Complete Novice Building a Sailing D5 in Texas

[mhd]

Welcome to the forum!! Congrats on taking the first step. And congratulate yourself too, because you're going to be a happier human being in a few months. You *will* have built your own boat.

I found the Boat Builder Central tutorial very useful - Stitch and Glue 101. Different boat, same process.

https://boatbuildercentral.com/tutorials/

I *almost* built the D5 sailing version. I may still build one, one day. Looking forward to following your progress.

GOOD LUCK!

Mick

[Pokeydonut]

OK. Despite a lot of open questions, I plunged ahead. I didn’t bevel any edges, i just went ahead and ziptied the hull halves together.

Then I drilled holes in the sides and the transoms (the bulder’s notes say 4” apart and the Sitch and Glue 101 tutorial says 10” apart so i split the difference) and ziptied everything loosely together. Then I set up Frame B in the middle and since all my screws were too wide I nailed it in loosely where it belongs according to the plans. Then I tightened the zipties in the bow and the transom to curve the sides. Then I set up the other frames but I had to screw those in because the curved wood didn’t want to naturally connect with the frames. In other words the distance from side to side was a little wider than the frames so I needed to screw them in to narrow the shape. Anyway, here’s where I ended up:









It’s starting to look like a boat! That was quick. So I still need to put in Frame A and then attach the hull via zip ties. Then I’m going out of town for a few weeks so I’ll let the wood just come to shape. And then in July I’ll start epoxying seams on the outside, and then I flip it over and finalize where the frames go. That part seems pretty serious - seat tops and daggerboard trunks won’t fit right if they’re angled wrong. Haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet.

Have I committed any grievous errors so far? Also - can everyone see pictures?

[Pokeydonut]

… also, I decided that my transom came pre-notched for the tiller since it has a 3” “valley” as compared to a straight arc. Reid - is that true? If not, I’ll have to cut it already attached to the rest of the boat…

[pee wee]

That's looking good, nice progress! I'm not familiar with the construction of the D5, so I won't be able to help with your questions, but between the tutorials and other D5 build threads most or all of your questions should be already answered.

[Dougster]

I'm a bit worried about screwing the sides to the frames. Make sure the side curves are fair (smooth) after screwing them to frames. The frames often don't fit exactly when the panels are stiched up because every plywood has its own mind when bending. You can easily adjust the frames to fit later. Half inch gaps are nothing, then can be easily filled with epoxy/wood flour mix. The important thing is that the curves of the panels are smooth (fair).

Dougster

[Netpackrat]

Also - do I bevel the edges before I ziptie them together so that they meet in a perfect 45 degree angle? That’s in the Devlin book but nowhere in the building notes and I have no idea how I’d do that.

As Jaysen said earlier, forget Devlin's book; put it away until such time as you decide to build one of his boats. He makes very nice boats for the most part, but his methods are different from the ones required to construct the boats on this site. All the info you need should be in the tutorials here. There's no reason whatsoever to bevel the edges of the panels where they meet; that's a complete waste of time. The gap will be filled with the putty which becomes part of the structure.

[Netpackrat]

… also, I decided that my transom came pre-notched for the tiller since it has a 3” “valley” as compared to a straight arc. Reid - is that true? If not, I’ll have to cut it already attached to the rest of the boat…

Yeah, sounds like. I will try to dig up a photo of mine showing that area and post it here.

I also found it helpful to lightly screw the side panels to the frames, but as Dougster mentioned, you have to be very careful so that they don't pull the panels out of fair, or put a curve into the frames.

[Netpackrat]

These pictures show the curve in the transom of the sailing version:

[Jeff]

Nice work!! Jeff

[TomW1]

Very nice you will enjoy that. Tom