Boat Builder Central

The grass is basicly gone due to some type of brown algae. Evidently this same type algae bloom happened in Texas several years back and it took years for the grass to rejuvenate. The denuded area runs from Mosquito Lagoon down to Vero Beach area. Healthy flats exist around Ft. Pierce and further so...

When building the boat upright you still need to fasten the mold frames down to the building jig, otherwise bending the plywood around them will pull them out of whack. You could fasten some 2x4 blocks to the bottoms of the frames and then screw the blocks to the jig stringers with long screws. Anot...

Should have a vent in the cap.

Peter; my son just bought a new boat and had that same transducer mounted. The inside elements are tilted so that you can mount it off centerline at a good "clean-water" flow area. As the brochure states it can be mounted on any boat with 16-24 degrees of deadrise. There should be an arrow...

Irish; also checkout Hawk's Cay Resort on Duck Key. Nice place to stay, nice beach area, a little expensive but maybe to your liking. Duck Key is just East of Marathon so you can find plenty of eating establishments and charter and guide services between Marathon and Hawks Cay. Weather is usually ni...

28-32' works for me too. I've been considering a mothership type boat for Everglades Nat. Park. A couple of skiffs and kayaks to fish from and air conditioned comfort when you're done for the day! 8'6" beam is OK but I think you can still tow 10' wide loads in FL with a permit, right?

CL; if you'd go ahead with the Abaco 23 you'd probably have enough concrete blocks leftover to put a nice addition on the shop!

On the OB17/19 you can make the sheer line the shape you want. A nice sprung/sweeping sheer like the OD18 is a piece of cake but don't go wild on it! Just a matter of marking with a batten strip and cutting. You'll have to adjust the length of the inside frames to the new sheer but you'll have to do...

Good ideas, all of them! Having spent many hours babysitting boats and trailers on the side of a road while awaiting an idiot owner to return with parts, I say replace the bearings before you leave for home and carry an extra full hub or two (you're going to use them eventually anyway). Check the ti...

A .22 usually works just fine on them. My dad was a licensed gator hunter when I was growing up. We used to shoot them just behind the top back of the skull where the neck starts; there's a soft spot there and nothing hard there to stop a bullet from cutting the backbone in two. Dead Gator! A good s...