Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Hello!
I'm starting a D5 project for the purpose of getting onto local lakes for flyfishing. I could just buy one of the pontoon boats that are so popular up here for less money than a project, but I'm just a "boat guy". I need to put the boat up on my Subaru wagon single handedly and carry it a little ways down to the lake.

I'm wondering if anyone has a good idea of what the D5 will weigh if built per plans in 4mm okoume or meranti? I can get those sheets for about $40 each locally. I saw that a guy built his (Stan?) in 4mm but it has been a while since he posted here so I don't know if he's still active, and unfortunately I don't think he posted his all-up weight. I suppose I'd like to know if it will be stiff enough, as well.

Thanks in advance!
Kurt

You may save 10 to 15 lbs, not more.
The biggest saving in weight comes from a good fiberglass work: use as little resin as possible.

Cascadie wrote:Hello!
I

I'm wondering if anyone has a good idea of what the D5 will weigh if built per plans in 4mm okoume or meranti? I can get those sheets for about $40 each locally.

Kurt

Okoume for 40.00 a sheet?? Where are you?? Best I found is 80.00 to 82.00 a sheet. Don

I don't think you can make the entire boat out of 4mm. But making the hull planks 4 mm and the rest of the pieces 6 mm should work. And, with careful use of epoxy you should get to a weight either side of 50 lb. If any of the 4 mm pieces aren't stiff enough you'd have to glue on cleats which would run the weight up and might not be as stiff as a more adequit piece of plywood. My D4 has two bulkheads, the seat tops and the mast deck in 6mm.
To keep control of the weight it's not abad idea to pile all the pieces onto a scale as you go. My D4 had a pile of components that weighed about 35 lb.
At this stage;
http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage ... =343&pos=1
it was 45lb. I put double glass on the rear transom seams in case I wanted to mount a small motor.
For a while I thought I might bring it in at less than 60 lb. but the last 5-7 lb. kind of snuck up on me. It was 63 lb. minus the hatches, oarlocks,etc.

Charley those are great photos, and thanks for the first-hand account!

I'm in central Oregon, and that quote was on the 4mm 3-ply. I'm leaning now toward 6mm though. I haven't priced that option yet. (by the way, I forgot to mention an extra $10 for shipping, but that's for the whole order)

I'm thinking of going a little different route, but I'll ask here first, since this forum is so wonderfully active! I have a fear that this little pram won't be as stable as I might like for standing and casting. Does anyone use their D5 for fishing like this and do you find it plenty stable? I'm wondering if flattening out the V toward the stern would benefit the stability.

Lastly, I've read where the current latex exterior paints are very tough. Would it be imprudent to simply paint (primer first) over the plywood, rather than coat in epoxy first and then paint?

Question leads to my favorite bateau photo (not mine).
I think he is flyfishing bonita in Pacific salt.
I'm to old to stand that well on concrete, but he could do it.
Depends on the skill of the fishing skipper.

You could probably do everything but the bottom out of 4mm just make the bottom out of 6mm for the strength it needs. But like Jacque says if you look at the Plywood store here and look at the weights there is not much difference in 4-6mm wood.

Tom

Would it be imprudent to simply paint (primer first) over the plywood, rather than coat in epoxy first and then paint?

Bad idea. Even with marine plywood, you must encapsulate the wood with epoxy or you will suffer from rot in too short of a time. Paint alone will not prevent it.

Epoxy is your friend! It may be somewhat expensive but there is no substitute. Nothing gets a better grip on wood either as a glue or as a coating. Once a hull is completely epoxied any paint or varnish just goes along for the ride.
Standing in a small boat is an athletic activity. Being able to do it in comfort depends on your personal abilties. I stand to lash or unlash my sail. I'm always hanging onto the mast. Standing that far forward levers the rear transom way out of the water.

I was thinking more from a weight savings standpoint than cost savings, but it would be much cheaper going all latex. This http://www.simplicityboats.com/latexcarnel.html is the article that got me thinking about the straight latex painting. See what you think, I'm still looking around. This boat will see probably four or five hours of freshwater at a time, then come home to a garage.

Now, I know that the epoxy finish will be tougher and last longer. I'm just looking for the lightest alternative. I could go all epoxy, but I've been around boatbuilding long enough to know that it's no fun sanding epoxy down to a smooth finish. Latex might need a bunch of sanding too, but at least I won't be exposing myself that much more to the possibility of a sensitivity to epoxy. Putting latex down over wood makes me nervous, too... that's why I wanted to see if you guys had any experience with it.

