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Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 11:49 pm
by Cracker Larry
Well, Sam says it's time to build another boat. He's got BBV. I might too :wink: This one is not for us though, it's going to be sold. We don't need another boat :doh:

This will be our second GF12, a great little jon boat for our swamps. Many of the freshwater swamp areas around here have a 10hp limit and the GF12 can perform well with that, carry a load and float in a couple inches of water.

So we're off again. Sam's got a fresh stack of plywood....

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And we've recycled a building jig for the third time. Used and abused. It's ugly, but now level and square. It'll do fine :lol:

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To be continued, :D of course

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:17 am
by Dog Fish
Sounds good Larry, and you know we will all be watching ya. Good luck with the build.

Brian

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:52 am
by Bowmovement
Nice. Looks like Sam is ready. I always seem to pick up some useful tid bits from your builds Larry.

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:45 am
by Oceola
Hey Larry...

Well here you go again. Looking forward to following the thread. If you have time could you keep a running log of the general topics/page numbers covered then you could post an index in another thread or as a stickey?. I never did find time to go back through your OD build and develope an index...shame, that's a great Tutorial on composite boat building. Your well documented builds are really appreciated. You and Sam have fun.

Frank

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:52 pm
by wegcagle
Awesome. I wasn't sure what I was going to do without another C.L. build. Lookin' forward to it.

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:33 pm
by Arm&Hammer
wegcagle wrote:I wasn't sure what I was going to do without another C.L. build.
Me either. As luck has it, I will be starting my GF12 build this week also, although I will be taking it SSSLLLOOOWWW... Maybe, and I mean maybe, finishing up by this fall.

Looking forward to the details of your build CL. Will, I am definitely enjoying your build also.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 11:33 am
by Cracker Larry
Thank you all for the replies :D

We got started yesterday, cleaned up the shop, finished the building platform and got 2 sheets of plywood drawn out for the transoms, frames and clamping board. Will conitinue layouts and might cut some wood today.

I sure wish it would quit raining, think it's rained the last 45 days out of 50 :?

A&H, I'll use a fiberglass splice instead of the butt block on the bottom, don't really want a butt block in the middle of the sole.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 9:20 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Cracker Larry wrote:A&H, I'll use a fiberglass splice instead of the butt block on the bottom, don't really want a butt block in the middle of the sole.
I agree on not wanting the butt block there. I just haven't decided yet whether to FG splice, or splurge for an extra sheet of ply and put the butt block under the mid seat. Due to a qty discount from my local wood supplier, this additional sheet of 1/4" Meranti BS1088 would only cost an add'l $32. Looking at the nesting, there will be scrap, but I'm sure it will get used, if not on this boat, then the next one... :)

I actually went to pick up my ply this past Saturday, and someone had just cleaned out there 1/4" stock. So it now is looking like Tuesday to get my wood.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 11:24 pm
by Cracker Larry
AH, one thing about buying an additional sheet, it will give you plenty extra for ripping rubrails. If we use laminated 1/4 ply for the rubrails, we'll need about 75 linear feet ripped 1 1/2" wide, and there isn't a lot of extra in the nesting. Maybe enough to piece it, but really tight, probably not. An extra piece is a good idea :wink:

I got all the frames cut out today, and both transoms and clamping boards, seat tops and bow deck. Will get pics up soon.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:20 am
by Cracker Larry
Like I said, it just keeps on raining. Another 2" today. When you get 2" a day for 45 days, it starts to add up. I 'm beginning to realize what prompted Noah to build a boat :help:

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Bow deck, rear seat and forward frame...

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Transoms, a frame, 1/2 seat top and clamping boards for both transoms. The bow transom doesn't really require a clamping board, but we're putting one on here...

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Two more frames, the other clamping board, and the other half of the center seat...

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That's all for the frames, transoms, clamping boards, seat tops and decks. All the 1/2" stuff is cut out. Tomorrow we'll do the sides and bottom :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:01 pm
by Murry
Looking good Larry,

I sold my 14 foot alumacraft to help me buy a trailer and I've been considering building a gf 12 next to replace it ever since.
This thread just may push me over the edge. :D That's the perfect size to slide in the back of my turck for bass fishing.

I like your move to double up the front transom, I did that on my 16 and I'm really glad I did. Have you done that on any of your previous builds?

I'm looking forward to seeing her come together.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:44 pm
by Cracker Larry
I like your move to double up the front transom, I did that on my 16 and I'm really glad I did. Have you done that on any of your previous builds?
No, this is a first. On my GF16 it seemed I was always pushing that flat bow against something, and it would sometimes flex alarmingly if the something was a pretty solid cypress knee or dock. A V hull will usually deflect off a stump one way or another, but a square bowed boat comes to a sudden stop 8O This will be a cypress swamp boat, not open water, so I'm building her to bounce off trees.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:09 am
by Arm&Hammer
Hi Larry,

Did you get your bottom panels cut? I am also curious if you are going to cut any kind of limber holes, and if you are putting in a drain plug. I was thinking about leaving a small opening in the frames at the chine to allow the water to flow down one side or the other.

I am still waiting on ply... ...hopefully today. In the meantime, I did some minor repair to damage on my CC14, I am going to raise the seat a little, and put on a fresh coat of paint. I fish out of it quite a bit, so it see some abuse.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:15 am
by Cracker Larry
Yes, we got the bottom panels cut and spliced, both side panels cut and spliced, and the stern transom glued up. Will probably glue the bow transom today also, then we'll be ready for assembly. It's been so hot, I've been working slow.

I'll cut limber holes in all the frames, on both sides near the chine. They are a necessity, as is a drain plug. Got to let the water out somehow :wink:

Haven't taken a lot of pictures but here's the transom about to be glued up. Notice the 2 dowel pins, they will index the 3 parts and keep them in alignment until the glue sets. These are better than an extra set of hands 8)

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Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:53 pm
by Cracker Larry
Whew, summer is finally here. She was slow in coming, but rolled in with a vengance when she decided it was time :help:

Sam, Delila and I have really had to pace ourselves to get anything done, seems to get harder every year but wer'e making progress and haven't been hopitalized, yet.

We've finished all the frames, got them cut out, sanded, limber holes cut, bow frame cut out for the anchor locker, all ready for installation. A&H, you asked about limber holes. I cut mine with a 2" hole saw and locate them 3" in from each chine. If you butt 2 frame bottoms together with the limber hole positions aligned, you can cut 2 at a time with a hole saw :wink:

Here's the bow frame cut out for the anchor locker access. This kind of stuff is a lot easier to do flat on a bench than in the boat, as are limber holes. I used the same round stanchion base to lay out all the radiuses on the boat, that way they all match.

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The dogs have appropriated both fans, they say it's too hot for words and they know I've lost my mind :doh:

After everything is cut out, spliced, sanded where possible, again easier on the bench, it's time for some assembly. We attach one side panel to the 2 center frames, using clamps, then drywall screws. The butt blocks position these 2 frames, makes it easy 8)

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Then we attach the other side panel, first clamped, then screwed,

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After that the transom goes on, first one side then the other, 2 drywall screws each side, not too tight. Easy on a flat surface. We're just using the bottom of the boat as a flat surface.

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Then the bow transom. They are trickier, you have to block up the bottom to support everything. I used a long bar clamp to pull the side panels together against the transom. A ratchet strap will work too, but you'll need something if your helper is a hot and useless dog like mine. Pre-start your drywall screws if you're short of hands.

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A little fiddling, not much cussin', the bow transom is in place...

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The dogs have now retreated to the air conditioning, so I have my fans back 8) After the bow transom, I attached the forward and rear frames, positioned and screwed..

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And then installed the center seat which fit like a glove :D

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In fact everything fits just right 8) It looks like the bottom panel will only need a few stitches to pull it down, that's a job for tomorrow. Not a bad day's work, but I'm done in. A dip in the pool, a big cold drink, life is good :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:59 pm
by wegcagle
She's lookin' GREAT C.L., but I gotta say....if you keep going at this pace you'll NEVER make 286 pages :lol:

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:10 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks :lol: That was a 2 year project Will. I'm going to try to wrap this one up in 6 weeks :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:12 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Looking great CL! I really like the tip on using the dowels for the transom - that will make it a lot easier!

I saw your splice on the bottom panel. It looks fine, but I am starting to get cold feet based on my limited experience, and I may stick with the bottom butt block based on Jacques stiffness comment in one of my earlier threads. I would rather not have it there, but on the other hand, a 1/4" butt block is nothing compared to the big riveted ribs that are all over the floor of most aluminum jon boats. What is your take on it? Do you think your FG splice will be fine? Will you be adding glass to the inside?

I like the limber holes. That looks about right. On a flat bottom boat, it makes sense to have one on each side rather than one in the middle. However, couldn't I just leave an opening at the corner of each frame, right at the chine? With all of the overlapping glass, I wouldn't think it would be a strength issue, and with my limited tools, I think it might be easier to just chamfer the frame corner. Do you think that would create any strength issues?

Your comment on drain plugs. Having fished my whole life out of aluminum boats, all of them equipped with drain plugs, we always just leaned them over to drain rather than using the plug. That was the basis of my question. In the long run, I guess it makes sense to put one in there for the times when turning it on edge or hand bailing just isn't feasible. Before I do mine, I will wait to see your post on how you do it. :)

I also noticed that you cut down the transom for a 15" shaft. I like a high transom, but on a boat this small, I like the lower CG of a short shaft engine, so I will be making the same modification to mine. Actually, I will be making several mods. I will apologize in advance. I am an engineer, who uses ACad on a regular basis, so it is impossible for me to leave well enough alone. :wink:

My mods:
-I will be reducing the beam by 3" to ensure that it will fit between the wheel wells of my truck(this is a very simple mod considering the symmetry of this boat). I will also be reducing the sheer by 1". These modifications also give me the extra that I need for the rubrail.

-The hull will be Meranti BS1088 (1/4" as specified). All of the frames will be Meranti BS1088 (3/8", smaller than specified, but OK'd by Jacques in a previous thread), with the exception of the transom and front deck, which will be made out of Okoume BS1088 Joubert (1/2" as specified).

-I will be shortening the front deck by a couple of inches, and dropping it by a couple of inches. This should slightly reduce the weight (an important factor for me), lower the CG for anyone standing on the front deck, and I also want to put one layer of the rubrail on the inside - handy for mounting portable rodholders, fishfinder, etc.

Coincidentally, these modifications allow me to slightly reduce the amount of ply required. If I had to do the numbers by hand, I would have just scaled everything down; but I did not want to shorten the length of the boat. After these changes, I was able to reduce it down to 3 sheets of 1/4", 2 sheets of 3/8", and 1/2 sheet of 1/2" (the 1/2 sheet of Okoume that I bought was scrap laying around at my wood supplier, so I HAD to make that work out).

All of this probably seems like a waste of time to some builders, but the planning phase is a lot of fun for me, and I was able to save a little money on ply (assuming that I don't make any mistakes :!: ).

Sorry about the heat. Up here, I have yet to turn the A/C on. Maybe next week.

Also, while I am asking so many questions, what did you cut the transom down to? Did you cut it to 15-1/4" along the entire width of the lowered portion on the transom, or did you put a slight curvature to it?

Please keep the pics coming...!!!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:08 am
by Cracker Larry
What is your take on it? Do you think your FG splice will be fine? Will you be adding glass to the inside?
Well,,,if I didn't think it would be fine, I sure wouldn't have done it this way :wink: They've been fine on the last 3 boats I built, so I reckon this one will be OK too. Yes, I intend to glass the inside also.
couldn't I just leave an opening at the corner of each frame, right at the chine? With all of the overlapping glass, I wouldn't think it would be a strength issue, and with my limited tools, I think it might be easier to just chamfer the frame corner. Do you think that would create any strength issues?
Yes, I think it might create a strength issue, not to mention a PITA to tape the frames and chines. The easiest way is seldom the best in my experience. You could cut these with a jig saw. You need to ask Jacques about the strength issue, I really don't know, but I do know it will make taping more difficult.
Your comment on drain plugs. Having fished my whole life out of aluminum boats, all of them equipped with drain plugs, we always just leaned them over to drain rather than using the plug.


I've always found it hard to lean them over when they are on a trailer, with the motor on. Even harder when you're out on the water :doh: We get a lot of water in the boat from shrimping, and summer thunderstorms. With a transom drain you just pull the plug, put the boat on a half plane and all the water runs out. Beats the heck out of bailing :lol:
Also, while I am asking so many questions, what did you cut the transom down to? Did you cut it to 15-1/4" along the entire width of the lowered portion on the transom, or did you put a slight curvature to it?
I cut it down to 15 1/2", no curve. Not sure the purpose of the curve, just a visual thing I think. The cut out is 30" wide for tiller clearance.

All of your mods sound reasonable. No problem narrowing the beam a little to fit your truck. I'm considering lowering the sheer on this one, the sides don't need to be so high. I'm going to play with that some today. I may also lower and shorten the casting deck
Sorry about the heat. Up here, I have yet to turn the A/C on.
Forecast is 102 today, heat index 115, 104 tomorrow, heat index 120 and not a breath of wind :help: It's too hot to fish.
All of this probably seems like a waste of time to some builders, but the planning phase is a lot of fun for me, and I was able to save a little money on ply (assuming that I don't make any mistakes ).
Not at all. The planning is part of the fun, as is having a boat built just the way you want it 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:48 am
by Arm&Hammer
All points taken. I need to giddy up and start cutting soon!

One more request. Can I see a pic of the inside of the rear transom? I am curious how much clamping board that you have left. I was thinking of cutting my transom low first, and then making the clamping boards based on this lower height (if I built it for 20", then cut down 5", I will only have about 4" of clamping board left :doh: ). I am also curious to see how much space you have above the rear seat. I assume that we are both going to have to do a cutout there.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:23 am
by Cracker Larry
One more request. Can I see a pic of the inside of the rear transom? I am curious how much clamping board that you have left.
Funny you should mention that, I was about to point it out but I see you are thinking clearly and correctly 8) One change leads to another. Here ya go...

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I have 5 " of clamping board left, that's plenty, but your idea of cutting the transom down first, then making the clamping board makes sense, especially since you are lowering the sheer. That's probably a better approach than mine. My projects tend to evolve, rather than be engineered from the start, but the end usually hides the means :lol:

As you surmised, the rear seat is almost 15" high. With a 15" transom we will either have to lower the seat, or make a cut out in the rear seat top to provide clearance for the motor clamps. Not sure yet just how I'll handle that, I don't think good when my brain gets over 100 degrees.

Think I'm going to give it a rest and head for Lowes, pick up some yellow pine for battens and a couple dozen disposable brushes.

Keep on thinkin' AH, keep us out of trouble :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:13 pm
by Cracker Larry
Moving right along, slow but sure. It's so hot here we built a fire to cool off :?

The next step was to glue in the bow and stern transoms. I figured if I was glueing anyway, might as well fillet and tape also. Everything is easier wet on wet, so that's what we did. First opened up the joint and pre-coat with epoxy, then pack it full of glue. Tighten the screws just enough and maintain a gap, build the fillets, brush again with resin and lay the tape. Got both transoms glued and taped.

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Cut and fit all the cleats, and made an additional frame in the bow compartment for a floatation chamber. The forward section of the bow will be filled with foam. Notice the cleats that run along the side are kerfed about every 1". This lets them curve to fit the sides.

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I lowered the front deck 1 1/2" and shortened it about the same amount. No particular reason, just looks better to me. Then trimmed all the tape edges and did a little more sanding. Tomorrow I'll glue in all the cleats.

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Cut the building short today with an impromptu deer hunt, which led to other things... :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:43 pm
by wegcagle
Lookin' good C.L. You'll have it completely done before I even get my primer down :oops:

By the way: What kinda deer are you huntin' in June in GA?

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:05 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Will. Flop eared whitetails :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:05 pm
by jbo_c
I know how you feel in the heat CL. I poured some charcoal in the grill today and before I got the lighter fluid on it good, it burst into flames.

Tried painting with some alkyd enamel at lunch yesterday and could only do about a square foot at a time roll and tip before it started getting tacky and that was still a little too slow.

Jbo

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:11 pm
by gk108
Just wait until it warms on up in August. 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:28 pm
by Cracker Larry
Aint that the truth Gary. Yesterday was only the first day of summer.
I poured some charcoal in the grill today and before I got the lighter fluid on it good, it burst into flames.
I believe that! One of my neighbors storage sheds burned down yesterday. He'd just dug potatoes 2 weeks ago and had them stacked in bins in his shed, just like he's done for the last 40 years. They spontaneously combusted 8O and burned down the whole thing. No kidding. green potatoes :help:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:22 am
by wegcagle
He'd just dug potatoes 2 weeks ago and had them stacked in bins in his shed


Sounds to me like some pretty potent vodka :D
C.L. did you get any of those pesky little rabbits?

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:34 am
by Cracker Larry
Yep, we got a few, dang 100 pound bean eaters.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:39 pm
by Murry
You have mastered the gf's haven't you Larry! She's going together so nicely.

