Simon

Well done, Steve You've been building that thing since before I started, but it definitely looks like its been worth the time. Your method for fairing the gussets before attaching the hull sides is the stuff of internet legend and keeps popping up everytime someone builds, so I guess you've made your contribution to builders everywhere. Have fun with your boat!

Just to clarify, I'm dreading glassing my own boat, I'm not dreading you glassing your's! The plans recomend a layer of glass on the bottom of the boat, there's no need to glass the joints inside, just run a fillet with your glue of choice around the gussets. There is an option of using the "stitch and glue" method for building these boats, where the wooden gussets are replaced with large glue fillets, and perhaps some fibreglass tape as well. These joints used instead of (not as well as) the wooden gussets. Ed Jones built his pocket cruiser this way and seems to have been very succesful. There was also a weekender builder who did this as well. I believe its more costly in glue this way, and also perhaps a bit harder to get the shape of everything just right, but perfectly valid if that's you cup of tea. As for your dad, can't you convert him to the Church of the Holy Wooden Boat? Or would the Weekender be counted as a "graven idol."

Sheesh, everyone else I know is dreading glassing the hull! I'm not too sure about where you have put the kerfing there. Basically the kerfs help to allow the wood to bend more easily, small cuts on the _inside_ of the bend, will close up as you bend the wood in. Since the bottom of the weekender is flat (as far as I know) there should be no need to kerf the transom guset where you have done it. Having said that, I could be wrong, but if I'm not, just fill in all the kerfs with thickened epoxy (or boat-in-a-can as I like to call it). Looking good ....

Did he specify a strip canoe? There are plenty of multichine plywood designs which you could whip up in a week or two. Did he specify wood? Wooden canoes, whilst fun to make and nice to look at don't have anything like the durability of plastic ones. A plastic canoe is a more useable beast in my opinion, the chief drawbacks over wood being weight and asthetics. But what about the tractor? I mean you normally get what you pay for .. will making or finding him a canoe to trade really result in a better deal for you? Oops a cross posting ...

I think that Barry thought that you were gonna be a new dad! Is there something your not telling us Jake? My partner's parents and mine were having quite the discussion as to who would be called what as far as grandparents go, dad and mum wanted to be gran and grandad, but they were already taken by Jen's parents because here sister has kids already. There was much debate before her mum aceded to being called 'granny' and grandad's agreed to be Grandad Mike and Grandad Chris. Anyone else have this problem? "There's no damn way I'm being Pops" My dad 2003.

IIRC Tyler Drown (tdrown) and Florin both applied gelcoat to their boats. Tyler seemed to have a not bad experience with it, but I think he had help from a pro. Florin had a much worse time and there was some cursing on the board. This is just from memory, the search feature may turn up more. I reckon if you have the experience and confidence then go for it. Personally I'll be going with paint on glass, but I hate finishing, and have never tried using gelcoat - only what I've heard here makes it seem too hard.

Congrats pops! He's a fine looking fellow, and the baby's kind of cute too! Might just be the photo, but he appears to have huge hands. Perhaps he can play bass guitar for you when he gets a bit older.

Very nice Dave. Question: how did you arrive at the height of the sides? Strikes me that when you put a matress in there it could end up a little low for comfort. Are you planning on sleeping the baby in there, or just supervised rocking? Not really an issue for a very young baby, but the lower the sides, the younger the baby will be before you remove them from the crib. I recently moved my boy into a cot, because he was starting to move around a bit too much. It broke my heart when I though about how much effort I put into it, but I spose there's always the next baby. Also could you tell us how you will suspend it? Some kind of locking mechanism is a must IMO, to stop it rocking when you guys aren't around.

And then of course there's Chris Gherkin's setup, where he built the electric motor into the keel. Presumably this would have the similar drag problems as the Devlin idea?

You could buy a very nice printer and print them yourself for a whole lot less than that ... just a thought. :8

Reallly? I thought you had plenty of great pics out there ... how about this one>?

Hey Frank, anyone ever tell you that you look alot like Mel Gibson?

Welcome Mr Scott! Good luck with whatever you decide to build. I'm building the PC, click on my www below for a look. Shawn Hancock is building a minicat and there are several builders of minicups around. Check out the BYYB: www.byyb.org where quite a few builders hang out. Let me be the first to say it: "Mr Scott, Ahead warp factor 10!"

How's this for a theory: When you use a freshwater motor in saltwater, you invalidate the warranty. Therefore the extra dollars spent on a saltwater motor are paying for ... the waranty!