A picture is worth a thousand words, huh? Man that photo makes me want to get started today! Thanks for posting it. Funny thing - I grew up catching Bonito just off the coast of southern California out of Long Beach harbor, where they filmed the opening credits to Gilligan's Island. They were ridiculously plentiful then (1967?). I think the balancing won't be so much of an issue after seeing this. It's exactly the picture I have in my mind's eye, especially the bend rod.

Oh, and finally - I purchased the 6mm plywood, and he has some 4mm as well. As cheap as it is, I was thinking the exact same thing, to put the 6mm on the bottom and make the sides of 4mm. I just want it to be easy enough to throw on top of the car after a couple hours of fishing and rowing.

Hopefully before too long, I'll have some photo's of progress!

The lesser expensive sheets of okume tend to soak up more finish material whether it be epoxy or paint. IMHO if you squeegee on two thin coats of epoxy, with minimal sanding between coats, then go strait to the S3 primer. One coat of primer as a guide coat. One thin carefully applied coat of S3 quick fair on the tape seams. Sand the quick fair carefully to try to not go through the first coat of primer (if you do, know worries) along with a VERY light sanding to the rest of the boat. Repeat the primer - quick fair - sanding until you get to the desired finish. Then paint with Serling . You will get the lightest possible boat for level of finish.

When you squeegee on the epoxy you use very little. S3 primer and quick fair are very light for the amount of coverage. Sterling paint is incredibly light for the amount of coverage. You should be able to paint the D5 inside and out with one quart of Sterling. I used two quarts to do the entire FS14.

I think this would give you the lightest, most durable, easy to clean, hull possible.

BTW, I fly fish out of my V12. I actually think, for stand up fly fishing, the vee gives you a more seaworth platform because it gets your feet further below sea level with a lower center of gravity.

Paul
V12, CK17, FL12, FS14

plumbertuck showed us a good example of what happens when you cut corners with the epoxy in this thread.
It only took one season for the problems to show up.

Ok, after getting the plywood, I'm doing a complete 180 on the paint. It's too pretty, I'll shut up about Latex paint and continue coloring.

Here's the ply, but to be honest, I don't know what it cost, now. Turns out my brother-in-law had built a couple of glue-stitch kayaks and returned a few sheets to the supplier and he hadn't been credited for it, so they just sent it back over. I'm liking the cost of this project so far!



I got all the lines down except the transoms, and got one side cut and sanded. BIL has some nice tools to play with!




Looking to be done cutting, sanding and have everything stitched together tomorrow! As suggested, I'm doing the bottom in 6mm, sides in 4mm.

Kurt

Wow, I just finished the thread on cutting corners. Point taken.

Hi! Only a few words about your plywood choice: Joubert marine ply is, together with Brujnzel marine ply, the best choice you can have in Europe. It's all Lloyd's certified marine ply

Cascadie wrote:Wow, I just finished the thread on cutting corners. Point taken.

Keep in mind that there were enclosed areas on that boat with no epoxy at all. Two coats is all you need to seal the wood. The S3 primer is basically an epoxy resin also. I'm not saying it's a substitute for the two coats but it's good stuff .

Keep it light Don't fall into the trap of "over building". It's plenty strong as designed. Every piece works together, so don't judge the strength until it's completely finished.

That wood looks great

Paul

I've wet my feet a bit more, and I think I'm going to be very happy with the weight.

I've not made quite the progress that I'd hoped to today, but only due to lack of materials. The day is still young here in the pacific northwest, though. I still have 4-5 hours of daylight.

Nearly all the parts. I'm laminating the transoms up to 10mm, so they are not cured just yet. Hopefully by the time I get back to the shop, I'll be able to stitch it up.


I have some Mahogany for the gunwales, but they seem very stiff at 19mm. I'll be doing an inwale also, so I'm thinking of cutting the gunwales down to something like 15-17mm. Any thoughts on the wales?

Kurt

Well when they named S3 Hardener "Slow" they surely meant "Ridiculously Slow". I laminated the transoms at noon. At 9:30pm the transoms were still tacky, so I just bonded the cleats to the frames. The shop was around 80 F all day, guess it needed more like 95.
I used the S3 Five Minute epoxy in the tube and it was frantic trying to get the cleats clamped in time to lay another bead of epoxy before the tip went off! An interesting day of extremes.