Does the 12 have the same amount of freeboard as the 16?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:16 pm
by Cracker Larry
Does the 12 have the same amount of freeboard as the 16?
Yes, it does. Which is really a little too much for most uses of a 12' jonboat. Unless you use it like Smilin Matt 8) If I build any more of these I think I'll lower the sheer about 3". These really go together easy and quick, very neat little boats.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:00 pm
by Murry
Cracker Larry wrote:
Yes, it does. Which is really a little too much for most uses of a 12' jonboat. Unless you use it like Smilin Matt 8) If I build any more of these I think I'll lower the sheer about 3". These really go together easy and quick, very neat little boats.
Yeah, I'm really thinking about building one for pond fishing. I like the idea of taking the sheer down a couple of inches.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:49 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Murry wrote:
Cracker Larry wrote:
Yes, it does. Which is really a little too much for most uses of a 12' jonboat. Unless you use it like Smilin Matt 8) If I build any more of these I think I'll lower the sheer about 3". These really go together easy and quick, very neat little boats.
Yeah, I'm really thinking about building one for pond fishing. I like the idea of taking the sheer down a couple of inches.
Larry could probably doublecheck with a quick measurement, but I think cutting the sheer down by 2-3/16" would allow you to cut the transom straight across the back of the boat at 15-1/2". GF-12 Low Sheer?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:16 pm
by Cracker Larry
Still moving along, heat's a little better today, down to 95. We got an early start and first pre-coated all the cleats with epoxy in preparation for glueing. We cheated and did this in the shop, with air conditioning 8) It's all labeled so I know where it goes and how it's oriented.

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Then pre-coated the frames and sides for the cleats. Used a 4" roller for all the resin spreading. We put strips of plastic between the frames and the sides so we don't glue them together :wink:

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After everything has a good coat of epoxy, we glued on all the cleats using a variety of clamping....

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Took a little break then ripped all the strips for the rub rails..

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And gave them a coat of epoxy on both sides..

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Happy hour :D Tomorrow we'll glue these on, then she'll be ready to flip and install the bottom.
Larry could probably doublecheck with a quick measurement, but I think cutting the sheer down by 2-3/16" would allow you to cut the transom straight across the back of the boat at 15-1/2". GF-12 Low Sheer?
Sorry, I missed that AH. Do you want me to measure that?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:08 pm
by Arm&Hammer
CL, no need to bother. I just went out and sketched it up on my ply. To make the sheer level with the top of the transom (cut down to 15-1/2"), The side panel would need to be cut down 2-1/8". All of this talk about low sheer, I am tempted to make this mod since I haven't started cutting yet. Just thinking through the changes, leaving the rear seat at its current height, that would only give me about 1/2" of exposed transom and sheer...

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:36 am
by Cracker Larry
Yes, I think you would need to drop the seats by the same amount you cut down the sheer to keep the proportions.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:16 pm
by Cracker Larry
A little more boat work this morning. We started by removing all the clamps from the seat cleats, and cleaned them up a little bit. Then rolled a coat of epoxy along the sheer line in prep for glueing on the rubrail. Rolled the extra epoxy anywhere I could. At this stage of the build, don't waste epoxy. Everything has to get a couple of coats anyway so I always spread the mixed leftovers on the hull somewhere.

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Got the first layer of rubrail glued on, all around. Jeeezzzz, it's getting hot now. Dogs are inside.

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I let them run long at the bow and stern and will trim them off flush later.

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Taking a break while they dry. Hopefully it will take until tomorrow :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:40 pm
by Murry
...and then it was a boat! Great progress Larry!

I see you're going with 3/8 for the rubrail. 8) Are you going with 3/8 for the bottom as well?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:04 pm
by Cracker Larry
No, 3/8 is just for the rubrail and because I had it, and 2 layers of 3/8 takes less labor and glue than 3 layers of 1/4. I'll also use some 3/8 for longitudinal frames under the middle and rear seats. My intentions are to divide the center and rear seat into 3 sections each. I'll fill the outboard sections of each with foam, 1 cubic foot each section, and the middle sections of each will be storage and bait well.

I'm selling this boat, and nobody will ever be able to say that one of my boats sank :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:01 pm
by Murry
Cracker Larry wrote: I'm selling this boat, and nobody will ever be able to say that one of my boats sank :lol:
:lol: :lol:

I had similar thoughts on foam if I were to do this boat. That makes me feel less ignorant. :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 10:30 am
by Arm&Hammer
Cracker Larry wrote:Yes, I think you would need to drop the seats by the same amount you cut down the sheer to keep the proportions.
CL, I want to pick your brain on this a little. Having never been in a GF, I don't know how comfy the seating height is. I do know from fishing in some aluminum jons that a really low seat can be uncomfortable after a while, and are just not fun to fish out of all day if you have to stay seated. I am concerned that the seats won't "feel right" if I lower them 2". Your thoughts? Any concerns, safety or otherwise?

BTW, I have finally decided that I will be building my GF12 "Low Sheer". I have redrawn my parts, taking the sheer down 2 1/8" and reducing the beam by 3". I now have the nesting down to 5 sheets of ply, including rubrail. I am able to return my extra 1/2 sheet of ply that I bought, so my budget just got a little breathing room.

I promise to stop hijacking your thread and start my own once I have some pics. :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:42 pm
by TomW
A&H I was in CL's 16 and the seats were fine with a standard boat cushion for me on about a 4-5hr fishing trip and I'm 6'3". Don't know if the 12's are the same height or not.

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:54 pm
by Cracker Larry
AH, ergonomically "the average" person is comfortable with a seat height of 14-17 inches. If you measure some chairs around your house they will mostly be in this range. It's industry standard for furniture.

The GF rear seat is 15" and the center seat is 15 1/2. I made a GF12 for a neighbor a few years ago, he's a short fellow about 5-8 and he complained they were too high for him at 15", but Tom being tall likes a cushion on top of the 15" seat. I'm in between at 5-11 and feel too high sitting on a cushion. I built the seats on my OD at 14" and put 1 1/2" cushions on them. Just right for me 8) It depends on you. If it's too low, get a cushion :wink: A lot of aluminum jon boats have seats 10-12 inches, that's much too low for me. Sort of like Goldilocks and the 3 bears :lol:

Big storm brewing here, I think we're about to lose power again :help:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:27 pm
by Cracker Larry
Yep, lost power again. It's that time of day when the moist sea-breeze hits the hot inland air. KaBoom!

We got the outer sections of rubrails glued on yesterday. No need for a pic, it's looks just like the inner sections did.

Working off and on today I trimmed the wild ends using a handsaw held flush to the transoms..

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Then using a Sur-form and the RO sander we rough shaped them to match the curves of the hull..

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Did some fine tuning and got them looking pretty good all around..

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The bow is about finished

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But the transom needs a little more work.

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Once this storm blows past, we'll finish that up this evening :D
I promise to stop hijacking your thread and start my own once I have some pics.


Don't worry at all about that. That's why we're here anyway is to talk about boats. Ask away, just don't ask about golf. 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 7:32 pm
by Cracker Larry
The GF rear seat is 15" and the center seat is 15 1/2.
Sorry, I had a brain fart AH :oops: Might be the heat, might be the beer :doh: In any case those measurements are to the top of the frame, so add 1/2" for the seat tops to that, making them 15 1/2" and 16" respectively.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 9:15 am
by cape man
Larry,

Missed this thread till today. Was wondering if you had started, and then "Bam"!... You have a hull built! Looking good as expected. Hot enough up there?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:25 pm
by Cracker Larry
Hot enough up there?
Just drove home from Savannah and the thermometer in the truck said 107 the whole way :help:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:17 am
by cape man
That's hot enough.... Ouch.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:51 pm
by wegcagle
I thought it was alittle warm, while I was knocking out the yard work I've been neglecting. 4 hours in the yard and another 2 hrs of sanding/fairing. Long day=Cold beer :D

Will

PS I tried to get a kitchen pass this weekend to come fish, but to no avail. Apparently the honey do list was too long, and my wife is smart enough to know that my next 2 months I'll be working in the ICUs at the hospital, which means LONG days and spending the night in the hospital on call every 4 nights :cry: Maybe there will still be good fishing in Sept? If not the striper should be moving to shallower waters around then. Come on over, if nothing else I'm sure we can catch a decent buzz :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 10:44 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Cracker Larry wrote:
The GF rear seat is 15" and the center seat is 15 1/2.
Sorry, I had a brain fart AH :oops: Might be the heat, might be the beer :doh: In any case those measurements are to the top of the frame, so add 1/2" for the seat tops to that, making them 15 1/2" and 16" respectively.
CL - Thanks for the very detailed seat analysis. Is there any part of a boat you haven't thought about. :wink:

For the midseat, it depends whether you are measuring from the front or rear frame. Considering that, when using this seat, the person would most likely be facing forward, the hull is starting to flare up, so the actual seat height in that location may feel even a little lower. After pondering it for a while, I am going to stick with the plan height. That also gives me a little more storage, keeping the access holes through the frames at the full height possible.

I started cutting tonight, but with a one year old and a 2-1/2 year old, it is slow going!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:42 pm
by Uncle D
Hey CL. Just found this thread. My nephew has 2 small motors, a 4 and 8hp. So...I got to looking at the small boats and have decided on this one for a quick fish fix while I'm building the Phantom. You do good work and the pics are worth the thousand words. Keep up the good work. Don

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:54 am
by Cracker Larry
PS I tried to get a kitchen pass this weekend to come fish, but to no avail.
Did you try presents? We went cobia fishing again yesterday. It was a little slow but we managed to hook up with 5. They will be moving out of the sound any day now.
Keep up the good work. Don
Thanks Don. The 8 hp should be perfect. You'll enjoy building and using the little boat. Let me know if I can help.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 5:10 pm
by Cracker Larry
It's been a slow week for boat work. Went fishing a couple of times but it's about too hot for that. Even so, I've been plodding along.

After I finished the rubrails, we got the seat tops and bow deck dry fitted and temporarily attached with screws. This will maintain the hull shape when we flip it.

Image

Then we flipped her over, blocked her up and trued up the edges with a plane ( no need to waste glue), and prepared for installing the bottom.

Image

Working slowly from the middle out, tightening a little at a time all around, we got her stitched up with everything aligned just right :D

Image

You have to be careful not to pull a pucker into the panels anywhere, and to maintain your gaps, but with enough beer and cable ties, and spacers, I finally get it like I want it. The good news is that the bottom fit the boat almost perfectly 8)

Image

After stitching, I gave the areas between the stitches a pre-coat of epoxy, in preparation for tack welds of glue. A lot of folks don't pre-coat for tack welds, but my thinking is that they are permanent and I want a good bond. Only takes a few minutes.

Then I mixed some glue up fairly thick and built tack welds between the stitching. Being very careful not to glue in the frames just yet :wink:

Image

Once this cures, I'll be able to remove the stitching, flip the boat and glass the inside...

Image

I'll cover the outside seams with duct tape prior to flipping and building the inside fillets. The tape will hold the glue in the seams and prevent waste.

That's all for now. Yall have a happy and safe Independence Day. If you get a chance, thank a soldier :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:19 am
by cape man
That sure is a lot of flipping 8O Thank goodness she's smaller than No Excuse.


Happy 4th!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:32 pm
by Cracker Larry
That sure is a lot of flipping Thank goodness she's smaller than No Excuse.
Ain't that the truth. The good news is that she only weighs about 100 pounds and I can flip her by myself in about 20 seconds. But funny you should say that Craig, you're right, it's too much unnecessary flipping. I tend to be anal and read and follow the instructions, but the building notes have us flipping this boat 4 times :doh: I cut it down by one today :wink:

It came to me in my ponderings this morning, as I was removing stitches, that I could now go ahead and completely fillet these outside seams, skip the duct tape, skip the flip, and glass the outside entirely before flipping again and glassing the inside :idea: It's contrary to the instructions, but that's how we're doing this one.

But the 4th of July being what it is, it didn't allow me to do all that today, as the Medusa wanted the grass mowed, and her blueberry field mowed, and blueberries picked, and a trip to the grocery store which ended up being to 3 stores and 50 miles, and company coming.... :help:

I got up early with good intentions, started at 0630 sneaking in some boat work. Cut out all the stitches, lightly sanded down the glue lumps and cleaned it all up with the air compressor and a blow gun

Image

Was going to duct tape it and flip, but had that revelation and instead pre-coated all the outside seams with epoxy and then built up the outside fillets. The only drawback at this point is that I'll tack glue the frames at the chine, and they'll have to be removed later, but no big deal. I'll cut them out with a hacksaw blade. If I'd thought of this yesterday I would have put little pieces of plastic on the corners of the frames :roll: No matter, this will still be faster.

Image

At this point I was planning to keep on going, wet on wet. Tape it, glass it and be done with it. Also at this point, SHSBO woke up and interrupted my plans with hers, and I said Yes Dear :wink:

Now we're heading off again, Yes Dear.. :help:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:05 pm
by TomW
Aw your so deprived. :lol:

Enjoy the 4th.

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:52 am
by cape man
That makes so much sense! I could not see why you would flip it without finishing the bottom...

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:22 pm
by Oceola
Wow Larry...13 days and no posts...what color did you paint the boat?

Frank

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:12 pm
by Cracker Larry
:lol: I have been remiss in my reports, Frank :oops:

But we're still plodding along, still hot as heck. Making decent progress if not spectacular. The inside is ready for fairing compound and should be primed within the week. I want to finish the locker interiors completely before installing the seat tops and bow deck, but they are ready to go.

This picture will mostly bring you up to date, and cuts out about 20 other pictures. If yall want to see anything specific just ask. Been pouring foam and sanding today. Going fishing tomorrow :D

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:15 pm
by cape man
NIce work as expected. Been busy!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:10 pm
by Murry
That looks great Larry!

I really like the layout. I saw one other gf12 setup like that and really liked the idea of having the access through the frames like yours. I do have a couple of questions for you.

What did you do for drainage through the mid seat?

Did you glass the interior before taping in your frames?

One more thing. Do you think loading that boat in and out of a pickup would be manageable?

Daniel

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:15 am
by Cracker Larry
I knew there'd be questions :lol:
Did you glass the interior before taping in your frames?
Yes, contrary to the building notes, but I think it's stronger this way. First I made some temporary braces to maintain the shape of the hull, and removed all the frames. Then using strings and tapes we got the hull perfectly square and braced in position.

Image

After I was satisfied with this, I cut all the tape and glass for the interior, pre-coated the seams, built the fillets, taped the seams, and layed the interior glass. Did all this wet on wet, no sanding required :D

Image

Image

After this set up, I re-installed the frames one at a time. Glue, fillet, tape, wet on wet.
What did you do for drainage through the mid seat?
I had previously cut the drain holes with a 2" hole saw. After the frames were installed we split a piece of 2" PVC pipe in half and trimmed them to fit between the frames.

Image

Then bedded them in a bead of glue, filleted around them and taped them down.

Image
Do you think loading that boat in and out of a pickup would be manageable?
Yes, for sure with 2 people. It would be tough solo, but could probably be done.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:01 pm
by Murry
Thanks for the detailed response Larry.
Cracker Larry wrote:

Yes, contrary to the building notes, but I think it's stronger this way.
and easier and faster. I like that!

It all looks very clean as usual. 8)
Yes, for sure with 2 people. It would be tough solo, but could probably be done.
That's good to know.


Aalmost forgot. Have you glassed the outside of the boat? I know you had mentioned doing that before you flipped.

When you mentioned it I was thinking it would probably still be easier to do the inside first because it's alot easier to clean up and shape glue drippings on the outside of the chine rather that the inside. What's one more flip with a small boat, Right?

Was just wondering what you ended up doing on that one Larry.


Thanks again,
Daniel

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:39 pm
by Cracker Larry
Aalmost forgot. Have you glassed the outside of the boat? I know you had mentioned doing that before you flipped.
No, I decided to flip it and work from the inside, for a couple of reasons. I had drywall screws holding in the frames and I couldn't glass over them, so if I couldn't do it all at once, wet on wet, I didn't really want to start. Plus there was no way to pull strings and check diagonals to tell if the boat was square when upside down. I didn't want to get it glassed into place all cattywhompus :help: And as small as it is, it's no problem to flip her back and forth anyway. A non-event 8) Haven't had to use the chainfalls yet :D

I do have the spray rails glued to the outside, no picture of those yet, and all the seams ready for tape and glass, so it will only be a few hours work to glass the outside. Love these little boats, after the OD18 this is a breeze 8)

Used the Sureform sander and block plane for most of the trimming. No dust. The sander is just for touch up.

Image

How is your boat coming along Daniel :?:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:08 pm
by Murry
I do have the spray rails glued to the outside, no picture of those yet, and all the seams ready for tape and glass, so it will only be a few hours work to glass the outside.
So seat tops, outside glass and paint :!: You've knocked that one out Larry :!: Nice work. It goes to show that if you have your act together they can really go together quickly.
How is your boat coming along Daniel :?:
Thanks for asking.

