Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Hey guys. I finally started cutting ply today, so I figured that it's about time that I post the address for the blog that I've started.

http://flatsstalker18.blogspot.com/

I know nothing about blogs, so you'll have to bear with me. Start at the bottom and work your way up to follow the posts in chronological order. Anyway, let me know what you think of the website and the build.

Elie

Great site. Glad to see another builder making some progress. It looks like we'll be at similar stages. The cutting process does indeed take longer than expected. I've finally finished cutting 99% of the parts. I'll laminate the transom, build the jig, & join the panels this week if the weather warms a bit.

Never could get the webpage to pull up

Not sure why That link works on every computer I've tried it on. It is sometimes a little slow to load, but it always seems to work.

Scott, Can you get to?:

http://www.blogger.com/start

If so, do a search for flatsstalker18. The blog should show up via that route.

Got it to pull up thanks guys

Spook looks like you have an uphappy poster on your
blog . When will the madness end

Like I said, I know nothing about websites, so I didn't realize that linking to a picture on another website steals their bandwidth. I wouldn't have done it if I had known. As far as using pictures of their boat to "promote" the FS18, they need to get over themselves . They certainly aren't the keenest of business minds working over there. I won't bad mouth them online or on my website, but they've managed to convince me that it is worth my time and effort to tell everyone I run across in person to avoid the company at all costs. Nice job Weak.C.C . You really hit a home run on this one .

Excuse me... it's not even worth recongnizing them.

Nice work so far Super Spook. Keep it up. That's a model I can't wait to see on the water- even though we don't really have any need for it up here, it's still a cool concept and I'm sure it's perfect for your area.

Oh and this boat is not rated for any HKS products

lastly, no fair tripple teamin the build

Yo! Superspook. I live in Dunnellon. would love to come up and meet you and see the Xf18 as it progresses. If you don't mind give me a shout at oken@bellsouth.net and send me a phone no. i would love to call and come up and see the progress.You can see my latest pics on XF20 today on Builders galleries of front page. Looks great so far. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call.489-7914

Jeez, man. I think I need to come down and look at your build. Nice stuff. That tower is intense. We're still just cutting the panels out, but I could definitely use your advice when we start putting stuff together. Maybe this weekend. If not, then the next. I'll get in touch.

Fly,

I didn't think that the HKS banner would mean anything to anyone here. That's left over from my racing days, before the redfish started running my life. I don't know though. If HKS made a turbo the size of a raquet ball, I'd probably try to throw one on a Honda 20hp and see what happens. Would an intercooler look weird bolted between the poling platform legs?

Yo Spook, Feel free to come by. Just give a shout.I am easy to find . Live just off 41 in Rainbow acres.Just behind the dollar store a couple of blocks.

Rice it up dude.

cold air intake made of PVC with a wanna b K&N and
a 18" dia prop instead of a poling platform a big
arse adjustable wing

Oh yeah I know about HKS, I was in the import thing
in my town when it wasn't even cool. Had a junkyard
turbo on a b18 motor back in like 92. Way before you
could even get a kit. Back when the stuff was fun, now
just have a grey market bike to play with.

Hurry up with the stitching I wanna see what this baby
is gonna look like. Oh, are you going to do the rounded
chine?

Ken,
I may have to take you up on that this weekend. It looks like my build crew is flying the coop this weekend, so I may have to come down and talk shop with you. Things like catching snook in Tampa and working on their "own boat" seem to have taken priority over choking on sawdust in my little garage.

Fly,
If I didn't have to do things like spend time with my girlfriend, I probably would be stitching by now. What do you mean it's not appropriate to run the circular saw at one in the morning? Why not?

Hell yeah, I'm going to build the rounded chine. If I'm going to skip the practice canoe, I might well as well take the next step and include the complicated round chine option too. No sense in doing this thing half way. I drew the radii on the frames A and B last night. Seriously though, I'm going do my best. I figure once I cut the slits, there's no turning back. I'll just post lots of pics, take it slow, and rely on the help of the forum. The only thing I'm worried about is getting the jig and frames set up square right now. Baby steps, my man. Baby steps.

Making a little bit of progress, and I've managed to steer the comments back towards the actual project. I'd welcome any suggestions if I'm doing things incorrectly. Check it out.

http://www.flatsstalker18.blogspot.com/

Its really hard to tell by the pictures but it all looks
pretty good. A little tip if you screw similar panels
together at say where your stitches are going to
go, you can then come back with a belt sander and
get them exactly the same. So, where you see a
difference now you can work all that out with the
belt. So don't worry too much about it at this point.

Just be sure you mark what side is the outside(in pencil)
then left and right.

Fly,

That's exactly what I was planning to do, except I'll have to make due with a block plane and the RO. It's worked pretty well on the single panels. I'm hoping it will do as well when they're doubled up. I intentionally cut as may of the panels as I could a little fat for this purpose.

It won't show you anything that new, but I added a couple pictures.

Elie

I did the same thing with a low angle block plane and it was easy. No need for the sandy dust noisy thing. You can hear the radio better using the block plane.

Eight to the bar Dougster

I've started stitching. See if I can get this pic to work:



I may need some advice on this soon, but it's going pretty well so far. Check out the website for the full story.

Elie

The round chines have been stitched and tack welded.



Although the images look pretty heinous, I've begun fairing the chines and with a little block plane and sander work they've started cleaning up pretty well. The area at the bow will be a good bit of work though. If I'd gone with the hard chine, I'd probably be done glassing the outside by now. The round chine takes a good bit of time. Check out the link in my signature for more.

Elie

The bottom is glassed. It all went pretty smoothly thanks to my build crew.



Check out the website for more. Didn't get a lot of pictures, but there are some.

