property, technology, research and development. We have implemented a constant program of innovation and improvement and therefore protect our kit packages by controlling the issue and packaging of the technology.

When you ask us to arrange the Marine Kit and shipping our policy is to send kits F.C.L. (Full Container Load), which means the purchaser, is paying for a whole container. The advantage is that your Marine Kits package is not loaded in with other goods, possibly for different destinations.

Additionally, transport to your nearest sea port is relatively cheap worldwide, even for one kit.

If you order more than one kit, then the shipping cost becomes an even smaller portion of the project. Consider this simplicity and time saving for you, after all, isn’t that why need our Marine Kits packages?

Global Marine Design are specialist designers of Marine Kit for aluminium vessels.

Where you require a finished vessel, we can usually put you in contact with a builder in your region who we have previously worked and we trust to complete your build.