Boat Builder Central

I'll be the a$$ hat on this. You already have fuel on board. For the price of a proper solar charger to maybe keep up with your day time demand on perfect days, you can buy a very very quiet (and small) Honda generator to run a charger/conditioner and/or inverter. The simple path is the right path ...

When it comes to sanding, I use as many power tools as possible to get the bulk of the sanding done in as short of time as possible. Mini belt sanders, round drum sanders, I used two sizes of belt sanders, 3 if you count the mini belt sander I wore out. Disc sanders that chuck up in a drill, which I...

I have been busy doing year one boat inspection and have a few things to note. Forum broken, can't control post. I hit spacebar but it sent in my post instead, then couldn't edit. Trying again, hope I can post a completed post! I removed the Flow-Rite control valve, disassembled it and found debris ...

Thanks capeman, Fuzz, Tom and Oliver. :D The child bride and I are some of the few yachties in our late seventies still doing serious cruising sea miles up and down the east coast of Australia. This year we left out full size spinnaker pole at home, and we took instead a cut-down spinnaker pole to ...

Red is the box frame that attached to the cabin wall. Blue is the box window Green is the cabin opening. Since green is smaller that blue, blue presses against green surface, but held in place and aligned with red. The box window frame can be as thick as needed to apply equal pressure to all sides a...

Box frame mounted on inside cabin. Smaller box frame window. soft closed cell foam half round for seal inside cabin frame. Pair of little thumb screws mounted to the cabin frame that flip into place to press box frame window into the cabin frame seal. The window would be bigger than the cabin openin...

If you use a belt sander and are experienced at using a belt sander it works well with the right grit belt. Same with a grinder and the other types of sanders others use. I also used a sanding disk on my drill for some sanding in a few areas. But I also used a mini belt sander in hard-to-reach areas...

I am still kicking the tires on the Ana Marie. Trinity bay is a little rougher than the bayous and lake that I have been cruising on. The Bay has a very active fishing and hunting community close to where I live but a lot of marshes and shallow water skiffs. The bayou where I enter the bay stacks up...

I added the minimum 4oz glass on everything that didn't call for glass. All surfaces like the sole and decks I did 6oz for better wear resistance and little more strength. I figured I needed to do 3 or 4 neat coats of epoxy to seal, so went with a neat coat, let it get tacky, then the glass, wait fo...

Should have a video of how to get in and out of that bilge.

Funny how all the power tools no matter what color they start life as always wind up the same color as the wood floor/epoxy mix. My Ryobi stuff looks the same.