I haven't worked on mine since May 3rd 8O . I've been preparing to go to Bangladesh with some folks from my church, we actually leave this Thursday. :D

I am ready to get back to work on it though. You can bet, I'll be posting some progress by the middle of August. :wink:

I have been gearing up, I picked up my trailer a couple of weeks ago and I ordered a piece of teak last week that I'll be using at the bow and under some rear rod holders.

Thanks for responding back with great detail about your build Larry :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:30 pm
by Cracker Larry
I've been preparing to go to Bangladesh with some folks from my church, we actually leave this Thursday.
Wow, that's pretty intense. Good luck with that :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:12 am
by Fonda@kauai
Ahhh, so this is where you've been hiding :D As usual, beautiful work and nice documentation. You can't keep a good dog down :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:59 am
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Fonda :D
You can't keep a good dog down
In this heat it's hard to even get a good dog moving :lol:

Image

The sanding dust had to go, couldn't stand it any longer. Propped her up and hosed her out good, and Sam moved in right under the hose :roll:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 10:05 am
by Murry
:lol: smart dog

That sure is wide little boat. That'll make someone a nice stable fishing platform for those creeks Larry.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:29 pm
by Cracker Larry
That'll make someone a nice stable fishing platform for those creeks Larry.
Yes, she is a wide and sturdy little boat. Probably the largest 12' boat I've seen. She is the same width and depth as your GF16, so very chunky looking.

I might have to find another someone, I think. The buyer I had lined up just lost his job, because of the new job stimulus plan :?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:06 pm
by Fonda@kauai
:lol:
The buyer I had lined up just lost his job, because of the new job stimulus plan
So that's what "spreading the wealth" looks like 8O

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:59 pm
by TomW
Larry just don't sell to anyone in the Mental Health Field in NC. They are cutting it to about a 1/3 of what it was earlier this year. Easy come easy go. Most serious problem goes first. Don't know how GA is handling it or if they even have a deficit in there budget. It is really a shame who is getting axed and why at the state and local levels around here when they could cut other areas and keep important jobs in place.

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:12 pm
by Cracker Larry
Don't even get me started :x

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:27 pm
by Cracker Larry
We got the first coat of color inside the lockers today. It let's me know I should have used 1 more coat of fairing compound. As usual :doh: Oh well, progress is progress, I'll sand it again tomorrow and give it a little more filler :D Or maybe I'll go fishing instead :idea:

Image

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 1:01 pm
by BassMunn
Sooooooo This is where you've been hiding - OK so I'm not that observant :oops: :lol:

As per usual I see your building is once again setting the benchmark 8O Very Nice.
I'm gonna follow this one closely, I seem to have been bitten by some sort of BBV bug and as I near the end of my PH build I am already looking at building a smaller simpler boat for some little farm pond fishing and also just because I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with myself in my spare time :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:02 pm
by TomW
Well you can always go fishing! :P

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:14 pm
by BassMunn
TomW wrote:Well you can always go fishing! :P

Tom
No No Tom, it's very important to keep fishing time and spare time completely seperate :D :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:21 pm
by topwater
BassMunn you are a wise man..............iam still :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:58 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks BM, glad you found my hiding spot. This is a perfect little boat for you to build next. I'm trying to get psyched up to build a big one, or psyched up not to, I can't decide :doh: The AB23 and the GS28 both have my eye for a possible next build.
No No Tom, it's very important to keep fishing time and spare time completely seperate


Now that's a quote worth saving right there :lol: I love it.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:20 pm
by BassMunn
CL I agree with the getting psyched part, I love the AB23 but after fairing my 16ft, a 23ft scares the hell outta me 8O

A nice 11 or 12ft will do just fine and I can blame that on my son :D

I posted this question in the Small boats section but you could help, in the BOM for this boat on the site it states 3 x 1/4" and 3 x 1/2" sheets, is that correct are there no 3/8" sheets in the build?

Thanks

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:05 pm
by Arm&Hammer
BassMunn wrote:CL I agree with the getting psyched part, I love the AB23 but after fairing my 16ft, a 23ft scares the hell outta me 8O

A nice 11 or 12ft will do just fine and I can blame that on my son :D

I posted this question in the Small boats section but you could help, in the BOM for this boat on the site it states 3 x 1/4" and 3 x 1/2" sheets, is that correct are there no 3/8" sheets in the build?

Thanks
CL, I will chime in here if I may. BassMunn, the plans state to use 3 sheets of 1/4" and 3 sheets of 1/2". However, if you do a search, you will find a post where Jacques OK's the substitution of 3/8" for 1/2", as long as you double up the transom. This applies only to the GF12, not the other GF series.

I'm not sure if you are interested, because as slow as I am going, it is going to be another 6 months before I finish cutting my panels, but I am building a GF12 low sheer. I am reducing the beam by 3", the sides by 2-1/8", and the seat height by 1-1/8". (The 1/8" is being overly precise, but since I am sketching it up on ACad, I thought I would mention it.) As a result, I have the nesting comfortably down to 3 sheets of 1/4", and 2 sheets of 3/8", including the rubrails built from 1/4". This also allows me to cut the midseat as one piece. I'm sure it doesn't matter if you are using 1/2", but for some reason it bugged me to cut it out of 2 pieces of 3/8".

I hope to start my own thread some time in the near future... :)

CL, your GF12 looks great. It has given me a lot of great ideas. I had the same concerns about glassing the outside first (drywall screws, frames holding it square, etc.). Glad to see that you came to the same conclusion before I tried it, because I don't have all of the clamps (or expertise) to avoid making mistakes. Thanks!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:11 am
by Cracker Larry
in the BOM for this boat on the site it states 3 x 1/4" and 3 x 1/2" sheets, is that correct are there no 3/8" sheets in the build?
That's correct, but I cheated and used 3/8 for the casting deck, the bulkheads for the floatation chambers and the rubrails. I stuck with 1/2 for the frames.
CL I agree with the getting psyched part, I love the AB23 but after fairing my 16ft, a 23ft scares the hell outta me


Me too 8O I'm sure I can build it, but I'm not sure I can sand it, over and over and over and over...... :help:
I'm sure it doesn't matter if you are using 1/2", but for some reason it bugged me to cut it out of 2 pieces of 3/8".
Why so? You'll use a wide butt block splice on the underside, it will be plenty strong. My casting deck is made from 2 pieces of 3/8 with a butt splice.
CL, your GF12 looks great. It has given me a lot of great ideas. I had the same concerns about glassing the outside first (drywall screws, frames holding it square, etc.). Glad to see that you came to the same conclusion before I tried it, because I don't have all of the clamps (or expertise) to avoid making mistakes. Thanks!
Thanks AH, don't worry about making mistakes. There's nothing you can do that you can't fix, but time spent thinking it all through is usually well spent.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:35 pm
by Oceola
Larry said... "Me too I'm sure I can build it, but I'm not sure I can sand it, over and over and over and over"......

Larry,

I suspect that with the experience you have and the techniques you have developed it will require a lot less fairing and sanding than what many others, especially first time builders, will need to do. When I was a kid I was a "grunt" in a boatyard each spring. They would give a couple of us those huge old electric sanders, put one of us up on a scaffold on each side of big wood sailboat or powerboat and turn us loose. We sanded till 2pm when the painters/varnishers took over. For a big boat hire a couple of HS kids after you have it all faired out and they could get the bulk of the sanding knocked out in a day or two. :idea:
And I'm being selfish here...I really want to see you build a big one (Carolina skiff?), paint it that pretty red and name it "Blackjack". Wouldn't that be a looker.


Frank

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:50 pm
by BassMunn
Thanks AH, I read about your changes to the plans and like them. A low sheer version of this boat would suit my purposes well. I have a bigger boat for our larger waters, the GF12 will be for playing in farm ponds and I want it to be as light as possible.

Thanks Larry, I thought I would be able to substitute some of the 1/2" with 3/8", the sheets are like half the price and this needs to be a cheap but still strong boat, my Phantom has gotten way too expensive already.
Once I get the plans I'll have a look through them to see what I can substitute.

I agree with Oceola, I also want to see you build a large offshore boat :D , We're a selfish bunch aren't we :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 11:07 am
by topwater
CL how about a gsx28 for the next one.... :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:22 pm
by Bowmovement
topwater wrote:CL how about a gsx28 for the next one.... :wink:

I would love to watch that build :!:

With a jump cabin
Some flair
And a tuna tower

Yeah, that would be nice.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:03 am
by Cracker Larry
topwater wrote:
CL how about a gsx28 for the next one....
I would love to watch that build

With a jump cabin
Some flair
And a tuna tower

Yeah, that would be nice.
I'd love to, but it's out of my budget range to equip it. Heck, I'd even have to buy a new truck to pull it :help: How about yall commission me to build one for you :idea:
For a big boat hire a couple of HS kids after you have it all faired out and they could get the bulk of the sanding knocked out in a day or two.
And I'm being selfish here...I really want to see you build a big one (Carolina skiff?), paint it that pretty red and name it "Blackjack". Wouldn't that be a looker.


Frank
That's a good idea Frank, and about the only practical way to accomplish it. We used to have a lot of immigrant (illegal) labor around here that would work for beans, but they all went back home, unstimulated :lol:

I'm thinking the AB23 will be doable without a new truck. Painted red and named Blackjack :wink: I've got to do something with these graphics that Vman designed for me last year 8)

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:22 am
by Cracker Larry
We made a little more progress over the weekend. The under deck storage areas have been given 3 coats of tinted epoxy and 3 coats of S3 primer, and sanded. Ready for finish paint :D

I've routed/ rounded over the edges of the seat tops, the undersides of the seat tops/decks have also been given 3 coats of tinted epoxy...

Image

And I added another 1.5 CF of foam board glued under the seat tops. We've already got 8 CF of foam, but this will insure upright and level floatation. The space is wasted and invisable anyway, might as well use it. This will give us 9.5 CF total, almost 600 pounds of positive floatation :D The first thing I do when I launch it will be to sink it, or try to sink it, and do some stability tests with weights.

Image

So the seat tops are finished and ready to install.

We also decided to add some handles between the ears of the center frames, just like I did on my GF16. They are very handy for lifting and dragging the boat, tieing lines and fenders, and as a hand hold. Plus, it makes these ears look a little better. These are just 1 1/2" dowel rods, Southern Yellow pine.

Image

I'll wait until after the seat tops are installed before glueing and trimming these.

Been meaning to show yall this SOB, We hate these little things, Sam and Delila and I :x I'd rather tangle with a full grown one. I stepped on it barefooted and only had time to grind it's head into the concrete with my heel :help: It was right under the edge of the boat. Seeking a cool spot like everything else...

Image

For those who don't recognize it, it's a Timber Rattler, also called Cane Brake rattler down here. This is obviously a baby and I haven't been able to relax since, wondering where all his brothers and sisters are. Probably under my shed :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:27 pm
by TomW
Larry when out cat Katie who died at the ripe age of 17 in Dec. was 2 and 3 she liked to bring those little buggers up to he mom and dad when we were out working in the yard. Deb who hates snakes anyway was real pleased especially when she brought one back that wasn't completely dead. She definately kept the rattler population down around the house. :lol:

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:20 pm
by Cascadie
While boatbuilding in Maui, the yard where we worked was in the middle of the cane fields. The frames were 3 feet apart and there were stringers over the frames, which were then double diagonally planked. I'd have to get inside during planking to shim some stringers from time to time, but it was also a favorite hangout for cane spiders. You could see them duck between the stringers as you crawled up into the station. They can jump about 3-4 feet at a time and can outrun you over short distances. They give a nasty bite, but aren't poisonous, fortunately. The bigger ones were about as big as the palm of your hand, and they actually are pretty shy.

Image

The first thing I'd do in the morning would be to start the compressor, and start shooting at them with my nail gun! LOL

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:47 pm
by Bowmovement
Cascadie wrote:While boatbuilding in Maui, the yard where we worked was in the middle of the cane fields. The frames were 3 feet apart and there were stringers over the frames, which were then double diagonally planked. I'd have to get inside during planking to shim some stringers from time to time, but it was also a favorite hangout for cane spiders. You could see them duck between the stringers as you crawled up into the station. They can jump about 3-4 feet at a time and can outrun you over short distances. They give a nasty bite, but aren't poisonous, fortunately. The bigger ones were about as big as the palm of your hand, and they actually are pretty shy.

Image

The first thing I'd do in the morning would be to start the compressor, and start shooting at them with my nail gun! LOL
You couldn't pay me to get uunder there with those! I hate spiders!!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:57 am
by cape man
For those who don't recognize it, it's a Timber Rattler, also called Cane Brake rattler down here. This is obviously a baby and I haven't been able to relax since, wondering where all his brothers and sisters are. Probably under my shed
Larry, the picture isn't the best in that light, but I would bet money that is a banded water snake, not a cane brake. Here's a good pic of a Timber.

Image

The pattern is a giveaway on your snake...too many bands, too much red, and too slender. Even baby Timbers are a lot stouter than a water snake. Wouldn't worry about his/her brothers and sisters. I am sure you have seen both before, so not trying to argue. Just my $0.02...

The boat is looking sharp. Nice work as expected. Like the closet rod handles.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:45 am
by Cracker Larry
Nah, it was definitely a timber rattler, I know them well :wink: The color is irrelevant, they are camelion and this one was laying in mahogany shavings. It had a big triangular head and one button on it's tail.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:33 am
by gk108
I hit one with the weed eater the other day. Same markings, but the bright colors were just a bit brighter. I'm all for nature and everything, but certain members of the natural community need to realize that I have boundaries. :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:58 pm
by fishin'
Color is not irrelevant when speaking of Timber rattlers. They do have variations in color, but there are only a few they take on. Also, they are not chameleons in the sense of being able to adapt to whatever color they are near, so the fact that it was laying in mahogany shavings makes no difference. I would trust your assessment otherwise since the head is now missing and you were the only person to see the snake in person. Pictures are often hard to tell from. The only thing I will say is that banded water snakes also have triangular heads and could look similar. The second picture from the bottom on this page shows what I mean. it is a banded water snake.
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/communit ... stuff.html

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:12 pm
by Cracker Larry
While I agree the banded water snake is very similar in appearance, I've never seen one with a rattle (button), 2 fangs, and a ridged back. I know a pit viper, I'm a country boy :wink:

This snake didn't have any red, it was brown. I've seen them from sandy white to jet black and every shade in between, so they have a fairly wide range of colors. Not red or green or blue though :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:21 pm
by fishin'
that's why I said I would trust you. You are the one who saw it. Like I said pictures don't always show the truth. For instance that snake looks red in the picture but apparently it wasn't.
Anyway, the boat is looking good. bet it feels like it's moving fast compared to the OD!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:59 pm
by cape man
Larry,

You gotta know by now I'm as stubborn as you (well maybe almost)... :lol: :lol:

I was at work today when I went to your thread (don't tell anyone! :lol: ), and had just come in from the ponds where a client and I were watching three small banded water snakes eating some mollies. We probaly have 300 or so in our 50 ponds at any given time. So before I read your message below the picture, I saw a banded water snake... We don't get Canebrakes this far south, so I was curious after your affirmation that it was a Timber, and that they could look like that. Sent the pic to a Univeristy of Georgia Herpetologist in your neck of the woods and below is the email exchange (his response first)...

Craig – looks like a southern banded watersnake to me – a few key differences from a timber rattler are that the sides are reddish in the watersnake, the tail is pointed with no rattles, and the more than 30 dark bands across the body and tail are about twice the number found in a timber rattler, and finally, the tail of a timber (=canebrake) rattler around Savannah would have a solid, velvet-like black tail for the last few inches – hope this helps – am sending this to JD Willson who works with watersnakes to see if he confirms the ID - whit

J. Whitfield Gibbons
Professor Emeritus
University of Georgia
Savannah River Ecology Lab

From: Craig Watson
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 3:03 PM
To: Whit Gibbons
Subject: Herp ID
Dr. Gibbons,
Got your contact from your center's web page (very nice by the way!). Hope you can help settle something, at least for me.
This is a picture of a snake near Savanna a friend killed. He claims it is (was) a Timber Rattler. Looks like a banded water snake to me. Do you ever see Timber Rattlers colored like this in Georgia? Is there something other than the pattern you can make out from this picture that is definitive one way or another? I could ask one of our faculty, but since you are right there in his area your opinion may hold more value to the issue.
Thanks for the time.

Craig A. Watson, Director
Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory
School of Forest Resources and Conservation
Program in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
University of Florida


I saw a Florida Panther in Hillsborough County last month on my way to work and no one believes me... :roll: Not arguing here...just sharing. :wink: Boat looks great!!!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:50 pm
by jayb01
Coloration pattern does look like the top photo under Savannah River Ecology Lab's snake pages:

Image

http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/nerfas.htm


From the site: defensive head spreading by a NB watersnake.
Image

The real litmus test would be whether or not the snake had elliptical pupils (cat-like slits) or round ones. In Cracker's area, the only venomous snake with round pupils would be a coral snake.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:49 am
by TomW
Craig I'm going to back Larry up on this one, despite your bringing in your hired guns! :lol: I have seen and watched Timber Rattlers hatch here in my Bark piles in the nursery and they look exactly like that. Not to mention what Katie brought up to us when she was young. Young Rattlers are thin and long. only after feeding for a while do they start to develop the thickness associated with them. Up here we also have Copperheads and then the non-poisenous varieties but no BANDED WATER SNAKES. Copperheads are worse than Rattlers as they don't give you any warning unless you can smell there semi-cucumber odor. Both the guy that worked for me and I have stepped on one and fortunatly not been bit.

