Stareed

Thrillsbe, I too have heard that about cypress, I assume it is due to the fact the Cypress contains cypressene which is an oil and contributes to the decay resistant properties. I have glued it down with hardwood flooring mastic ( 1000 sqft in my house ) and used Gorilla glue with it on outdoor projects and it glues just fine. I have researched it quite a bit and it is a 3 out of 5 for glue-ablity or referred to as having good gluing properties. It is less dense than SYP which I can attest to, when green it is very easy to work. Cypress is also prone to "ring shake" where the annular rings separate from the heart, however I have only seen this in beams which I build pergola's with. But with epoxy Im not sure, I think it would make great ribbon material as it is flexible but strong in my experience.

Regarding the paint question; I should note that I live in Northeast Florida and spring is coming, bringing with it high temps and humidity.

Thanks for your response, that Lapwing is a absolute beauty!

I spend half my life on ships and have a considerable amount of time to think about "stuff", what better a place to get answers than here! 1. Epoxy listed on BOM's, is it total volume or gallons of resin sans hardener. example my Spindrift listed approx. 3 gallons needed is that 3 mixed gallons or 3 gallons of epoxy resin? 2. Is "sharpening" the chine on a Spindrift necessary as I have seen on the larger powerboat builds? 3. How do they do the teak or Mahogany transoms on big Sportfishers? is it full thickness planking or a veneer of 3/4 to 4/4 attached to the "real" transom, is the end grain inside the hull planking to hide it? but then you get the end grain of the ply/solid planking? 4. Stability and Weight Calculations - The USCG says a "person" weights 185 pounds, however we recently had to adjust the capacity of our lifeboats as I work in the oilfield and a large portion hahah of our personnel complement is in access of this number. We have one guy who is 6'8" and about 415 and not that fat, the dude could fold your clothes with you in them. Hell, I'm 265 of twisted steel and sex appeal myself! Do most designers in america use more realistic numbers for calculating capacity? 5. Wood, I always see Douglas Fir as being a wood of choice for many designs; B and B says SYP (good stuff not junk) as a good wood, which I agree with, but I often have plenty of Cypress around from carpentry projects, but the ol' interweb seems to have widely different opinions about this- Whats yours? 6. Paint, What is the best? not for the money, not for a budget - the best. I have painted literally acres and acres of steel over the years and find International Paints Intertane 990 two part epoxy hands down the best at least for commercial applications. We currently use Jotun which is junk. I could not believe it when I started learning stuff, that guys were buy paint in quarts! The last paint job I did on a ship involved 120 gallons of primer and 80 gallons of topcoat! and that was just about a quarter of the deck! I have no problem spending money on paint, all my hardwork and time is NOT going to be sullied by cheap paint, plus I know first hand its worth it in the long run, spend two weeks on a 40,000 psi UHP water blaster wearing armor in the gulf in the summer will really make you think about high quality paint- not to mention running the devils own invention, the needle gun!! Let'r rip and sound of with your opinions maybe lots of people can learn from some of these dumb questions. Hulsey

Walt, I have seen the video series, I think he only did it in the corners. In reality I may not do anything, I get some pretty grand ideas being away from it three weeks at a time! I really am to the point of just wanting to finish the damn thing in time for spring.......I mean summer. haha

When I asked you about the knots in the wood, I was thinking of exactly what your last post showed (keel), I to think that they probably dont effect the strength that much but planning it down might give you some trouble. Looks great, wish I had your time, and space to do the same thing. Good luck, I will be following with much interest. Your Marissa was beautiful and built in break neck speed.

Thanks Walt, I was looking at the drawings and after the aft centerboard/thwart beam it looked like there was a little over hang, I was thinking on 1/2-3/4" so that I could "true up" any of the lines to ensure a fair shape. That little of a overhang with a fillet underneath should not make it a catch point, I was even thinking of cutting a small strip of ply and gluing it to the underside of said lip so that I could round it over to have a clean little bullnose, instead of the fillet. I have a couple weeks to think about it anyway. Thanks for your response, I will check your thread. Hulsey

