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Well this is turning into a long project.

Unfortunately, I did not post an ongoing building history of the build of my CX19. I have now posted pictures of the build in the builders gallery http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.p ... er_name=on

The CX19 plans were ordered in the late summer of 2009 and I spent the winter reading them and dreaming of the boat that would come. In the spring of 2010 I found a supplier for Meranti and placed my order. The plywood arrived and I was committed. I spent most of the summer building the panels, assemblying a strongback and looking for a suitable location to build. I never found a truly suitable location, but decided to take over the garden instead.

By the end of the summer I had the hull assembled and glued and most of the outside of the hull glassed. The upper side panels were attached but had not been glassed yet. At some point I also realized that I would need a shelter. I purchased a 12' x 20' tent from Costco and set it up over the boat. While the shelter was nice, it did make for cramped working conditions.

Come winter, the hull was placed into hibernation.

In the Spring of 2011 I finished glassing the upper panels into place proeeded with fairing. I also ran out of my first batch of epoxy (5 gallons) and ordered my second batch (7.5 gallons). Between work, a cool spring and hot weather during the summer, my progress was slow. However, by the fall of 2011, I had the hull faired and the lifting strakes and spray rails were built and installed. I also managed to get the hull primed and a graphite bottom was rolled on (3-4 coats). I was reasonably happy with my progress and was confident it was time to flip.

Winter 2011 the hull was again placed into hibernation and my search for a trailer began. I had no luck over the winter and come spring 2012 I was still looking. I was about to place an order for a nice shiny new galvanized tandem when I stumbled on an older EZ loader singe axle. I purchased the trailer knowing that it was probably not adequate as my final trailer, but it should allow me to flip the hull and get back to building.

The spring of 2012 has proven to be a poor time for boat building for me. The weather has been cool and wet, my tent leaks a bit and the birds covered the boat with droppings. It is now the end of May and I really haven't done anything on the boat! However, since I purchased the trailer, I have cleaned and readied the hull for flipping. My plan is to try and get some strong guys together maybe on the weekend to flip the hull onto the trailer. One this is done, I can get back to work although I am looking at my epoxy reserves and will probably have to order more very soon. The tent is all but taken down although I left the roof in place for now as it affords the hull a bit of protection from the elements. Once the hull is flipped, I may not be able to reuse the tent so will be forced to tarp the hull after each work day. Not sure how well that is going to work.

Just keep plugging away, it will get done!

If you need any special help or you give up and need someone to finish her up for you, I'm over here in Spokane.

E

Spokaloo wrote:Just keep plugging away, it will get done!

If you need any special help or you give up and need someone to finish her up for you, I'm over here in Spokane.

E

Thanks Eric

I will NOT give up, ever. Just not in me!

However, I may very well take you up on the offer for assistance/answering questions, etc.

BTW, the wife and I spent a week in Couer d'Alene in March and as we passed through Spokane, I thought about calling you to look at your boats. Of course, that's all I did - think about it.

Luciano

Next time stop by ya dead beat!




E

Well, we did stop at Costco - everyone of them! I even found West Marine across from one of the Costco's (but didn't stop). BTW, that has to be one of the biggest Cabela's that I have ever seen.

APJaK; welcome to the forum! You will find it very helpful, most of what I have learned for this type of building has come from the great folks that all contribute and are happy to answer questions (not to mention have nice boats that they built themselves)

PS: I grew up in Vernon, but am out Toronto way now, mostly due to career. Lots of boating with all the lakes but I sure miss the west. I Still get out every chance I get, but only have one friend left in Vernon, the rest are on the Island, Cow Bay (great crabbing & prawning)

Cheers, talk to you soon and GOOD LUCK !

Hi Mark

Nice to hear from you. Actually, I have been a casual member for a couple of years now. You're correct, there is a lot of knowledge on this forum and it certainly helps when a question crops up.

I am born/bred in BC and have lived everywhere, including Van Isle (Victoria, Nanaimo, Quadra Island, etc.). Years (lots of them) ago, I was a dock rat at April Point on Quadra. Story was we had the largest privately owned fleet of Boston Whalers (13-25 ft) in the world and were a major purchaser of Evinrude engines. Made a great time for fishing and exploring as we were located 15 minutes South of Seymour Narrows. There are some serious tides/currents in this area. Spent a lot of time surfing the wake of the cruise ships as well - much to the annoyance of the captains. My CX is to allow me to spend a bit more time back on the coast although in a more laid back style .

