cape fear 16 Sit-on-top construction
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 12:31 am
Hi Matt,
So I'm about 5 weeks in to construction on my CF SOT. I'd say it's going pretty well... the body panels have been stitched together, filleted and glassed on the inside, and I'm just about done sanding the outside seams. I'll probably have them glassed on the outside by Saturday. I've stitched the fore and aft decks on (they fit without any issues, thankfully - I didn't stitch them on before filleting the seams).
So that leaves me wondering about the cockpit and tankwell. I cut out all of the pieces last week without really thinking about how they go in... but now that I look at them, I'm not 100% sure. I might be overlooking instructions somewhere, but I wonder if you could offer some advice about how these panels fit - specifically the tankwell fore and aft walls, and the cockpit fore and aft walls. The shape of those pieces is odd (one looks like a T, two of them look like rectangles with two rectangular pointy bits pointing up from one of the sides).
What's the orientation of these panels - do they go pointy bits up, pointy bits down, etc? How do the sidewalls and floors fit with these? My theory is that the pointy bits go down, and the floors hit them just above the cutouts - and the cutouts are just to reduce the weight of the piece - but I want to make sure before they get filleted in place. =)
I know this might be hard to explain, so if you have pictures of this phase of construction, I'd love to take a look at them. Thanks!
Craig
P.S.
For prospective builders, this is my advice so far:
1. Use 4mm marine... even if the 1/4in exterior is free (like mine was), I have to think you'll be better off. The boat built with 1/4in is probably going to be 75-80 pounds. Fine for me, since I'm young and strong, but still... Also, the bottom hull panels have a TON of bend in them both at the front and back. While I was tightening the stitches, I was holding my breath wondering if I was going to hear cracking.
2. Stitch on the fore and aft decks before filleting the seams. I didn't do this, and luckily my panels were stitched together correctly with proper gaps, but if they aren't, there is not a lot of bend in them once the glass is on - if your hull is too wide, it will really suck to bend it in.
3. If this is your first boat, read as much about stitch and glue (and especially look at during-construction photos) before you go. I used way, way too much epoxy in the first seams and it was a pain to sand down.
So I'm about 5 weeks in to construction on my CF SOT. I'd say it's going pretty well... the body panels have been stitched together, filleted and glassed on the inside, and I'm just about done sanding the outside seams. I'll probably have them glassed on the outside by Saturday. I've stitched the fore and aft decks on (they fit without any issues, thankfully - I didn't stitch them on before filleting the seams).
So that leaves me wondering about the cockpit and tankwell. I cut out all of the pieces last week without really thinking about how they go in... but now that I look at them, I'm not 100% sure. I might be overlooking instructions somewhere, but I wonder if you could offer some advice about how these panels fit - specifically the tankwell fore and aft walls, and the cockpit fore and aft walls. The shape of those pieces is odd (one looks like a T, two of them look like rectangles with two rectangular pointy bits pointing up from one of the sides).
What's the orientation of these panels - do they go pointy bits up, pointy bits down, etc? How do the sidewalls and floors fit with these? My theory is that the pointy bits go down, and the floors hit them just above the cutouts - and the cutouts are just to reduce the weight of the piece - but I want to make sure before they get filleted in place. =)
I know this might be hard to explain, so if you have pictures of this phase of construction, I'd love to take a look at them. Thanks!
Craig
P.S.
For prospective builders, this is my advice so far:
1. Use 4mm marine... even if the 1/4in exterior is free (like mine was), I have to think you'll be better off. The boat built with 1/4in is probably going to be 75-80 pounds. Fine for me, since I'm young and strong, but still... Also, the bottom hull panels have a TON of bend in them both at the front and back. While I was tightening the stitches, I was holding my breath wondering if I was going to hear cracking.
2. Stitch on the fore and aft decks before filleting the seams. I didn't do this, and luckily my panels were stitched together correctly with proper gaps, but if they aren't, there is not a lot of bend in them once the glass is on - if your hull is too wide, it will really suck to bend it in.
3. If this is your first boat, read as much about stitch and glue (and especially look at during-construction photos) before you go. I used way, way too much epoxy in the first seams and it was a pain to sand down.