I got some stitches in at least. I'm an aircraft mechanic, so I have plenty of safety wire laying around. Heh.



Our local paint store actually has some of the S3 GelMagic tubes. Has anyone used this for fillets? I guess I can go search... At the very least, I plan to purchase a tube and lay a bead outside between the stitches, then remove them after it's cured and see how I like the GelMagic. If it seems like it wont sag, I'll lay my fillets in.

Kurt

"Well when they named S3 Hardener "Slow" they surely meant "Ridiculously Slow". I laminated the transoms at noon. At 9:30pm the transoms were still tacky, so I just bonded the cleats to the frames."

When laminating the transom you should have coated the mating surfaces with mixed epoxy. Then mix wood flour into the mixed epoxy till its the consistency of ketchup. Spread the "ketchup" on the mating surfaces over the uncured epoxy you previously coated the surfaces with. Join the surfaces together. Place some weight on top while the "ketchup" cures. Make sure you follow the mixing ratio for the resin and hardener. Mix THOROUGHLY. Time your mixing for a full 2 minutes. Make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of your mixing container. If you do this correctly you will need the slow hardener in the current weather. I used the slow hardener all winter here in Edmonds. My garage was heated to 60 degrees. After 9 hours it might not be sandable, but you should be able to take the weight off, sureform the drips off the edges, and move on to the next stage. If it's a structural join with stress on it, leave the clamps on overnight before moving on. There is a fair amount of waiting involved with this process. Thinking time .

Gel Magic is a structural adhesive not a fillet material. You need the fiber (cabosil, woodflour, etc) in fillet material to give the joint the strength necessary for these designs. Also, when gluing, the slow curing of the epoxy allows maximum saturation of the wood fiber to give you a dependable bond. 5 minute epoxy is okay for "spot welding" but for large surfaces stick to gel magic or a mix of the standard epoxy and wood flour for your glue. S3 quick cure 5 minute epoxy is water resistant but not water proof and has very different strength properties . You'll be fine on the D5 with what you have done but for larger builds it would be a problem. Follow the tried and true methods and you'll be much happier.

Paul

Like this? I coated it, let it set for 1/2 hour and mixed more just shy of ketchup with microcellulose. I had good squeeze out initially and it didn't suck back in anywhere. (also note the Carl's Jr. cup of Dr. Pepper. You can't build a boat without coffee and Dr. Pepper, IMO)



I should have said that I have some boatbuilding experience before. My brother in law and I built the hulls for a 55' Catamaran over in Maui (the strongback alone was a 2 day project) and have built 2 other boats, one plywood and one double diagonal planked beach catamaran. I attempted a strip canoe in redwood, but had to abandon it, due to life circumstances. But I LOVE how helpful this community is! Thanks for ALL the advice. Some of the newer products like the GelMagic and 5 min epoxy weren't even dreamed of when I was boatbuilding before so on the newer techy stuff I'm just clueless. I'm very grateful for you guy's input. I have a lot yet to learn.

Thanks again!

Kurt

A couple of ideas:
1. I am impressed with the S3 Silvertip resin and the way it wets out. Although I can't prove it, I expect one would use less resin than with the standard resin.
2. Who says you need to paint the boat? If you look at the various kayaks at pygmyboats.com, you will see lots of okoume plywood flowcoated with resin and varnished. We built two 40 pound kayaks and varnished over the resin. If you keep the boat out of the sun, the finish will last a long time. The finish is easy to repair. The pygmy kayaks are made out of 4mm okoume. Our kayaks had a layer of glass on the bottom and one layer in the seating area. The rest of the surfaces were just flowcoated. In order to have a painted surface look good, you will probably end of fairing and sanding a LOT. Then a primer is necessary followed by several coats of paint if you use the S3 paint. The S3 paint can be patched if you aren't too fussy but varnish is a lot easier to patch. On lookers see the beauty of the wood and don't see the blems in the unfaired surface. My guess is that the varnished boat would be much easier to sell than the painted boat.
3. I built a 7-3 pointy ended dinghy. I used 4MM on the side panels and 6MM on the bottom. I glassed the entire outside but only the floor area inside.

