SteveKos

An update. It's been a quiet week with the weather here being too hot to do anything outside. I finally got back to the boat yesterday and today. Nothing major, but I filleted and taped the bow section interior, and cut and shaped one of the gunwales, and tonight I cut and fitted the breasthook, and began to cut the transom stiffener. One thing about the transom stiffener, I didn't fit it before attaching the transom, so it's going to be a bit more difficult to retrofit. Anyway, here are some pics of my latest efforts: Tacking the seams Bow section filleted, taped and epoxy coated, and the breasthook glued in place

Thanks for that LennieG. Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

By this do you mean the grain running to the 'outside' of the curve of the gunwale? I imagine that this would cause uneven pressure along the curve, which might distort the shape. I am going to look for timber with as straight a grain as possible for the gunwales, possibly meranti, hoop pine or something similar. Not too hard, but something durable. I am happy with the fair lines I have achieved so far, so I don't want to interfere with what the cut has produced. I do have a little of a gap here and there, which will fill quite ok when filleting and taping. I haven't tried to push too hard for perfectly tight seams for the sake of it. When building my kayak the standard was to aim for a gap of around 3mm +- 2mm, which sounds bad, but this gap was filled quite ok when filleting and taping by using masking tape along the back of the seams. That allowed for some give and take in stitching and tacking to achieve a good overall shape, rather than having to be too ultra-precise in the cutting which isn't always achievable. In the case of this build I have a couple of spots along the CL and chines which might be 2-3mm. I'm not worried about that at all, as the boat is looking about as perfect as hand cut panels could hope to achieve. (PS, sorry if I seem to be harping on about my kayak build, but if you want to test your boat building skills, a SOT kayak with an internal frame is a pretty challenging project, and I think a good way to learn stitch and glue ).

Thanks again Hirilonde. Yes it makes sense to strengthen the perimeter of the boat to get a good and strong shape to the hull. I'll go looking for some timber for the gunwale. Do you recommend that the bow block goes in before the breasthook?

Thanks Graham. Perhaps you can make those steps a bit clearer in the instructions for your next revision. I think I can see that sequence in them now that you mention it, particularly with the photos you provide, but a more definite written step-by-step sequence for newbies would be helpful. The plans you've drawn are great and very detailed, but I feel the written instructions are a bit piecemeal.

Well I'm making good progress. Tonight I finished stitching and tacking the seams. I hope to have finished filleting and taping the main hull by the end of the week. Some questions for someone.... I can't work out the sequence for a couple of steps in the build. When is the best time to remove the temporary centre frame, and when does the gunwale go on? I see pictures with the gunwale installed early on some builds and later on others. I guess the centre frame could come out after the seams are tacked, with a spreader bar temporary-screwed in place for insurance if I thought it necessary...?? Also, is it best to fillet and tape the bow before the reinforcing block goes in, or is it embedded in filleting material and then filleted/taped afterward?

Well, this weekend has seen some real progress. I finished cutting out the hull panels, the forward bulkhead and transom, as well as the temporary frame, joined the hull panels, sanded the panels fair and uniform side to side, taped the side panels to the hull sections, wired then butterflied the hull, and stitched the seams, forward bulkhead, centre temp frame and transom in place. Almost. I noticed that the last bit of stitching of the transom didn't go quite as easily as expected. It just wasn't square. I sighted it up and the stern was just twisted, and I couldn't work out why. So I did some measurements, and found that the centre temporary frame was not symmetrical. The starboard top corner was 5 cm wider than the port side (as I said, I'm the world's worst measurer). I looked again and sure enough, the angle on that side was sharper than on the other side. The bottom measurements were fine, but the discrepancy caused a twist that affected the whole boat. Funny it didn't show up until I came to finish stitching the transom, but thank goodness it did. Just as well I found that out before taking to it with epoxy and tape! So tomorrow I'll remove the temp frame and trip off the excess and reinstall it, and it should be ok. Sizing the side panels. Ready to 3D. No cracking or splitting! Nice and straight. The strap helped 'tame' the wings while I stitched them. The middle temp frame not symmetrical! I didn't see that until I tried to tighten up all the stitches on the transom, then it mis-behaved badly. At least the bow is nice and straight