Well, I didnt get as much done as I had wanted in my three week release from prison....(ship) but here is a short summery Keel: went really well I think, I dont think I carried it as far forward as I could have but I am fairly sure it will be fine, I used a gouge and chisel to hollow it out a bit and glued her down with epoxy-milled fibers-cabosil mix. oh and I drove the gouge in to my index finger tip far enough to split my nail - do not do that! Centerboard trunk: after coating the inside with the three coats, glued it together, and routered all the edges and put a fillet on the underside of the side strongbacks. Also routered the underside of the crossbeams with the same round over bit. I ran a center line string, leveled the boat at the transom port and Starbd and used a square, and pocket level to ensure plumb, put a screw in the back cross beam and clamped the front to some scrap. Then filleted and taped Seat top: I used some "RAM board" from homedepot ( thanks PAR for the idea) to make the template, I tried doing it in two pieces and then tapping them together, didnt like the way it looked, so I cut the out side and used my rough inside marks and added three inches and cut it out rough. - I did that the morning of crew change, not wife approved to work on the boat the day you leave! A big reason I didnt get as far as I wanted- the cold, very cold (for Florida) this time home, I had a small space heater running all the time to get my epoxy to dry on a schedule which didnt need a calendar. After running that heater so much my wife suggested skin to boat contact would provide the best warmth! OH and I did a shit load of sanding and coating trying to get the magic three coats on everything. Getting closer Oh I wanted to ask you guys, what overhang on the seattop should I have 3/4"? I plan to run a fillet under the lip to or do you think that is un-needed? Thanks again for all the help Hulsey

Are you at all concerned about the knots in your pine? I know its really really hard to find clear Pine, whenever I do it is usually has some pretty wide growth rings which isnt good either.

All cleats and 3/4 material were SYP or Doug Fir I had laying around. The knees and breast hook are Sapele, the gunnels are popular and oak. Good luck with yours!

Cut out the center board and planed it to shape, cut out the centerboard trunk pieces and got a coat of epoxy on them. Got the "optional" aft bulkhead installed and filleted. Got then keel ready to go as well. Now to flip it back over and instal the keel and maybe a little fairing of the hull.

Got the center cockpit filleted and taped, fliped it over and put the finial fill coat on the hull. Tried using a roller to roll out the epoxy which I had added a small amount of cabisol to, seemed to just spread it on the top on the weave, switched to a squegee and it worked much better to fill the weave. I also got the aft locker bulkhead, and centerboard trunk cut out. Will try to do the centerboard trunk and centerboard glue up today

Got home Thrusday night, sanding and filleting and taping. Fill coat on the hull. Hope to finish up all the center cockpit taping and filleting today and cut out the aft bulk head, ceterboard trunk, and cut out and glue up the centerboard......maybe!

Thank Alan, I am using US Composites 635 epoxy as I used it when I re-did my Mako 25 several years ago and was familiar with it 1 part to .32 by density, I measure out the resin and multiply by 1.32 and it gives me the total by volume, and fill it up with hardener to that weight.

Thanks everybody, I have been using a digital scale to measure everything out to the gram, so no need to worry about the pumps. I will warm it up if any crystals are present. I bought a small space heater last time home and had it under the overturned hull while I glassed it because it was a little cool and I wanted to make sure the epoxy didn't take forever to harden, seemed to work well. I may go buy a bigger one that will keep the garage nice and warm for the frigid (for Florida!) temps we are expecting for the next week. Dont know how guys up north do it, I spent several years in the North Atlantic working and I swore that I would never expose myself to those conditions ever again. Hulsey

Thanks Alan, I really want to finish it soon so that its done and I can move on to something else. I have gotten a large amount of satisfaction building this little boat, which I hope can be amplified by a new larger and more complex build. Do you see any issues with what I have done so far? I would love any input you have.

I have been sitting on this ship for three weeks planning out my attack to finish her up this time home, aaaaaannnnd it going to be too cold to epoxy anything when I get there on Thursday - great! I work 1800-0600 three weeks straight so when I get home my body clock is messed up to say the least, but getting up a 3am like your late for work is great for quite work time on the boat, I guess I can still sand stuff! lol My epoxy should be ok right? its in the garage and Thursday night its supposed to be 28, its an attached garage and the exterior walls are insulated

Steve, I think you should have a helper, which I did not. It would have been much easier to roll it down the hull following the glasser or another person to hold one end and lower it down on the glass in a nice even manner. I would also recommend having a clean roller pad to smooth it out and help remove any trapped bubbles. It really is pretty cool stuff, when you peel it off the surface feels like a fabric drum skin, very smooth but with a fabric texture. I would also like to pass on, when you wrap the glass over edges ( like glassing the stern) the peel ply makes the transition from the glass edge to the wood very smooth and "fair"; there is no edge to the glass, it blends it into the accompanying surface very will which I hope helps when it comes to finial sanding and fairing. BUT.....its the first time I have used it and I am far from a professional so take all that with a grain of salt. Hulsey

