JEM Watercraft

Hi -

A while ago I got myself a set of Merrimac plans with the intention of cleaning out the ol' garage and making myself a boat. The garage isn't fully cleaned out yet, but I found a local supplier of Okoume plywood (for those of you in the California Bay Area: Handloggers Flooring in Richmond stocks lots of different kinds of Marine Grade plywood). I got myself 3 sheets of 4mm Okoume and then in a fit of impatience, started laying out the panels on one of the sheets.





I've got a couple of the long lines traced out on the wood, but I'm hung up on one of the short ones:



What we see here is bit of the diagram for the top panel. Notice how the top and bottom lines are connected by a lovely curve. We know where the top and bottom of the line on the panel are, but the middle portion is just floating there. My question: can I make up something approximating that curve, or is there some part of the instructions that I missed that explain how I'm supposed to get that curve?

there should be a full scale pattern for that end in the drawing packet. You use that to reproduce the curve.

Aha! I remember that sheet now, but it didn't make compute at the time. For some bizarre reason (memo: don't drink beer while figuring out boat building plans...) I thought it was referring to the frames.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Hey, don't blame the beer! I can't work without it and if it turns out that is the problem I am in trouble.




Just kidding of course.

heya Hank,

Welcome aboard (and to the dark side) mate

I'm with Surfman on the Beer thing too. I am about to put a fidge in my shed for the next build. It is a hundred yards from my house to the shed and half the can is gone by the tme I get back down there.

The big problem now is that I really do have to finish cleaning out the garage. I was able to lay down a sheet of plywood to do the drawing of the lines, but there is really not enough room to start gluing things together.

But, the I-should-save-this-it-might-be-useful urge is definitely getting toned down to something like I-should-toss-all-of-it-I-can-get-a-new-one-if-I-need-it.

- Hank

Hank wrote: But, the I-should-save-this-it-might-be-useful urge is definitely getting toned down to something like I-should-toss-all-of-it-I-can-get-a-new-one-if-I-need-it.

- Hank

I never did figure out the I-should-toss-all-of-it-I-can-get-a-new-one-if-I-need-it deal. As a result I have soo much cool stuff that i'll probably never use or need until of course I get rid of it.

It's been a while since my last post, but I managed to get the lumber out tonight. We had a garage sale and part of the garage floor is visible! I have high hopes of being able to cut out the pieces tomorrow night.

Today's bit of learning: check the diagonal measurements. I thought I was completely careful doing the original lofting, but checking the diagonals showed that I had done one measurement at 8 1/2 rather than 8 1/8. The diagonal measurement on one of the bottom pieces was off. I erased, remeasured, redrew the line, and checked the diagonal again. It was right on. So tomorrow when I cut out the pieces I won't be making garbage. Woot.

Yes, measure twice cut once. The old carpenters rule.

Good Evening -

I got a couple of the bottom panels cut out and trimmed tonight. So the build is officially commenced.

I've got a question for those of you who live in the warmer parts of the world (here in Pacifica a really hot day might be a bit over 75 degF). I know we want to keep the wood dry before it sealed with the epoxy, but I kept dripping sweat onto the wood while I was using my little raspy-plane-thing to get the pieces just right. If I was doing this in Florida or Michigan in the summer or Queensland I would have probably completely drenched the ply with the sweat of my brow (actually off the end of my nose). How do you warm-locale people keep from sweating all over the boat pieces? I suppose I could just be overly sweaty...