PS: Larry next time don't cut off his head! :lol:

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 7:34 am
by cape man
Like a discussion on which prop is the best for a given boat... :P Larry you can pull the plug on this anytime... maybe you already did...
I know a pit viper, I'm a country boy
From the New York Department of Environmental Protection

"The young are approximately 1 foot (30 cm) in length at birth and emerge singly from the female, encased in a transparent membrane which is shed in a few minutes. Each is equipped with venom, hollow fangs and a tiny rattle segment called a "button." Their skin has a velvety texture and the coloring is essentially the same as the adult's. "

From the University of Georgia site...

"The live young are born in late summer or early fall around the time that courtship and mating occurs. "

Tom, you didn't watch Timber Rattlesnakes hatching out of the Bark pile. Sorry. You may have seen one there, but they don't lay eggs.

As I said, we don't get Timbers this far south, but I have seen many. I did not mention that as a young man I made extra cash collecting snakes, including venomous snakes, mostly in the Everglades. One needs to know real quick what your looking at when you are going to pick up a snake, and I have picked up hundreds. My teenage son is a bit of a herp freak so I'm still in it to some extent. Two summers ago we moved a 4 foot Timber out of the road coming into Hanging Rocks State Park in NC. Despite my knowledge, I went to the "hired gun" at UG, just like asking the Coast Guard what is the best fuel line to use. A lot of water snakes get whacked because they look like poisonous snakes. They flatten out their heads to look like one, they're aggressive, and their patterns are sometimes similar. I worked for nine years in our local County Extension office, and saw dozens of dead snakes that folks brought in and only two that were truly poisonous (pigmy rattlers). The main key for me on the snake Larry killed was the same as one the expert listed...TOO many bands in the pattern. I'm done now...

Boats. I like boats! 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:58 am
by Cracker Larry
It can be any kind of snake yall want it to be, a water snake with a rattle is OK by me :lol: We'll call it a water rattler :idea: A dead water rattler. I''ll be sure next time to take a pic of the rattles and fangs.

Just for the record, I catch about 30-50 rattlesnakes a year and sell them at the Claxton Rattlesnake Roundup every March. Been doing it for 20 years or more.

http://www.pbase.com/ron53/rattlesnake_roundup

They milk the snakes for the venom, to produce anti-venom, and also sell the meat and the skin. I get paid per ounce for the venom, per pound for the meat and per foot for the skin, so it's fairly lucrative 8) Never had a snake rejected yet because it was a water snake :wink:

My house is geographically on the end of what's called the Tilman Sand ridge, which is 30 miles inland but at one time in history was the shoreline. Most of my yard is like white beach sand, complete with shells, just like beach dunes. I've got 50 acres of land in a wildlife conservation program mostly because of the Gopher Tortoises, an endangered species, that live here. We've got 37 documented tortoise burrows on the property, and every one of them have a healthy population of rattlesnakes living in them, in a symbiotic relationship with the tortoises. Rattlesnakes are an almost daily encounter. We have a lot of other snakes too, but the house is 1/4 mile from the closest water and I've never seen any type of water snake up on the sand hills, It's desert dry. Palmetto and cactus scrub, very conducive to rattlesnakes. We've lost 2 dogs and 2 cats to rattlesnakes and Delila almost died a few years back from a bite on her snout. Now she and Sam goes nuts when they smell a rattlesnake, not so with others.

Sam says these are Yellow Rat snakes, he's puzzled by their behavior. I'm not, they're mating :lol:

Image

Image


Boats...ugh I hate sanding. Finished painting the lockers, might get some seat tops glued on today, but I need to cut the grass first. It's about knee high. Bound to be some snakes in there :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:33 pm
by cape man
Boats...ugh I hate sanding.
Now we're talking about something that we all can agree on!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:13 pm
by AD16 The Opportunist
... but I need to cut the grass first. It's about knee high. Bound to be some snakes in there :lol:
...a friend of mine, a few years ago, bought a villa in Mombasa, Kenya.... the price was fairy good included a lot of personal services like cook, waitress,housemaid and gardener. he told me that one day he asked to the gardener why he was cutting the grass every second day...... the answer was: " because is the only way to see the mambas".... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:21 pm
by dborecky
Kind of looks like a garden snake to me.... 8) :wink:

The other two are positively spitting cobras with there hoods not flaired. They should not be allowed to procreate and quickly killed at all costs..... :doh:

CL, with all those snakes around, you don't have to worry about rat/mice problems.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:56 pm
by BassMunn
If I stand on something barefoot and it wriggles it gets flat real quick, no time to ask for identification :lol:

What's it with boats and snakes? About 3 months ago I was working on my boat and my 4 year old son was pottering around near me. He goes to pick up a small painting tray that had dried resin in it and I see him jump 6 foot in the air with very big eyes 8O .
I have a look and here is a little what I thought at first was a brown house snake, so I grab a stick, get it to slither onto the stick and pop it into a bush on the other side of my fence. Once I've done this and it's out of reach I take a good look at it and realise it's not a brown house snake. So to confirm I harasse the snake a bit with the stick and sure enough it opens it's mouth to warn me and it's black inside 8O There's only one snake here that has a black mouth and that's a Black Mamba. I've seen a fair amount of adult Mamba's and can recognize them instantly, but this juvenile just looked so different. I thank the Lord everyday that my son had the sense to jump away and not try to grab it.

Larry get your army boots on and go build that boat :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:45 pm
by Cracker Larry
Too funny, all :lol:

I seen a lot of stuff Tom, but never seen a rattlesnake hatch :doh: Appreciate the support though :D
Larry get your army boots on and go build that boat
Nah, I'll stick with barefoot. We don't have Mambas at least :D I've already been bit by a rattlesnake, a copperhead and a water mocassin and they aint killed me yet, although I wondered once. I'm not scared of snakes, as a rule, if I see them first...
one day he asked to the gardener why he was cutting the grass every second day...... the answer was: " because is the only way to see the mambas"....


The place we stay in Belize, when I first got there I'd always get up real early and sit outside with my coffee. A gardener came out every morning at daylight with a machete and inspected every bush and tree on the property. Once in a while I'd see him whack heck out of something. After about 3 days of watching I asked him what he was doing. His english was only marginally better than my spanish and creole, but he told me he was killing the (multiple spanish cuss words) fer-de-lances which come every night. I had been walking around there barefooted too :help:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:13 pm
by Bowmovement
Yall are killing me with all the snake and spider talk. Been in San Diego for 8 years and have seen one snake. And that was while I was in the mountains riding my dirtbike at a motocross track. I think it was a small rattler, I didnt stick around to check. I do not miss the snakes I was around growing up in NC. I have been scard too many times by Copperheads and Cottonmouths. Ive stepped on Copperheads a few times. Luckily I was wearing boots. Had a Cottonmouth jump up eye level with me while I was weed eating around a small pond. Boss man was a little missed when I told him the weedeater was in the pond and I wasnt getting it. Screw the weedeater I was wanting some clean britches :help: Snakes falling into boats. Snakes slithering into boats. Yall can keep em.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:22 pm
by TomW
They had to have been turtle eggs that had just hatched and mama rattler gave birth next to them cause those little suckers were around and coming out of those eggs. :doh: :lol: Those bark piles get nice and warm and attracted lots of critters. :wink:

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:02 am
by Arm&Hammer
Forgive me for interrupting the snakehandling with a little boat discussion. :)

CL, could you please let me know the LxW of the opening that you cut in the rear seat for motor clamps? I saw the brace that you put underneath. I like it.

One thing I thought worth noting. I have about 2/3 of my panels cut, and I lowered the rear and mid seat height by 1-1/8" (the front deck will already be 2" lower than plan per the reduction in sheer - not sure if I am going to lower it more). The rear seat frame height, now lowered by 1-1/8", is 13-1/2". If I cut an opening in the frame, leaving 3" at top and bottom, it will be 7-1/2"H. A Moeller Neptune 3gal. gas tank (which I have) is 8"H. Doing an online search, that is the shortest I can find. I want 1/2" clearance, so my opening should be 8-1/2" (what it would be at the designed seat height). I will probably leave 2-1/2" at the top and bottom, call it nominal, and reinforce as necessary. Just food for thought, as I am sure I will run into more decisions to make since I am modifying the plans somewhat. :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:20 pm
by Cracker Larry
CL, could you please let me know the LxW of the opening that you cut in the rear seat for motor clamps? I saw the brace that you put underneath. I like it.
It's 12 X 5 1/2". I measured the clamps on a 25 Merc and sized it from that. I added the stiffener since we were losing the continuos support across the transom.
I will probably leave 2-1/2" at the top and bottom, call it nominal, and reinforce as necessary.
That's mighty skinny, I'd be real cautious with less than 3", especially since you have already downsized the frame thickness. Have you considered putting the tank in the center or under the bow? The GFs usually behave better with some weight forward and you have more room to work with.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:39 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Thanks for the cutout info.
Cracker Larry wrote:Have you considered putting the tank in the center or under the bow?
Yes, and I agree about moving the weight forward. I'm just not sure how I would run the gas line cleanly from the mid or front of the boat. :doh: I am going to search the gallery for some pics.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 2:36 pm
by Cracker Larry
You could just run it through a scupper hole and call it good nuff. It's a little, simple boat, doesn't need to be fancy unless you just want it to be. That's what I did on my GF16 and it worked fine.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:30 am
by Cracker Larry
Still slowly plugging along in the heat and rain. Since my buyer had to back out we no longer have a deadline, which is more conducive to my laxidasical nature anyway :lol:

We covered the inside of the seat lockers with cardboard and construction paper to protect the finished paint from glue drippings when we install the seat tops.

Image

Gave all the edges to be glued another sanding, then another coat of epoxy, then glued down the casting deck and filleted the edges. We're going to cover this in 12 oz. biax cloth.

Image

Then did the same thing to the center seat, glued and filleted. I will at least tape all the edges, but may also cover it in biax if the epoxy holds out. We've used 4.5 gallons at this point.

Image

Drilled the transom drain hole, oversized of course to 1 1/2". Will fill and re-drill to size. Rear seat is ready to be glued on, might happen today if the spirit moves me, might not :lol:

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:18 pm
by Cracker Larry
Still muddling along, still hot, still raining, got power right now but it's been off more than on lately. A drawback to living in the woods sometimes.

We've got all the seat tops glued down now, and while the glue was drying I started shaping the spray rails.

Image

The block plane is one of my favorite woodworking tools 8) There is nothing quite like a sharp plane, shaving long curls of wood. No dust, no noise, no sandpaper, quick results. The perfect tool for removing a lot of material, quick and clean! Plus I like walking barefoot in wood shavings :D

Image

Since we knocked those out in such a pleasurable manner, I moved up to the rubrails and trued them up, also with the plane. The top edge was uneven, lumpy and generally ugly, but a few minutes with the plane smoothed them right out slick as a baby's butt, no sanding necessary.

Image

Then cut and fit 12 biax oz. cloth for the casting deck, not required but I think necessary. The decks will surely get a beating so...

Image

And then I got it wetted out, looking good. Had some extra resin mixed so spread it on the center seat. It will get biax next.

Image

I was going to move on the the next seat and glass it too, but it started raining sideways and I had to drag the boat off to the side to keep it dry. Decided to call it another day, and cocktail hour :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:51 pm
by peter-curacao
What the hell!! 8O completely missed this thread :oops: I blinked with my eyes and you have almost a complete new finished boat how the hell is that possible Image makes me looking like I'm in the lowest gear possible :doh:
Larry your build is looking great again sorry I missed it!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:27 pm
by Cracker Larry
:lol:

This boat isn't quite as complex as your's is Peter :wink: A fun little project, not as complex as even your center console. I still haven't manned up to a 25' boat yet, that's a serious commitment that I'd like to tackle, but am hesitant ( no, not scared, just hesitant) :help:

I'm trying to stay in shape and feed the BBV, while I ponder on what to do next :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:14 pm
by wegcagle
Lookin' really good C.L.
I'm thinking a nice AB23 or GS28 would be perfect for you :wink: And could probably feed the BBV for at least 1.5-2yrs. 8O

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:59 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Will. The CS25 would be nice too :D And I'm still waiting to see that TW34 I've been hearing about for years. Now that would be a project you could sink your teeth into :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:31 pm
by Bowmovement
CL,
Are you still planning on putting a live well in the middle seat? I am pretty sure I read that earlier in the thread :doh: I have decided that the GF12 will be my first build. Still need to get rid of a few things in the garage and then I will start ordering materials. I would love a bait tank in the mid seat but I think it may be just a little much in a small boat. I also have to have running lights. Do you have any ideas on the best way to run the wiring for that? Boat is looking good :!:


Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:09 am
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Matt. No I decided to keep it simple and light. No baitwell in this one. Most of the fishing this boat was planned to do will involve worms and crickets. The baitwell adds a lot of complexity to a little boat, inlets, outlets, pump, valves, wiring, battery..but certainly OK if you want one 8)

I guess that clamp on battery powered running lights are out of the question :lol:

You could use solid stock for rubrails and rip a groove in the back side that the wire would run through, or add an inwale to do the same thing. Let me find a picture...

OK, not great but this pic will work. This is my GF16. Notice the thin strip of wood below the gunwale and running between the frames, arrow pointing at it. There is one on each side, 3/4 X 1/2, I routed a groove in the back side of it for wire. The stbd side has the transducer cable and the port side carries electrical. This was an after thought. If doing it again I'd install it as an inwale.

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 11:53 pm
by Bowmovement
Thanks Larry,
I really whish I could get away with the battery powered portable lights :( If I wasnt going to be out at night I wouldnt even worry about it, but the lobsters are caught at night :D We use those lights on my friends dingy for lobstering but it says they are not for use on vessels that can travel over 7 knots :x I wanna just keep this boat as simple as possible, its a john boat :!:

How much foam did you use? They suggest using 2 gallons. Would you say you used more or less?

One more question..

Did you have to order extra glass for covering the outside and inside. If so how much?

Thanks Larry.

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:37 am
by Cracker Larry
Yeah, I hate those portable lights also.

Foam, I used almost the entire 2 gallons. It's supposed to make 8 cubic feet so I tried to size the 5 compartments to equal 8 CF total, 4 CF in the stern, 3 CF in the center and 1 CF in the bow. It came out pretty close, I might have a quart of foam left over. It was also very hot, near 100, so I got maximum expansion from the foam.
Did you have to order extra glass for covering the outside and inside. If so how much?
Of course :wink: I didn't order the FG "kit" since I knew I would be using more of everything (I always do :doh: ) The BOM says 4 yards of cloth. That's barely enough for the outside bottom. I wanted to do the inside and seat tops also, so I bought 10 yards.

The BOM says 35 yards of tape. The scantlings call for taping one side of the frames only, and no tape on the seat tops. It also doesn't allow for building extra compartments for floatation or baitwells. I wanted my frames taped on both sides, all seat tops taped, and I doubled the tape (2 layers) around the transoms. The runners will also get taped and they aren't allowed for in the BOM either. I ordered 60 yards of tape plus I had some left over, so will probably use about 70 yards total.

Woodflour, I've used twice the specified amount.

And the called for 3 gallons of epoxy :help: Double it and hope it's enough :wink:

BTW, on the thoughts of possibly loading it into the back of a pickup by myself? Forget it! Not without a winch.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:50 pm
by Bowmovement
Cracker Larry wrote:Yeah, I hate those portable lights also.

Foam, I used almost the entire 2 gallons. It's supposed to make 8 cubic feet so I tried to size the 5 compartments to equal 8 CF total, 4 CF in the stern, 3 CF in the center and 1 CF in the bow. It came out pretty close, I might have a quart of foam left over. It was also very hot, near 100, so I got maximum expansion from the foam.
Did you have to order extra glass for covering the outside and inside. If so how much?
Of course :wink: I didn't order the FG "kit" since I knew I would be using more of everything (I always do :doh: ) The BOM says 4 yards of cloth. That's barely enough for the outside bottom. I wanted to do the inside and seat tops also, so I bought 10 yards.

The BOM says 35 yards of tape. The scantlings call for taping one side of the frames only, and no tape on the seat tops. It also doesn't allow for building extra compartments for floatation or baitwells. I wanted my frames taped on both sides, all seat tops taped, and I doubled the tape (2 layers) around the transoms. The runners will also get taped and they aren't allowed for in the BOM either. I ordered 60 yards of tape plus I had some left over, so will probably use about 70 yards total.

Woodflour, I've used twice the specified amount.

