I learned a lot from building this boat. I suspect there will be a next one at some point and there are definitely things I would do differently.
1. I would not build a 10 panel plywood boat. For the amount of effort required I could have done a strip boat.
2. I would be more careful reinforcing and filleting before removing the wires. At the stems there were some serious compound bends that made it difficult to form and two areas separated. I filled them in reasonably well, but still......
3. I would have made a scarfing jig to glue the lengths of plywood together. I did this for gunwales and they worked out great. The plywood joins aren't nearly as good.
4. I don't like the cane bench seat much. I think I'll make a tractor seat for the boat using my Wenonah double tractor seat as a mold. Carbon fiber would look pretty good, I think.
5. Plan for making floatation tanks ahead of time. I ended up doing it because I did a pretty messy job at the ends of the boat with the fiberglass. The ends of the boat are very fine so it was really difficult to get the glass into the ends of the boat very cleanly.
6. I should have used more lights when varnishing. There are a few sags and drips that I'm not too happy with near the shear line.
The boat I built is exactly the boat I wanted, but it really wasn't the easiest boat for a first time builder due to the fine entry. That fine entry makes for a fast boat, but with pretty severe compound bends in the wood and very narrow ends that were hard to fiberglass on the inside. It all worked out well, but it is something to consider when deciding what to build.
So what is next? I think I'd like to build a short, freestyle boat. That sounds like fun.
1. I would not build a 10 panel plywood boat. For the amount of effort required I could have done a strip boat.
2. I would be more careful reinforcing and filleting before removing the wires. At the stems there were some serious compound bends that made it difficult to form and two areas separated. I filled them in reasonably well, but still......
3. I would have made a scarfing jig to glue the lengths of plywood together. I did this for gunwales and they worked out great. The plywood joins aren't nearly as good.
4. I don't like the cane bench seat much. I think I'll make a tractor seat for the boat using my Wenonah double tractor seat as a mold. Carbon fiber would look pretty good, I think.
5. Plan for making floatation tanks ahead of time. I ended up doing it because I did a pretty messy job at the ends of the boat with the fiberglass. The ends of the boat are very fine so it was really difficult to get the glass into the ends of the boat very cleanly.
6. I should have used more lights when varnishing. There are a few sags and drips that I'm not too happy with near the shear line.
The boat I built is exactly the boat I wanted, but it really wasn't the easiest boat for a first time builder due to the fine entry. That fine entry makes for a fast boat, but with pretty severe compound bends in the wood and very narrow ends that were hard to fiberglass on the inside. It all worked out well, but it is something to consider when deciding what to build.
So what is next? I think I'd like to build a short, freestyle boat. That sounds like fun.
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