As a relatively new boat builder (on my 2nd, the Spindrift 11), I am really getting hooked on the whole wooden sailboat building universe. My plan is to build this Spindrift 11, learn to sail in her for a couple of years, then sell it at a profit and raise enough to build a smallish cruiser. Graham, I'm no expert in design, but I do spend alot of time browsing the net looking at designs and I'm really impressed with your thoughtful and user-conscious mindset when it comes to design. Many designers seem to focus on performance as their main criteria, but if I am any indication of the market, many people just want a boat that will be relatively straightforward to build, will sail well but above all is comfortable, safe and manageable in a wide variety of conditions. I was salivating over the prospect of my next build being a Belhaven 19, but these newer CS models are opening up a whole range of options. Keep them coming!

It appears to leave him cold (sorry, someone had to say it).

Well, I'm finally getting my hands on some timber. Finished marking out the main hull sections tonight and have cut some out already. Actually I made my first booboo on the build. I don't know how I did it but I measured the port-aft side hull section too narrow at the 1220 station (from stern). Then I went and cut it out before eyeballing it against the other marked-up part on the other sheet, only to find it didn't line up. It was only about 5mm out but I didn't want to risk having a mis-shapen line at the top, so I spent half an hour and worked out how to juggle enough pieces from other sheets to create enough space to re-cut that piece from another sheet. A couple of parts from the other sheet will fit into the mis-sized section. (That's the beauty of not having to follow a strict lofting plan. If things go wrong it can be very hard to play around with the 'jigsaw' so much). Actually I'm the world's worst measurer. I catch myself out at least a dozen times mis-measuring things. I now follow the maxim - "measure a hundred times, cut (usually) only once". Anyway I re-cut the part tonight and it matches perfectly now. So I'll finish cutting out the main sections for 3D'ing the hull by the end of this week. (I can't believe that there are only 11 parts to cut out to form the hull on this boat - including the temporary frame!). I didn't join the half-sheets and full sheets for the hull sections before measuring and cutting. I will butt-joint them after they are cut. I don't really know why I didn't, I just did it that way on my kayak and it seemed to work well so I'll go that way again. (Actually, I do know. I will be working on this build alone, and lifting and manipuating 1 1/2 size sheets after butt-jointing seems a bit onerous, but handling 12ft long cut sections should be easier - I think). Either way, it means a simpler lay-up for the sections being joined rather than for full-width sheets (to me anyway). Here you can see my work area. the sheet that I 'robbed' the replaced bit from is leaning against the roller door.

Thanks for that Peter. I will be launching from beaches mostly, at least until I get a trailer. I will be car topping the boat but I'll be building a loader for that so the weight won't be that critical. I was thinking of glassing the bottom only to the chines for abrasion resistance as you mentioned, so I think a couple of kilos at most will be worth the extra protection.

Some advice please. Looking at the CD received with the plans, I notice that none of the boats shown are glassed fully on the outside of the hull. I was planning to do this, but obviously it will add weight and expense to do this. An alternative is to glass the bottom of the hull only to just above the chine. I would appreciate others' views on whether this is recommended or not??

I went and purchased my ply and most of my other materials to get things started this morning. I took my plans along so that the guy in the shop could make some recommendations etc. I was all prepared to buy the top quality gaboon ply for the hull and PM for the rest, but after he showed me a wooden 'tinny' he was building from pacific maple which was a very similar design to the spindrift I decided to go with PM throughout. It's very unusual to be 'down sold' by a retailer, but after looking at the PM sheets I was quite impressed with the quality at half the price! There are a few minor imperfections on the 'B' side on some of the sheets but I think I will be able to avoid them for the most part when cutting out the pieces. So I was able to buy my epoxy, glass tape, copper and a few other bits and pieces for a few extra dollars above what I was going to spend on ply alone. :) I decided to go with West Systems for my epoxy this time after a good discussion around the relative pros and cons compared with Bote Cote, which I used for my last build. Also, I am pretty settled on the cat rig now. I was leaning toward a leg-o-mutton sprit or lug, but he suggested that I go with the sail recommended by Graham. He knows of B & B and has alot of respect for Graham's design know-how. So I'll go with Graham's recommendations, particularly after the positive reports on the performance of the cat rig on these boats from other members here. So now it's on to getting the work area set up and starting to mark out the sheets. Cheers for now.

