14ft Motor Dinghy - Builders?

[PiratePete]

Thanks PiratePete.

Weight is not a major issue with me with this design, since it's a trailer boat I can get away with a 20% difference. Might lose some top end speed and be a little slower on to plane, but everything in life is a trade-off. You would expect the higher density material to be stiffer and stronger but it's hard to get mechanical properties from wood suppliers.

I was originally going to dye the pine purple but that got too hard. . . .& thats the only reason I went for the pine. That boat is for my 16yo daughter & I was hoping the second boat would be lighter because I would make the mistakes learning on the first but it looks like being the heavier of the two

Those wadefish look good. Glassing the outside looks daunting as a process but great when finished.

Thanks Getting there on the second one. I havent posted as much on that one. . . .

Heading over to Tassie in March for two weeks (honeymoon...!) with our camper van, will go down the east coast and back up the centre past the lakes. Bringing my fly rod which I haven't used in 20 years!

Im in Latrobe a bout 10Ks up river from where the boat comes in. There is a good bream fishery in the rivers down the east coast. I have a fly rod but never used it.


How can you go fishing on your honeymoon

[PTN]

Honeymoon or not, got to come up for air sometime...

[PiratePete]

LOL

[PTN]

Update: Back from Tassie. Would have to be the most beautiful place on the planet bar none. Have started to collect bits - Bought a speedo on special and also have some tape and resin. I have been checking local suppliers for ply and have settled on BS1088 Okume from a local plywood merchant. He's happy for me to select the sheets I want and is flexible on a job lot price. The ply he has looks ok on inspection, no voids, plies even in thickness. I might buy one sheet and do some cutting tests and also test it for brittleness. I might also boil a bit to see how the glue survives.

[PTN]

OK! Have purchased plywood - Got very good price on a job lot from Plyco in Mornington - Trade less 10%. Now have 15 sheets of ply stacked in the back verandah. Cleaned out the garage in preparation, I think this was the hardest part of the bulid! I'm starting with the 6mm bottom panels - Biggest panels on the boat. I managed to get a giant heavy duty packing crate surplus from work which makes a dandy workbench for layout and cutting. The bottom panels are in two parts - The 'fronts' come from one sheet so I marked out and cut one then used it as a template to mark and cut the second. The 'backs' are cut one to a sheet, so I nailed two sheets together and cut both in one go. Need to be careful doing this as a mistake can cost you two sheets instead of one. It worked OK!. Now have four panels making up the bottom. Putting them loosely together gives a good idea of the size of the boat. I will post photos as I go along.

[PTN]

Progress! I now have a smaller pile of plywood and a larger pile of boat bits. Had some drama with my Bosch jigsaw - The blade kept slipping off the roller and skewing the cut. I had been using a thin fine cut blade which worked OK on 6mm sheet but struggled on 12mm. A new beefier blade fixed the problem. I tend to cut just outside of the line and bring it in with the smoothing plane. This gets rid of all the wavyness as well. For straight cuts I use a guide. The big crate has been really useful.

Pix are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/? ... dfb9e729ab

[Boatplans.dk]

Thats for sure looking good, great job you did with the saw

We are looking forward to more news about the progress.

[PTN]

Thanks Morten.

I've started joining the panels in preparation for assembly.

Pix are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/? ... b0f12319c2

The plan is to assemble the basic shell of the boat: sides, bottom, frames, stringers and transom, then cut and custom fit the remaining parts to finish off. I'll also do the control cable runs, electrical runs and water drains at the same time. Hopefully this will make overall assembly easier.

[PTN]

OK! Making some progress... Main panels are together and taped. I've had no problems with it so far, it's been a straightforward build. The Bote Cote epoxy has been great to work with - mixing easily using the pumps and sanding easily once hard. Being the depths of Melbourne winter, it take a couple of days for the epoxy to harden to a point where it can be properly sanded. If you try to sand it a little green, it really clogs your sandpaper. It gives me an excuse to go slowly and have a few glasses of red between tasks..

Next task is to sheath the bottom with glass cloth using the wet method. I'm not looking forward to this! The Bote Cote handbook gives a really good run down on how to do it, but if anyone's got any pointers, let me know! After that, fairing and filling, then sealing the cloth with a couple of coats of epoxy.

Then the fun bit, turning the hull to start on the inside. I'm going to build a cradle to hold the hull on an angle to make this easier. Stay tuned.

Public link to my facebook page pix here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 2d9e8d22df

[jem]

Looking good so far.

Applying fiberglass to the interior is not fun, but if you take it in sections, it's not that bad of a chor.