The transition to hard chine looks fair from what I can see at this point. When you get some fairing on it will tell the story

Man I hope so. Me and Mr. Bosch spent the better part of 2 straight weeks getting to know the first 8 feet of the boat. I'm pretty happy with the shape that I ended up with, but I really should have figured out some way to get it stitched up better, no matter how tedious it was. The shape has all worked out OK I think. I'd appreciate some advice on my bottom glassing results in the Power Boats section though.

I haven't been posting, but I have been working. I promise. To be completely honest, the fairing is kicking my butt. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels a little bit. Do you guys really hand sand all this stuff? It takes forever, but I can't think of any other way. Check out my website for more, if you're interested.

hand sand? NO...NO...NO. An inexpensive 5" random orbit sander will do wonders. Attach it to a shop vac with dust filters and it will also be a very clean shop. A porter cable 333 is a good mid level sander that will last a long time.

The only "hand" sanding you may want to do is to use a long board (see tutorials) for fairing. Personally, I have gotten by without using that, but it is a personal choice.

A 4"x24" fairing board with 60 grit paper will cut down quickly. For details and small spots i like to use a small sanding block with 60 grit. Once the shape is correct and fair, then go to the 5" or 6" sander. Sander is for "smoothing" Long Board is for shaping.

Thanks guys. I'm definitely still in the "shaping" stage . Sounds like I'm going about it the right way, but I've been using 80 grit on the fairing board that I made and it is SLOOOWWW. I'll try the 60 and see if it cuts appreciably faster. Might even go to a rougher grit at first. Never thought I would say this, but I can't wait to get to the point that I can use the random orbit again.

Elie

You know you're close to done when you mix up a small batch of fairing compound for a small area and you've run out of places to apply the excess!

I've been hand sanding with 60 & 80 grit using a couple of different sized fairing boards & sanding blocks and I feel I have more control by hand. Just my personal preference.

There's been a lot of much nicer stuff being posted recently, but I should at least let you guys all know that I'm not dead. I'm not quite done with fairing, but I'm moving in a few weeks, so I have to get the boat ready to move. The rubrail is done, and today was the big day: time for the flip. Here she is:



I'll get everything prepped over the course of the week, and then glass the inside next weekend. Check out the website for more pics.

Elie

Lookin good man, lookin good.



Josh

Elie, the boat is lookin very good. Nice work.

Also, Ill take that motard bike off your hands!

E

Great job Elie.

It feels great to reach that milestone... and then you see the empty inside of the hull and think of how much is left!

After the inside glassing, things start to be smaller and more manageable steps. Just a lot of them.

Keep at it when you get settled up North.

Thanks guys.

Bob: For me, that empty hull is motivating. I get to really get an idea of what the boat will be like to fish. I get to start customizing the thing to my needs. Most importantly, I get to not sand for a little while. Cripes, I hate sanding. I haven't been this excited since I started stitching.

Spokaloo: Sorry, but the Duke rides with me. Quirky bike, but great for around town. I don't ride often enough to justify spending more money, but one day I'll own my dream bike from undergrad, a Ducati 748S. I've got a few boats to build before then though.

Elie

Looks great, im jealous of all you guys your so far ahead of me. I got to see FlaFF(josh) boat in person, it got me siked! im gona try getting my ply wood this week

Josh R.

I got the bikes first, then the boats:



And yes, a 748 is a beautiful thing...

E

Gotta admit, I'm envious. That's the one I'm looking for right there. One day, man. One day.

Inside glass is finished. All went well.



Check out the website for a quick report and a few more pictures.

Elie

Spokaloo wrote:I got the bikes first, then the boats:



And yes, a 748 is a beautiful thing...

E

Sweet rides Spokaloo, looks like we share the same
paddock stand.

FLYonWALL9 wrote:looks like we share the same
paddock stand.

Scott, is that an NC-30? Chassis and fairing look right, but the tail's wrong. The wife wants one to keep me and my viffer company on ride-outs.

Super-Spook, sorry 'bout the little hi-jack there. Love those round chines - that boat looks like it should move effortlessly!

Regards,

Tim.

HI-JACK sorry........ aHHHHH he is a rider too I'm sure he doesn't mind much.

Yeah its a nc-30 and I love it. However, unless you can keep your pants on I would get her a nt650 its less hp and MUCH easier to find parts for. Like now I am having to replace the rear hub due to misuse of tools by past owner and chain adjustment. Also, have to wait on sprockets and chain. I have to wait months sometimes for parts. Its a fantastic bike, I have often thought I wanted a 750 or 800 VFR though. The bike has a very aggressive riding angle which she may not like on long rides however you can do like I did and get converti-bars for it and jack em up.

If you wanna you can mail me unless he hi-jack isn't minded. ...


Disreguard the above, I had my lunch thought about where you were and you should have no problems with the above. ITS a GREAT bike get her one and if she has a sister that wants to move to the US that likes ot ride
HOLLAH@!...

also mail me there is a great UK based webpage for these little bikes.

After a long hiatus due to our move, I've recently been setting up shop in a great new build space, and hope to start making some progress soon. Check out my website if interested.

Elie

Woohoo!
kEEP US POSTED!
Great lookin storage Elie

OK, let's do this one more time. I know I've said this before, but I've just started working on the boat and actually have a full head of steam going. I moved it into the garage in my new place, so no more excuses. For the poor souls who are actually interested and have given up hope that I would ever add anything to the blog again, I just figured I would give you a heads up. The new post just shows a little bit of progress, but expect steady posting all spring. I made a promise to myself that the first redfish will hit her shiny new deck by summer. Gotta keep one of those New Year's resolutions. Check out the link in my sig for my blog. Thanks guys.


Elie