My carport looks spacious compared to that Peter! When I built my kayak (15ft) It took up the full length available in my carport. It wasn't wide but the project took up all of my half of the space and my car had to live outside for 4 months. This boat will be shorter but is wider so having enough room to work on it all around is going to make things a bit squeezy. I like the idea of working on the small things first and storing them out of the way for when there isn't going to be room to to it later with the half finished hull there. I sold an old plastic kayak that was taking up space tonight, so not only do I have a bit of extra cash for the project, but I have created just a bit more room as well. Maybe I could sell the wife's car!

Yes I can imagine that these items would be time consuming to build. Thanks for the heads-up though. I remember from my last build, impatience kept snapping at my heels and I think in retrospect I could have done some things better by taking just a bit more time. In the end a few extra hours is nothing when you are looking at a product that will last a lifetime and more. All the same, now that I'm committed I can't wait to get started! I hear so many positives about this boat it's almost hurting not to be able to go play in it with the weather being ideal for sailing around here. I just ordered my ply from a local supplier. I was going to go with Pacific Maple marine ply all through, but in the end I have gone with Gaboon for the hull sheets and PM for the rest. I am on a budget but I don't want to be retro-repairing flaws for the sake of a couple of hundred dollars. But the PM I'm getting is as good quality as it gets, and will be quite fine for the rest. I have sold an old plastic kayak to boost the budget and can now afford to purchase most items up to test-float stage, so I expect to be commencing building in a few weeks. It's very hot in my part of the country at the moment (Adelaide, Australia), so I wouldn't want to be fighting with epoxy set-up times that could be challenging. I'll start marking out and cutting and have all the sheets cut and ready for when the weather eases, most likely in March. I mighe even do some smaller jobs like setting up the work space and shopping for timber for the dagger board, rudder and mast. That'll be interesting and will fight off the impatience somewhat.

Well, my plans have arrived, and I have spent a couple of hours working my way through them, and I have got to say I'm impressed with the detail and wealth of visual and written hints and advice included. I really appreciate the tips and explanations for almost every aspect of the building process. I can understand why there are relatively few desperate 'help me please' posts in the build threads on this forum compared to some competitor's boat building forums. Everything is clear and easy to interpret, and for those that might not be clear from the plans or written guides, the huge number of photos makes these clear. I'm looking forward to getting my supplies together now and getting started! Only one issue to work through is finances. I have had a few recent unexpected expenses which might mean having to pace my purchases of materials, so it might take a bit longer to complete than I first thought. I can see myself visiting some second hand stores and recycling depots for the odd bargain here and there, particularly for things like clamps, a few extra woodworking tools, and timber offcuts!

I'm not so worried about it being a bit of a wet boat. Planing hull boats can tend to be a bit wet without reverse chines etc. but I can dress for that in not so good weather, and an Andersen bailer will take care of the bilge. I am used to sailing a kayak - trimaran. If you want wet, try that . I'm not into extreme sailing but I need to allow for unexpected weather turns if I'm away for a few days. I know that the Spindrift 11 isn't a big boat, but it should do what I want it to. I could consider going to the 12, but I've already ordered the plans for the 11. I'll take a look at the plans when I get them and if I think the 12 would be the better option I'll see what I can work out with Graham. I think I have found a suitable hatch with a dual twist-down seal rather than the single seal. The lid covers the rim totally, which is better than the ones with the lid that sits down inside the rim. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hatch-Deck-Plate-Door-White-for-Marine-Boat-Yacht-New-315mm-x-440mm-overall-siz-/151207832457?hash=item2334b06b89 If I install it on a plinth it should do the job. The side seats are another issue. I might just use 8" screw-out deck plates. They are waterproof (until the seals perish or get sand in them that is), and I might just install them on the vertical walls.