There were no frames. The seat tanks and laminated sheer rails provided ample stiffness. The dinghy weighed about 60 pounds.
4. As an idea of absolute minimum weight, I was familiar with an experimental 8 foot pram built by some aerospace guys. They used fiberglass and polyester resin at the time and a foam core. The boat was vacuum bagged. The weight was about 24-28 pounds.
5. If you could find it, I have seen some scrap Boeing surplus carbon fiber honeycomb panels used in areas where flat panels would work. Seats? This stuff is incredible.
6. Consider adding a slight bend to seats or other flat panels. On my dinghy, I used 6mm for the seat tops and added stiffeners on the underside.

Looks great Kurt. I look forward to seeing it come together.

Paul

The glass over foam idea shows up on this forum all the time. Will it work? Sure, but it's not as sturdy as plywood S&G unless there are enough layers of glass, particularly on the outside.The reason is marine foam, doesn't have the resistance to penetration offered by plywood so the foam has to have a lot of layers of glass laminated on. And all the extra epoxy (at 9¼ lb. per gallon)for the additional glass runs the weight up to that of regular S&G hulls which don't, necessarily, need any glass sheathing.

Charlie, I worked for Cessna Aircraft here in Bend, Oregon and we had sheets and sheets of honeycomb laying around, as well as G10 (premade glass panels) for our aircraft. All that stuff would be great on a boat, if you could get it cheaply! I love the lightweight of foam core boats, but the cost difference is just too great. And, there's just something about a wood boat that's in my blood.

I have almost made the decision to leave it bright on the outside, but you'll see why I might be leaning toward paint in a minute. I think I'll paint the interior a blue/gray with some anti skid additive.

I love the choices you made for your boats! I learned to sail in Naples harbor in southern California in a boat very similar to the D5 which they called the Naples Sabot. I think I was about eleven at the time. Any way, it's a class racing boat, and there are sails available from time to time in that area, sometimes very cheaply. It's hard to remember much from that long ago, but I do recall they were very happy times when sailing a Sabot. They just threw us (and a PFD) in the boats after a couple of hours of instruction and told us not to run into any big boats!

Ok, I have Silvertip resin and slow hardener and I'm really looking forward to getting some of that on, probably tomorrow. Here's today's progress, some of it very embarrassing:

Sides, transoms frames stitched together


An old saying comes to mind about measuring twice, sheesh. Notice the space where there should be plywood! This is the blood and the tears part, I didn't take time to photograph the sweat!


I'm thinking this is a good time to use the 5 minute epoxy.


I don't think it will look as stupid as it makes me feel. As good a shop as my BIL has, there was no board stretcher to be found.


Long story short, I got the GelMagic between the stitches, and I'm very happy. The boat is square within 1/8". An interesting footnote to it being square for others who might see this; Set it up on something so that the shears are resting parallel side to side, otherwise you'll see a large discrepancy in squareness due to the possible twist of the hull.


Going back later this evening to remove the stitches and fill in between with more GelMagic. The GelMagic was REALLY hard to squeeze out of the tube with a caulking gun. Anyone else run into this? It wasn't setting up in the mixing tube, either.

Did anyone have any thoughts on the gunwales in Mahogany? Do I have to steam them, lay them up in 2 pieces, or saw relief cuts? I'd really like to use this Mahogany instead of laying up ply, but they won't bend to the sheer at 19mm.

Answered my own question, half a strip at a time is no problem at all.



Something like this is what I have in mind, but with a wider spacing - more like 6 inches.

I would prefer using solid timber for the gunwales. If the sheer line is laid out correctly, you will probably be able to bend thin strips without having to torture the wood very much if at all. If the sheerline isn't lying in a plane, the visual effect of an S curve will be visible. Try laying a sheet of plywood on top of the sheer and see if it is flat. Joe Dobler who designed my Pepita shown above actually made a mold for the sheer for my boat. It was laid up of spruce and mahogany. In the first Pepita I built, I just laid up strips one at a time.

I wouldn't worry about the little glitch at the transom. Just make up a good story if anyone asks.

Are you going to add a sailing rig? Pepita used a Sabot mast dimensions and sail rig. You said that you sailed a Sabot early in your career. Now that you are a little larger than then, fantacize about taking down the mast while the boat is in the water! Unless you are striving for Sabot like performance, I think a simple sprit rig would work better. The ability to braile and reef the sail will allow much more relaxed sailing. At the Florida 120, I saw what I think was a gunter rig. I was surprised at how well these sails work.

