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Kayak Jack · Post by **Kayak Jack** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:19 am

Nice looking work, Surfman. You're going to enjoy that boat. With tips and information coming in form all over the world, it is truly an international project.

hairymick · Post by **hairymick** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:53 pm

Heya Surfman,

Nice Lines!!

Lovely work too.

How long and wide is your boat? I am getting more and more interested in this boat as she is taking shape.

It reckon this one has the potential to be a serious bass boat.

Keep up the good work mate.

surfman · Post by **surfman** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:10 pm

I forget exactly. I will measure it tonight when I get home. It is 14' long. It actually is looking a lot better than I imagined it would. I am having a lot of fun with it. I am also learning a lot from this project. After stitching it together some of the plywood edges did not line up too well. I thought I was going to have to redo some of it using the pvc backing method I saw someone else use. I started doing that, what a pain. That turned out to be unnecessary, all I had to do was a little prying and the edges would line right up. Seems the tie wraps have a tendency to twist or pull the edges as you cinch them down. It is the tie wrap that causes the wood to miss-align. A screw driver inserted into the gap and pried against the overlap straightened things right up.

surfman · Post by **surfman** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:33 am

Okay, at the widest point, the two bottom panels measure out at 23" it is a heavy 32" at the water line and flares out a bit more to a heavy 34" at the wides point. I guess I should have measured the transom width too, but I think it is around 18" or so.

Been doing a lot of sanding and I don't think I will make much progress in the next week or 2. Spring turkey season opens here in Florida this Saturday and I am going to try to see if I can out smart a gobbler. For me that is going to take some doing, yuk, yuk.

hairymick · Post by **hairymick** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:44 am

Thanks mate. I reckon she is going to be a great fishing outfit.

Post by **jem** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:12 am

confirmed: Designed width is 34"

surfman · Post by **surfman** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:40 am

Well what I am calling the waterline is the top of the second panel. The boat may sit a little lower in the water than that but i don't think much, it will depend on the load of course. I think the transome is wider too maybe closer to 21". Anyway, I can't wait to get it out and fish in it and I promise I will post some fish pictures when I do.

Post by **jem** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:52 am

I should say the 34" is the max beam, not waterline. Your measurements are correct.

surfman · Post by **surfman** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:36 pm

Okay, I got a little more work done. I glassed the bottom using 2 pieces. I thought this would be easier and I want more glass along the keel anyway so I kill 2 birds this way. The first time I started gluing I mixed way too much resin and half way through it started setting up on me. I got mad and just ripped the glass off the boat and scraped the resin off. That was dumb of course. I wasted a big piece of cloth doing that. I should have just tossed the resin I had and mixed up a new small batch I think that would have worked just fine now. It is getting warm here and if I mix up about 8 oz or less I can get that spread, once it is spread it can be worked for a while sense the heat build up is not going to effect the resin as it does in the pot. I am learning. Anyway, here it is.
Before resin;

Don’t have a picture of it with the resin on the glass I flipped it to do the inside before I took the picture. I will get one when I flip it again.

Boat flipped and installing the transom;

As I mentioned in the questions section, I somehow got a slight twist in the hull. I re-clamped the hull down to the horses in order to glass the inside. This made it a little more difficult as I will have to work around the straps. I hope I don’t loose my cool with this setup again. I will take it slow and probably do the inside in 3 lengthwise pieces in order to make it easier and less stressful. I think it will go okay. Actually 4 pieces, the transom being the 4th.

Filleting the joints, boy that Mick is full of great ideas I noticed he used a plastic bag to apply the resin. I thought that was a bit too much but, the more I thought about it the more I realize that is the way to do it. It is like a baker applying icing they use the same technique. Getting the resin in the bag is the hard part. It made applying the resin a snap and you can squeeze it out on all the seams first. Again once it is thin it won’t set up very fast. I first squeezed it all out then came back and spooned it into the joints. I did about 8 oz of resin-flour at a time.
The bow;

The Transom;

All clamped down. I removed the concrete block, I was using it for ballast;

All filleted;

A zip lock bag ready for resin, just snip a small corner off and go;

Post by **jem** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:45 pm

Very, VERY, nice clean work!

And that's a great idea clamping the bag open for easy "loading" of the epoxy/filleting material.