FL14 Mods (Slight)

[JohnC]

I recently purchased the FL14 plans and I planning on some mods (again slight) to it. I welcome your input both pro and con so here we go:

1) plywood would be Hydrotek BS 1088 Meranti with the bottom panels cut from 1/2" instead of 3/8". This also changes the butt blocks to 1/2" per the nesting diagram. This is already an option per the plans.

2) the outside bottom would be glassed with 6 oz fabric up to the waterline, the inside bottom and side panels (in & out) would be glassed with 3.25oz fabric.

3) the outside bottom would be painted green with a white waterline stripe and everything else would be a "bright finish" of epoxy and several coats of clear marine varnish.

4) per the nesting diagram, the seat tops are all 3/8" cut from a single sheet of plywood. I would either change this to 1/2" Meranti or some other wood altogether and maybe increase the seat tops to 3/4". I would like the seat tops to have a lighter finish than the darker (hopefully) Meranti. Maybe oak, birch? Or?

5) the frame tops would be cut square (maybe 1/2" radius) to allow for a 3" wide gunwhale (sp) similar to the FL14 "Lake Dreamer" built awhile back.

Let me know what y'all think .

John

[gstanfield]

I see nothing wrong with any of those. I would personally add glass on the entire outside, not just to the waterline.

I added the gunnels to mine, came out about 4" wide with the thickness of the rubrail on the outside plus the decks on the inside.



As to the thicker seat tops, I guess you could do this, but I really see no reason as the 3/8 seats are plenty strong. I would stand on my rear seat and fish for hours at a time and it never flexed that I could tell. The same goes for the bottom, 3/8" is plenty thick especially with the added layers of glass on it. Remember that the early versions of this boat were built with 1/4" bottom panels and no glass and they worked out fine.

Otherwise, your ideas sound great, it'll just make for a boat heavier than neccessary. Built as designed, or even a little heavy as I did on mine this is still a shallow draft and strong boat. Here she is floating down river across a gravel bar about 200yds long with 3-4 inches of water ans she only lightly rubbed a couple of times the whole way across:

[rjezuit]

Glass the entire thing , in and out with thin fiberglass. You will not regret it. Rick

[JohnC]

Thanks guys. I am planning on glassing the entire boat, see item 2 in the original post. Maybe 3/8" is enough for the bottom with glass in and out, the plans show a 1/2" option for the bottom thought it was worth lookin at. That's what nice about the "pondering" stage, no plywood has been cut, etc. I'll have to think about the seat tops, I'm 230# and 3/8" didn't seem like a lot of wood.
John

[gstanfield]

Gotcha, I mis-read #2

I can assure you that with good batten underneath the 3/8 will hold you just find. I weigh in at about 200 and it never flexed under me at all. Here's what my framing inside looked like:



The center bar and the front batten are both made from 2x2's and the rear was a 1x2. I also had 1x2's along the sides, but they were in yet when I took that picture. It was very stout, but if you want to go with 1/2" it won't add enough weight to matter really as you'll be trailering this boat not car-topping it

[TRC886]

Gotcha, I mis-read #2

Don't feel to bad. He wrote it just as plain as day, but I mis-read it too

[ks8]

If you want a bottom that can scrape across *hostile ground*, it might be better to go with the 3/8 and get a layer of biax on the bottom, and then 6 oz weave over that, wrapping only the 6 oz up to the rubrail. That will give you a healthy (2) layers of glass on the bottom that you have to scrape through before worrying about getting to the wood core. Then a layer of 6 oz or biax on the inside bottom, and that will be one tough bottom. Lighter cloth up the interior topsides will help better protect them, but probably isn't necessary with BS1088 meranti. But for the bottom, add thickness with extra glass rather than wood. I would go that route rather than adding the weight with 1/2 inch plywood and only one layer of 6 oz on the outside. In other words, make your own 1/2 inch from the 3/8, by adding (2) layers of glass on the bottom, to better protect the wood core, and one layer on the inside to get even more stiffness from the sandwich structure. You'll then be inspecting for and repairing scrapes into glass, instead of scrapes possibly into wood. But be aware... until you get good laminating skills, that hull might be heavier than you think when you flip her upright after glassing and fairing the bottom and topsides like that. And your great great great grandchildren might be floating around in her if well maintained.

[JohnC]

Any thoughts on the extra epoxy needed, the FL14 kit includes 3 gal. Maybe another 1.5 gallons (and then the dreaded "next last gallon")? I'm thinking 5 yards of 6 oz cloth for the outside bottom and 15 yards of 3.25 for the rest.
John

[gstanfield]

John, you can see the mods I did to mine in the pics above and I used a total of 4.5 gallons. There are others out there who may use 6 gallons without any options depending on how much they have worked with fiberglass.

The cloth list sounds about right, but I would go ahead and get a 6 gallon kit and then you can add if needed, but if you do come in low you can always have it on hand so that when you start the next build...

[JohnC]

Thanks George, after all its just "one more gallon of epoxy" and "just a liitle more sanding" . Funny how we worry more about the second build than the first Anyway, my project for today is to organize my work area in the garage (the FL14 will be built on my back patio but I need the garage ready first for inside work).
John