And the called for 3 gallons of epoxy :help: Double it and hope it's enough :wink:

BTW, on the thoughts of possibly loading it into the back of a pickup by myself? Forget it! Not without a winch.
Thanks for the info Larry.
I was considering the GF12 for the "low" cost of building. Seems I may have been misled a little. I was going for a less exspensive and fast build. But since you told me all the extra I would need I have decided to go a different route. I have had the GF16 plans sitting around starring at me for quite a while. It was my first choice for a build. I think I want too much to put in a 12' boat. It would all work, but would work a little better in 16' boat. I have also come to the onclusion that being in a hurry to launch something is probably not a good. I also made a deal with my wife that as soon as I have a boat she could have a baby. Nothing against the GF12, but I do not want to get it done and then want something a little larger when the SWMBO is in her thrid trimester :help: There are a few other reasons too, like number of people fishing, sometimes 3. Two dogs and two humans. I think GF16 fits the bill a little better. Thank you for all the info.

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:16 pm
by Cracker Larry
I was considering the GF12 for the "low" cost of building. Seems I may have been misled a little. I was going for a less exspensive and fast build. But since you told me all the extra I would need I have decided to go a different route.
I've also found the BOM to be somewhat misleading on the boats I've built so far :doh: It is for the bare minimums, not for any of the extras that most of us consider minimum. Keep in mind also that I do tend to overbuild things, never use 1 coat when 3 will do better :lol:

I think you are probably making a good decision for 3 people and 2 dogs. The GF16 only takes 1 more sheet of plywood, and a little more epoxy and cloth, and not very much more labor to get a much larger boat. You will still use more material than the plans say, but you can sure build the 16 for about the same money as the 12, just a little more. It's still a fast and easy build. The GF16 was my first SG boat and I built it in 90 days, start to finish. In fact the owner of it called me this afternoon and asked me if I could build some more, he has a couple of friends wanting one too 8)

I wouldn't be building this GF12, except someone specifically wanted it. It is a huge and sturdy 12' boat, a very fine 12' boat, but unless you are limited by building room, storage space, or transportation, the 16 would be a much better value. More boat for the money and effort.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:00 pm
by Cracker Larry
More baby steps. Add them all up and we'll cover some miles :lol:

I made a backing block, or a fronting block, or maybe we'll just call it a thickener block :doh: For the bow cleat and bow eye to mount. Cut it to rough shape and glued it on.

Image

After it dried, again using my favorite plane, trimmed it to a real close fit. The plane slices through epoxy just as smoothly as it does wood 8)

Image

Then a few minutes with the Surform to make it perfect.

Image

Only 15 seconds with the sander finished it off. I avoid the sander at every opportunity.

Then we got all the rough cloth around the bow deck trimmed, sanded and ready for fairing. I use a coping saw for trimming the cloth edges, then the Surform to smooth the big chunks. And then the dreaded sander.

Image

Taped the edges of the center and rear seats and gave them 2 coats of epoxy

Image

And epoxied the raw wood on the bow thickener.

Image

The only construction left in the interior is to install the handles, and I think I'll add a pair thickening blocks on the inside gunwales for oarlocks. Someone, someday, may want to row her. It won't be me :wink:

She's about ready for inside fairing and painting, which should be easy. The bottom and all the seat tops will have Kiwi Grip, so that only leaves the sides and frame faces to get really smooth.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:56 am
by Murry
You've done a fantastic job Larry.
and I think I'll add a pair thickening blocks on the inside gunwales for oarlocks. Someone, someday, may want to row her. It won't be me


I always wondered what those blocks were intended for on gf16. :D Now I know.

That 28 sounds way to big. 8O I think the cs23 built open with a bracket would be a great choice. :wink: Oh no, my suggestion doesn't have any selfish motive. :lol:

Daniel

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:36 am
by cape man
Looking good Cracker. You can't finish this boat before mine!!!! Your baby steps are my giant steps...

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:37 am
by Bowmovement
Excellent work as usual Larry.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 12:42 am
by Arm&Hammer
CL - Looking great. Every time I get lazy, I browse through this thread to get into gear.

A couple more questions:
-Did you tape the seams on the outside of the hull, opposite the butt blocks?
-When you glassed the outside bottom, did you wrap 6" up the transoms, or to the top?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:30 am
by Cracker Larry
Thanks AH.
Did you tape the seams on the outside of the hull, opposite the butt blocks?
No, the butt blocks provide plenty of strength, no need for tape on the outside. If I were doing it again though, I would not use butt blocks at all, I'd just make a FG splice like I did on the bottom. The butt blocks prevent the side panels from bending fairly and create a flat spot on the sides that's going to take a lot of filler to fix. Or I would use a much narrower butt block than called for, maybe 6 or 8". There is no reason for it to span the entire width of the center seat.
When you glassed the outside bottom, did you wrap 6" up the transoms, or to the top?
I haven't glassed the outside bottom yet, saving it for last. When I do, I will completely cover both transoms, all the way to the top edges.

I'm going to give it a rest for a few days, heading out this afternoon for an overnighter to the Gulf Stream :D Should be back by Saturday.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:07 am
by tech_support
Cracker Larry wrote: I'm going to give it a rest for a few days, heading out this afternoon for an overnighter to the Gulf Stream :D Should be back by Saturday.
Good luck, looking forward to the report :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:15 am
by Murry
That sounds like a good time!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:43 pm
by Bowmovement
Have fun fishing Larry! I used to love fishing the Gulf Stream when lived in N.C.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:45 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Cracker Larry wrote: No, the butt blocks provide plenty of strength, no need for tape on the outside. If I were doing it again though, I would not use butt blocks at all, I'd just make a FG splice like I did on the bottom. The butt blocks prevent the side panels from bending fairly and create a flat spot on the sides that's going to take a lot of filler to fix. Or I would use a much narrower butt block than called for, maybe 6 or 8". There is no reason for it to span the entire width of the center seat.
Speaking of butt blocks, I was laying out my side panels today, and came back in scratching my head. Soooo, a couple of more questions:

-Did you use the plan dims, or the full size cut-out for the butt blocks?

-Is more of the butt block toward the bow, or stern (relative to the alignment line on the prints)? I realize that the vertical sides are not square with the sheer, but something is not adding up.

I'll have to get back at it next week. Flying to TX this weekend for work.

I hope to hear some good stories about your fishing trip.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 2:34 pm
by Cracker Larry
Speaking of butt blocks, I was laying out my side panels today, and came back in scratching my head. Soooo, a couple of more questions:
:lol: I'll tell ya something. If you study those plans real good, then read the building notes real good, then lay out those butt block dimensions :doh: .....if you ain't scratching your head, then you just weren't paying attention :help:

The dimensions and the full size pattern seems to be designed for the GF14 which uses butt splice on the bottom under the seat, so it's too short for the GF12, which does not have a bottom splice under the seat. Also the angles are weird to the sheer, no matter which side goes forward it positions the frames at a strange angle. And they are so wide that they make a flat spot :doh: A lot of weird contradictions going on. Jacques could use to work on these plans a little bit, they aren't right.

If I were building another,I'd just use a FG splice and position the frames parallel with the spliced panels. If I was going to do it again with a butt block, I'd make it 8" wide, the total height of the side panels and parallel to the splice. If you do use a FG splice on the side panels, then the spray rail becomes structural and necessary, not optional.

The fishing trip was great, I'll post a report under Anyone Fishing, sometime soon.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:59 pm
by Arm&Hammer
I just flew back from TX last night. Ready to start building, but this butt block issue has me perturbed.
A lot of weird contradictions going on.
:doh:

I hear you there. No matter which way that you flip it, rotate it, try to align it with the centerline on the pattern, it does not work. Even if it was 1/4" longer to account for no BB on the bottom of the hull in this location, it still does not match up. Worse yet, if I use the alignment mark relative to the sheer, it will make the seat top drastically out of square with the frames. (Using the layout dims on the plans, and the alignment mark as a guide, the longer portion of the butt block, relative to the alignment mark, should be towards the bow.) As I understand the geometry, the sides of the BB's should have a "forward lean" when laid flat. That way, when the side are bent and the bottom lifts, the edges of the BB's will be pulled vertical. If I use the alignment mark, and the sheer side as noted on the pattern, the BB leans toward the stern. When the sides are bent, this will create even a greater "rearward lean". I have it sketched up on AutoCAD, and I cut out the panels to verify.

Taking it to the next level, if I measure where the top of the mid seat frames will be relative to the BB, they should be only slightly out of square relative to the sides of the butt block, with the top of the front midseat frame slightly lower. Then when I bend the sides, the front frame will lift slightly, bringing the seat top into square with the frames. If I use the BB's per the plans, the frames will be drastically out of square, and the bending cannot correct this. I foresee this creating a lot of rework, as I no longer would be able to use the side of the BB as guides for the midseat frames.

I have spent too many hours trying to make sense of this discrepency. I am just going to make it work.

Thanks for the heads up on the flat spot. To reduce the stiffness, I am considering making the BB narrower (but only below the seat tops). I will still keep it a minimum of 8"W, 4" to each side of the splice.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 5:04 pm
by Cracker Larry
I have spent too many hours trying to make sense of this discrepency. I am just going to make it work.
That's what I did.
Thanks for the heads up on the flat spot. To reduce the stiffness, I am considering making the BB narrower (but only below the seat tops). I will still keep it a minimum of 8"W, 4" to each side of the splice.Arm&Hammer
That will be perfect 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 3:21 pm
by Doc_Dyer
gulf steram report ????

pics i hope :roll:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:54 pm
by jacquesmm
I'll work on that tomorrow but I remember that question from a few years ago and it should be correct.

Anyway, if you want to use FG splice, that works too.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:32 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks for looking into it Jacques. I can work around it, but it will save some people some trouble :D
gulf steram report ????
OK Bradley, fishing report submitted. Didn't make it to the stream, didn't take any pictures, but had a good day :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:47 am
by sealevel
oh you slut

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:38 am
by Cracker Larry
Excuse me :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:31 am
by cape man
Hey sealevel... Been communicating with some of the greatest folks you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting on this site for a little over a year and a half right now, and while we often throw in some pretty funny stuff, everyone tries to be civil. Hopefully you just had a horrid lapse in judgement there, but if you did it just to be cute it didn't work with this crowd.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:03 am
by Cracker Larry
We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, Craig. I don't think he liked my abbreviated fishing report :lol:

Here's the full report SL, bottom of the page...

http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php ... &start=270

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:35 am
by gk108
I've tried to catch all kinds of things, but I've never been abbreviated fishing before. What kind of bait do you use for that? :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:43 am
by Cracker Larry
Short bait. Undesized red snappers :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:48 am
by cape man
I don't think he liked my abbreviated fishing report
Well see that's where I got really steamed...having not been fishing in the salt for WAY TOO LONG, I really don't want a thorough report from you or anyone else. "Yeah we went fishing, didn't make it to where we wanted, but had fun" is already more than I need to hear!!! 8O 8O :lol: :lol: :cry: :cry:

I always cut slack, and if sealevel wants help building a boat he'll find it here from all including myself. Just don't see you as a slut. Got a couple other names I'd pick for you before that one 8) 8) 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:44 pm
by Cracker Larry
:lol: I've been called worse.

Dang it, I really need to get out and do some sanding. Got a complete coat of fairing compound on the inside that's been sitting since Monday. I know that's going to be fun to knock down now, but nobody's going to do it for me. :doh: Maybe I'll go shrimping instead :idea: they are running real good.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:50 pm
by TomW
Yea Craig not only that but " Oh yea I forgot the camera to" "but I would have been to busy to take any pictures anyway" :lol: I mean talk about whining about a fishing report! wow1 :P :lol: :lol: Yea go shrimping the sanding will wait!

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:28 pm
by cape man
Actually Larry, I think you owe it to yourself and all of your readers to spend the next several months sanding something...after the well cured fairing compound I recommend you start sanding out the epoxy that has dripped onto your concrete, and after that I have noticed in several of your posted pictures that the leg-hold traps could use some sanding and refinishing. And what about those fence posts in the background...how can you possibly enjoy a day on the water while you know they look like that?!!!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:54 pm
by TomW
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: You got him good Craig!!!!!

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:40 pm
by Cracker Larry
Yall are a tough crowd :D
Yea Craig not only that but " Oh yea I forgot the camera to" "but I would have been to busy to take any pictures anyway"
I didn't say I forgot the camera, just said I didn't take any pictures :lol:

Craig :help: I'm sealing the concrete with epoxy, the coyote traps are dyed and waxed,
how can you possibly enjoy a day on the water while you know they look like that?!!!


Screw the fenceposts. But just to keep yall happy, I sanded something :lol: ...

Image

Image

Ugh!.

What did you do today Tom? Got any pictures :P

Edit: Sorry, I see you do have pictures 8) Excellent. I've got that bottle of Knob Creek sitting on the shelf, ageing :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 10:45 am
by cape man
Now don't ypu feel better! I know I do :D :D What do you figure...two more boats to completely seal that slab? Looking good man.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 10:05 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Bowmovement wrote:[I was considering the GF12 for the "low" cost of building. Seems I may have been misled a little.Matt
Bow Movement,

I want to be careful in the way that I word this, as I mean no disrespect to anyone who goes the extra mile to build a bulletproof boat. (My Dad was a professional home builder, and when something needed 2 nails, he would put in six. :) ).

Let me qualify this. I modified the plans, lowering the sheer by about 2-1/4", reducing the width by 3", and lowering the seats by 1". Since I had to lower the front deck by 2-1/4", I kept going, lowering it an additional 2-3/4", about as low as it can go, leaving room for 3" of tape at the lower front chine, plus an inch or so for cleats. I was able to reduce the required plywood to 3 sheets of 1/4" and 2 sheets of 3/8". I bought Meranti BS1088 locally, and I bought the GF12 FG/epoxy kit here. My total into this boat is $599, not including paint, foam, or hardware. I am guessing that this is quite a bit less than what it would take for a GF16.

I can't speak yet for the epoxy. Maybe I will run out before I am finished. But the kit actually came with about 6 yards of cloth, so I should have enough extra to glass the exposed interior floor. Other than that, I am going to be stingy with my epoxy, and try my best to not exceed 3 gallons. Right now, I think it can be done. I already have my bottom and side panels spliced, and the front and rear transoms glued in. My frames and seat tops are cut and fit properly, so I don't think I will need any more ply.

This is not to dissuade you from building the GF16. That is a GREAT boat, probably my favorite as far as boat per $. I just wanted to state my opinion that I think a GF 12 can be built for substantially less. I could spend a little more, but my quest for cost efficiency is driving me :roll:. And I am hoping that, without adding extra glass and epoxy, I will be able to singlehandedly launch my boat from the back of my truck. That is the beauty of these boats. They can be customized to fit your needs. Mine will be at the simpler end of the spectrum. All that being said, if I ever planned on consistently fishing with 2-3 people in the boat (myself included), I would build a GF16 for the reasons that CL stated. It is a lot of boat for the money.

CL, once my wife's camera is fixed, I will start posting some picks in my GF12X Low Sheer thread. But before that, I wanted to say thanks again for the invaluable info that I have gathered from this thread. I look forward to seeing how you finish up this boat. :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:48 am
by Cracker Larry
try my best to not exceed 3 gallons. Right now, I think it can be done.
:lol: :lol: No further comment :lol:

Can't wait to see some pics AH.
I wanted to say thanks again for the invaluable info that I have gathered from this thread.
My pleasure 8) I've done a lot this week but not much visual progress. Sand off fairing compound, clean hull, spread more fairing compound, sand again, clean again, spread more fairing, sand again :help: Almost ready for paint. I'll try to get some pics up later, need to go vacuum the dust again.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:52 pm
by Cracker Larry
OK, this weeks update. I'm tired of fairing and sanding :o

In between the repeated goo on- goo off, we also worked on the hardware mounting. It's minimal on this boat but still needs to be done right. So we, that's Sam and I, positioned and drilled for the cleats and bow eye and got them fitted to satisfaction

Image

Image

Then we drilled all the holes oversized for epoxy filling

Image

Same thing for the stern cleats. After I drill the big holes, I like to chamfer them to smooth the cut and increase the epoxy collar size on the edges.

Image

Pre coated all the holes with epoxy, then filled with epoxy and wood flour. Keep packing it in one side until it comes out the other. Strike one side clean and slap on a piece of duct tape, then strike the other side clean and another piece of tape to hold it in place. When it's cured, pull the tape and this is what you get.

Image

It always shrinks a little, or soaks into the wood, so will need a little more filling to bring it flush. Once they are cured, I drill them again exactly on center with a small bit. This keeps me from losing them under additional fairing, primer and paint. Once I'm finished painting, then will drill to final size.

Image

Also worked on the handles that will go between the seat frames, not much work really, just a few of coats of epoxy, getting them ready to install. It's easier in the shop, in the AC 8)

Image

And besides all that, we sanded her one more time with the RO. Next task will be to sand all the inside corners, scupper holes and such with the Dremel tool. Anything the RO can't reach, the Dremel will take care of. Then she'll get another very thin coat or 2 of rolled on epoxy, then paint.

