RickW Ph18

[Rrick411]

SO it begins! Watching some other builds for a few years, retired now, knee replacement surgery out of the way, settled in the new house with some room and the time, excited to get going. This jig will get castors Monday so I can wheel it outside. First question, I was going to put the bulkheads on risers from the strong back like I saw in the tutorial so I can get underneath the hull. I see some builders built a second raised strong back instead, does it matter?

[Fuzz]

Not sure it is about getting under as much as getting things to a comfortable working height.
Looks like you have quite the helper for the job ahead.

[OlivierP]

You should have easy access to work on the top (= the bottom...) of the hull, not higher than shoulder level. You can check if that gives you access to the underside. A drawing may help to check. On my C17 it worked but I had to crawl somehow to go underneath once the side panels were laid, however the sides may be higher than on the ph18. I set my baseline 1m above the jig.

[Rrick411]

You should have easy access to work on the top (= the bottom...) of the hull, not higher than shoulder level. You can check if that gives you access to the underside. A drawing may help to check. On my C17 it worked but I had to crawl somehow to go underneath once the side panels were laid, however the sides may be higher than on the ph18. I set my baseline 1m above the jig.

Thanks. yup, shorter sides, I still need to reach the keel though I guess. I'll go 18 inches, ah.. about half a meter above the jig, I'll be able to wiggle under the bulkheads into the interior spaces if I need to.

[Rrick411]

Not sure it is about getting under as much as getting things to a comfortable working height.
Looks like you have quite the helper for the job ahead.

More like a Supervisor Fuzz, no matter what I'm doing, he is always there watching.

[TomW1]

The biggest reason to get under the hull is to tape the seams so when you epoxy the outside seams it doesn't flow and make a mess on the inside that you will have to sand and grind smooth before laying the inside tape.

Tom

[Rrick411]

The biggest reason to get under the hull is to tape the seams so when you epoxy the outside seams it doesn't flow and make a mess on the inside that you will have to sand and grind smooth before laying the inside tape.

Tom

Yes sir, I saw that, and some guys using PVC pipe pieces under the tie wraps. I'll see how that goes.

[swglenn]

Mine is heavier than the design calls for. It has a Mercury 90HP 4 stroke (about 70# more than a 2 stroke) with two 12v AMG trolling motor batteries (65# each) in the console. My previous boat, a Hydrasports 18' center console, was always taking water in over the transom and splashwell and had wet decks. I raised the sides by 2" and the sole by one inch to have a little more freeboard for drains. I have never had water come into the boat from the drains. Raising the deck height 2" required me to buy a 25" shaft motor instead of a 20" shaft motor. If I had bought the 20" motor it would have to buried 3" deeper on the transom which would have put the motor nearly underwater. I make up the additional 3" of shaft height using a 4" setback manual jackplate to raise the motor. I also did away with most of the splashwell and ran a flat deck in the back with only a small transom cutout (20" wide and 2-1/2" deep) and splashwell (24" wide, 4-1/2" deep, and 4-1/2"long) just to clear the hydraulic steering rams on the motor when it is tilted up. If the steering rams would have cleared the deck I would have eliminated the splashwell and transom cutout. With the motor rigging cables in front of the motor the cutout is covered and not in the way of a fisherman on the back deck. I did add additional transom knee lamination to replace the bracing provided by the designed splashwell. I used 3 layers of 12mm plywood for the transom.

After building the boat I started using it for bass fishing. I replaced the original 24V trolling motor with a spot lock trolling motor. I also added a front Garmin Ultra 106 fishing graph with a Garmin Livescope Plus transducer and GLS10 black box. This required adding power wiring to the front deck. I added an 8ga power circuit to a pair of terminal blocks in the front hatch to add four additional electronics circuits. It would have been a lot easier if I had added a front power circuit when I built the boat. I also added an ethernet connection cable from the front Ultra 106 to the console Ultra 126 so my wife can watch the Livescope picture.

Enjoy your build and post pictures!

[Rrick411]

Mine is heavier than the design calls for. It has a Mercury 90HP 4 stroke (about 70# more than a 2 stroke) with two 12v AMG trolling motor batteries (65# each) in the console. My previous boat, a Hydrasports 18' center console, was always taking water in over the transom and splashwell and had wet decks. I raised the sides by 2" and the sole by one inch to have a little more freeboard for drains. I have never had water come into the boat from the drains. Raising the deck height 2" required me to buy a 25" shaft motor instead of a 20" shaft motor. If I had bought the 20" motor it would have to buried 3" deeper on the transom which would have put the motor nearly underwater. I make up the additional 3" of shaft height using a 4" setback manual jackplate to raise the motor. I also did away with most of the splashwell and ran a flat deck in the back with only a small transom cutout (20" wide and 2-1/2" deep) and splashwell (24" wide, 4-1/2" deep, and 4-1/2"long) just to clear the hydraulic steering rams on the motor when it is tilted up. If the steering rams would have cleared the deck I would have eliminated the splashwell and transom cutout. With the motor rigging cables in front of the motor the cutout is covered and not in the way of a fisherman on the back deck. I did add additional transom knee lamination to replace the bracing provided by the designed splashwell. I used 3 layers of 12mm plywood for the transom.

After building the boat I started using it for bass fishing. I replaced the original 24V trolling motor with a spot lock trolling motor. I also added a front Garmin Ultra 106 fishing graph with a Garmin Livescope Plus transducer and GLS10 black box. This required adding power wiring to the front deck. I added an 8ga power circuit to a pair of terminal blocks in the front hatch to add four additional electronics circuits. It would have been a lot easier if I had added a front power circuit when I built the boat. I also added an ethernet connection cable from the front Ultra 106 to the console Ultra 126 so my wife can watch the Livescope picture.

Enjoy your build and post pictures!

My boat will be used in pretty skinny, well protected waters. Likely will never see more than 5 or 7 feet of water other than a run in the river. I would have built a LM18, that was my preferred build as it was cheaper and easier, but we (my brother and I) have a 2008 very low hour, good running, Yamaha 70. 2 stroke, which needs a home, so he talked me into going this route. I'm with you keeping the setback on the jack plate to 4 inches, and this 2 banger is a bit lighter than the 4 is, making up for some of the jack plate weight. 24v trolling motor with spot lock, could do 12 but want the run time of the 24, I'm thinking all 3 batteries will go in the console. Electronics will be pretty simple, Probably a Simrad Go on the console. Reasonably priced, I won't need 1kw power, and I have a pair of Simrads on the big boat, so I am familiar with them. I have to look for your build, I want to see the splash well.

[Jeff]

Welcome Rick!!! Jeff