PeterP

Joe, I made a boat cover for RedBeard with an old Singer -all metal- sawing machine with zigzag. Used Sunbrella fabric. It was my second sewing project and has served me well over the years. It was work but it is doable. I notice that after you build a boat you kind of feel that you can do anything. Boat cover? no prob! Fusion reactor for the dog house? - may have to do some web search on that one -that kind of feeling- you know what I mean? Good luck

Tough to say without seeing the boat. Bulkheads play a major part in developing the hull shape. It is possible that the sides need to be pushed out more to allow the bulkhead to fit. But again -without seeing the situation this is all just guessing. PeterP

Jim, while not actually saying I like it - I have seen this treatment before. I am thinking INLAY - though. Can be real slick and elaborate. It's also an exellent way to hide the seam if you are planning a bright foredeck. Would not be that much work if you keep the lines straight. Cut a 1/8" contrasting veneer, scribe it to the deck with a sharp utility knife, rout out 1/16" deep -just shy of the lines, carefully clean out with a chisel or rabbet plane. Glue in with bagged wet sand on top to hold it down while the epoxy cures. Sand flush and you are done. PeterP

Max, the keel plays a vital role. With the keel batten it forms a T-beam making the bottom much stronger and stiffer for a verry little additional cost. It protects the the plywood seam. It helps the boat track better. With a metal shoe it will significantly decrease your bottom maintenance. To plant the centerboard in the center would significantly increase the building complexity and weight -ie wider keel batten to fight the splitting tendency of the board slot. Ditto for the keel. And to what advantage? None in terms of performance. I can't argue the visual - most of us are OK with it. Think of it as having extra room on one side of the boat . PeterP

Scott, you'll do just fine - your last boat turned out pretty good. This one is just wee bit bigger. You sure are moving along! PeterP

This one is for all those Santa deniers I guess. Santa IS, still, doing his stuff for all the GOOD girls and boys. The reason he does stuff for me is not because I happen to be particularly good but because my wife is part elf. So I got a shaft and a prop for Christmas. The fact that it only just arrived a week ago I don't want to dwelve on. I'll come back to the shaft& prop in just a sec. First the seat back-rests. It took a while to put into effect the ideas I had. I wanted rests that flip up easily to allow access to the storage behind. Naturally, the starboard side rests have to come up to allow full width on the berth. The pictures show the final product. I like it so far- we'll see how it works in real life. Next, I had to pull the diesel one more time. I spent gobs of time making sure the beds were bang on the money and when I put it all together it looked JUST SO SWEET. The problem was the set up was adjustable in only one dimension. Like Graham says: every time you think there's even chance of success you're most likely 90% wrong. So I pulled the donk and notched the beds 1/4" to give me some more play for the final alignement. Now we are back to the shaft. Boring out for the stern tube was only the beginning and I can see why some people develop such a dislike of engines and things of that nature. In a nutshell this is what I've accomplished so far. Ran a shaft up a stern tube and built a strut for the said shaft. I reckon I have probably close to four days worth of work in that. The number of times I climbed in and out of the boat to check the latest iteration of tweaks and adjustments is beyond count. Hopefully, things will go smoothly in the welding shop tomorrow and I'll have it all together later on this week. Be good PeterP

Good Old Boat No 82 ( last issue) has a fairly decent overview of davits. If you make one that's too heavy you can always get a bigger anchor to keep the bow level. PeterP

If you scarf a piece on top do a 12:1 with out glass. Glass would definitely put a hard spot in that section. I think Tom was thinking to back up the scarf in the tabernacle. That is the place where the extra strenght is needed. Personally, I don't consider a good scarf a weakness. We all tend to think that once you cut a piece of wood it can never be as "good" again. But the fact is that a good glue/epoxy is a whole lot stronger than any wood. (So long as it sticks together well ) PeterP

Yeah, definitely helps to be a little out of the ordinary. Remember the one about the guy who kept hitting his toe with a hammer? When the doctor asked why he kept doing it he replied : It feels so GOOD when I stop. It'll feel so GOOD when you hang that last plank.....PeterP

Scott, I don't know about real Indiana cold but Raka 5 min epoxy cures down to pretty cold . Get yourself one of those Infrared Lamps (food lamp) from Lowe's - I use one of those all the time. The bulb isn't cheap -about 9 -10 bucks- but they are warm enough to make even regular epoxy kick off when it is cold and you need small stuff done in a hurry. Mine comes in a cheap clip on reflector so it is easy to spot over an area. I ended up prefering the clear type as opposed to red since the latter was too dim for me to see and kept on being left on all the time. The clear bulb can also be used as a general work light but they do throw off a lot of heat.PeterP