I'm still waiting for my plans to arrive, but a few questions for the experienced in the mean time. I want to set up my boat for coastal touring and fishing. For this I want to utilize at least some of the sealed sections in the boat for storage. I want to be able to take at least as much gear as I do for kayak touring. This list includes: A 60lt waterproof duffel bag A 20lt dry bag 2-4 10lt dry bags A small cooler box (15lt). Some fishing gear (varies depending on the trip) A couple of fishing rods. Miscellaneous items like tarpaulins, portable folding toilet, trekking poles etc. Various water containers varying from 10lt to 2ltrs. The best detailed photos I have seen of the Spindrift are those posted by Alex. It looks like there should be ample available space for storing this amount of gear. What I would appreciate is some suggestions regarding the best way to set it all up. For the large items like the duffel bag, the space under the rear seat at the stern appears to be the spot. How much space (approx in cu ft.) is there under here? And the space under the center seat is an obvious spot for storing things like water and items needed when on the go like fishing gear, snacks, navigation maps etc. ?? I am thinking that the space in the forward bulkhead would be ideal for lighter but bulkier items such as sleeping gear and clothing etc. and obviously the anchor(s). How big a hatch could be installed here for access to this space? And while on that subject, which types of hatches would be best here? I have a rectangular hinged twist-seal hatch on my kayak which is nice and large, but I do get a little water past the seals in wet conditions. Not enough to be a danger though. Fitting one of these on the top of the forward sealed section seems to be logical, but would a 12" threaded hatch might be better. The other option is to leave this space open and just use dry bags and waterproof boxes for storage, but then obviously any buoyancy in that area would be lost. The side seats are obviously quite large, but also important for buoyancy. I am thinking of installing internal bulkheads in these to section them off, say 2-3 sections each with hatches on the vertical side walls. Thoughts? These are just a few questions if anyone has any ideas on setting up a Spindrift for touring/camping trips. I've got to do something while I'm waiting!!

You could try a technique that Hobie uses on their sailing kayaks. They just attach a bungie cord to the mast with a ring at the end, and a hook on the mast step. Then you just pull the bungie down and hook it on the hook and the down tension keeps it there. If you are stepping it through the seat you just cut out a bit of a notch to allow the bungie to pass through and place the hook adjacent to the step at the bottom. I use this method for the mast on my kayak and it's never failed yet. I use a S/Steel hose clamp for the bungy attachment to the mast. You don't need lots of tension to hold the mast in place. About 20 lbs tension should be plenty.

I hope mine ends up half as pretty as yours Alex! Nice job.

I suggest you wait until you get your plans before you redesign something Graham has done a great job on already. A cat rig relies on mast flex as an integral part of sail shape through increasing wind speeds and Graham has specced out materials accordingly. Yes, good point. I am going by what I've had experience with. While I am leaning towards the aluminium mast and the LOM sprit, that doesn't mean to say that I'm fixed on that. I do note though that there are builders of the Spindrift who are using all sorts of sails, and that everyone seems to have their favourite. Re the motor-ready transom. That's a real bonus. But when I was searching around for a design I was initially prepared for some minor modification if necessary (strengthening etc.) for that. Nice that this won't be necessary. I've got to say that I tend to like customizing things. When I built my kayak there was no built-in icebox in the plans, but I wanted one, so I modded it accordingly. I also built it to take outriggers and a sail, which isn't standard either. However I always do my research before making modifications like that. .