I don't have the D5 plans so I don't know what the size of the dagger board is. The Sabot board in the water area was about 12 wide by 24 deep and that is a good size.

When you come to oars, check out my web site. http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/justright/Chap17.htm I noticed that the pictures ar missing. I'll have to fix that. Make the oars as long as you can and still fit in the boat or about 7.5 feet.

There is also a rig for loading car top boats in the same chapter.

Make sure you grind a nice radius to all of the outside edges that will get a layer of glass. Otherwise the tape will lift on either side of the sharp edge and develop air pockets. Because of this I do a lot of my spot welding with fillet material on the inside of the boat. I make the spot weld small enough so that the final fillet covers up the spot weld. Most all of the spot weld (and gel magic) on the outside will get ground off when you radius the edges.

Sure looks good . That's going to be a sweet fly fishing pram!

Paul

Not much to show for today, put in some of the fillets. I'm hesitant to round the corners til they're all in and glassed.

Justin that's funny I ran across your site while I was researching the oar building stage. I think I've settled on building these. Except that square section would carry the round all the way out to the handles. I like the high aspect ratio of these, and I'll round the tips more like an Aleut paddle or Greenland oar.


This site explains

I like that contraption for the boat loading! If the boat was going to be a fair bit heavier, I'd consider it. I'm thinking of a roller at the back of the station wagon which I would lift the fore transom to, then slide the boat forward and tie her down. Maybe even just a section of PVC pipe back there.

Paul that's what I was thinking, too. I'm going to let the fillets and glass on the inside set up before sanding them round(ish).

If this works, this is what I'm hoping to look like at completion, except no trailer.

That paint job is a great way to hide the fillets but still show off the beautiful wood. People can't believe it's a "wood" boat when they see the smooth seams. I kind of did my V12 the same way.





Paul

Paul, that's gorgeous! I'm not going to shoot for that level of finish, I know it's way more work than I really want to do.

Today's progress:

Glassed all the inside seams and squeegeed one coat of epoxy inside.



Flipped it over and did the same on the exterior seams. All told, I believe I've used just under 2 pints of resin, but I haven't been keeping a strict tally. Fillets used far less paste than I had expected.



At the end of the epoxy ordeal, I cut out pieces for one of the oars. I'll cut out the other while epoxy is curing on the seat frames tomorrow. $28 of Ash. A substantial cost saving over buying oars, and much more therapeutic, plus - I get to choose the wood and the shape!

You really did a great job on the glass work and, really, all of it. I would be tempted to leave the whole thing bright finished and just varnish it. It sure speeds up the finish work to not have to use paint. Your work is so neat I don't think you have to cover up anything Nice work

Paul

Paul, thanks! It's like a 50/50 paint job, though. It looks good from 50 feet away and going 50 miles and hour. Hope I never go that fast in this boat, though.

The seams look like they entrapped air or something though. If you look at them at one angle, they stand out, being really milky looking. At another angle they are completely transparent, as you would expect a good glass job to be. I would love to stop putting on finish, but I planned on paint, and so I also left my pencil lines behind, at least on the inside. I squeegeed on another coat inside and out and I need to final fit and install the seats, so I have time to decide.

If I had it to do over again (actually I have enough wood to do another, eek!) I'd use a fiberglass roller, since some of the glass floated in the epoxy, grrr. I was lazy and didn't squeegee it down, just going along with a brush. I think I'd also use something like peel-ply or some plastic on the edges of the glass tape. I used 9 oz tape non-biased, and I cut off the sewn edge with scissors so I reduced a bit of sanding that way. It's a lot more work on the front end, but saves a lot of sanding time. I would also just do tape, and not stitch. I think if your cuts are all good that's doable, right? There was only one area that was pretty tough and that was along the keel right at the transom.

Heading back over after a little dinner to laminate the oars, and hopefully the epoxy has gone off enough to fit my seats. Building a boat is hard work, but very satisfying hard work.

Oars are laminated, still too tacky to flip the boat. I get a night off, it looks like.

Kinda disappointed with today's progress. I sanded the epoxy, then I went and purchased some "fast" hardener, and got the seat bulkheads coated. I wonder if my local paint store let this hardener freeze over the winter, or something. It was still tacky after 4 hours of curing. I also suspect that of the GelMagic in the store. The Blue part of the tube is all granular. When it pumps through the tube is very difficult to dispense, but as it mixes the granules dissipate.

