Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

After a little aggravation(self inflicted) I have an album started on the FS 14 we're building. Put the boot stripe on tonight, ready to flip over and final touchups on the topsides. We did the finishing up top first (for a long winded reason!) Now we're waiting on the new outboard thats on order, some fuel, rodholders and were off. New pictures will be added soon.

URL: http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pos=-11720

Looks awesome! Very inspiring, I'll be starting mine this summer.

retro,
Thank you for your remarks.
I think it is a right of passage to successfully post an album. As a result some of the pix aren't that great. If I earn my "album creating diploma", I will change them out for some better ones. I also want to post in one place the changes I made during construction, I know before I started there were several things I was looking for previous expertise on and maybe I can give some insight to somebody else.

Your FS14 looks good, and you made good progress

OK, we've gotten to splashdown on our FS14, put a brand new Merc 15hp on and we've done some running around on the lake. The boat handles great, jumps up on plane, but then starts to porpoise some. We've tried adjusting the transom angle on the motor, but it only planes out with the angle closest to the transom. If the motor is trimmed out to the third spot, she will stay bow high and not plane out.This all happens with just the operator sitting on the stern seat. When there is a passenger either in the bow seat or the middle seat, she still porpoises but not nearly as much. I know the bottom was flat, I kept an eye on that during construction., The only addition I made was a skeg about 42" long and 4" high tapered to an inch high forward.
I came across a post for trim tabs, called "Smart Tabs" I will go that way if necessary. Any Ideas?

It sounds like boat balance trim. take a fairly heavy weight and put it in the bow. I imagine that won't have a problem.

Congratulations on the launch but the boat should not porpoise.

The center of lift is about 42% of the waterline forward of the transom. That is where the center of gravity should be.
With a tiller motor and alone in the boat, you need a tiller extension. It can be a simple PVC pipe.
With a passenger, try to find the proper balance.
Put weights forward: gas tank if possible, ground tackle, stuff.
It's a small boat, sensitive to weight.

OK, that makes it understandable. At 42% puts it right at the mid seat. A tiller extension could be a problem, you can't get to the gearshift. I think I'll get some weight into the bow locker. I was thinking the FS14 couild be a cute little center console, maybe someday we'll convert it that way.
Any thoughts on the tabs, waste of time and money?[/img]

You don't shift while you are on plane.
Check Bass Proshop, they have tiller extensions for around $ 30.00 and they control the throttle. A PVC pipe will also work and cost$ 2.00.
The center of gravity is not the only thing to watch. You should also spread the weights, get some weight forward.
Tabs will help but try to sit in the middle first.

How about one of these?

I thought about the motor fins, but I'd hate to drill thru our brand new motor to experiment. I have no prior experience with them. Anybody tells me they work for this I'd listen. Otherwise we'll try the bow weight and the tiller extension deal. Thanks for the suggestion. Also, any ideas on how to register a home built boat in North Carolina?


BTW: My son (who is 27 yrs old with bit of a mental handicap), absolutely loves running the boat. He took it out alone last night for the first time and did very well driving at all speeds. He can't wait to go fishing on Lake Norman with it. We painted it "Petty" or "Tar Heel" blue which he picked out and finally came up with a name: "Blue Heron" cause we get them around our house on the lake. Other than eating fiberglass dust for a few weeks and having a separate hamper for "boat building clothes" this was a great experience and I would do it again. (Larger!!)

If you do a search you will find some have used the Smart Tabs and as far as I can tell they seem to work great. I would rather go that route than start adding weight. I did uses those fins on one boat I had and they did work very well to stop the boat from porpoising and keep the bow down before it got up on plane. Just seems a shame to drill holes in a new motor

You don't have to add weight, you have to move the weights.
This is strange.
The solution is simple but we discuss trim tabs instead of going for the very simple solution of sitting forward when alone. That is the way it should be done in every boat, not only our designs.
It's like saying: I can't sleep; he doctor tells me it's all the coffee I drink at night but I prefer to have the coffee and take sleeping pills.

It's the weight.

For a single person, shift into gear while idling, move to the middle seat and then throttle up from there. To stop such as coming to a dock, slow down first so you come off plane, move aft, and shift into neutral. Found the exact same thing on a GV11 with a 15 HP motor. That's a lot of power for a small light boat

Ok, we'll go the tiller extension route this weekend and see how we do.
Thanks.

Link for my gallery.

[http://forums.bateau2.comindex.php?cat=17197]

PS: I could not figure out how to post an active link to my gallery.

remove the brackets...

http://forums.bateau2.comindex.php?cat=17197

Rob, here is the page from the NC Fish & Game on registration and titleing a boat. As I understand it any new boat 14' and over has to be both titled and registered as of Jan. 1, 2007.

The main thing is to gather up your reciepts to have for the title office to prove you built the darn thing. It really doesn't sound to ominous. Just another way for the State to jerk us around. It has been a while since I read these, you may have to get a form and send it to Raleigh.

The local game warden does the registration, as far as I could tell from what I could read from this.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/fs_index_01_license.htm

Good luck with it.

Tom

Very nice looking boat Rob.. Looks like tons of fun.

Very nice looking boat. You did a better job with your boot line than I did on the FS12.
Now that I see where you sit, I understand the porpoising. I'm surprised you even got the boat on plane!

Clean design, clean build! Looks great! Congrats!

Hey ks8, what part of LI are you in? We moved to NC in 1995 from Center Moriches, LI. Lived on the water, (had bigger boats than an fs14!)

TomW, Thanks for the heads up on the NC boat Reg. I'll follow your tips and the link to get it done. I always thought NY made you take the long way around( & around) to get anything done, but NC has second place sewed up.

Jacquesmm, I take your complement to heart on my bootstripe. I've had some experience over the years with my Long Island boats, some wood, some glass. My old "leaky Luhrs" lapstrake took the cake in painting. I used to start caulking and painting in late Feb. just to get her in the water and sealed up for mackeral season in april.

Part of my split personality is a few miles southwest of Adventureland (rt 110 in Melville?)

The other part is in a little place called Wake Forest. Maybe you've heard of it?

TomW wrote: http://www.ncwildlife.org/fs_index_01_license.htm

Clicking on the map here:
http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/arti ... world.html

I ended up on this page

http://www.ncwildlife.org/fs_index_05_boating.htm

Is that the right page? (verifying that my links are correct and up to date)

Tony

ks8 wrote:Part of my split personality is a few miles southwest of Adventureland (rt 110 in Melville?)

The other part is in a little place called Wake Forest. Maybe you've heard of it?

I'm familiar with both. My wife talks of going to Adventureland when she lived in Massapequa. We go to Wake Forest for some of the Special Olympics state games we coach with. Do you have an "investment" there?

Where will you use your boat,North shore or South?

Tony you are okay, that is the general(home) page which will eventually lead to the licensing page. I just saved him some time by giving him the specific licensing page. Use mine to save time on finding info on NC titles and registations. You still have to click the vessel registration and titling information line.

Tom

As far as trimming the boat out, we put a tiller extension on, but it was too hard to use because it comes off the motor at an upward angle, especially with the motor trimmed in, and it is just too long to easily use. We then moved the battery up into the bow locker, and that seemed to do the trick. She jumps up on plane real flat and has a slight bobble as she runs at full throttle, but if you back off the rpm's a bit, she runs great. Thanks Evan and Jaqcues for you advice.

racerrob wrote:

Where will you use your boat, North shore or South?

Both, and Vermont, Maine, NC, Florida... that's the plan anyway.