Luciano, Best wishes and press on with your build. You live in a wonderful place. My wife and I have visited Victoria on business and love the people and area.

I'm 6 months behind my projected build out and our winters are mild.

Southern Gent wrote:Luciano, Best wishes and press on with your build. You live in a wonderful place. My wife and I have visited Victoria on business and love the people and area.

I'm 6 months behind my projected build out and our winters are mild.

Victoria (Vancouver Island) has much milder climate than Kelowna so the building season might have been a little longer for me as well. However they can get a lot more rain. If (when?) I build another one I need to find an indoor building location. I never set a schedule for my build, so I am not technically behind schedule, but I do take a lot of - friendly? - ribbing from friends and family. Oh well, I remember the tale of the little red hen! When it comes time to go fishing, we'll see who is laughing

Hope your build is coming along - I am hoping to flip my hull this weekend.

Looks like a once a year update!

Boat has been flipped onto trailer. My wife and I glassed the inside of the hull using four almost full sheets of 50" wide glass. What a job. Between no place to stand and a wobbly hull in 40 degree Celsius weather it was a very trying ordeal. The stringers and frames have all been glassed into place. The upside of this is the incredible stiffening of the hull. No more floppy sides. Again, I have had a slow start this spring but have finally started building the cabin. I am working completely outdoors which means tarping at the end of each work day. This is no fun.

It is nice to see my plywood stockpile dwindling away as the pieces get cut and placed into the boat. Found that the plan dimensions for the deck are a good starting point, but cannot be relied on to cut the parts. This is probably due to the tolerances at each step of the hull build. For this reason, I have been using a lot of templates to get the final shape correct before cutting the expensive marine ply. I also ordered another 4.5 gallons of Marinepoxy, some flotation foam and paint. This should be the last of my epoxy needs (now 16.5 gallons purchased/11 gallons used). Not too far off the BOM at 15 gallons, but I also purchased a gallon or so of glue and fairing putty.

Started building agin this morning, but the rain is back so I took a break and decided to update my project build info. New photos coming soon I hope.

Well, although I kept a build log on my local computer, I didnt post one. In an effort to preserve some of this infiormation and perhaps share some information, I intend to post some of the build information now, post build. As a result, some of the pictures may be slightly out of order. I didnt always document the process as well as I should have so have to sometimes use later photos to illustrate a point.

The begining:

The CX19 is a large boat and unfortunately, I simply did not have room to build indoors. Build started outdoors in my wife's garden. I soon found the need to add a tent. Even so, build was limited to summer months.

Preparation:

Large side panels were assembled in my driveway and then moved to the construction site. The transom and intermediate frames were small enough to build in the garage.

Building and assemby of panels and frames. As parts were completed, they were moved to the strongback and initial assembly was started. In the picture above you can see the port side upper overlap panel. I left tabs on the panels during glue up to aid in clamping. These were subsequently removed.
In this picture you can see the cabin wall has been temporarily made from a piece of regular plywood. This will eventually be replaced with marine grade plywood as well but using a temporary structure here allows me to keep the hull lower to the strongback.
The transom is hung
The first bottom hull panels are draped over the skeleton. Here you can also see the temporary bow frames which will be removed later on in the process.

Once the strongback had been built and the station frames attached and aligned, the premade panels were hung over them and sticthed together. Learned some lessons here, it is easy to build in weird shapes. Make sure the bottom of the boat is flat and follows the stringers. Mine wanted to hump up just behind the bow. It took some effort to flatten the hump. In the end, I think it might have been due to me fastening the sides of the panels too tight which prevented them from moving out. Lesson is, take your time at this step. Once you start loacking panels together, you cannot change the hull shape. The infamous droopy bow also seems to occur at this step. In hindsight, I believe it is because the bow peak was allowed to move too far forwards. Again this was likely caused by me holding the side panels too tight towards the frames. It doesn't take much movement to change the overall shape of the boat.

Locking the panels together: I don't have a lot of pictures of this step. Essentially, I used a lot of different methods to align the panels, including zipties, wires, screws spacers, etc. Once the panels were aligned to the point I was happy, I locked them together with thickened epoxy tack welds. When the tack welds had cured, the temporary fasteners were all removed. Then the remaining panel spaces were welded together with more thickened epoxy. This meant use of tape as backing in some places to hold the epoxy in place. Once all the seams were welded, the first of many fairings began. In the picture above, you can see the upper overlapping panel (keep in mind the hull is upside down) still has a tab attached. I used these tabs to assist in clamping the panels together. They were cut off later. Now, it starts to really look like a boat.