Small update, super busy this time off with other carpentry projects and trying to live a "normal" family life. I managed to get the hull finial sanded and glassed. I know glassing the hull is somewhat of a question on here, but I chose to do it for these reasons: additional abrasion resistance, and I wanted to practice glass layup as it has been a while and I also wanted an excuse to try Peel Ply. The whole process went well.....kinda ok, the starboard side was attempted when the wife was taking a nap, the 14 year old promised to look after the other two kids for long enough for me to glass just one side which turned into a completed shit show, and resulted in some shoddy work as I was trying to glass and yell at three kids who as soon as the first drop of resin hit the glass exploded into full blown civil war, woke up my wife ( nuclear civil war). The port side was accomplished at four in the morning, resulting in a smooth as a babys ass job with no dry spots. The peel ply, it was my first time using it and as advertised it doesnt like curves and I used it only on the bottom and stern, I did kinda draped it over the bow a bit where the chine ends. If you can get it to lay down flat and with no bubbles, the finished surface is amazing, if there are bubbles in it you end up with a regular finish in that spot. So all in all it was a good experience, although I will still do a fill coat on the sides and fair it all out nice. I also through in a picture of a lattice I built for a client, 8'x8,'select cypress 1x2's which I milled, all half lap joints and no fasteners- time killer for sure, couldve been working on the boat! lol

Damn it, Thrillsbe you trying to get me misty eyed? I'm 39 and would do anything to have something that I did with my dad; he has been gone 4 years now. Enough said, I will not bitch about my kids ever ( in this respect anyway) again. You guys on here are awesome.

Thank you all gentlemen, great group of folks on this site.

Thank you gentlemen, I have tried and tried to get the kids in on it, I have a 14 year old daughter which could never be bothered enough to be involved other than for some pictures for Instagram of her in it sailing on a perfect ( picture perfect) day, a 10 year old son who is far more interested in Playstation and soccer to care much, however the 4 year old baby girl is out there with me all the time. And the 10'er is absolutely a step to bigger dreams, I had rebuilt a 25' Classic Mako CC and had it for a couple years before the crash in the oil field forced me to sell it. I wanted to build the OK25, but I needed to prove that I could build a "boat" lol, I know perfectly well that the Spindrift is in a different galaxy than a OK25 but she- the wife doesnt, and she did see me finish the mako and she enjoyed being on it, so I got that going for me.

Alex, I have been married 17 years now and I cant hide anything from that woman! She is like a forensic accountant and does all the books as I have spent my adult life on ships around the world, its hard to take care of stuff in the middle of the ocean. I have a job on a drillship now with really cool stuff like phones and internet but the damage has been done- cant hide nothing! That's why I started a carpentry business, separate stream of money! As for her telling me how much she spends.....gave up caring long ago. When I tell her about anything I want to do she automatically adds double time and money already - like I said 17 years, she knows me better than I do.

Good day all, I have been working on this Spindrift 10 quietly in between my Merchant Marine job, three kids and my "other" job of owning my own carpentry business when I am off the ship. I received the plans months before I started. And as with most of you, life has a tendency of getting in the way whenever you say " I am going to make some headway today, this week, this month". I cut out all the parts and got the boat stitched up in May, took the summer off and got back to it in Oct. considering since May I have only had two and a half months off I dont think Im too bad off. Cost....did I mention I have three kids! anyway my wife almost had a heart attack when four sheets of plywood cost 400 bucks so I have been slowly spending money, the below pictures are the result of TWO quarts of resin and the hardener. Please dont freak out, I have only tacked the panels and full on glued the stringers,gunwales ect. I was very careful to watch out for twist and fairness along the way and think its pretty good so far, but Im a boat driver not a boat builder yet so I may be wrong. You'll notice the plans in the boat looking very well used, I have read them so many times I barely need to look at them anymore ( I still do to make sure of stuff) and I have a "shop" set and a study set. B an B has no need to worry about me making copies...the shop set will be worn pretty thin by the end. I wish I could just work on it all day everyday, I love building things out of wood and boats sure beat the sh#t out of anything else in my opinion.

Par, Will do