Title: A conceptual design of a fiber reinforced plastic fishing boat for traditional fisheries in Malaysia

Fibreglass commonly known in the business as fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) or glass reinforced plastic (GRP) has been used in boat building for over 60 years. In that time, vessels of various categories have been built using FRP. Faced with the problem of wood supply for boat building in the last few years, the Malaysian government decided to promote the building of new FRP fishing boats with up to 20 GRP boats to replace old wooden boats. The design of 12.75 m FRP boats produced by Majuikan Sendirian Berhad (MSB), a subsidiary company of the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (FDAM) were chosen as a standard design for this purpose. This study is aimed to produce a conceptual design of an FRP fishing boat in the same category of design used by the MSB but with some improvements in construction methods and the general arrangement of the boat. The study is based on a small-scale fishing fleet, which is made up of FRP boats up to 14 m in length and the FRP boatbuilding industry in Iceland. A conceptual design of 13.11 m in length boat produced has a similarity in the physical features of an Icelandic boat. But some alterations on general arrangement and powering of the boat have to be done in order to suit the environment of the Malaysian fishery. The proposed design will go through a comprehensive study by competent bodies in Malaysia before endorsement as one of the standard designs for Malaysian FRP traditional boats.