JEM Watercraft

I got all of my materials in and have completed drawing. Started cutting 2 days ago. Man the cutting goes so much faster than the drawing. This is my first build so I will probably have lots of questions. Rather than flooding the questions and answers with posts, I guess I'll just log my progress on this forum. Everybody is so helpful.

The only changes I have planned are:

1. I willl attempt to use mick's ideas for building a rudder.
2. I am toying with the idea of installing a live well and prewiring for future "periferals" such as fishfinder/gps, lights for night fishing, etc.

I will post pics whenever I can. My camera is broken so all I have is a phone cam.

The only question I have at this time is this: On the drawings the frame stiffeners have lightening holes on the plans, but there are no holes on the frame itself. Is it recommended to lighten the frame also? Or is my butt too big to consider lightening the frames?

This is already more fun than I ever expected.

You can cut the holes in both frames. It's not shown in one in case you wanted a sealed off center area.

That's where I was thinking of puting the livewell.

duh

I butted the hull panels together today. When I took the weights off I noticed that I had one hull strip with a wider gap than the rest (it was the last one and the epoxy was heating up). The gap is 8mm will this be okay once I glass the joint? Or should I cut sand and redo?

Remember, beginner here! The other joints are in the 2-3mm range.
Drawing the panels

finally cut all the panels

gluing the frame stiffeners
joining the hull panels

Looks a little too wide. Use the QA2 drawing to line things up.

The other day when I was working on the wadefish and starting to tack weld the cockpit, I came in out of the heat for a break and Martha Stewart was on the tv. She was using a pastry bag to make cookies or something, and it gave me an Idea. I could use a similar method to apply a nice even bead of putty.

First take a plastic bag and cut a corner out(not too big or your bead will be huge.
Then turn the bag halfway inside out.

Fill the corner with the epoxy/woodflour mix.
Then bunch up the rest of the bag around the putty and squeeze it out like a tube of toothpaste.


This method is very neat and doesn't leave the dark marks all over your wood.

Thanks Martha!

looks tasty!

Same technique works for carrying Bisquick (or other bread/biscuit mixes). Add liquid, mix in bag, & artfully squirt dough form bag corner onto griddle or pan. Dispose of messy bag.

Epoxy is expensive, I like using the Monojet Pet Medication / Curved Plastic Tip Syringe. You can buy 12 for a low price from the online pet supply houses. Clean up with vinegar, rinse and dry. I mix small batches in 30 cc medical dispensing cups. I cut about 1/2" off the end of the Monojet to get the bead of exopy I want.