Steve, last time I did this I did it in three steps. It takes longer but for a single hander it is a lot easier to do one lamination at a time. The strips were cut to make up the trapezoid when glued up. Since the 1/4 in strips individually are pretty limber you won't need as many clamps to make them lie fair against the hull - another plus. The top edge gets the router treatment when it's all in place - easy enough to do. The bottom you can clean up with a scraper or block plane. No drastic shaping should be required if you pre-cut the strips beforehand. White oak is excellent and mixing the colours always gets a good response from the crowd. For some reason a lot of people see multihued laminations as the epitome of craftsmanship. Go with epoxy is my advice - nice & gap filling in case your laminations are'nt as tight as planned. Good luck PeterP

John is very likely right but to make sure - here's what I would do. Shoot down to Lowe's and pick out a pair of real nice eight ft 2x3 spruce. Straight grain no knots. Rig up a couple of temporary thole pins ( about 6 in pieces of broom stick) that you can clamp to the side of the boat and move back and forth as needed. Throw the boat in the water and play with it. Figure out what works. The 2x3 will row almost as well as a regular oar and when you are done you can dry them out build up the ends for the blade you want and make you a nice pair of oars. PeterP

Garry, you're too kind. That little red thing would be pushed to make a starter motor for the main engine on Mango Mama. Thanks and Merry Christmas. PeterP

One step forward, two backwards. That's the way it goes sometimes. The chart table cabinet underwent several modifications the last of which were conduit snakes for the various light fixtures up front. While I was at it I decided to add another drawer to the S-board settee/berth. Trading good buoyancy volume for stuff space. Hope I don't come to regret it later. The little diesel is in. Need to order the shaft and PSS seal to finalise the alignment. Everything looks good so far. About where I had hoped to be at this point. Not perfect but good/workable. Cheers PeterP

Some people use treated wood. PeterP

Tom, I basically agree with Chris except the way I read your post your mast is already made I think. Hard to get the table saw in there now to cut the dadoes. I only bored through 16" where it counted. But honestly, even if I messed up and the bit wondered off say half an inch - no big deal. Epoxy is just wonderful. You don't have that luxury though.I would not attempt to bore out a mast. No way. My starter bit was one inch auger tacked onto a 1/2 in steel bar. The boring bar was 3/4 in black pipe with 1/4 in dia bolts tapped into the end. Heads ground off to provide a good shearing action. Advantage being that by screwing the bolts in/out you can fine tune your bore and at the end of the day the pipe gets recycled into a pipe clamp. With augers you only get one size and they are not cheap in the sizes I need. Did you think about running a fine saw down the middle - cutting the slot and then re-gluing? Good luck PeterP

Scott, if your wife sews she probably has one in her kit - a little ponce wheel for tracing out patterns. Run it along the line and it leaves a series of pinpricks. She won't mind you borrowing it especially if you don't ask her. PeterP

It will be good to have that extra pair of hands - even on a sixteen footer. The fast epoxy you don't really need. It sped things up for me in winter - but all of that can be worked around using regular mix and careful scheduling. In fact switching between mixing ratios can lead to mishaps -as I can well testify. Good luck with your build. PeterP

With the last years tax refund burning a hole in my pocket I decided to buy the auxiliary: fourteen horse Kubota diesel as re-engineered by Beta marine. All this happened last Spring and was a bit premature to be sure -but with the tsunami wrecking the Japanese economy I became worried that stuff would get too pricey or unavailable - so I got it. It's been sitting in the garage since then and I have been scratching my head about stuff like shaft alignment, boring 8 deg HOLE! through perfectly good and solid boat bottom etc etc.Now I am on the verge of putting the little donk in its place of toil. I have some more pictures. First shows the engine and beds layout. Second shows my home made boring bar/jig and third shows the engine beds all glassed in with the 1 5/8 stern tube awaiting epoxy. All perfectly lined up on the string. Regards PeterP

Gordy I am jealous, I always wanted to sign up for one those foreign Cordon Bleu schools. This looks like something even I could afford. PeterP

Best of luck Scott, PeterP

Joe, looking good my friend. For two ring stove check out REI - they carry a stainless version of Coleman portable stove that is probably what you need. Runs off 16oz propane cartridge which need changed often - I grant you- but some people consider that a safety plus. If the flame goes out while you are steering -your boat does not fill with a huge quantity of gas looking for a spark. No oven - so you'll have to make your scorpa at home. Regards PeterP

I'll be there with RedBeard. PeterP

Tom, I am ever so sorry but I'll miss your big bash. I just finished cleaning up here and in Emerald Isle and the very sound of chainsaw gives me the hives. I did manage a quick limerick for you mate - it is not much but I mean it from the bottom of my heart: "In Oriental lives an old fart who runs on a 1000 volt heart A gentleman sailor with quiet laughs Here's to his battery and hope that it lasts!" All the best PeterP

Wes, you're in the South now. This sounds like your typical "Bless your heart" moment. (short and polite way of saying YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MORON JUST DID? ) PeterP