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build finally "under way"


dale

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She's gone 3D!

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Had a little trouble with measurements for the transom - was a 1/2" difference between the pattern and the actual side dimension.  Took me an hour before I was comfortable with cutting it out.  I had made my rough dimensions from the pattern when I laminated it; turns out I just had enough to make it fit.

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a little more progress.  I clamped on some temporary gunwales.  Didn't like looks of sheer lines, so flattened the boat, trimmed sheer, put back together.  Now have frames done and dry-fitted.  Will glue them in, then trace bottom of boat from the sides which is what the plans call for.  Plans called for all plywood frames, but I'm not particularly fond of those ply "tabs" sticking out; so I'm using 1x. Took quite a while to do those but I think I'll like the results.

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  • 1 month later...

Step by step she's coming along. Quite a lot done in the last month.  To make a long story short I laminated two pieces of ply together for the bottom (remember, this a build on the cheap).  That has been stitched on, taped and epoxied on the inside and outside and two of three seats have been installed.  Up to about 45 hours now.  Slowly but surely... Few pics:

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And as she sits tonight:

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To make a long story short I laminated two pieces of ply together for the bottom (remember, this a build on the cheap). 

If doing this meant that you did not have buy more plywood, and it did not use up your already purchased supply of epoxy, then for you it did mean that you did not have to spend more money.  But making your own plywood by epoxying 2 thinner pieces together is rarely cheaper than buying the correct thickness to begin with.

I like your choice of gluing weights  :wink:

Looking good.  It never ceases to amaze me how sweet a simple skiff looks when carefully layed out and built.

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call me a cheap skate, or even a fool; but others have done it with success.  I'm building this out of 1/4" luan - $10 a sheet luan.  So, to glue two pieces together and use a few ounces of epoxy (of which I have plenty for the job) was cheaper.  Local okoume 3/8" (100  miles away) is $100 a sheet.  I may even go with a polysail for $50 instead of a dacron sail kit for $160-200.  Or look for a used sail.  We'll see.  I also used regular 2x4's for the gunwale and will do the same for the inwale.  Shelving lumber (with a few small knots) for thwarts and mast partner.  I should get away with an 11' dinghy for about $4-500.

One of these days I may build my "dream" daysailer.  When I do, I will go to the trouble and expense of getting good plywood.

I may never be accused of being a "craftsman" but no one will ever be able to say I didn't have fun.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm with you Dale, Frank. Awhile back I was having trouble bending the luan :-x and was getting advice to "buy better plywood" I can't, I'm too cheap.

There are two schools of thought.  One is that its a BOAT, and you'll be on the water, and you want it to last as long as possible, so you want to use the best materials and the most care in building it.  The other school of thought is this: if I waited until I could afford to use the best materials, I would have never built a boat.  So I built one that I knew would last me about 5 years, because that's about the extent of my attention span anyway.

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It's like tools.  If you're going to use it every day, you buy the best; if once every great while, go cheap.  As much as I love sailing, I just don't have time to do it a lot.  So boat will not be used extensively.  Should last a long time, especially if stored out of the weather.

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Another 30 hours and 3 weeks put into build.  Few pics:

Bow seat being installed.  Clamps are holding cleats for making it a flotation chamber. More cleats on sole.

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Here I've installed breasthook, knees and I have the little blocks of wood (that create the "vented" look) taped while epoxy sets up.  You can also see the bow seat with plywood installed with hole for deckplate.

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Here is daggerboard trunk being epoxied into place.  I glassed the inside.

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Mast partner installed.  I had to partially take the inwale off to make it fit.  Will cut hole for mast after I build it.

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And the boat as she sits now.

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Next I'll glass the botttom and epoxy coat all the plywood.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Time for a quick update.

Wound up having an unexpected surgery on Aug 16.  Put me out of commission for a week doing anything and 2 any heavy stuff.  So, I decided to tackle the sail.  had ordered a kit from Sailrite.  To make a long story short, the project went ok.  Never sewed a bunch and never a sail.  biggest difficulty was sewing through 6 layers of cloth while dragging sail up off the floor at the same time.  Fixed the problem by putting a second table next to first in a "L" shape. 

Here's finished project (minus a couple grommets on luff) a 45 sq ft sprit sail

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Still laying a bit low so I decided the mast might be a good project.  I've cut the staves, cut the birdsmouths, and tappered the staves for a tappered mast per designers instructions.  I bought a piece of clear fir (from a locally owned lumber store) type unknown.  The 2x6x10' cost $30. 

Here's the lower, larger end view

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and the tappered upper end 

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and the view of the whole mast dry-fitted

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a little more work on the mast

I glued up the mast yesterday. Used the twisted rope technique to tighten the staves. Got some glue on every screwdriver I own. Now they're all a bit roughed up.

Here she is set up. Piece of packaging tape under each piece, baggey over the end of the srewdrivers then they were tapped in place. I actually added two more loops of rope after the pic was taken

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after about 2 hours of sanding and 4 belts later

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most joints were pretty tight

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but I did have a few gaps

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I've filled the gaps with thickened epoxy. Now I need to sand that and do the final sanding to get the smoothest, roundest shape I can get.

This will not be a "perfect" job, but one that I believe I will be pleased with

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