GT27 Build (Wes K)

[wkisting]

Well, I usually set up a build blog, but I haven't had time so I guess I'll just start a thread here. Put in 12 hours on the boat today to set up the stations for the jig and lay out the bottom and side panels. Weather was beautiful! Best of all, we managed to get 'er 3D, minus the bow and stern transoms.

[piperdown]

Well damn! This was a pleasant surprise! Moving right along and you've got 2/3 already going on, that's some serous progress!

[fallguy1000]

Good luck Wes. Slow at the start friend.

[Noles309]

Allright! I'm looking forward to this build. The GT27 is on my list of possible future builds.

[wkisting]

Got the bow transom in today, plus trimmed all the lines down flush. Hoping to install the stern transom this week and then she's ready to have her seams taped...

There are a few gaps I could eliminate by planing the bottom panels a tad more, but at the moment they're perfectly symmetrical and the curves are all fair, so I don't think I want to mess with it.

I found that driving screws through the side panels into the stations works better than wire stitches/ties. If you leave the screw heads standing proud by 1/2" or so, the panels can float up and down the shaft and find a perfectly fair curve. With wire ties, I had to tighten them so much just to support the weight of the panels that they were clearly causing a kink at each stitch, which spelled trouble. With the screws, everything can just flow as it likes, which is how it should be.

[wegcagle]

Nice work Wes! Looks great.

When my wife met yours yesterday, she learned that you are both into building boats, and tackling this as a team project. Her response to me.... “don’t get any bright ideas”

Will

[wkisting]

I discovered I had the bow transom set at too aggressive of a forward angle, due to a cutting mistake that exaggerated the flair at the leading edge of the side panels. That meant I also had a 4" gap at the rear where the side panels were too short. So, it set me back a little, but I spliced in the missing side panel length and also corrected the angle at the bow to get everything back to proper spec's.

Subsequently, I installed the transom... wow, she's big and heavy! Everything fit nicely, so after a little more tweaking of the lines to get everything fair, I went ahead and spent today evening everything up and then filling gaps with thickened epoxy to bond the chines and the transoms into place. She's really looking good now!

Nice running into you at the carnival, Will! Maybe when we get to flipping this hull, you and your wife can come help. We can make a boat builder out of her yet...

[pee wee]

That thing looks huge!! Hope you don't need to flip it more than once!

Glad you got the measurement sorted out, looking good.

[wegcagle]

Nice work Wes! It's always hard to tell from pictures, but make sure to put a straight edge on the planing surface (last 1/3 of the length of the boat). It almost looks like you may have a small dip in the picture from stern transom forward. If so, better to fix it now than to add a pile of fairing material later! Ask me how I know that

Will

[wkisting]

Okay, many hours of sanding and planing later and all seams have been rounded and taped...

Having seen how much work is involved to wet out three layers of 12 oz. biaxial tape per seam, I'm sort of dreading wetting out three layers of 12 oz. biaxial cloth to coat the hull. It's going to take a lot of epoxy...