Before I buy the GF16, size questions

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VT_Jeff
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Re: Before I buy the GF16, size questions

Post by VT_Jeff »

Dougster wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:09 am I'm in the Barra/Capeman camp. Use the money spent on the boat you don't want to help build the one you do. If you can build the GF16 as a first build then you can build the TX18 the same way. It's just some more of the same. Aside from money, the key thing to a successful build is just to start and not quit. Mistakes will happen pretty much no matter what and they can all be fixed. That said, the GF16 is a fine boat and one I would consider if I ever get rid of my LB22.

Dougster
I suspect you guys are probably in the majority. Here's my final(no promises) argument for starting small.

If you go through the whole process soup-to-nuts on small scale, it will free your mind to focus on quality when you start your ultimate boat, instead of it being mired in entry-level issues and questions. It will allow you to focus on your vision of what you want the boat to end up like instead of focusing on how to best mix epoxy, which epoxy to use, how to deal with blush/air bubbles, what to use for fairing compound, what to fill the glass weave with, how to best form fillets, etc etc etc. Get all that crap cleared out of your mind with a small build so on the big one, you can focus on the boat you're building and not the building process itself.

I'll freely admit to being a "Look-before-leap" type, though I wasn't always.
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

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Re: Before I buy the GF16, size questions

Post by jacquesmm »

I agree with the idea of building a small boat to get used to the material. That is why I designed the Cheap Canoe CC14. Free plans are available in the Free Plans section.
You will save a lot of labor and materials thanks to that 1st experience.
To build a GF16 to gain experience is different however, the GF16 is a lot more boat than the CC14. You will be able to use that GF16 and resell her for more than the cost of the materials if built properly.

Each way has pros and cons.
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cracked_ribs
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Re: Before I buy the GF16, size questions

Post by cracked_ribs »

I've known a few guys who skipped the small boat learning experience, then discovered they HATED fiberglassing while 5% of the way into a much larger build. One of them is entering his 8th year of hating the mid-sized incomplete hull in his driveway.

I think if you like to build, it's not a big deal and you can learn on a bigger boat. But if you get a little bit in and find that the process isn't fun, now you have a problem.

My first boat was a sharpie sailboat of my own design, which is not how most people would recommend getting started at all. I never regretted starting that way, but I always liked building stuff and was fascinated with boats from an early age. In fact when I was really young, I did a SOF kayak that was just polytarp over bamboo; technically I guess that was my first boat but it barely qualifies. Anyway if that's how you feel about boats, I don't think there's a huge risk going big early.

But personally I think if you want to build something first, I'd make it the smallest, cheapest boat that you can imagine using, that incorporates most of the techniques you'll need. You burn a lot of time and glue just glassing boxes together, and after you've done a couple you know everything you need to know, IMO. So if it were me, and this is the same advice I gave to my 8 years of hate friend about 9 years ago...why not build something like a D5 and treat it as a play boat for the kids, or for goofing around on lakes? Here you can often find beat up old 2hp motors on FB for a couple hundred bucks or so...that would make for kind of a fun little mini fishing machine and a medium fish in a tiny boat is a lot of action. Plus then you'd have built boxes, wet out glass, faired a boat...

I'm certain if that one friend of mine had started a D5 he'd have had a bonfire two months in and given me the unused epoxy, and only be a couple hundred bucks lighter in the wallet, instead of the $3-5,000 he's into it now, with no boat and no prospects for being on the water anytime soon. That money could have bought him a decent used boat, and he'd be a happier guy today. Also I would have had a couple of gallons of free epoxy.

Sorry if that sounds bleak, I love building boats and really enjoy the time I spend on it. I just find that not everybody feels the same way.

(Actually, when I'm fairing I hate it as much as anyone, I just try to find good podcasts and zone out. It's still better than being at work.)
I designed my own boat. This is the build thread:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=65349

wpstarling
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Re: Before I buy the GF16, size questions

Post by wpstarling »

I've done lots of fiberglass work on my Glastron and a previous Proline boat so I know all about laying glass, fillets, mixing epoxy, etc. I just know it'll take a lot of time so that's where most of my hesitancy to going straight to the TX18 is. Don't want to take family time to build my boat haha. Rather just go out on the boat I have :)
Boats restored: 1973 Glastron CV16, 1990 Proline 17 CC, 1993 Bass Boat
Boats built: custom 15ft flat bottom skiff, Soon-to-be-built TX18 (originally dborecky's build)

cracked_ribs
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Re: Before I buy the GF16, size questions

Post by cracked_ribs »

Oh, in that case I'd go straight to the TX18.
I designed my own boat. This is the build thread:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=65349

TomW1
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Re: Before I buy the GF16, size questions

Post by TomW1 »

wpstarling wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:20 pm I've done lots of fiberglass work on my Glastron and a previous Proline boat so I know all about laying glass, fillets, mixing epoxy, etc. I just know it'll take a lot of time so that's where most of my hesitancy to going straight to the TX18 is. Don't want to take family time to build my boat haha. Rather just go out on the boat I have :)
Then do a quick build of the GF16 so you can keep the family happy. 40 hours is 4 hours a night for 10 days and add in week ends and your down to less than 2 weeks. The camouflaged boat under the specifications with all the rods sticking up is the one I went out in. It had a small fish finder and did not help us find any fish. :lol: But we were 5 miles off the coast of Crystal River, FL with it on a nice calm day. Came back in with some white caps. It is a very stable boat. And if nothing else the kids will have there own boat when they grow up. :lol:

Wel good luck to you!

Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

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