First decision: which ply to use. I have decided to build using Pacific Maple as my primary material. It isn't the most expensive product available, but is used extensively and successfully by lots of boat builders in this country and with correct treatment is durable and attractive. Duck Flat have agreed that if I give them a couple of weeks notice, they will try to hand select the best sheets available from their wholesaler. They claim that they often get very high quality product mixed in with some just passable stuff, but they know the difference, and know the supplier very well. So it's no rank hardware store for me. Next decision: sail selection. I know it's early days, but as I'm going to be sailing this boat mostly I want to get the sail selection right at the beginning, so I can prepare any design requirements well in advance. I've decided on a leg-o-mutton sprit as my sail. I know most seem to prefer the cat rig for these boats, but I've used the LOM Sprit on my other boat and I love it. I like it's stability and lack of violent luffing if left to luff in a strong wind. It is also very easy to rig, and can be reefed easily with a little modification which is easy to install on the sail. I built my own sprit for the other boat from a lightweight blue poly-tarp, which is still in great condition even though it wasn't the best sailmaking job in the world. Photo of my trimaran on a multi-day trip to the Coorong in South Australia I am using top quality 5.2 oz white poly tarp this time, which is an amazing and highly durable material for sails, while very low cost. I am not sure whether to just go with a simple aluminium tube mast or to build a wooden one. But I'm leaning toward a 45mmx3mm aluminium mast with a lightweight dowell reinforcing down the middle. These masts are extremely strong and will float in a capsize, particularly with a mast-top float. That's about it for now. Cheers, Steve.

Hello all. I am in the very early stages of preparing to build my next boat, a Spindrift 11. When I built my last boat, (my first ) a SOT fishing kayak/trimaran, I learned not far into the build how valuable was the help of experienced fellow builders in providing much needed assistance, advice and (when the going got tough) encouragement! So I thought I'd start off on the right foot early and start this build log before I even get the plans (now ordered ) to create a thorough and detailed record of my build on this forum, for not only my benefit, but for the benefit of anyone wanting to do likewise in the future. I decided on the Spindrift 11 due to a few factors. I want a multi-purpose boat that does allot of things well: Is light for it's size, for relatively easy handling by one, for car-topping, launching and retrieval. Small enough for easy storage in a car garage, BUT - large enough for 2-3 in while fishing or sailing, and large enough for a decent payload for a multi-day camping/sailing trip. Able to accommodate a 2-3 hp motor without major modification. Must be a good nimble sailing boat but with enough size and stability to be safe in a wide range of conditions. Lots of built in buoyancy, ease of recovery in a knock-down, and able to be bailed speedily. Able to be customized relatively easily by having a simple uncomplicated basic design. Is a relatively popular and well-tested and tried design. (A large pool of experienced builders is a good hedge against big expensive mistakes!) Looks good. After spending LOTS of hours trawling the entire internet, I think that the Spindrift will fit the bill, at least according to everything I can find posted by existing users. (I've never seen one in the flesh, so there's a tiny risk I could be wrong ). So now it's a matter of waiting for the mailman to arrive with that particular package, and starting to look at materials, fittings and thinking about my custom requirements. I called into a local wooden boat building mob who have offered their assistance. They have offered to go through the plans with me (at no charge) when I get them and assist with any ideas and tips they can help with. In turn I think I'll buy most of my needs through them. A face-to-face relationship with experienced people is a valuable commodity, one I didn't have when I build my kayak. These guys are at Duck Flat Wooden Boats, Mt Barker, South Australia, for any South Aussies reading this. Bye for now, and thanks in advance.

I have a couple of not so good videos. I usually sail alone and haven't been able to get shots of it under sail from a distance. The sail shown in the build log is a soft wing sail. I ended up going to a leg-o-mutton sprit which performs very well. It's a great fishing kayak without the sailing rig and as a sailing trimaran it's a great ride, but pretty wet in a bit of a blow, and confining with only foot pedals to control the rudder. That's why I'm looking to build more of a utility boat that can still sail well, fish, and take a small motor.

Ok, enough sitting on the fence of indecision, plans ordered! Just a question, where is the best place to post a build log on this fourm? I have a build log on the JEM Watercraft site from when I built my kayak here for those interested in seeing it. This SOT kayak was quite a challenge, so I'm looking forward to this build with at least some experience under my belt .