Hybird MF14

[Chenier]

Our summer vacation fleet needs something that sails to complement the outboards, canoes and kayaks already on hand. So I’ve started building a Bateau.com MF14 Moonfish. The Moonfish is a tape-and-glue small plywood sailboat, similar to a Sunfish. The objective is to have her ready by this time next year.

She’ll be joining a fleet that features cedar strip-plank boats. That’s where the “hybrid” comes in. Instead of ply, this Moonfish will have cedar strip topsides and deck. I’ll be using versions of the strip building techniques described by Schade, Folsom and others for kayaks and canoes. Topsides and deck will be finished bright.

A few prior Moonfish builds have been well documented online here:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20214

Here:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=58206
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread. ... uild-in-UK

And there’s another underway here:
https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=62869

I’m indebted to those builders for pre-answering many of my questions and offering lots of good ideas. Now I get to make my own mistakes, of which I’m sure there will be quite a few.

My sole prior experience in boatbuilding was a stitch-and-glue rowboat about 20 years ago. I’ve been planning this build since January, waiting for the weather to warm up and my daughter to get her stuff out of our garage. That’s given me plenty of time to overthink everything. This certainly won’t be the fastest or most economical way to build a Moonfish. But it’ll be fun! So here we go …

[Chenier]

Bateau.com offers a CNC-cut kit for all the plywood pieces, but I couldn’t see ordering the kit only to throw a considerable portion away. So I’ll be cutting the plywood myself. The experience is good for me, right?

There’s a boat in here somewhere:

[Chenier]

Hey, look, I found a transom!

[Fuzz]

Welcome and let the fun begin

[Bogieman]

Alright! Another sailboat builder. Good luck on your Moonfish and welcome to the forum.

[OrangeQuest]

Welcome to the forum. Happy building.

[Chenier]

Uh Oh. I'm being attacked by the metric system!

Discovered that the marine ply I bought is 122cm x 250cm rather than 4' x 8'. That's not a problem width-wise (122cm = 48.03") but I have some extra length (250cm = 98.43").

Jaques, it appears the bottom panels are drawn so that the seam between the two ply sheets falls on Frame B (Drawing B244/5). Is this correct? If so I can compensate by adding an extra 2.43 (2 7/16") to the 16 3/4" offset between the transom line and the and the end of the sheet. Or is this a "doesn't matter"?

[Chenier]

Here's a visible sign of progress - the frames are all cut and trimmed.



Lightening holes, ventilation holes, limber holes and drain holes will all be cut later, after I assemble the parts and see where the longitudinals intersect the frames.

Those longitudinals, the stringers and trunk sides, are next at bat.

[OrangeQuest]

Great use of your clamps!! Looks like they are practicing. Or maybe protesting!

[Chenier]

The longitudinals are cut and trimmed. Bow and trunk sides on the left, aft stringers on the right.

There are two trunk sides and two aft stringers - the pairs were cut stacked so that both sides of the boat would have the same mistakes. The boatbuilding literature calls this "symmetry".



They're laying down on the job!