Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

Actually, I haven't started the build yet. I ordered the plans on the the 7th and received them on the 11th of Feb 04. I've been reading and rereading them. This is my first attempt at building a boat of any kind. I'm looking forward to the experience. I plan to build the D5 and power it with a 2.5 mercury.

wish me luck...

No luck required. You will do fine. You will make mistakes and you will learn from those mistakes. When you are done, you will be a pro. Oh, one more thing....You will have a great little boat for fishing.

Take your time and enjoy the process!

Dan

7 Feb 2003

I ordered the plans for a D5 pram online from bateau.com $35 + $5 shipping.

11 Feb 2004

My plans arrived today. I’m hoping I can start buying my wood within the next day or so.

14 Feb 2004

I bought some polyurethane adhesive, clamps, chip brushes, latex gloves. I already had some 1/4" birch plywood from another project. It’s not 1/4 true, but I think it will work. I traced out the sides and cut them out. Justine, my daughter, helped me with the bottom pieces. I hope to get some 3/4" birch ply soon for the frames and transoms. All I have is for funny looking pieces of wood, but they look cool to me. I'll probably post pictures with the next posting...

15 Feb -- I bought a sheet of 3/4" birch and 3/4" exterior grade today. I'm using the birch for the bow and stern transoms and the seat bench tops. I cut the transoms. Plan to cut the frames from the exterior grade ply tomorrow. After fishing that is. My daughter and I are taking our canoe out to Guana Lake first thing in the morning (weather permitting), hoping for a Red Fish and the ever illusive speckled sea trout.

Once I figure out how to post a pic, I'll give you a visual on our progress...

Here's a link to a progress pic

http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pos=-484

Justine's a nut...

We tried to fish this morning, toooo windy... Almost flipped the canoe... That's what I needed. Just a little more motivation to finish the Bass Tub.

DF,

I don't think you should stick your boat together with poly... adhesive. Its against the rules. AND it will come unglued, really!

Dave

Thanks for keeping me in line. Back to the store I go...

Thanks again,

Yeah,

poly will just come undone. Gotta have some real epoxy

I think the small boat kit available at boat builder central would do it...

Okay, first problem... I guess I'm lucky, I can't finish the seams anyway. Every part was "measured twice and cut once", so I'm very confident my cut pieces are true to the plans. BUT... The bottom seems to be too big!? About 1 inch on length and 1 inch on width. Do I just "massage it into shape" or trim to fit? Since it looks like I'll be waiting for a few materials, I've got plenty of time to work the issue. Which way do I go?

v/r,

Is this 1 inch excess present even when you have the bottom stitched on? Or is this just from eye-balling it when you lay the bottom pieces on the frame? If the latter, it may simply be that you aren't allowing for the curve. If the former, seems to me you should trim.

When I built my D4, there were mostly gaps between pieces, except at the front corners where I think I had a tiny bit of excess, but because it was so little the beltsander took care of it in no time. Sanding off an inch all the way around, though, would be a different story.

Andrew

I had a similar problem with the bow on my D5 and i also measured at least 3 times..

.

I found that the edges of the side panels did not match the sides of the bow transom. The top edge of the side panel was above the curved edge where they meet. I rechecked the length of the sides of the transom and they were correct, so i must of messed something up on the side panels... Since i was not going to recut them, i had two choices left. Make the existing pieces work together, or cut a modified transom for the bow. Since cutting the new transom was going to be my final option, i played with the transom and found that by changing the angle, i could get the edges to match and not have a large gaps. I was fairly sure, that on a D5, a couple of degrees from the design wasn't going to be a big deal.
Since then i have trimmed the excess wood and filletted and taped the outside seam.. No one would ever know i messed up, except for the fact i posted my mistake.

i have heard that building a boat is more art than science..

I think this part is the art of building a boat.

Disclaimer: This solved my problems but may not work for all.

Cheers.

[img]gallery/albums/userpics/11943/IM001231.JPG[/img]

Sorry for the additional posts, but the url specified in the galleries is not the actual location of the pic.... I will post the bug in the other forum

My woodflour and fiberglass tape arrived yesterday! I've loosely "tacked" the bottom of the boat to the frames and transoms with drywall screws. This did confirm that the bottom on my D5 is not a perfect fit. My measuring or the plans? I don't know. I don't really care, I'm having a good time with this build.
With the basic hull trued and squared (corner to corner), I'm going to trace new lines at the overlapping points and trim those areas back. Then I'll tack the bottom back on, epoxy the inner seams, let them cure, "putty" the inner seams, let them cure and see what happens then. I'll give you an update on how this turned out in a couple of days.

v/r,

For those of you following the Bass Tub, I've posted photos in the gallery...

v/r,

dinghy,

The boat is looking great.. I bet you are enjoying yourself..

I wonder can you tells us about the mods you have made to the seating arrangement.. Is that a seat down the center.

Are you installing the sailing option..

dinghyfisherman wrote:My woodflour and fiberglass tape arrived yesterday! I've loosely "tacked" the bottom of the boat to the frames and transoms with drywall screws. This did confirm that the bottom on my D5 is not a perfect fit. My measuring or the plans? I don't know. I don't really care, I'm having a good time with this build.
With the basic hull trued and squared (corner to corner), I'm going to trace new lines at the overlapping points and trim those areas back. Then I'll tack the bottom back on, epoxy the inner seams, let them cure, "putty" the inner seams, let them cure and see what happens then. I'll give you an update on how this turned out in a couple of days.

v/r,

I had the same bottom panel problem on both D4's I have built. Either I can't measure and cut or the panels are just a bit too long. It's not a problem though. You should be able to get the panel to meet up pretty close with tight stitches but you will have to sand off a bit. You will probably need to sand off just a bit at the transom as well.

One important point - DO NOT begin to filet without first placing adhesive tape (like duct tape, not to be confused with the fiberglass tape) on the outside of the boat over the seams. I made this mistake on the first D4 I built. On my latest (current) D4 I had tape on the seams to hold the putty in place and it worked great. You will have a ton of sanding to do if you do not use tape on the outside seams.

--Matt

My daughter and I finished the boat in May. I've had it out many times and love it. I think I've caught some kind of boat building bug. I'm ready to start another project. My wife says I've got to build her a deck out back first. I'll get the rest of my build photos up on the builders gallery soon. Sorry for dropping out of sight , but I've had so much fun with this little boat, I got side tracked.[/img]