Now we are ready to tape and glass the hull. The build schedule calls for various different taping schemes. Refer to the plans for details. In my case, IIRC the main keel seam was three pieces of tape, one centered, and one each off center to the left and to the right.

Taping the seams I also took this as an opportunity to start sealing the panels with raw epoxy. Red Solo cups quickly bcame my favourite container for mixing and using epoxy. They are cheap and the smaller size is great for mixing only a useable amount of epoxy at a time, especially on a hot day. Word of warning. If you leave a partially full cup too long and the epoxy starts to cure, the heat generated WILL melt the cup.

Once the taping was done, the job of glassing the hull can begin. Glassing the outside of the hull is a big job. However, as I would later learn, it is infinitely easier than glassing the inside!
Again, not too many pictures of the process as there is not a lot of time to stop and take pictures. Once you start it is a long few days. I had help from my wife and daughter for this process. It is really nice to have help at this stage.

This is followed by, you guessed it, more sanding. The cloth contains a weave that stands proud after the epoxy cures and must be sanded out. Its also a good time to fair off any sharp or proud edges.

Once the hull had been glassed, the weave filled and everything faired to the point I was happy with or it, or at least didnt want to do anymore sanding, I gave the entire hull several coats of System 3 high build primer.
I also opened the side of the tent to get a better look at what was now starting to really look like a boat. In fact, I was so excited I couldn't help but flip the hull, even if only virtually!

Back to reality. The hull is still uipside down on the building jig.

The next step was to add the appendages, including spray rail, etc. I spent a lot of time agonizing over these. In the end, I went with what you see below.
This was also a good chance to sharpen up the trailing edge of the hull to make sure the water would seperate cleanly off the back of the boat. Once the spray rails and lifting strakes were attached, glassed and faired in place, it was time to coat the wetted part of the hull with an epoxy graphite mixture. The idea is to make a hard durable surface on the bottom of the boat where it is likely to see a lot of abrasive action. The first step was setting the Datum Water Line or DWL as per the plans. At this point, you really begin to appreciate how little water this big boat will draw. Draft is designed at 20cm or 8".
Its now time to flip the hull. This is a major milestone in the build process.

Time to flip the hull. This means lifting the boat off of its construction frame and leaving the strong back behind. The hull is very flexible at this point and will require temporary reinforcing to ensure it stays in the correct shape. You also need something to flip it onto. Originally, I had intended to build a cradle to continue construction, but in the end I found a used trailer of the appropriate size so chose to use that instead. The downside of the trailer is that you don't have as much support of the hull as you would with a properly designed cradle. This means the next steps must always include double checking of the alignment of the hull. This is imperative until at least you have the frames and stringers welded into place.

Flipping: OK, so I didn't actually get any pictures of the flip. I was so worried about it, that it was all I could think about. In the end, a handful of neighbors and a bunch of their kids had it flipped onto the trailer before I even knew what happened. You can see here I have some temporary reinforcements installed to help hold the shape of the hull.

The next step is to tape and glass the interior of the hull. This is essentially the same process as for the outside, but it turns out it is much harder to work on a inside surface than an outside one. Especially when you really have few places to stand. The advantage here is that much of the glass work will be covered up during construction so you don't have to be quite so concerned with the finish;

Inner glassing:

Now is the time to place the stringers back into the hull for the final time. This will be followed by adding the stations or frames in as well. Remember the temporary cabin frame? That now needs to be replaced with the final marine plywood frame. I chose not to fully cut the doorway at this point in order to maintain some rigidity in this panel. Now it is important to remember some of the building tips you have learned, especially the advice against creating hard spots. All members must be spaced away from the hull and the gaps filled with thickened epoxy. This is not really hard to do, but is time consuming and as it turns out, uses a lot of epoxy and filler. Quick note here. I had obtained about 5 gallons of very fine sanding dust from a local cabinet shop that worked very well as a thickener. For some reason, later in the build when I ran out of the original sanding dust, I could never find more that worked as well as the first batch. Im still not sure why, but keep this in mind if you try and use the same. Some works well, others not so well.

Stringers: A couple of frames being used to set the alignment and spacing of the strigers Here you can see the differences betweek the Inboard and Outboard stringers and how the knees fit to the transom. The stringers are imperative to transfer the force of the motor into the hull of the boat.