Waiting for the all that to cure I cut down the oars and cleaned them up a bit. I have to make a special tool to mark down the octagonal lines prior to hand shaping them round.





I'm using a band saw and belt sander for all this but you could use a jig saw or even a handsaw and a plane. Get you in shape for rowing.

When regular epoxy gets cold and crystallizes, you can warm the bottle in a water bath and dissolve the crystals. After that, you are good to go until it gets too cold again. Maybe gel magic acts the same way.

Nice oars.
I had to use the hot water trick last night on my hardener for the S3 primer.
If it crystallizes due to the cold, it needs to be warmed up in water that is quite hot before the crystals will dissolve.
It won't affect the properties of it adversely by doing so.
steve

Excellent! I'll soak the GM today and see how it works out. I want to bond a little thickness to the crown of the transoms, and I'll try the GM then.

Incidentally, my sister owns a business selling paddles if any of you who are building kayaks are interested. I won't link directly but it's ThePaddlePlace dot com. She carries almost all the high-end lines.

I have to laugh at myself today. There was about a teaspoon of GelMagic left in the tube.

Another day of little progress, at least visually. Center and rear seats are in. One of the time-consumers today was making the rear seat the same width as the center seat. I'm also setting the front seat a little lower and it will be the same width as the others. I left out the vertical extension of the forward seat frame to allow for my gunwales. I'm deciding how to do the bresthooks.



I used clamps on either side to square the hull before epoxying and pin nailing down the seat tops. There are a couple of blocks under the transom to level it to the work bench, and the right side is held down by a bungee on that clamp on the table end. So far the hull is still square within 1/8". I hope it stays that way after all is finished!

All the seats are in, and all the fillets are finished! The last strip of the gunwale is bonded on, and I think tomorrow will be the first coats of paint and primer. I have a bit of payback to my brother-in-law for the use of his shop, and some materials: he builds really high-end skateboards, and I'll be producing some of them for him as repayment. Anyway, today's progress...





The bare spots along the gunwale are where I had temporary thwarts installed while bonding in the seats. I'm pushing for early-mid next week for launch!

Got some paint on today!

Doubles as a rabbit trap.


Something kept bothering me about painting and I couldn't figure it out all day long. Then it dawned on me: forgot to bond on the keel.


Oh well, I'll just sand back a bit and bond it on in the am. Worked the oars a bit today in between as well but neglected to take pictures. It's murder pulling a spokeshave in a 93 degree shop.

http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/arti ... /oars.html

Is another source for Jim Michalak's oar making page. We have paddles and Japanese sculling oars too!

Your D5 looks great. One thing I disagree with in other posts is the number of coats of epoxy - I am a 3 (three) thin coat guy. And if you do wet-on-wet there is no need to sand between coats (if you don't have runs). At least with quality epoxy that does not blush.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks, Tony! The one thing I did differently from these instructions was to reduce the diameter at the loom end down to 1.75 in. I used ash and it is really stiff, and really heavy. I couldn't find the types of wood he called out here in central Oregon (at least not at the the lumberyard a block from the shop ), but I can see why he'd go that large if he were using pine. I think I'd also go with 8/4 stock since I have all the tools necessary to cut and shape. I'm beginning to see why oars are so expensive. It's a fun project, but a lot of work.
Just waiting on the oar locks ordered here, and a few piddly items.. then I'll launch either Thursday or Friday!

Hi Cascadia,

Check out my gallery titled "spars". I used the birdsmouth technique to build a mast, two sprits, and a set of oars. I used clear vertical grain Douglas Fir, which is relatively cheap in the 1"x2" pieces I used to cut out the "staves". The staves are 1/4" thick. Kind of a fun project with some good info on the Internet if you google "birdsmouth mast". I learned about it from an article in Wooden Boat that was printed about 10 or more years ago.

Looking forward to more pics as you finish.

Paul

Paul,
My gosh, you're a busy builder, aren't you!? That technique is so cool, I just want to make something using it! I'll shape my 2nd oar today and I'm now under the gun to launch tomorrow, although my oar locks aren't here yet!

