Boat Builder Central

Wow Tom, great to hear you've got the boat moving, she has to be thirsty for water by now!

I know what you mean about having too many hobbies, but that's a sign of a curious mind and that's a good thing.

I thought he must be your brother, you look pretty similar! Nice trip you have going.

Drilling transom holes had me nervous as a cat too! Luckily holes are square and seem to be centered. The holes look round to me! LoL, I can't tell from the photo how you handled the holes in the transom, but be sure you seal up that plywood well. It's a pain to do, but drilling out the holes overs...

On a planing hull you want sharp edges (not knife sharp, maybe 1/16 to 1/32" radius) where the hull meets the transom, and places like the step chine where the design wants the water to break free of the hull. A knife edge would work, but it would get damaged easily and paint won't stay on shar...

Yes, that looks kind of good.

Quickfair is good stuff, a bit pricey when you have to buy quantities of it. You can save some money by filling the low areas and also doing a first weave fill with epoxy/woodflour or silica. The watchword is neat- lay it down smoothly so you don't have to sand so much. Use a guidecoat to help ident...

Buz, hopefully you'll get another response than mine, but I'll give it a go. There should not be a step at the bow, it should begin further back in my opinion. Rather than rely on someone's opinion, though, take a look at other builds, at the study plans, at your plans, surely that's shown somewhere...

At one time during a discussion of solutions for droopy bow, Jacques posited that an additional mold ahead of the first might be a fix, but I don't know how one would go about figuring out the dimensions and placement of one.

Good workmanship, really coming along nicely!

I know that's not a good joint. When I filled it today in anger, I was intending to grind it smooth just before putting on wide cloth, figuring the other 36oz of tape and wide there would be enough to hold it together. I've realized since that grinding it off will release the tension on the outside...