Frames: Don't forget to add chase tubes. The larger and the more, the better. Ask me how I know this!

Once the stringers and frames are locked in place there will be a noticeable improvement in the stiffness of the hull. The next step is to begin by adding the motorwell and associated floor. This is the time to carefully consider what options you want on your boat. If you need chase tubes, through hull fittings, drains, etc. Start thinking about where they will go, what additional construction steps might be required and where you might need backing plates. While some of this can be done later, it is much easier to anticipate the needs now. Also decide where you will put any hatches and if you are going to build them or purchase them. In the previous post you can see the beginnings of a home made hatch for the anchor locker. I built this into the frame before installing the frame in the boat. This makes construction much simpler!

Note: Although the build log shows distict steps in the evolution of the boat, reality was not nearly so organized. You can see from some of the floor pictures, that I had built the cabin before all of the floor was placed down. In fact, much of my progress depended upon whether or not I could work outdoors so I adapted my build to my reality. You will likely do the same. Don't worry about it, but always be thinking several steps ahead so you dont forget anything. Some people like lists, some people keep it in their head. I am in the latter camp and spend a lot of time just thinking about the next steps.

motor well: I then started closing off floor sections. First step is to add glueing strips around the outer perimeter of each compartment you are going to close, make sure it is completely watertight and then fill with marine expanding foam. This stuff is fun to watch but makes a hell of a mess - be careful.

Floors: Looking down into the cockpit of the boat. Two partial floors on each side of the fuel tank compartment have been installed and glassed. The foward floor, which will be one piece, has not yet been installed.
I chose to glass my floors and tab them to the hull sides for a completely water tight and super strong structure.
Looking back through the fuel tank compartment towards the transom. Note the stepped cutout in the motor well bulkhead. This is necessary to install the fuel tank. It will then be closed off with another small panel.
This is a busy space. You can see the chase tubes as well as the stringers and the glue strips to faciliate attaching the floor. All of this was filled with marine expanding foam before closing. You will also notice that one of the port side chase tubes comes up through the floor. Early on I had decided to place the batteries and switchgear under the port side seat. This chase facilitates access for the battery and other power cables. It turns out, it was a tight fit from this compartment to the cabin, mainly because there is a two plane directional change as it enters the cabin. Plenty of wire pull luibricant was essential to getting the 1/0 battery cables pulled.

Between the middle stringers, immediately in front of the fuel tank I build a compartment. Originally, I intended to place a hatch in the floor for access to this compartment. In the end, I decided against it and simply closed it off. It was completely sealed, but included a drain to the bilge. I also filled it with foam before closing it off. Its still there if I ever choose to open an access port, but I think it will remain buried at least for now.
Fitting final floor piece.

The deck and cabin are next in the process. The cabin was built as a complete component before adding it to the boat. While this worked well, it did mean I had a small misalignment between the cabin reinforcing member and the hull frame. If I did it again, I would have added the cabin frame after installing the cabin to the hull.

Cabin: As you can probably see, there is a lot of work fitting the cabin to the hull, welding it in place and then trimming it out. I had a large amount of frustration with the cabin front. This small piece of plywood really wanted to be bent in two planes, something that plywood simply will not do. In the end, I used a lot of fairing compound. This is probably the only place on the entire boat where I experienced such a level of frustration.

Cabin fitup:

Once attached, I could start fitting up the cabin. It is pretty simple as its not very large. However, it does contain a raised bed area, step down for entry, backside of the console and several storage compartments, including a locker for the anchor in the front.

Fuel tank was constructed by a local fabrication shop to my design, based on ABYC standards (33CFR 183.510(a)). It was constructed of AL5052 aluminum and is approximately 125 litres. The tank is nominally 50" long x 18.5" wide and 9" deep in the middle. Fuel is filtered through two Racor water seperator/filters a 10 micron and a 2 micron. There is a fuel shutoff at the tank and a primer bulb on the feed line. Vent line is fitted with a Parker Lifeguard to help prevent spills. The filler is a stainless steel flip top and is bonded to the tank and the boats electrical ground.

The tank has been pressure tested. It is baffled and vented and is mounted to the stringers of the vessel. It should last a long time I hope. Although I have left the hatch covering the tank removable, to actually remove the tank would mean a lot of work and include cutting a notch in the motor well frame again. I hope to NEVER have to do this!

Fuel Tank:

After the construction process started to finish up, it was time to start working on the finishing touches.

