Boat Builder Central

Self bailing boats have cockpit soles above the waterline. If you cut a hole in the side of the hull or transom, the water will just drain out by gravity. No magic involved.<BR><BR>Evan Gatehouse

By West Coast of Canada, do you mean the sheltered waters behind Vancouver island/Gulf Islands/Desolation Sound/Inside Passage <BR><BR>OR West coast of Vancouver Island/Queen Charlottes?<BR><BR>If the first, the GT23 is o.k. as long as you´re reasonable with the weather. The GP16 isn´t for this type...

Dustin, <BR><BR>You can always do a google search for "vacuum bagging".<BR><BR>Vacuum bagging is a building process. You laminate the part (often a flat one) on a table or mold. Then you cover with various materials to allow the excess resin to bleed off, peel ply, and finally a vacuum bag...

I think those comments were referring to a special Phantom, built as light as possible with exotic materials.<BR><BR>Nida core doesn´t make a good hull structural material; it´s too low modulus but it´s o.k. for framing and bulkheads.<BR><BR>Divinylcell is better, but a lot more money than plywood f...

What he says is true, but to self rescue, you need to have the boat floating well above the gunnels. Otherwise the daggerboard trunk will keep letting water in faster that you can bail. I can´t tell you how much foam is required; that´s a reply for Jacques.<BR><BR>Evan Gatehouse

Dustin,<BR><BR>I built a FB11 nesting dinghy for cruising use. It was plain marine plywood, painted, but not even coated with epoxy. It´s lasted ~8 years so far, with many years of DAILY use. Properly built ply boats (i.e. coated with epoxy) will last decades. <BR><BR>I would not agree with your sho...

Just one more caution - the fibers must be running at +/- 45 degrees to the fabric´s length for the tape and fabric. Some stitched fabrics are 0/90 degrees and that might be what is offered.<BR><BR>Evan

You can get a quick idea of rough costs for all of the above by consulting Vetus´s online catalog. However, these are list prices and I know that "dealers may sell for less".<BR><BR>By the way, I wouldn´t advise a Volvo. Price for the basic engine is cheap (which production builders like),...

No, you can´t use 300 gm triaxial. 1/3 of the fibers will be running in the wrong direction (lengthwise along the taping seam), so effectively you are using 200 gm biaxial.<BR><BR>The weight gain depends on which boat you are considering, but also the amount of resin required to wet out the tape and...

Mark,<BR><BR>A lot of production boat builders aren´t very careful with little details like coating a motor bolt hole with resin. In fact, I would bet that few do it with more than 1 quick coat of polyester resin, if they do it all. <BR><BR>They will rely on the bedding compound at the bolt to keep ...