I have to launch tomorrow because it's an anniversary date that I hadn't even known, well I'd forgotten about it. The reason I built this boat was to get going with flyfishing our many local lakes but that was only half the story. My dad and I built a 12' dory when I was about 10 or 11. That poor old dory NEVER got down to the water, and it was around long enough for my son to play in it in the back yard. Dad and I felt terrible about it, and we always loved boats, and woodworking. We just had so many other projects going that we never really finished that old dory. He had really high blood pressure all his adult life, and had a couple of operations. Then he had a pretty good heart attack. The night before he went into heart surgery, I told him "Get better soon, we still have a boat to build", and he replied "yeah, we need to build another boat". Well, the surgery went well, but he died of complications. It turned out to be our last conversation. So all these years later, I have the time off to build this boat. So my sister emails me saying "what day are you launching the boat? Did you remember that the anniversary of Dad's death is July 23"? Out of the blue I decided to build this boat, have worked feverishly just wanting to get in the water, and I find out that the day I planned to launch turned out to be that anniversary. Talk about weird, huh? Even if I don't get the oar locks in time, I'm going to borrow a paddle and get the durned thing in the water, for my dad.

I love it.

I lost my Dad while building my OD18, and we named it after him.

I told my sister I couldn't name it after him, but I'm still considering. I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. People tell you that "time heals all wounds" but I've found that it's not true. It hurts a little less with time, but the wound will always be there. I kind of like that, since it reminds me of our good times together.

Well, I went to the UPS tracking number for my oar jewelry and found out that it's out for delivery today! I'm on schedule after all. I don't generally believe that things like this work out in some greater economy but I'm wondering about it, today. I'm off to the sweatshop to finish those oars!

Yes, there are better words than *wierd*.

The best selling book of all time has much to say about father/son relationship. Get that boat launched, even if you are just sitting there floating with the painter.

And take a few pictures, and keep taking them until you know you've got at least one excellent one for the memory. I'm sure many of us would like to see it.

As for a name, it may be overly grand for a dinghy, but not for the memory behind it.... how about *endurance*, with a small e? Capital E is probably more like a yacht or battleship, but small e just may work.

Thanks for your kind words Cascadie. I'm also sorry for yours. Time seems to make the good times seem better and the bad times seem better too.

I told my sister I couldn't name it after him, but I'm still considering

I couldn't actually give it his name either, although we considered it for months. She started life as Blackjack and changed to Allie G after his passing. But then we settled on his favorite expression and named her "No Excuse". As in "there's no excuse for screwing that up, boy". He wasn't big on excuses

Don't dwell on it, let it evolve The boat will eventually let you know who she wants to be.

Good luck with the oars and oarlocks, and splash tomorrow. Toast your dad for me. At least that's what mine would have wanted. There wouldn't be no excuse for not having a toast

If these two can have a toast, you've certainly got no excuse!

Three people who were looking forward to a sail in MoF passed on before she was launched. My Dad is still holding out, maybe until the tabernacle is done, or this heat lets up.

You enjoy that launch and the memories! You won't be alone. It is a moment to remember.

Cascadie, I to lost a fishing and sailing buddy in my father-in-law when he was only 60. He had raced saliboats from a young age in Lightnings, and moved uo to a 30'Morgan CB. Later we fished in the western basin of Lake Erie for Walleye, SM Bass and Perch after he sold the Morgan and moved away from Cleveland, here is where I grew up fishing. He also taught me the nuances of the Mississippi River and her power. He was a civil war historian and all his boats were named for a battle cruiser Carondelet. So I will follow in his step foots and name my boats after his.

Just remember all the good times that you had as I do, and the name will come. I had several other names until we went out to the cabin on the Mississippi last fall saw his photo of him in his fannel shirt and duck back hat and it came to me to honor him

Memories are precious!

Tom

Well I got it all done! A coat of spar varnish on the oars, and the oar locks were waiting on the stairs when I got back from the shop. The heat let up a bit today, but it was still a plenty sweaty job!

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I will celebrate him with a little toast, and I'll get a photo up tomorrow evening. This has been a very enjoyable project.

Tom, this is funny... a guy came by the shop yesterday telling me about a Lightning he found in a construction yard last year and he picked it up for free. He's refurbishing it now. I laughed and told him I hadn't heard about a Lightning in probably 20 years, and how my grandfather had sailed a Lightning, which one of my cousins had refurbished and sailed. Now you tell me about your father-in-law and his Lightning!

KS8, I happen to read that book quite often! I had a dad that was a fairly good example, not perfect, but one that helped me along pretty well. I'm very thankful for him.

