Frames in the boats- FL14

[Guest]

Hello! I have been eyeballing the FL14 for some time. I have a question about why some of the enclosed bench style seats are put in and if they can be changed. My brother built a stitch and glue boat last year and it had enclosed bench style seats in it. He used marine expoxy and did an excellent job in building it. He didn't put a drain plug in it as the plans didn't call for one. The boat was on a trailer with a 6 hp engine and as it rains a lot where he lives he bought a boat cover thinking that would solve any problems with water getting into the boat. Well it rained and the cover failed and the entire boat filled with water. The weight of all that water popped a seam along the rear seat and it filled bubbling up the top of the seat. It was a mess. Now all parts of the boat, including inside all the seats, were coated with epoxy. All seams were pre epoxied, filleted and taped and the entire outside covered with 7 oz cloth. All epoxy was carefully measured and there were no mistakes in that regard. I realize these seats are designed this way for floataion but after seeing what happened to his I am a bit spooked about doing it with mine. Can old style platform seats be put in to replace the bench style seats in the plans?? He took one look at the damage figured the boat wasn't safe if it popped apart like that and now rides around in a welded aluminum boat...A shame as it took me three years to talk him into building one. He was so proud of that boat. Everything was done right and per instructions. A shame it happened.

[Steve_MA]

Huh? I built an FL14. My seat benches have drain holes to let the water sit at the lowest point. The seats also have openings for storage. In smaller boats, some might totally seal the seat area to create and air pocket for flotation. In that case, they usually add an inspection port. I haven't seen any FL14 with sealed seat areas, but I havent been looking.

If an epoxy seam popped, it probably had more to do with either bad epoxy application or failed wood. The wood will fail before a properly done epoxy joint does and they aren't hard to do.

Actually, my F14 has been 100% full of water in sections, sitting tilted on shore and getting pummeled by waves. No problem.

I dont think you will have any problems if you following design guidelines and experience offered here.

[Charlie]

During the sailing season my D4 sits in the back of my pickup. Numerous times it was uncovered and filled about half-way with rain water. The seat assemblies are sealed with a water-tight access hatches. Nothing ever popped and no water ever got into the seat compartments. With even a partial load of water the boat is too heavy for me to move so I keep a siphon hose in the bed of the truck. Use it often.
The one thing that could have happened to your boat was it was not sufficiently supported across it's entire bottom and the weight of water became great enough to flex the hull and cause it to fail.
When a boat is in the water it is supported at all points in contact with the water. That can be a fairly large arear . That is not, necessarily, so when it is on the trailer.

[chicagoross]

You can easily drill holes at the bottom of the frames and epoxy a piece of PVC tubing in place; you can use this arrangement at the transom as well, and use a standard transom drain plug in it. That way you can still have sealed, foamed seats as well as clearing rainwater. Advantage this method is you staill have a high-floating boat if swamped, with much less water volume to bail - several safety factors there if you think about it.

[Lon]

I had limber hole, a through-the-sealed-seat 1/2 (split lengthwise) PVC drain tube and a transom Garboard drain plug in mine. It drained well when it was rained in but only with the bow raised quite high (because of the rocker bottom).

[jacquesmm]

What happened to that other boat is not normal but I read that the seams were 7 oz. tape, almost certainly woven, that menas they are 2 or 3 times weaker than our 12 oz. biaxial. The fiber orientation matters very much.

About water accumulation: I had several of my boats for years in my back yard, often filled with rain water and they didn't break.
The FS12 that I have now has limber holes and it drains through the transom.
That's the way to do it with the FL14 if you think that it will stay outside in the rain.

[Guest]

The boat in question was not one of your designs. It was a 12 ft Row Me from Glen L. It's a bit of an odd design even for a flat bottomed boat yet it performed very well. I had some concerns about it as the rear seat seemed awful small to help support the stress of the transom and sides. The sides are high and with the smallish seats there was a lot of pressure pushing outwards. I'm not a designer and it's just my opinion. The epoxy used was also not yours. It was from uscomposits.com. I now understand that he ran out of epoxy and used different types (Thin/thick resin, slow/fast hardener) over what he had used to precoat the boat with. This may also have had something to do with it also. I had assumed it was yours because I sent him the link to your store because the marine epoxy you sell is all I ever use. I like it. Guess he didn't listen to me. Anyway, I do like your ideas about the drains through the transom. When I get to that point I will ask further questions. :-)