The boat was painted with System Three Yacht Primer, followed by System Three WRU Polyurethane topcoat in Orcas White on the exterior hull. Bilge was painted with Interlux Seattle Gray. For now, it has no color accents. This may change in the future.

I always wanted a wooden boat similar to the 1960's Chris Crafts so I decided to treat myself to a small amount of brightwork. The windshield and cuddy door/hatch are made from Sapele Mahognay finished with several coats of clear epoxy and topped with a suitable UV resistant coating. These two pieces will require continuous upkeep but I think they look nice. For now they stay. If it becomes too much, I may paint them in the future. The "glass" is actually Arcyrlic bronze 4.5mm thick custom cut pieces. They are 'glued in place with polyurethane sealant and held in by rubber mounted stainless steel screws.
mockup
build final

There are many other details of the build not already covered so I will continue to add details as I think of them. For now, a few more pictures:
no one would lend me their motor drill template, so I made my own. Spent a lot of time 'thinking'. I guess thats my process!
Two group 31 AGM batteries, BlueSea ON/Off/Combine battery switch and ACR. 24hour power fuse. All wired with Ancor 1/0 mains. start of main power console in cuddy. BlueSea fuse blocks.

Not yet shown, Yamaha MFD Speedometer and Tachometer. Ritchie F83 compass, Teleflex CH7641P throttle/shift with Teleflex eXtreme cable set. Teleflex Seastar hydraulic helm and ram controlling a Yamaha F115XB 25"long leg motor and all sitting on an old EZloader trailer.

Still to come Navigation chart plotter, bow rails, cover, etc.

I still have to mount the downriggers, rod holders, cup holders, etc. but she's looking like a boat at this point.
Out of under the tent. Time to get a motor. GA Checkpoint has been storing my Yamaha F115B long leg motor since last fall thanks to COVID. Back through the mountains. Pennask Summit elevation 1728m. Tows very well, not too heavy. Launched September 2021.

Great looking boat - nice to see another C19 variant hit the water...

TomTom wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:11 pm Great looking boat - nice to see another C19 variant hit the water...

Thank you. And I agree, not too many C19 series hulls in the threads. They seem to be a very capable boat, although my experience is still very limited.

Thank you for posting those photos . Excellent job on your C19!

I did not realize how long you have been building the boat. You have my congratulations for sticking with it and getting it done. That is a hard thing to do.

Fuzz wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 1:52 pm I did not realize how long you have been building the boat. You have my congratulations for sticking with it and getting it done. That is a hard thing to do.

Yup, its actually a bit embarrassing! However, Life takes priority over boat building so it is what it is. I am happy that it's 'done' as well. Thanks to the support of the people on this bulletin board and just plain old stubbornness I guess.

Very nice build, I like the CX19 layout. I was wondering if you know the measurement from the sole to the top of the cabin, and also the top of the windshield?

OneWayTraffic wrote: ↑Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:31 am Very nice build, I like the CX19 layout. I was wondering if you know the measurement from the sole to the top of the cabin, and also the top of the windshield?

Very roughly, my boat has the following measurements:

sole - deck = 66cm (≈26")
sole - cabin top = 116cm (≈45.6")
sole - windshield top = 170cm (≈67")

Whether or not these reflect the designer's intention is unknown. FWIW, the cabin top is cambered so the measurements are somewhat less at the sides. shown above is approximately at the highest point, but keep in mind that there is a passageway to the cuddy at this point so the framing and doors add to this measurement as well.

Hope that helps.

Heights are quite similar to my C17, both for cockpit depth and the cabin. The C17 cabin has more camber in it; 1160mm to the top at the sides, and 1300mm near the middle. A windshield like yours would look nice on top, especially if I made it a little lower to be proportional to the C17's smaller size. I'm still dithering over it, but the standard layout is not my preferred one.

OneWayTraffic remember once you have the sole down you can play to your hearts desire. Especially with the shape of the cabin. Jacques designed it to have sitting room under it. So if you want to change it a little feel free, you may not be as tall as us yanks.

Tom

Wintertime

Everything is slowing down now, but I have managed to get a few more small items taken care, including the bow rails and the rear seats
Also a quick action shot on the water. Nice sunny but cold day. Last trip of the year, now wrapped up for winter.

That is one fine looking boat. Might have been a tad chilly on that last ride.

Thanks Fuzz. Yes it was a bit chilly. But nice and sunny!

Time to do some indoor work for a while. Come spring I still have some further details to finish up but at least we can use it now. Looking forward to really trying it out next summer.