Cascadie life does have it's funny twists doesn't it? Have a good day tomorrow!

Tom

Hey Cascadie,

Wow, it's amazing the journey this build has completed for you. Your a lucky guy to have this boat to enjoy many great fly fishing trips. Your history is sealed in the epoxy and will be with you for every cast of the fly. Perfect!

Paul

One little photo in the front yard, I'm heading up to the lake in about an hour.



I'm going to cut a 8" hole in the forward seat frame to stow the anchor and line. I still have to weigh it!

Excellent!

We'll be waiting for those pictures.

Even though I've got a small danforth anchor on the deck, with chain, I have a a grappling anchor and a larger danforth anchor with rode, for a windy or strong current anchorage, and its all stowed in a single canvas bag. It's a heavy cloth canvas bag and I keep it down low. Yeah, the bag may get slimed out by the end of the year, but it can be washed easily enough, is heavy cloth, and was priced at HFreight for around $5.00!

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisear ... &Submit=Go

That bag is one they usually have, which isn't bad at all, but the one I bought was larger and heavier and on sale for about the same price. Hunt for those deals.

I bought 3 of them. Same thing at the popular boating stores would have been 2x or 3x that if not more. If you spot that sort of bargain, it makes a great anchor and rode bag, so its within easy access, and with it not in the seat, more water sensitive items can go in the seat, and you won't jab your toes on the bagged anchor like you would on one laying naked on the bottom of the boat. I know I have lots of mods on my boat, but I really like simple. The mods make various things... simple. You could sure use a bag like that until you decide and follow through on something more permanent. Small boat.... don't need to do much. Enjoy!

That's an EXCELLENT idea! I'm going to do just that!

Final weight... 46-47 pounds! Success!!!





A little rope, and we're off! I can single-hand it up, and I'm sure with a few times up and down my upper body will be more cooperative, still it's pretty easy.

Well, I'm extremely satisfied. There are a few things I'll probably change, like the oar locks need to move aft just a bit. Other than that, I think she sits very nicely in the water, and she rows very well. She's so light in the water I just can't believe it, like a little leaf.



My wife had my cell phone, I've been looking for the battery charger for our camera for weeks to no avail, so this is the best we got. Pretty low resolution, sorry.



My wife has already asked if she and her sister can borrow it, which makes me really happy! I also was asked by a woman in a kayak how much I'd charge to build her one, and there were a half dozen people at the ramp that all were very impressed with her enough to comment. Very fun. My wife and daughter both took her out for 15-20 minutes each, and we all had a blast. Like I said, I'm just very, very satisfied with this boat. Thanks Jacques!

Its looks very nice on the water congratulations. How do you like your oars? I am going to make oars from the same plan.

She looks very nice in the water. Congratulations!

Tom

I like the oars, but I need to find out if they are a little too long for the boat. It feels like I need to keep my hands really low in order to keep them from hitting the water, and they seem pretty far down in the water on each stroke. I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I made them 1.75" starting behind the handles instead of 2". They are a bit on the heavy side in ash, maybe shortening them would help with all that oar hanging outboard, too. They are time consuming, but it's not too bad; I think I took around 3-4 hours to get the second one all the way to "round".

I also found myself sitting toward the bow more in order to make comfortable strokes, so I'll try moving the oarlocks a bit aft.

Easier to shorten than lengthen!

Paul

Yes, for sure. So I'm going to row it around for a bit more and make absolutely sure before I make any decision. I'm actually getting the hang of rowing it now, so I'm hesitating.

I took it out on Friday afternoon and fished East Lake here in Oregon. I caught about five little Rainbow trout and one nice 12" Brown trout. The important thing is that it was very comfortable to anchor, stand and fish and get the fish off the line with very little trouble. No fish big enough to need a net, yet. It was easy in and out of the water, too. It rows easily enough to navigate the whole lake, and I wasn't overly tired at the end of 4+ hours on the lake, although I will be investing in a seat cushion, and a rod holder.

I'd like to rig up a "cane" backrest for my V12. After a few hours my lower back gets a little tired.

Paul

Congrats on the splash!

That picture does the job, but it doesn't mean you can't post more... find that charger...

Just a follow-up to the shortening of the oars - worked like a charm! Rowing is far easier now. We now return you to your normally scheduled broadcast.