Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

That thing is PRUUUUUUUUUUUUDY. Great color choices

Finally got the interior painted and some fittings installed. They may only be inspection ports, but they signify that I'm close to the end.
The oars are also coming along nicely. It is a LOT of work making oars and I made it worse for myself by not buying lumber that was close to final dimensions, but it's been a fun learning curve and I'm probably stupid enough to do it again some day!
I made an oar blade bending jig, the blades are two pieces of 4mm plywood, with the grain at 90 degrees to each other. I put them in the jig, steaming them with a floor steamer mop as I stacked them up and left them for a week. They held the curve quite well.

Did you go with the non standard seating arrangement just to add the flotation compartments, or were there other reasons?

Sorry if I missed the mention, but it sure looks like you made a hole in the bottom of your boat, and I was wondering why! Is it a drain hole? If so, how do you plan to plug it?

Netpackrat wrote: ↑Sun Nov 17, 2019 3:16 am Did you go with the non standard seating arrangement just to add the flotation compartments, or were there other reasons?

Yes, I added the front and rear buoyancy tanks for floatation and to really stiffen the hull with little weight penalty.

pee wee wrote: ↑Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:23 am Sorry if I missed the mention, but it sure looks like you made a hole in the bottom of your boat, and I was wondering why! Is it a drain hole? If so, how do you plan to plug it?

I have a block of cedar on the inside of the hull, shaped to accept a small bung right down on the sole. I'm not worried about the drag that small hole will create on the outside, it will be negligible. But it means that if I leave the boat out right way up in the rain, or when I wash the boat down, it will drain.
I am also counting on the fact that with the buoyancy I have added, if I swamp the boat, I can pull the bung and get rid of most of the water on board simply by allowing the buoyancy tanks to provide buoyancy and help self drain the boat to a certain level. The hole is heavily angled too, I am hoping maybe for a slight venturi effect if I row fast enough, but unlikely!

Nice work!! Jeff

Put down some left over non skid material on the boat today, used the rest of it on some dog ramps. I think it looks great! It's an EVA foam material with a self adhesive backing. The self adhesive has held up well indoors with dogs on it, we'll see how it goes in the boat.
Also took a photo of the bung for those that are curious.
Finish the oars, sand and clearcoat the brightwork and I think it's done!

Very Nice! Beautiful Build!!

Again, great work!!! Jeff

That is one nice looking boat.