sd11 Semi-Dory - CNC kit

[NicoCatrix]

I decided that I wanted a sailboat for my little family and I, so I went and bought the SD11 CNC kit. I looked for marine plywood around my area, and found absolutely none. So I just bought the kit. It arrived in good shape at the freight terminal and the wood looked to be of great quality. Only issue was that the transom cutout was missing, but there was plenty of leftover 9mm ply, so I just cut my own.

Note: I didn't have a jigsaw. Used a handsaw and a rasp and cut it the way they teach you how to derive the formula for the diameter of a circle by splitting it up into thousands of tiny triangles (remember that from Geometry/Calculus?). I have since bought a jigsaw.

So the goal is this: Sailboat with oars for backup power. I finally got some free time to get thing started, and I opened the kit about 2 weeks ago. Here is what it looked like:.

The CNC kits really do make it easy. The parts all fit together well, and if you've watched the tutorials on the bateau.com website, once you have all the pieces in front of you, it is very intuitive. I read the plans ahead of time to be sure, but I don't think I've looked at them in a week. The only downside to the kits is that some of the cuts are not cut all the way through, and you have to hand saw them (or jigsaw) yourself, and then sand down the edges (which can cause a great many splinters).

So then you glue the butts.

They sit overnight. (Maybe longer if you live in one of those cold northern climes. Here in Alabama, epoxy cures fast. Very fast.)

And then you stitch the chines and transom and it looks like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/240 ... M00012.jpg

I used Gorilla duct tape to tape the bottom to the chines. Easy stuff - see - It presented no problems in the filleting process later. Then your 3 year old wants to get in the sailboat (which he's decided shall be Blue and shall named "Sailboat"), and you put the 5 month old in there to be fair in case these photos show up on facebook in later years. And you all look like this:.

And then the real work starts: EPOXY!! This is a big step for a first timer because unlike everything done heretofore, you A) haven't done epoxy work before, and B) tape and tie-wraps are un-doable. There is no reset button on epoxy. But just be careful, and if you use the Ziploc bags, use the heavy duty ones. Those corners DO tear if you push them hard. It gets worse once the epoxy gets hot and sticky.

My first fillets were honestly a bit too runny, but I think it worked fine ultimately. You just have to work really really fast and maybe the Alabama heat helped me out in this regard because I never had a problem with the fillets dripping.
See front:
See back:

I know that the transom looks a bit messy. I underestimated the lightness of the fiberglass tape and didn't predict how easily it would move under the brush strokes. But luckily the transom is covered by the rear seat in this boat, so it should be fine. Hopefully. Let me know if anyone knows a solution for fairing this down. Would a circular grinder work?

And here, I deviated from the plan. My nails didn't work well to keep the frames in well, so I gave up on perfection and recalled the Jacques/Shine guide which says you can have a gap of up to 1/2". Lucky for me, that was correct. I had a solid 1/4" gap between the frame edges and the chines. But once I'd filleted and taped them, it seemed unnoticeable. See:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/240 ... M00019.jpg[/img]

And that is where I am tonight.

Thus far, I've put in about 6 sessions of 1/2 to 1.5 hours each. I will return with updates when they are available.

This is my first build, and I have some minor woodworking experience, but I would very much appreciate any help and advice that you veterans can provide.

[jacquesmm]

Thanks for the report.
Great picture with the kids.

So, you have about 10 hours in it and the boat is assembled, all inside seams done. That is nice.
Don't worry about the looks of your fiberglass work: as long as you don;t any air bubbles, it will be fine. By the time you work on the outside, you will have acquired more experience and it will look smoother.

About the kit: sorry again for the machine missing the transom. It decided to skip that part
For the tabs, we must use them for shipping. If not, all the small parts would move around and this would increase the risk of damage.

Keep us up to date on your progress.

[NicoCatrix]

That's good to know about the fiberglass.

Regarding the panels : the tabs weren't the problem. It was that in some places, the CNC cutter did not completely penetrate the ply, so some sawing out was necessary. It really was not much trouble and only added about 20 minutes to the project. In terms of actual work put in (as opposed to standing around looking at it and playing with the kids), I really have put no more than 8 hours into it. Once you get the hang of the filleting process, you understand the need to work quickly and are able to do so effectively.

And for the transom, don't fret about that at all. It only set me back about 30 minutes max because the plans had a full size cutout that I just stenciled onto the ply and cut.

I know that other builds out there look prettier at this stage, but it really is easy, even for a first-timer. I mean, it took me less than 8 hours to go from a plywood jigsaw puzzle to a thing that would float if I threw it in a lake. That's about as easy as it gets. I couldn't have asked for a simpler system. Hopefully, by the time I get to the outside, I'll be more effective and produce a prettier final product.

[gstanfield]

Looking good for a first timer and it's great to see the little ones having fun with the build as well! Keep up the good work and you'll be on the water having fun in no time