Boat now looks just like it did a week ago, but it's a lot smoother :lol: Be glad when this stage is over with, not my favorite :roll:

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:04 pm
by peter-curacao
Looking great Larry, but hey what's new 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:14 pm
by Larry B
Cracker Larry wrote:
And besides all that, we sanded her one more time with the RO. Next task will be to sand all the inside corners, scupper holes and such with the Dremel tool. Anything the RO can't reach, the Dremel will take care of. Then she'll get another very thin coat or 2 of rolled on epoxy, then paint.
Larry, your boat is looking great. Been watching your build and someday I'll have my FL14 Complete. I've got a question about sanding the parts that you can't reach with the RO. What kind of attachment do you use on the Dremel? I'm working on the inside of my FL14 now and the inside corners are the worst part to sand. So any help would be appreciated.
Larry B.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:08 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Larry, I use a couple of attachments, A drum sanding bit and a little flapper sander bit mostly. The flapper sanding bit works great for the corners and the drum sander is better for cleaning out holes like the drains. Use a slow speed so they don't go acting wild. I'll take a pic of them tomorrow.
Looking great Larry,
Thanks Peter, it's not as impressive as your fighting chair though!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:03 pm
by flatpicker
Looking good CL! I just recieved my plywood so I'm having to sit on my hands right now to keep from them clapping :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:39 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks FP, it is exciting to get a fresh stack of pretty wood, but don't sit on those hands, draw some lines :!:
What kind of attachment do you use on the Dremel? I'm working on the inside of my FL14 now and the inside corners are the worst part to sand.
Here ya go Larry. The little flapper sanders will get almost everything, and makes it real easy to sand the corners :D Use a slow speed and light pressure, these little guys are aggressive. It only takes about 30 seconds to sand a corner or clean out a hole.

Image

I got all the corner sanding finished up and the drain holes cleaned out this morning, then vaccum again, wiped out again. The fairing isn't quite perfect but it's pretty dang good. I'm calling it good nuff anyway. After a short break, I'm going to roll on a thin coat of epoxy to seal the fairing compound and any bare spots. Should look good after that :D

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:06 pm
by cape man
NOW you show us the flapper attachment!! Looks sweet, and actually have a couple places to use it up under the gunwale. Have to get me one...or two. Never have too many tools, right?

Boat is coming along quickly. Looking good!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:19 pm
by Murry
Nice work Larry! :D Very clean.

What grit are you planning to use to sand your epoxy coats before primer, And how long do you have to wait before putting primer over the sanded epoxy.

Thanks

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:22 pm
by Larry B
Thanks Larry, that helps me alot. BTW, your boat is looking fantastic :D
You also mention that you put a coat of Epoxy over the fairing? Is this really necessory? or this something you just do?? I thought after fairing it was ready for primer?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:52 pm
by gk108
Epoxy over the fairing? Is this really necessory
Yep. For both Quick Fair and the blended filler sold here. Graphite/epoxy can be considered as a seal coat, so no plain epoxy seal coat is necessary in those places where you plan on using it.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:04 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Craig, I figured you'd seen those dremel sanding bits before :doh:

What grit are you planning to use to sand your epoxy coats before primer
I appreciate it Daniel. I'll sand the epoxy, mostly by hand now, with 120. As hot as it is, I think 2 days would be plenty long enough before priming.
You also mention that you put a coat of Epoxy over the fairing? Is this really necessory? or this something you just do?? I thought after fairing it was ready for primer?
Thanks Larry B. She's coming along.

After the fairing compound is sanded, it should be sealed in epoxy again. If you are using epoxy primer like the S3 Yacht primer, that will seal it sufficiently. But I also had a few, well, more than a few, spots where I sanded down to bare wood. That happens with 60 and 80 grit, especially on the edges of things :? You'll inevitably create some bare wood when sanding the fairing compound. So I want all the bare spots sealed good too, 2 coats of epoxy on everything. Also the 80 grit is a little rough for the primer coat. We'll roll on 2 thin coats, real thin, don't want any runs :help: Then hand sand it easy with 120 grit. Just want to rough it up a little, making sure not to sand through to bare wood next time, or we'll be doing it again :help: And it supports the epoxy vendor :lol:

Image

She looks a lot better now, the fairing turned out plenty good nuff :D You can't really tell when it's dull, but give it a shine and every imperfection stands out.

Image

Tomorrow we'll roll on the last coat.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:44 pm
by Murry
That looks very nice. :D

Cracker Larry wrote:
What grit are you planning to use to sand your epoxy coats before primer
I appreciate it Daniel. I'll sand the epoxy, mostly by hand now, with 120. As hot as it is, I think 2 days would be plenty long enough before priming.
Thank you Sir- Yeah I''ve been planning on sanding my seal coats and all my primer coats by hand. I'll use my large boards with a guide coat on the first primer application to make sure she's fair and then lighty hand sand the last primer coat with a small block just to remove the second guide coat to keep me from sanding through. :idea: Tinting the first or last coat of primer wouldn't be a bad idea to help with that as well. Any recomendations on tints? (by primer coats, I mean 2-3 three coats before letting it cure before sanding)

BTW- How much epoxy did you use for that first thin coat. Trying to make sure I have enough left. :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:57 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Thanks Craig, I figured you'd seen those dremel sanding bits before :doh:
I know them, but unfortunately I can't find them that small over here :roll: , smallest I found till now is 1,1/2 " (Welding supply store) I did find some smaller round stainless wire brushes what works also (very fast) but need to do more handsanding after that to get it smooth.

Btw looking good Larry 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:50 pm
by cape man
And it supports the epoxy vendor
Don't it now... :roll: :roll: :roll:
but give it a shine and every imperfection stands out.
Don't it now.... :roll: :roll: :lol: :lol:

Looking good man!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:01 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks for the comments :D
Tinting the first or last coat of primer wouldn't be a bad idea to help with that as well. Any recomendations on tints? (by primer coats, I mean 2-3 three coats before letting it cure before sanding
Nah, no advice here on all that :lol: I aint using no tinting, no guide coats, no long boards, just gonna eyeball it and go. She'll be just fine :wink:
BTW- How much epoxy did you use for that first thin coat.


12 ounces, in 2 -6 ounce batches.
I know them, but unfortunately I can't find them that small over here
Peter, I'd be glad to send you some :idea: No problem at all. They are really helpful, a lot better than the wire brushes. PM me your address.
And it supports the epoxy vendor

Don't it now...


:lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:27 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Peter, I'd be glad to send you some :idea: No problem at all. They are really helpful, a lot better than the wire brushes. PM me your address.
That's so COOL! 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:24 pm
by Cracker Larry
Aint nothing to it, all I got to do is drop them by the post office, not like I got to row them to Caracao :lol: I'll try to get them out tomorrow. 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:28 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Aint nothing to it, all I got to do is drop them by the post office, not like I got to row them to Caracao :lol: I'll try to get them out tomorrow. 8)
I know but still I think it's very cool you are ding this 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:27 pm
by Cracker Larry
I'm just planning for the future. I want to sit in that chair and catch a marlin one day :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:52 am
by flatpicker
Cracker Larry wrote:I'm just planning for the future. I want to sit in that chair and catch a marlin one day :wink:
What else are you having trouble getting over there Peter? :D :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:03 am
by Cracker Larry
I was going to ask the same thing 8) Anything else I can pick up for you Peter?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:24 am
by peter-curacao
You guys are fun :lol:, as I told a_Adel boatbuiding on a island is a different ballgame but that doesn't mean it is less fun, I think other islanders will confirm that, you have to be creative lots of time to get what you want, but I see that as the extra mile :D, and off course people as Larry are an enormous help!
I will be more than happy to welcome anybody on "my" island stuff sent or not it would be my pressure to show fellow boatbuilders around (if wanted) ( I hope those thing's are already in the mail :P )

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 3:52 pm
by Cracker Larry
you have to be creative lots of time to get what you want
Now that I've seen what shipping costs are, I can certainly understand that 8O I'd be outside glueing sand on to paper, rolling my own :lol:

( I hope those thing's are already in the mail )

Peter, the sanding bits are on the way to Chocalate Cake Street 8) You'll have them this Thursday if they don't get held up in customs. They said you may have to pay duty, I declared actual value of $30 US.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:09 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:
you have to be creative lots of time to get what you want
Now that I've seen what shipping costs are, I can certainly understand that 8O I'd be outside glueing sand on to paper, rolling my own :lol:
O yeah your so right, today I picked op 6 gallon Sivertip Joel sent me (btw thanks Joel shipping worked great again) total amount to E boat was US$ 512,- the bill they presented me here for shipping, handling and tax was Nafl 511,- (Nafl = Netherlands Antillean florin) that's about US$ 285,- :? Forgot to ask Joel to put an other bill in :oops:
Cracker Larry wrote:Peter, the sanding bits are on the way to Chocalate Cake Street 8) You'll have them this Thursday if they don't get held up in customs. They said you may have to pay duty, I declared actual value of $30 US.
Thanks Larry I let you know as soon they arrived, please sent me your personal data and bill by Email

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:13 pm
by ks8
CL, have you ever been called one of the *off course people* before? :P

typos can be entertaining. :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:15 pm
by peter-curacao
ks8 wrote:CL, have you ever been called one of the *off course people* before? :P

typos can be entertaining. :)
Woops :oops: sorry about that

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:19 pm
by Cracker Larry
My pleasure Peter, it's on me :wink:
CL, have you ever been called one of the *off course people* before?
Well, My wife called me that a few times, generally right before I did something like this..

Image

Peter's English is a lot better than my Dutch :lol: I didn't even catch that typo, but I did get a chuckle out of this one. It's as if he knows us :lol: :lol:
it would be my pressure to show fellow boatbuilders around
In afterthought, maybe it wasn't a typo :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:23 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:My pleasure Peter, it's on me :wink:
Wow 8O thanks!! Than at least let me sent you something in return? for instance a bottle of green rum? you ain't gonna find that elsewhere in the world it's one of the few product's locally made here, I say move over moonshine 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:11 pm
by Cracker Larry
Than at least let me sent you something in return? for instance a bottle of green rum? you ain't gonna find that elsewhere in the world it's one of the few product's locally made here, I say move over moonshine
Now that I'll take you up on, and a fine trade it would be 8) I like barters, and unique local products :wink: Perfect!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:35 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:
Than at least let me sent you something in return? for instance a bottle of green rum? you ain't gonna find that elsewhere in the world it's one of the few product's locally made here, I say move over moonshine
Now that I'll take you up on, and a fine trade it would be 8) I like barters, and unique local products :wink: Perfect!

I'll stick my address here for a little while

Larry Teuton
1448 Clyo Shawnee Rd.
Clyo, GA 31303
USA
Oke first thing tomorrow morning, great to have an excuse handling rum in the morning LOL :lol:
For your Info It's a rum made by a pub owner this pub is one of the first, and with that also one of oldest pubs of the island, called Netto Bar.Nettobar
The rum is a blend of rum,Anise and lemon that's why it's green because of the peel of the lemon,it is drank as a shot but be careful it's a tricky drink :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:14 pm
by Cracker Larry
That sounds great! My mouth is watering 8) Yep, it's cocktail hour again :D

In boat building news, I put the second seal coat of epoxy on the inside today. No need for a pic, it looks just like the last coat. Now I can take a break for a day or 2 while it cures.

A couple of guys came by today on reference from the buyer of my GF16, wanting similar boats. I think this one is now sold and I'll probably be building another 16. I'm trying to talk him into an FS17 though, I'd like to build something different than a GF. The best news is that I think this girl will be sold un-painted, and her new owner will finish her out :D Nothing's ever positive until some cash changes hands, so I'll just carry on until then.
Nafl 511,- (Nafl = Netherlands Antillean florin) that's about US$ 285
:lol: I know them well, I won about 28,000 of them at a casino in Aruba :D Thats what paid for "No Excuse", who started taking life as "Blackjack" :wink:

I'm seriously thinking about the Abaco 23 as my next boat, need another trip to that Casino :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:30 pm
by peter-curacao
They are not exactly the same Larry, they are worth approximately the same but they look different, btw congrats on your win
Aruba
Image
Netherlands Antilles
Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:09 pm
by Cracker Larry
Why does everything have to be so complicated :doh: Yall live right next door to each other. A Florin should be a florin.

I know why, it confuses the tourists, who never know exactly how much they are paying for anything :idea: I know that whatever it was, it worked out to 14,500 US 8) And I probably got screwed in the exchange :oops:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:28 pm
by Murry
Cracker Larry wrote: I'm seriously thinking about the Abaco 23 as my next boat, need another trip to that Casino :!:
You know you really want to build the cs23. :D :lol: Only kidding Larry. The Abaco is sweet :!:

I've been mentally preparing my wife for the cs23. :wink: It will be awhile for me though.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:12 am
by Cracker Larry
You know you really want to build the cs23
Yeah, that is another boat very worthy of consideration. I do love a Carolina flare :!:

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:43 am
by peter-curacao
That's a very cool pic, I can only dream mine will stay as dry inside as in the pic :roll:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 9:54 am
by Bowmovement
That is a nice boat! What kind is it? Maybe one day I will have my Jarret Bay. I will just keep playing the lottery until then.

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 5:18 pm
by Cracker Larry
That is a nice boat! What kind is it?
It sure is!! She's a Buddy Davis 58, the "Salem Wolf", home port Savannah Georgia 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:09 pm
by fishin'
That's a great picture larry. AB23 or GS28 I'd love to see you build either one of those. Both boats I would build if I could.

Peter

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:21 pm
by Bowmovement
Cracker Larry wrote:
That is a nice boat! What kind is it?
It sure is!! She's a Buddy Davis 58, the "Salem Wolf", home port Savannah Georgia 8)

I was gonna guess Buddy Davis but wasn't sure. The flare on those boats rock!

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 12:20 am
by Bowmovement
This is still the most beautiful "fishing" boat I have ever seen.

Image

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:07 am
by Murry
Cracker Larry wrote:
You know you really want to build the cs23
Yeah, that is another boat very worthy of consideration. I do love a Carolina flare :!:

Image

Me too!

Ckecking out those boat shops around the Wanchese, N.C. area is where the desire to build my own boat first gradded me.
Alot of beautiful and well built boats have come from and around Roanoke Island.

I found you guys a couple of weeks later while doing some online research. :D I pretty good find, if you ask me :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:08 am
by Murry
oops

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 3:39 pm
by peter-curacao
Well Larry,
Today I posted your bottles, tomorrow they will departure, within a work week they should be arriving on your doorstep, I think Friday. Sweet to have it just before the weekend :wink: :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:56 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Peter 8) Did your sanding bits arrive yet?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:58 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Thanks Peter 8) Did your sanding bits arrive yet?
Nope not yet, didn't expect them that fast anyway. 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:02 pm
by Cracker Larry
The CIA express told me you'd have them today :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:09 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:The CIA express told me you'd have them today :doh:
Could be they are on the island, but then :wink: relaxxx maaaan!! :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 2:40 pm
by peter-curacao
A plane headed North West just flew over, it had a green glow :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:41 pm
by Cracker Larry
I think you might be as crazy as I am :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:37 pm
by TomW
And I'm the one that sent him the Brazilian rum for launching "NO EXCUSE" :lol:

Larry on a little bit on bits. Another source for the brad bits is MLCS http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite ... illnx.html They have the carbide tipped ones also which I highly recommend if your doing much work in plywood. They also have a Jumbo set which I have this covers the area up to 1" that all the other sets stop at 1/2". It's the only Jumbo set I have ever seen although I'm sure they are out there somewhere else.

Take care guy and do some fishing don't just work on that boat! :D

Tom

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:32 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks for the bit info Tom, I need to get a set of those. All my smaller bits are basically metal cutting bits and they do a sloppy job.
do some fishing don't just work on that boat!
:lol: We've had so much rain that I can almost fish off the porch. People have been fly fishing for reds and trout in the middle of the roads at high tide. And others catching sheepshead on the causeways. I kid you not...

Image

And I hear reports of bluegills being caught at the KC reef, 6 miles offshore 8O

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:12 pm
by Bowmovement
Cracker Larry wrote:Thanks for the bit info Tom, I need to get a set of those. All my smaller bits are basically metal cutting bits and they do a sloppy job.

:lol: We've had so much rain that I can almost fish off the porch. People have been fly fishing for reds and trout in the middle of the roads at high tide. And others catching sheepshead on the causeways. I kid you not...

Image

And I hear reports of bluegills being caught at the KC reef, 6 miles offshore 8O

Thats crazy. I was talking to my dad last week and they got like 10" of rain in 3 hours 8O I whish we got some rain here. 10" is almost our annual rainfall. I wanna say its 10 or 11 inches a year.

We got ourselves a heatwave going on right now. Its brutal outside. 90 degrees at the beach today. 8O Not humid like yall east coasters though. :D These people dont know what humid is :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:43 pm
by tech_support
thats crazy, a drum in the road. We used to see gar and fresh water turtles washed into port royal sound when it rained a bunch

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:03 pm
by Lower
That's some crazy rain you got going there Larry! Good luck keeping dry. Also wanted to say I've been enjoying watching this build come together. Seriously...textbook.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:47 am
by wegcagle
Sounds like that GF 12 will be PERFECT for road fishing :lol:

Will

By the way: We need more pics. :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:54 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thank you Lower. The rain is still coming down, every day another inch :doh:
By the way: We need more pics.
Not much boat work to report last week, it's harvest time on the farm. We've been picking peanuts, peas, grapes, okra, peppers, squash, eggplant,... :help: Then it all has to be cleaned, prepared, frozen or canned. Lot of work this time of year, getting ready for winter, just like the squirrels.

