JEM Watercraft

Hi.
I'm throwing myself in the deep end and starting this log.
I'm about to start a Cape Fear.
I've been reading through many of the posts here and been awestruck by the beauty of some of the finished boats........great craftsmanship!
I built a canoe by stitch and glue method many years ago when I was a kid...... and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!....
Unfortunately it came to a sad (but spectacular) demise courtesy of a very fast flowing river and very solid submerged tree stump.
I never got around to building a replacement....... I did buy a plastic canoe a little later but was never very happy with it....
So now's the time to re-discover the joys of building and using my own.
I'm sure I'll have some questions along the way and judging by what I've seen here, you blokes won't mind offering your advice......it will be greatly appreciated.
John.

G'day John,

Iooking forward to this one mate.

Hmm must be something about Johns in Australia doing Cape fears. Its definitely gonna be my next one once I've finished the Laker. I was tempted to do one first up, but all advice on here is to start with something simple. I'm glad I did but reckon there will be another Cape Fear on the way within six months. Good luck with it and keep us posted.
Regards John.

Congratulations on jumping in. Sorry to hear about your first boat; must have been both traumatic at the time and sad afterwards.

May I ask, what is the name of "Olsnappa"? Different enough to attract my attention and interest. (Nosey, too) Thanks

Thanks Mick, John and Kayak Jack for the welcome.
John.........Yes, I looked through Matts designs and originally decided on the Cape Fear as the one that took my fancy the most........before thoroughly reading some of the advice about first builds.
Anyway, having got the plans I decided to forge ahead......... I'll treat it as a fairly sharp learning curve and take my time with it.....along with hounding you all for advice.

Kayak Jack......Along with paddling and fishing, I also enjoy amature photography and olsnappa is my user name on flickr (photo sharing site). So I just decided to carry it over here as well.

John,

Are you building the Sit on Top or the sit in version? also what size is it?

I bought the plans for the 16 footer (SOT) a while back but just haven't got round to build it yet.

I think the build for the Cape Fear, will be fairly straight forward. Not too many panels. Pay particular attention to Matt's Q.A. measurements. Check the diagonals on the panels before you cut and at every stage as sugested during the build.

I think the Cape Fear will make a very good fishing kayak and there is a strong contingent of kayak fishermen in your area who regularly hit the snapper in Port Phillip Bay.

Mick..... It's the 16ft sit in CF. I actually got the plans for the SOT first but then decided to do the sit in instead.......Partly because it looked a bit easier but mainly because of the lighter finished weight. I've got a dodgy back at times (30 odd years of greenkeeping 'll do that to you)....and had to consider the "lifting onto the car roof" aspect.
Yes...... kayak fishing for Snapper and Flathead etc, around the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay where I live is one of the objectives.......as well as chasing a few around Western Port Bay.

Work space completed.....except for the bench.
The first step was to put the roof over the area I'm using. (This was about a week ago)


Panels cut

Taking shape.....
All going quite smoothly to date. I haven't made any major errors leading to problems.........much to my surprise!

looking pretty good so far. Keep up the good work and you'll have a boat that'll have people drooling.