Haven't done much to document the progress on this boat. But spring is arriving in New England so it's time to get this project finished.
Project started in August with arrival of plans and a pile of BS1088 Meranti from Maine Coast Lumber. As anyone doing one of these knows, it "looks" like a boat in a hurry......but that's where the work really begins!
As fall arrived and there was no way I wanted to do the real messy fairing, priming and painting in my attached garage I decided to flip the boat and concentrate on the structural part of the job over the winter. The first flip of the boat was pretty easy with just 2 of us safely turning the bare (bit skinned) hull and getting it on a work cradle. Doing it this way meant that there would be 2 more flips of a MUCH heavier boat down the road. These will be of a hull at around 500# but much stiffer than the flimsy skin only hull.
The plan all along has been to aim for a light, simple but stable boat used mainly to knock-around and fish the immediate coastal area at the mouth of the Connecticut River. Boat needed dry storage, a place for 2-4 to sit or hang onto and a center console 'cause I'm just tired of tiller steering. Power would be 25 to 30 hp max. based on the loads we expected to carry and our modest need for speed. BTW....Jacques' "Planing Analysis" was real helpful in deciding to go with the modest power option. It's worth a look if you're considering this build. I was a bit concerned about keeping dry as the freeboard is a bit low (my opinion only). Following Steve292 in the UK helped a lot and I decided on rocking the gunwale extension to raise the sheer more at the bow than the stern. I would up with an 8" extension which raised the bow sheer by 5" and the stern by 2.5". Happy to say that I like it!
Progress continued through late fall and winter steadily. Lots of time spent on figuring out storage, gunwale construction and how to make some changes to the transom and splash well (which will be a removable glass over foam structure eventually).
Yesterday's mission was to get the boat from the work cradle onto my small but very useful trailer.......done! Now boat can be moved in and out as weather allows. This keeps the really messy sanding and stinky Awlgrip primer out in the open.
OK, that's enough for today but more pictures will be coming as this continues.
Bill in CT
Remedy32
BTW.....pictures are from my gallery.....remedy32/FS17 in CT