Here's a load of peanuts on the way to the house, in the rain of course...my truck is loaded the same way and I'm pulling a trailer with another load.

Image

I did get the seat handles glued in place, trimmed flush and sealed, and another coat of epoxy on everything. Ready for primer :D

Image

Got to get No Excuse ready for a 1,000 mile boat trip next week to the Outer Banks, so probably won't get much building done for a little while.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:59 pm
by Murry
Looking good Larry. Do you end up getting a buyer for her?

Got to get No Excuse ready for a 1,000 mile boat trip next week to the Outer Banks, so probably won't get much building done for a little while
Where are you headed?

I may be visiting my brother during that time.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:11 pm
by Cracker Larry
No definite buyer yet, just a possible. :? One will come along I reckon.

We're heading for Okracoke Island if we can make it that far in the time available. Just doing some long range cruising, no where particular we have to be. Where is your brother?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:37 pm
by Murry
He's in Wanchese. (Roanoke Island)

I'll be in Emerald Isle this weekend. No boat though. :| And at some point over the next two weeks I'll be visting my brother and fishing with him a day or two. Ocracoke is a good bit south of Roanoke Island.

That sounds like a nice trip you've got planned there. I was hoping to shake your hand and have a closer look at No Excuse. :D Oh well, maybe next time.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:28 pm
by Bowmovement
Murry wrote:He's in Wanchese. (Roanoke Island)

I'll be in Emerald Isle this weekend. No boat though. :| And at some point over the next two weeks I'll be visting my brother and fishing with him a day or two. Ocracoke is a good bit south of Roanoke Island.

That sounds like a nice trip you've got planned there. I was hoping to shake your hand and have a closer look at No Excuse. :D Oh well, maybe next time.

Emerald Isle N.C. or is there an Emerald Isle Va?

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:16 am
by cape man
Larry,

Boat is looking great. Take lots of pictures on your cruise and watch the weather (duh).

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 9:31 am
by Murry
Bowmovement wrote:
Murry wrote:He's in Wanchese. (Roanoke Island)

I'll be in Emerald Isle this weekend. No boat though. :| And at some point over the next two weeks I'll be visting my brother and fishing with him a day or two. Ocracoke is a good bit south of Roanoke Island.

That sounds like a nice trip you've got planned there. I was hoping to shake your hand and have a closer look at No Excuse. :D Oh well, maybe next time.

Emerald Isle N.C. or is there an Emerald Isle Va?

Matt
N.C.

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:46 pm
by peter-curacao
Larry did you receive the green rum already? sanding disks still aren't here :?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:53 pm
by Cracker Larry
No rum yet either. Looks like the sanding bits are still in customs at Willemstad :doh: Tracking number below
Tracking no.: 868594694955E-mail notificationsIn transit
InitiatedPicked upIn transitDelivered

Clearance delay
WILLEMSTAD AN Shipment Dates
Ship date Aug 25, 2009
Destination
CUR AN

Shipment Facts Help Service typeInternational Priority Service
StatusPieces Date/Time Status
Shipment Travel History Help Select time zone: SelectLocal Scan TimeOriginDestinationOthers Others: Select(GMT -12:00)

All shipment travel activity is displayed in local time for the location
To display the shipment travel activity in local time of the scan, please select "Local Scan Time" time zone option.
No entries found Date/TimeActivityLocationDetailsAug 26, 2009 6:00 PMClearance delayWILLEMSTAD ANAug 26, 2009 11:47 AMIn transitWILLEMSTAD ANPackage available for clearanceAug 26, 2009 9:39 AMAt dest sort facilityAGUADILLA, PRAug 26, 2009 3:53 AMDeparted FedEx locationMEMPHIS, TNAug 25, 2009 11:57 PMDeparted FedEx locationMEMPHIS, TNAug 25, 2009 10:57 PMArrived at FedEx locationMEMPHIS, TNAug 25, 2009 9:54 PMLeft FedEx origin facilitySAVANNAH, GAAug 25, 2009 4:18 PMPicked upSAVANNAH, GA

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:01 pm
by peter-curacao
Boy they do really test our patience :roll:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:03 pm
by Cracker Larry
It looks like they've had it since the 26th 8O

Here's a little joke for ya :lol:
I become confused when I hear the word "Service" used with these agencies:

Internal Revenue "Service"
US Postal "Service"
Telephone "Service"
Cable TV "Service"
State, City, County Public "Service"
Customer "Service"

None of these are what I thought "Service" meant

But today, I overheard two farmers talking, and one of them said he had hired a bull to "Service" a few cows.
BAM!!! It all came into focus. Now I understand what all those agencies are doing to us
.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:31 pm
by ks8
They sure are taking some time *sorting* that package for local delivery, but I suppose that's better than Tom Hanks doing it on the beach of some unpopulated island and having to wait for raft delivery years later. :|

Enjoy your passage Larry (goes for first mate too of course). :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:37 pm
by peter-curacao
Do I understand it correct that you sent it with Fedex? I wanted to do that to but they don't accept packets with liquid's in it, so I had to sent it by regular (Air)mail, they told me it should be at your home today or tomorrow, the only number I have for you is one under a bar code they put on the receipt and also on your packet - CP 000666712 AN -

Good joke btw

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:02 pm
by Cracker Larry
Yes, I used Fedex. You can go to fedex.com and enter the tracking number above to follow it.

Soon come mon 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:43 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Yes, I used Fedex. You can go to fedex.com and enter the tracking number above to follow it.

Soon come mon 8)
Larry I found out what happened it's here on the island but they couldn't read the address and sender data, they now will deliver it Monday, thanks again.
Hope your rum also will arrive soon, before your trip would be nice

Peter

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:02 pm
by Cracker Larry
Great, I didn't think that girl at my local mail office could write in Dutch very well, she wasn't very good with english :lol: Glad you found it.

Hopefully the rum will come today, it would be nice to have on the trip 8) But it would be nice after the trip also :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:12 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Great, I didn't think that girl at my local mail office could write in Dutch very well, she wasn't very good with english :lol: Glad you found it.
Dutch, English, it wouldn't help much because the address was in Papiamentu (local language) :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:43 pm
by Cracker Larry
Well, the green rum ain't going to make it for this trip. The Medusa has decided that we're leaving before daylight in the morning, the fools of Labor Day be damned, and I'm still saying yes mam. :lol: So much for avoiding the holiday boat traffic. We've got a good weather window right now, so we're gone. No Excuse is packed, ready and hooked to the truck. Nothing else needed but a few hours sleep :D Will report back in a week or so, keep yer powder dry :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:21 pm
by peter-curacao
Oke for sure they keep it for you in the post-office, have a very nice and safe trip! wish you guys lots of fun see you in a week!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:53 pm
by Cracker Larry
That's one of the good things about living out in the country, the postman will leave it under the shed for me 8) My son and his friends will be here most of the time while we're gone, I hope the house is still standing when we get back, and they don't drink the green rum :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:55 pm
by Dog Fish
Have a good trip but keep a eye out for those killer turtles. :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:02 pm
by Cracker Larry
Once in a lifetime threat :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:05 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Once in a lifetime threat :wink:
I do remember that one, that one was way cool 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:16 pm
by Dog Fish
A good lesson there, Never trust a TURTLE :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:20 pm
by peter-curacao
Dog Fish wrote:A good lesson there, Never trust a TURTLE :!:
Maybe that's why they could stay around longer as dinosaurs? :wink: :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:05 pm
by peter-curacao
Larry,

I picked them up today, again thanks 8)

Peter
Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:21 pm
by peter-curacao
Larry I see you are back how was your trip? and please tell me you received your rum berde :roll:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:50 pm
by Cracker Larry
Trip was great Peter, thanks :D I'll give a report later.

Glad you got the disks 8) If the rum is here, I haven't found it yet, but I don't think it's here. I hope homeland security didn't drink it or blow it up :x

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:55 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote: If the rum is here, I haven't found it yet, but I don't think it's here. I hope homeland security didn't drink it or blow it up :x
How the hell is that possible it should be there one week ago!!! :doh: I will look up that receipt with that bar code and photograph that maybe you can find it with that?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:04 am
by peter-curacao
Hope this help you find it.
Image
Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:23 am
by Cracker Larry
I'll try to track it down tomorrow, no problem. I'm sure it will show up 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:38 pm
by michaelwpayton
Larry... how was your cruise, did you make it to the Outer Banks?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:12 pm
by Cracker Larry
The trip was great, Michael, thanks :!: We didn't quite make it to the outer banks, but I didn't really think we would. We did make it to Cape Fear, NC and back. A little over 825 miles round trip, in 7 days. We had a blast 8) I've never been so far in such a small boat, and we were a novelty along the waterway :lol:

Image

Glad we didn't have to fuel our traveling companions 8O

Image

I'll probably type up a trip report tomorrow.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:10 pm
by cape man
Looking good! Saw the pics while I was uploading some myself. She's better than the big boats in the pics! They probably mean much less to their owners!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:12 pm
by Dog Fish
Glad you had a good trip, will be looking forward to your pics and report. Very cool :!: That sport fish used more fuel in 3hrs than your total trip :lol:

Brian

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:30 pm
by Arm&Hammer
CL-That sounds like a great trip, even more so in a boat that you built. It gives us all something to aspire to. :)

I have a quick question for you after you get settled in from your trip. I have my cleats and rubrails installed, and I flipped my boat. The problem that I am running in to is the flatness of the bottom. Even though the bottom of the sides are cut straight from 12" in front of the seam to the stern, there is a slight curvature to the chine (as you know, even though it is cut straight, the amount of bend and angle at the stern will determine the chine curvature). Since this is a planing boat, I assume that the bottom of the boat should be flat from the stern to atleast the front of the mid-seat. If you could check yours, or offer an opinion based on your experience, I would greatly appreciate it. I am putting my build on hold until I get this straightened out - I don't want to have to fair a rocker out of the hull. :help:

Thanks again.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 8:47 pm
by Cracker Larry
Since this is a planing boat, I assume that the bottom of the boat should be flat from the stern to atleast the front of the mid-seat
.

AH, all the GF designs by nature will induce a rocker if you're not careful. If you look at any of the GF threads, you'll see that we've all dealt with it in one way or another. When you bend the side panels, the boat just wants to become a rocker, centered at the rear frame of the center seat.

What I do is clamp (or otherwise attach) the transom, the motorwell frame and the rear frame of the middle seat all flat to the building jig. The mid seat forward frame, and everything forward, I let float as it wants to when I bend the sides up. When the boat is planing, it will only ride on the last 4' of bottom anyway. This last 4' is what is important to be flat. Secure the transom, the rear seat forward frame and the center seat rear frame flat to a jig. Let the forward frame of the center seat and the rear frame of the bow deck go where it wants to. This pic is of TomW and I in my GF16. You can see where the water breaks and what needs to be flat. This is a fairly heavy load for this boat, in most cases the water break would be farther aft by 12 or 16 inches.

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:14 pm
by Murry
Larry, I didn't realize you guys were taking the trip by boat.

What a fun trip :!: Looking forward to that report.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:41 pm
by Cracker Larry
Larry, I didn't realize you guys were taking the trip by boat
That's the best way to take a boat trip :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:45 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Thanks CL - that makes sense. I guess the only way to eliminate this in advance would be to cut the straight chine section of the side panels with a reverse curvature. But it would only need to be 1/4" or so at the midpoint, which may be hard to draw, let alone cut correctly. I just finished getting mine adjusted. I will post my solution under my thread for reference.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:51 am
by Cracker Larry
Peter! It finally made it 8) Thanks my friend, that's a first class trade!

Image

I love your packaging, great and innovative use for 2 part foam 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 12:41 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Peter! It finally made it 8) Thanks my friend, that's a first class trade!

Image

I love your packaging, great and innovative use for 2 part foam 8)
Great now I can sleep again :P I see you already tasted the green rum? hope your wife likes the Blue Curaçao if not double fun for you 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:53 pm
by Cracker Larry
I see you already tasted the green rum?
:oops: You didn't have to point that out :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:54 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:
I see you already tasted the green rum?
:oops: You didn't have to point that out :lol:
Just curious :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:12 pm
by peter-curacao
Enough green rum to sing this with me tonight ? :lol: :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RSuv8hroc

CLASSIC LOVE IT !!!

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:24 pm
by Cracker Larry
Working on it :lol: Very nice! Wanna see my scars?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:27 am
by peter-curacao
That's not a scar :lol: this is a scar :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:17 pm
by Doc_Dyer
CL,
any progress?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:20 pm
by Cracker Larry
Yes, a good bit of progress this week, got the outside taped and glassed, and sanded. Installing the bottom runners now. I need to work on some pictures.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:15 pm
by Murry
Looking forward to seeing those pix's Larry.

I found a product that I want to install on the bottom of a gf12/gf14 and run with a jet 25 like Paul's fs. Gf12 would most likely be to small, but I bet the 14 would be perfect and plenty light for the 25 jet. He's out of Michigan and his product is basically UHMW impregnated with glass so that it can be bonded with epoxy. 8)

It's expensive, but it would be rock proof. I'm thinking 1/4 inch on the bottom and 1/8 five inches up the sides and transoms. I'm invisioning a leaning post off the back of the midseat so that you can drive when standing (like shine's but a little smaller for this little boat). You have to be as high as possible to see the deep breaks in the rapids to make it up river.

It would be a two man smallmouth bass ketching machine that wouldn't require as much horsepower/fuel as the larger alluminum boats. :D I'm thinking build it light and simple with cut outs in the seat frames for easy access. Fuel in the middle seat and trolling motor battery up front.

Sorry, I've needed to get that off my chest for a week or so. :D

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:13 am
by Cracker Larry
OK, I've got update photos of recent progress. For some reason I've lost momentum, lot's of reasons really, a split pool filter, a rotten exterior door frame that needed replacing, troubles with a youngun, life goes on..

Flipped her before I left on our boat trip and taped all the exterior seams. Since I couldn't do the entire exterior wet on wet, the tape had to be sanded before the glass was applied. Then fitted and cut the cloth.

Image

Image

Since the cloth doesn't cover the sides in the center and I wanted it covered to the spray rails, I fit in some scraps to fill this area and overlapped them on the chine.

Image

Also in this area I had flat spots from the butt block splices. I built these up with 5 staggered pieces of biax cloth. It was either that or use a lot of fairing compound. This is easier. Got all the cloth wet out...

Image

Then sanded and trimmed up...

Image

All done, ready for runners and fairing....

Image

I've started on the runners, they may get glued on today if I decide to go out in the rain and mess with them.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:17 am
by Cracker Larry
Sorry, I've needed to get that off my chest for a week or so.
That sounds interesting. I don't anything about that product, or jet boats either, but it does sound like fun 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:19 pm
by steve292
Neat work Larry.
Steve

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:51 pm
by wegcagle
Looks really good C.L. I was starting to get D.T.s :help:

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:48 pm
by Murry
For some reason I've lost momentum
Ah ha! I new it! You are human.

You're almost there man. The sooner you get done the sooner you'll be able to start your big boat.
If you build the cs23, I'll bring my fairing boards down there and help you sand it for a weekend. :D
Also in this area I had flat spots from the butt block splices. I built these up with 5 staggered pieces of biax cloth. It was either that or use a lot of fairing compound. This is easier.
A lot easier. Great idea.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:52 am
by ThistleDewDayDreamin
Nice Work CL, ya make it look easy. :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:33 pm
by Cracker Larry
It is easy TD :lol: Just a lot of easy little steps, put them all together and you get a boat 8)

Got the runners glued on today, which takes a few steps themselves. We started by rough shaping the runners on the bench sander. This is a great tool for shaping parts, it's a cheap Ryobi but I've had it a long time and it's held up very well. I'm not much on Ryobi tools, but a sander doesn't need much precision.

Image

Where the runners cross the bottom FG splice, the splice makes a small hump. Using the bench sander again we make a relief in the underside of the runners so they will sit flat over the splice. The near runner has been trimmed, the far one has not.

Image

Then we position them and mark the hull with layout lines. It is hard, almost impossible to keep them positioned and aligned when glueing, as the wet glue acts like grease. They will slide all around without some kind of jig. I used some scrap 2X2 and carefully layed out the runner positions, then cut shallow dado joints that will index the runners and hold them in position. They are marked with centering lines for positioning. This will keep them perfectly aligned and positioned while we clamp things up. I used clear packing tape to avoid glueing the jigs to the runners :wink:

Image

Before mixing glue, you will want to dry fit everything and get all your clamps, weights, spacers and such figured out and close to hand. It's 94 outside so we can't fool around after mixing the glue, it's got to be ready to go.

