roam

Thanks, I'll contact B&B about the fiberglass and order the other tools you mentioned.. My kit came with three gallons of resin and 1.5 gallons of hardener. Since I'm building the nesting version I'll be able to do the job in two parts which will probably take longer over all but each day should be shorter.

Thanks Walt, Now that the weather is warming up I've been trying to get an hour or so in after work so that's definitely speeding up the process. Where did you get the fiberglass for the outside of your boat? I'm planning on doing the entire hull and not just the chines also.

Lots of slow progress the last few weeks. I've not gotten all of the interior seams filleted and taped and am about 2/3rds of the way through with the aft seating. I figure I have about another days work and then I can flip the boat and start fairing the hull. my fancy filleting tools.

Thanks Steve. I'll definitely do all the interior glassing and then flip the boat and shape the chines before I cut it in half.

I really enjoyed planning the gunwales also. My friends and family have asked to be present for the sawing so it may turn into an event.

I've installed the forward bulkhead and I spent a couple of days planning down the gunwales and installed the forward and nesting bulkheads as well as the transom. I checked that the boat was square and then tack glued the seems. I did check that the boat was reasonably true before epoxying the seems. While it maybe wasn't perfect the bubble was between the lines of my level everywhere I checked so I called it close enough. At this point I've filleted all the seems in the aft hull section and started laying down the fiberglass. With the weather warming up and the days getting longer I'm hoping to be able to get some hours in during the week and not just on the weekends.

You boat is looking good Walt. I was just reading about your plans of reinforcing the chines with some sacrificial wood. Have you considered using Kevlar fabric to protect the chines?

I got my gunwales installed. After asking for advice on the tip I ended up doing it wrong differently anyways. I placed the forward screws in the gunwales as far forward as I could now they're in the way of squaring off the tip. I could just move the screws back but I think it'll work fine this way. The port side forward screw is the one that would get in the way of squaring off the tip. Can't have enough clamps

Thanks to everyone who showed me how they installed their gunwales. I'm glad to see that no one faired(?) the ends together. Trying to figure out how to do that was making my brain hurt. I got my oarlocks with my kit from B&B. I'm also interested in some two part oars and how to store them inside the boat but it will be a while before I reach that point.

Thanks Starboard. That looks great.

It took two weeks but I managed to source the wood for my gunwales. I got 6 strips of 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 12' Mahogany strips with the 17 degree bevel cut into them. Is there a trick to get the gunwales to mate at the bow? It looks like Walt just left them square with a gap at the tip which was filled in with another piece of wood. Is this standard practice or is there a method to cut the appropriate angle in the gunwales to get them to mate at the tip? Thanks, Hugh

I'd like to use the two rear seating/flotation areas as storage compartments. What types of watertight hatches are usually used for this?

Thanks, I clicked on the link before getting to the end of your post and didn't realizedyou hadn't left yet. I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Does anyone have a link to a working spot tracker? thanks, Hugh

Got some more work in this weekend. Got the hulls sides joined and stitched on Saturday and today a friend came by for the unfolding. It looks like a boat! Pretty exciting.

Got a bit done once the family left town. Assembled the transom and two nesting bulkheads. The rectangle in the background is a frame to hold the cradles.

Thanks for the tip Steve. Good to know I can continue forward. What brand of hand tools do folks usually use. I've got a Ryobi jig saw which I want to replace. thanks, Hugh

I've had my first 'Doh!' moment. When I joined the hull sides and bottoms I didn't get all the teeth to lie flat. It's only the outer 5 teeth on one of the bottoms that isn't flush but a judicious application of thickened epoxy and a lot of elbos grease should get everything nice and flush again. I placed a board and weights on top of the joints when gluing them but I should have triple checked this joint. The rest of the joints came out very nicely. Steve W: I really like you boat. Hope mine looks as nice when I'm done.

I picked up a Spindrift 11N kit from Graham this weekend and will start building it this week. This will be my first boat build so I expect I'll have a few questions along the way and hopefully not too many 'Doh!' moments. I spent Sunday rearranging my garage so I'll have some room for the build. It's going to be fairly tight but it should be doable. I'm planning on spending my evenings this week joining the bottom and sides of the hull parts together and building the frame to support the build. I've just laid out the hull sides to give me an idea of my workspace. First picture with hopefully many more to come.

Thanks for the offer, but my living arrangements make a nesting dinghy a requirement.

Just posting to see if anyone has an N10 or N11 they are looking to part with. I'm located in the Mid-Atlantic and would be willing to travel most of the way up or down the east coast to pick it up. thanks, Hugh