Boat Builder Central

You also need to be careful since most mat is for use with polyester resin and has a coating that epoxy does not adhere well to.

Jacques - You say that resin rich laminations are not as strong, does that mean not as strong as a ratio of material /weight or is the problem that resin rich causes the cloth to float above the substrate and that additional space between the substrate(plywood) weakens the composite? What is the eff...

Sounds about right. Epoxy and hardener actually weighs in at about 8.8lbs per gal because it is denser than water ( 8.6 lbs)

Jacques- That was the best explanation yet for resin/glass ratio. Question: How does the resin you use in fairing fit into this calculation. I suspect that I use about 1/3 the amount of resin for fairing as I used in the initial precoat and cloth wet out. Some of this gets sanded off and you subtrac...

C17 looks like a better choice than the FS17. Only issue is that 50 hp isn't going to push it as fast.
Now buy the plans and start building!

Building a boat is not that difficult assuming you have some building experience. Do you have the experience to build a bookshelf? If so you can build a boat. The biggest problem I have seen with people who start to build a boat and then abandon it is not the skills involved, but rather the time inv...

Let me clarify what I meant by "breaking loose". The boat does not broach! What happens is that as she crests the wave she becomes airborn, sometimes to the extent that even the prop comes out of the water. This is not in all conditions, mainly a 3-4' chop that is less than 2 boat lengths ...

In my solution the sole remains an integral part of the design, the only difference is that it is raised, For example in the DE 23 construction the stringers in the forward section are raised from 8" to 17" to form the bunks, and this gives the same structural stiffness as a sole at 8"...

Looks good. Don't know how far along you are but you might eliminate the original sole and just consider your casting platform and consoles as the sole and glass them into the frames as you would a sole. Save a lot of weight.

I tend to agree with Jim but if it bothers you it sholdn't be hard to smooth out.
Use your batten to mark out the high spots Or low spots. They look to be 6-8 in. wide so use a dry wall knife to fill in just the lows. Sand smooth and check with the batten, repeat if necessary.