First we mix a few ounces of epoxy and give the runners a good pre-coat. This pine soaks up some epoxy and we don't want dry joints. I let it set a few minutes then brush on another coat, it drank the first coat. 3 ounces will give 2 coats on both.

Mixed a 6 oz. batch of glue and coated both runners with a thick even coat, and working quickly, positioned them on the boat with the alignment jig, weighted them down and clamped them in place with bar clamps and ratchet straps. The straps are perfect for this.

Image

I used my bare finger to clean up all the squeeze out and form fillets. This will sit overnight, or longer. I think I'm going fishing tomorrow.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:52 pm
by Murry
I don't have one of those sanders and it does look handy. Just added it to my mental list. :wink:

No Excuse sure does look nice in the background Larry. 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:52 pm
by Cracker Larry
No Excuse sure does look nice in the background Larry.
Thanks, she is holding up very nicely. I think she looks like she wants to go fishing in the morning :D

The sander will really cut some wood, or plastic, or metal, or about anything else. It makes a lot of dust too, that's why it's outside. The sanding bench can flip vertical also. I bought this one at a tool show/sale at the county fairgrounds, was like a Harbor Freight traveling circus, for about $60. I've seen them other places for about $100. Cheap as far as tools go, ya can't ever have to many :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:14 pm
by steve292
Nice Larry, nice.
What shears do you use to cut your cloth,if you don't mind me asking?
I'm thinking of investing in a decent pair myself. I have a fabric cutting wheel that does a neat job of cutting it off the hull,but I would like a good pair of shears to cut cloth when it is laid out on the hull.
Steve

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:38 pm
by Cracker Larry
What shears do you use to cut your cloth,if you don't mind me asking?
Thanks Steve. The shears are Wiss M300 multi-purpose. They do a great job, but these are on boat number 4 and they are starting to get dull. Excellent for the price though at less than $20 US in the big box stores

Image

You can buy them on Amazon for $12.82 plus shipping, but I don't know what your shopping options are in England. Look here...

http://www.amazon.com/M300-MultiMaster- ... B00002N5LD

You probably won't need a bank loan to buy a decent one anyway :lol: They are a better value than sanding disks :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:57 am
by steve292
Thanks for that Larry. Ordered a pair from amazon this morning for £26 sterling. I don't think I'll use them on this boat, but the next one............. :lol:.
Steve

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:48 am
by tech_support
good ideas there on gluing down runners :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:48 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks Joel, it worked out good 8)

After the runners cured for 2 days, we removed the clamps. Wanted to make sure they were stuck :wink: Then finished shaping with the block plane and sanded smooth. Cleaned that up and glassed them down with 2 layers of tape, oyster proof. I'll probably put some aluminum flat bar on the runners also.

I spread all that extra resin over the bottom..used my last foot of tape and last ounce of resin. Don't have enough resin left to fair the outside, had to order more, again :roll:

Image

Then sanded them down again. Then sanded everything down again, to prep for final fairing. Ugh. It was a nice day to sand though, beautiful weather for a change.

Image

Then we got out the hose and scrub brush and gave her a good cleaning. All that dust had to go, from the boat and the shed both :help:

Image

Construction is now complete. A little fairing, a little primer, a little graphite and paint, about 6 more rounds of sanding....

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:50 pm
by Arm&Hammer
CL- Looking great! With cool temps setting in, I don't think I'll get that far until spring... :cry:

What did you use for runners? Is that SYP? From Lowe's? Are they 1x2's? The plans call for 1x1's, but I like the wider surface area of yours to better distribute the load, expecially since I will be loading in the back of my truck frequently.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:09 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks AH. Yep, SYP 1X2s from Lowes.

Haven't hit a lick on her in 3 weeks :( Been painting the house and fishing. More fishing than painting :lol:

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:34 pm
by Arm&Hammer
Right there is a cooler full of excuses to use No Excuse to excuse a BB break! :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:07 am
by cape man
[quoteDon't have enough resin left to fair the outside, had to order more, again
][/quote]

Now we have anither Cracker GF12! 8O 8O :lol: :help:


Looking good man.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:04 pm
by Cracker Larry
I just rolled the last seal coat of epoxy on her and calling her done. She's going to FL with me next week and Arapeka Angler Junior (AKA Harrison) is going to finish her up 8) She'll have a good home and catch lots of fish down there :D

Now, what next :doh:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:08 pm
by ks8
Whatever it is, I suppose it will have to fit in your building area. That narrows it down a little anyway. :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:09 pm
by peter-curacao
Abaco, CS ? Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:12 pm
by peter-curacao
ks8 wrote:Whatever it is, I suppose it will have to fit in your building area.
Extent that area Image Image Image Image Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:14 pm
by Cracker Larry
Whatever it is, I suppose it will have to fit in your building area. That narrows it down a little anyway.
I've got 28' X 12', but a roof extension is not out of the question. Wonder how those TW44 plans are coming along :lol:

Peter, your gifs crack me up :lol: I think I'll go have the last shot of Green Rum :(

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:18 pm
by peter-curacao
A 40 feet Mangusta wouldn't be bad either 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:23 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Peter, your gifs crack me up :lol: I think I'll go have the last shot of Green Rum :(
Wanna have them? wait I also take one, saluut Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:30 pm
by fishin'
ooo this is exciting whats' next larry? gs28? ab23? or maybe something that will get finished a little quicker. I'd love to see another tx18. Good luck deciding.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:37 pm
by peter-curacao
fishin' wrote:ooo this is exciting whats' next larry? gs28? ab23? or maybe something that will get finished a little quicker. I'd love to see another tx18. Good luck deciding.
No No not quicker please I blinked two times with my eyes Image and already he spit out an other boat

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:40 pm
by ks8
You did mention awhile back that you were thinking about a blow boat... 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:14 pm
by Cracker Larry
Mrs. Cracker tells me that she wants a bigger boat. A much bigger boat :wink: I might look for a big trawler or motorsailer and refurb it. There are some fantastic deals on used boats in FL right now. I don't think I have enough lifetime left in me to build a 45 foot boat from scratch :help:

No Mangusta, no TX, not our style. I'm more of a tradionalist when it comes to boats.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:26 pm
by gk108
These two have been on iboats classified ads for a few months.
http://www.iboats.com/used_boats/boats- ... 85269.html
http://www.iboats.com/used_boats/boats- ... 77762.html

Don't know if it's your style, but I kinda like 'em. 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:44 pm
by Cracker Larry
Yep GK that's pretty much what I'm talking about. It's got to have a bridge deck like this one..this is a lot of boat for 70K. Probably could buy it for 50.

Image

But it needs some cockpit space for fishing too. A lot of the trawlers don't have a stern cockpit, they are harder to find.

The Thompsons have a great reputation as commercial boats. I've never been aboard one built as a pleasure trawler, have you?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:49 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:No Mangusta, no TX, not our style. I'm more of a tradionalist when it comes to boats.
I know I know (I think)I was a little selfish, but boy a 40' feet mangusta would be a great boat to visit my mom more often, no tickets, no check in, no luggage limit no nothing just go whenever I want with whatever I want! oke the trip is a little longer as with a Image but a lot more spectacular and not to forget in my own hands how I want it and when I want it Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:51 pm
by Cracker Larry
Peter, maybe you should work on a pilots license :idea: Then you could build a plane...

I flew this from Miami to Bimini. Wouldn't do it again :lol:

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:53 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:Peter, maybe you should work on a pilots license :idea: Then you could build a plane...
Nah They end up in the water also, especially with me on the rudder :oops:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:06 pm
by Cracker Larry
Nah They end up in the water also
Yeah, that's what worries me too. See just above the seat, that green container strapped on, that's a huge floatation collar. Look on the port side by the seat, that's a big @ss CO2 bottle :lol:

Image

Got a button on the dash that fires it 8)

Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:26 pm
by wegcagle
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Present- ... 2303373504

Image

Personally I think you ought to suck it up and buy a nice 44' Kadey Krogen 8O

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:26 pm
by peter-curacao
Cracker Larry wrote:
Yeah, that's what worries me too. See just above the seat, that green container strapped on, that's a huge floatation collar. Look on the port side by the seat, that's a big @ss CO2 bottle :lol:
That's what I mean! better spent that money on a big high performance boat (build) :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:31 pm
by gk108
Cracker Larry wrote:I've never been aboard one built as a pleasure trawler, have you?
No. I've seen a few set up for shrimping. When I lived Carrabelle, they were highly regarded among the shrimpers down there. Until a few years ago, I never realized that they made a non-commercial version. I tend to agree about the cockpit, but you do get 360° fish fighting capability with this one. Maybe a set of davits and a GV10? 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:48 pm
by michaelwpayton
Yachtworld has a ton of listings, I'm sure you could do wonders with. Here's one, with only 300 hours on it's single Yanmar. I bet it can be bought for $25-$35K... depending on what a survey shows. Hell, the Yanmar may be worth $15-$20K+ itself.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/ ... 74503&url=

-Mike

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:44 pm
by gk108
That one is a converted shrimper. I imagine a lot of Thompsons ended up being converted in the last few years. :?

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:09 am
by TomW
At least this one has fishing room in the back.! 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:21 am
by peter-curacao
It is as roomy as it is ugly Image sorry just my opinion

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:02 am
by Cracker Larry
Yep, that one is fugly :o

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:44 am
by fishin'
I saw a beatiful motorsailor headed down the ICW yesterday. It was coming your way Larry, named sanibel. I'll see if I can figure out what it was. beautiful boat though.

Also had a really nice sport yacht throw us about a 5 foot wake as it went by at 20knots. They slowed down but not until it was too late. Probably a 70 footer.

check this one out. There is your first trip already built in bringing her home. http://www.sailing-boats-for-sale.com/s ... 63791.aspx

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:56 am
by Cracker Larry
:lol: I've got no desire to cross the Atlantic in a sailboat, those days are gone :wink:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:08 pm
by Cracker Larry
Got the GF12 all cleaned up and loaded for Florida, and I'll tell ya it's a load for a Toyota truck 8O It looks a lot bigger in the truck than it did on the shop floor.

Thanking the inventor of the chain falls! I just hoisted it up, cleaned up the building jig and drove the truck under her.

Image

Ready to roll, if the FL state patrol doens't have any issues. No matter really, I'm rolling either way :lol:

Image

It's been a fun project 8)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:24 pm
by Larry B
CL, couldn't you find a trailer to use :?: I'm sure you have it secured and all, but seems a boat or flatbed trailer would work a bit better?? Thats alot of boat hanging out the back?? Good looking boat I might add :)

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:26 pm
by peter-curacao
Have a safe trip Larry

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:25 pm
by cape man
Carried like a true Cracker! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Be safe. If the FHP stops you tell them you know me...on second thought, scratch that...

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:13 pm
by Cracker Larry
CL, couldn't you find a trailer to use
Yeah, I could borrow one from a friend or 3, but they don't do many road trips and their bearings are probably shot and the tires rotten, and no spares for either. Sure as rain, it would break down on the side of the road somewhere and I'd be stuck fixing it.
I'm as particular about my trailer as I am my boats, I carry spare tires, a spare hub already packed, spare bearings. My friends don't :wink: 700 miles is a long ways to trust a junky trailer. The Yota will get her there and I won't have to work on it.
Carried like a true Cracker!
Yep :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:15 pm
by wegcagle
C.L. I don't know if the next build is gonna fit. So far from you I've heard, AB23, GS28, and some unknown big a$$ trawler.
8O

Good job on the build, drive safe, and enjoy the grouper.

Will

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:42 pm
by Cracker Larry
Thanks yall 8)

The trawler is going to need a dingy and I've had the plans for a GV10 for a while, might play with that over the winter.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:00 pm
by topwater
CL if the trawler is big enough you all ready have a dingy .....ob 18 :!:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:39 pm
by wegcagle
Is this about right for you?

Image

8O

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:04 pm
by peter-curacao
wegcagle wrote:Is this about right for you?

Image

8O
That's a nice boat , only I think the dinghy hanging from it, is a little on the small site Image

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:14 pm
by Larry B
Cracker Larry wrote:
CL, couldn't you find a trailer to use
Yeah, I could borrow one from a friend or 3, but they don't do many road trips and their bearings are probably shot and the tires rotten, and no spares for either. Sure as rain, it would break down on the side of the road somewhere and I'd be stuck fixing it.
I'm as particular about my trailer as I am my boats, I carry spare tires, a spare hub already packed, spare bearings. My friends don't :wink: 700 miles is a long ways to trust a junky trailer. The Yota will get her there and I won't have to work on it.
Carried like a true Cracker!
Yep :lol:
CL, I hear ya about most people not taking care of there trailers. I've got a Old 16' flatbed out back that is ready to go at any given time. Like you always have a spare (never had to use it) but If I didn't have it I'm sure I would have needed it.
And by hauling it in your pickem up, you only have to haul it one way, with a trailer it's round trip.
Looks like you got her tied in real good. Have a safe trip.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:15 pm
by Cracker Larry
Is this about right for you?
Mrs. Cracker would be real happy with that, but it's a little over our budget. Filling up the tanks on that thing is probably over our budget 8O
CL if the trawler is big enough you all ready have a dingy .....o(d) 18
Yep, that would make the MA very happy :lol:

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:15 pm
by Murry
I completely missed this one, Larry I hope the delivery went well for you and the fishing too.

Haveing a chance to target bottom fish for big grouper has always been a dream of mine. Honestly, I really enjoy bottom fishing in deep water period, you never know what you might real up and it usually pulls pretty good too :D

The only grouper I've had a chance at have been on offshore head boats out of the Morehead City, N.C. area.
Carolina Princess and the Capt. Stacy. A lot of fun but they can be a bit crowded. I'd sure like to hear about your success.

Daniel

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:13 am
by peter-curacao
Murry wrote:I completely missed this one, Larry
Yep he does that! sneak in an other thread, and spit out an other boat before you even know it! 8) the only advice I can give is: don't blink your eyes!
O yeah and don't fall a sleep, don't take a shower, don't go to the can, quit your job, eat behind your PC, have s.x behind your PC etc etc etc! if not you will miss another great boat :P

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:55 pm
by Bowmovement
Murry wrote:I completely missed this one, Larry I hope the delivery went well for you and the fishing too.

Haveing a chance to target bottom fish for big grouper has always been a dream of mine. Honestly, I really enjoy bottom fishing in deep water period, you never know what you might real up and it usually pulls pretty good too :D

The only grouper I've had a chance at have been on offshore head boats out of the Morehead City, N.C. area.
Carolina Princess and the Capt. Stacy. A lot of fun but they can be a bit crowded. I'd sure like to hear about your success.

Daniel
Good Ol' Capt. Stacy! Used to fish that boat all the time as a kid. At least once a year on a school field trip growing up.
Good memories.

Matt

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:36 pm
by Cracker Larry
This isn't anything like headboat fishing, it's much better :wink: A few good friends who know how to fish, plenty of fish, life doesn't get any finer.
Honestly, I really enjoy bottom fishing in deep water period, you never know what you might real up and it usually pulls pretty good too


This trip was different from my other trips with Richard, and different from my normal local bottom fishing. Locally we have to fish in 100+ feet of water to catch good grouper and snapper, summer and winter. Fishing in the GOM in the spring and summer is about the same, but in fall the fish are in 30-40 feet of water in the Gulf. That ain't my territory but Richard knows where to find them. I've never caught grouper or snapper that shallow before. You still never know what you are going to come up with, and some of them pull real good. Really good :!: Good enough that quality 80 lb tackle sometimes won't even turn them around 8) . We left quite a few fish in the rocks.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:26 am
by Murry
peter-curacao wrote:
Murry wrote:I completely missed this one, Larry
Yep he does that! sneak in an other thread, and spit out an other boat before you even know it! 8) the only advice I can give is: don't blink your eyes!
O yeah and don't fall a sleep, don't take a shower, don't go to the can, quit your job, eat behind your PC, have s.x behind your PC etc etc etc! if not you will miss another great boat :P
:lol:

I was talking about the scheduled delivery. :D
Cracker Larry wrote:This isn't anything like headboat fishing, it's much better :wink: A few good friends who know how to fish, plenty of fish, life doesn't get any finer.
Honestly, I really enjoy bottom fishing in deep water period, you never know what you might real up and it usually pulls pretty good too


This trip was different from my other trips with Richard, and different from my normal local bottom fishing. Locally we have to fish in 100+ feet of water to catch good grouper and snapper, summer and winter. Fishing in the GOM in the spring and summer is about the same, but in fall the fish are in 30-40 feet of water in the Gulf. That ain't my territory but Richard knows where to find them. I've never caught grouper or snapper that shallow before. You still never know what you are going to come up with, and some of them pull real good. Really good :!: Good enough that quality 80 lb tackle sometimes won't even turn them around 8) . We left quite a few fish in the rocks.
Wow. 8O Left several in the rocks. I like the sound of the that. :D Sounds like you had a great trip. Not to mention getting those fish on the dinner table.
Thanks for sharing Larry. I'll get out there one day.

Re: Another Cracker GF12

Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:02 am
by Bobg
I just can't stop when I start reading one of your threads, CL.

Another fine build with some good guys and adventures, along the way. I really enjoyed it!

Bob