Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Finally got started.



One of my favorite things about building anything is what different things can be built from the same material. To take a few flat objects and to turn them into something completely different has always been amazing to me. To think that in a few days these two sheets of plywood will be a boat is just fascinating.

I wasn't able to get as much done today as I would like, but I did get the sides, bottom, and butt blocks cut out. Was hoping to get them glued together but the dog decided to sneak out the garage and go for an unsupervised 20 minute walk through the neighborhood. That is also the reason why there aren't any glory shots of the cut wood. Tomorrow I will be gluing those together and cutting out the frames and the transom and hopefully starting to put it all together on Wednesday.

I will try and keep this updated as best a I can. Love seeing all the work everyone else is doing figured I'd get my hands dirty and share as well.

Welcome! Good luck with your boat. Post pictures when you can as we all really like them And ask questions when you need to. I am sure you will get all the help you need here.
Fuzz

That's a fun boat to build. It's amazing how fast it starts looking like a boat. My wife left for church and I just had plywood laying on the floor. When she got home she said "Wow, looks like a boat".
Welcome and if you have questions just ask. Plenty of help around here.

Ok so do to work I wasn't able to post pics and updates. Man how fast things come together. Also I made a mistake because I didn't read the instructions fully and would like some input.

Tuesday I was able to glue the sides and bottom together. As well as cut out the transom, seat top and a few frames.


Wednesday I was rushed for time and didn't get any pics but that day was spent gluing the battens onto the frames. I was able to enlist the help of my brother and his wife.

Thursday was making the pieces look like a boat. With help from my brother and father. We got the frames in and glued up.


Friday was making the boat water proof this time I was able to enlist the help of my friend. He and my brother later epoxied the entire inside of the boat.


Saturday is where I ran into my "problem" mostly due to my fly through it nature I didn't read the DONT USE A SINGLE PIECE RUB RAIL warning until after. So any advice on fixing that would be great. I was thinking about laminating over top of the piece that is already installed but I don't know if that will work out for strength since it is curved. But man the boat looks good. All bottom seams taped.


Sunday is part of the reason I rushed through and didn't fully read the instructions. This boat is for my now fiancee. Which I rowed her out into the lake behind the house to propose. Smart move because if she said no the swim back would have been pretty chilly. It's not finished in this pic as I need to permanently mount the oar locks I got by with clamps holding board in place which was also for locating purposes, definitely need runners and the skeg on the bottom because the lake is an old quarry and the initial 15 feet in is all gravel, and I still need to seal it with clear coat. I was also thinking about fully glassing the bottom just to be sure. Any way thanks for following along. The boat rowed great even without the skeg although the head wind that I was against coming out of the launch was tough to beat. Once I got out of the really windy area it rowed great.Tthe skeg really would've helped but I was rushed and just ran out of time to make it and mount it before Sunday.

Nice picture, good building thread, thank you for posting.

You will need that skeg when the wind blows.

Ok so to help prevent the scratching of the hull. I want to attach some runners (forgive me for the lack of the proper term for these). I'm not too sure if I should go 2/3 length or if I should go just from the curve of the boat where it really drags fore and aft.
Also I did try searching for the answer but I'm thinking my lack of the correct term turned up nothing. So any input would be much appreciated.

Here is how I did my FL14. I tapered it from about 3.5" at the back to nothing about 5' forward. It really helped in the wind. It also keeps the bottom from getting scraped up. Some builders put a strip of metal on the edge to protect the skeg.

http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage ... play_media

An unfinished boat and she said "YES". All other boat builds should be down hill from here