FB-11 Jean Bille

[Buz]

Wait. A paint roller?

[Dougster]

Yeah, like in Home Depot or Lowes. Get a paint roller and you won't pull on the tape much, it'll roll. They do waste some epoxy and my betters can do it with a plastic squeegee but I never manage that well, except maybe when the glass is all wet out and I try to scrape off the excess at times.

Dougster

[Cracker Larry]

I usually use a paint roller to put it on and spread it out, then switch to the plastic squeegee to move excess resin to dry areas that need it. A roller alone leaves too much excess epoxy on the cloth. The squeegee after makes it all right.

[Buz]

This "squeegee". Hard, flexible plastic, in the aisles next to the metal scrapers? Not soft as like a windshield squeegee. Correct?

That's what pulled the threads when I tried. 3" and 6 inch wide. With corners eased so they wouldn't snag. Oh well. More practice to come after the flip.

Rolling the tape with the same epoxy-safe roller I've been using worked well.

Then found that putting wide cloth on a tacky bottom is not good. While keeping up with runs, I saw that I caught dozens of bugs underneath while fighting to lay it down. Guess I should do that dry next time, after sanding.

[Buz]

Decided to sand the glass and live with whatever holes I had to make to smoothen the bugs, since the glass cloth is not in the plan. Was pleasantly surprised to see that the bug bumps weren't as high as they looked, so no holes. More epoxy then flipped it and primed the inside for the tape. Inside seams and bulkheads to be taped tomorrow. I doubled the transom cuz I had one that wasn't quite right and just needed a sliver added along the edge. I have a 45 pound motor and figure the ply doubled (to 1/2", plus a clamping board) and taped both sides plus another 6oz of glass outside more than equals the 1X2" stiffeners around the perimeter the plan calls for.

Please help me tow. This dingy will spend a lot of time in the wake of a 25' cruiser, so I think the painter I would really like to use is not a good idea. But, it'll be doing this where the worst it'll see is a breezy two foot chop (and only rarely) and some passing wakes, so maybe so. I think a "metal ring" is unnecessary on this.

Googling shows schemes of keeping towed dinghies on the same side of swells and such, but I don't need to worry about all that on our lake at the hull speed we prefer.

I've been thinking of tying it off back there with lines from the corners of the tow boat run through about 14 feet of 3/4" pvc pipe to keep it off the transom.

Advice obviously is needed.

[Evan_Gatehouse]

A U-bolt in the bow as (I think) shown on the plans is a good idea for towing as the rope doesn't chafe at the connection.

So is a floating tow rope so it doesn't get sucked into a prop. Nope, never done that

Adjusting the length of the tow rope so the dinghy rides on the front face of the towing boat's wake is easy to do and does reduce drag. Uh, I've never seen anybody use a length of pipe to keep it away from the big boat. As you slow down to a stop (anchoring or coming to a dock) just take in the slack slowly so it doesn't ram the big boat or get tangled up with other boats. Try it with just a floating rope at first. Easier than you think.

[JustInCase]

Buz, If you get your FB11 in the water I'll have to drive over to gunterssville with mine.

[Buz]

Can I epoxy in some aluminum plate?

I used eastern red cedar for cleats around the framing. Was thinking "light", shoulda been thinking "hard".

Where I've tightened up the bolts holding the "halves" together, the washers have begun to dig into the soft cedar.

Can I glue on sections of 1/8" aluminum plate with epoxy to harden those spots?

[Buz]

https://www.community.boatbuildercentra ... ?pid=76275

testing pic posting

edit: well, crud

[Buz]

testing pic posting