JEM Watercraft

Got the front and rear decks cut out. Rear stringer supports are glued in. Been working on the positive hatch molds. I designed the profile in autocad, hopefully they will work as designed. Hatch gutters are basically pine in the following sizes 1x2, 1x1 and .75 x .50 and lattice strips. The hatch lids will be 1/4" plywood and 1/2" foam. The molds are basically one off molds, more than likely won't survive the release part.

Some pics of the hatch molds and stringer supports.



Somewhat finished form


Area to the left will be a built in cooler.

Oldsparkey wrote:
"O" .. If 12 of us decided to paddle the Panhandle section ( that would be 10 canoes or kayaks ) would you be will to take all our gear for us during the trip ? A lighter boat is a lot easier to paddle.

Not a problem if she is finished

G'day Chalk,

Great to see the progress on the boat mate, it is looking very nice.

If you can detail what you're doing with the hatch build that would be great, I assume by the look of the 'form' they are going to have drains built in?

Did you end up deciding what to do with the outside edges of the cockpit sole?

Good luck

Mick.

The hatches in theory will look something like this



The bilge hatch will drain into the bilge...there will be also be drains flowing through to the cockpit like this



I am basically using pine trim pieces, covering them with epoxy thinned with denatured alcohol, sanding smooth, filleting with modeling clay, covering with PVA mold release and coating with resin, cabosil and milled fibers, followed by some mat and then a layer of 1200 biaxial fabric...its a little more indepth than that but that is the meat of it

I made some card board templates of the sole and it seems the piece of wood I cut before was shorter than 48", so I need a new sheet of plywood and it should fit to the edge for a nice fit

Wow a huge job but the end result will be worth the work. Probably a bit beyond a newbie like myself when I get started.

Look forward to see your progress.

Mick

Cracka

The only things that holds a person back when building there own boat is there imagination ( thought) and the willingness to do it. Remember it is nothing more then wood and fiberglass so anything is possible.

I have found that someone will build a boat and when that boat is done then they say ....If I would of just done ( added ) this or that.

Next thing you know they are building anouther boat and making those modifications ( nothing structural as designed , just comfort ones ) to it and usually a few more as they build it.
YES..I'm one of those persons.

Chuck.

Oldsparkey wrote:... Next thing you know they are building another boat and making those modifications ( nothing structural as designed , just comfort ones ) to it and usually a few more as they build it.
YES..I'm one of those persons.

Chuckie walks into the BSA (Boat Science Anonymous) meeting.

"Hello, my name is Chuckie, and I build wooden boats."

"Hello, Chuckie. Have a seat and begin our 12 step program to rid yourself of the bad habit of building wooden boats."

If it is any consolation I have never done this...you can do anything if you set your mind to it.

I just did some research on mold making and jumped in...If I screw something up I will just make another one until I get it right

That's a right attitude - towards boat building , and Life.

G'day guys,

Chuck, I do agree with you, if you don't aim high, once it is done, you will think to yourself "I should have done it like that" if it takes a bit longer who cares anyway. I think the problem with me is I take too long to decide, then wonder if my decision was the right one, and then everything has to be perfect (just a bit too fussy I guess).

Chalk, it does give me consolation that you haven't built before, and you're doing such a nice job of it. I wont have any problems with the woodwork part of any build (ex chippy by trade) it's just the glass work that's a bit daunting, but no doubt once I get started I'll be right.

You're deck hatches will be similar to Flyfshmrn82's gheenoe on Microskiff, they did come up very nice and it does give the boat a special 'custom' touch.

When there was no movement with the plans for this Buc X I ended up buying the plans for the FS18 from Bateau (I hope you don't mind me saying that here Matt, no disrespect intended). I built 2 x 1/10th scale models of the boat, and even marked the full size boat out on my garage floor with masking tape just to get a feel of the proportions of the boat. But I still like this boat of yours Chalk and being just that little bit shorter may suit me better still. Looking forward to seeing the end result and if Matt ends up selling the plans.

Mick