MGuel FL12 Build!

[mguel]

Hello everyone,

I'm definately a novice at boat building...well, building anything at all. I've been interested in getting a small boat to fish lakes, streams, and maybe small bays, but the wife just wouldn't give me the okay to shell out the big bucks for a brand new boat. I was browsing the web and came across bateau's site. When I saw the FL12 I immediately felt a something inside me say, "you can do that!"

I ran it by the wife, told her it would be a whole lot cheaper than a new boat, and she gave me the okay. She did say it would be part of my father's day present, so I think I got the better end of the deal ! At the moment I am waiting for my epoxy, resin, wood flour, glass, and other supplies to arrive. I will be honest, I ordered from Raka.com. I hope this doesn't get me hate replies from here! I live about 45 minutes south of Houston, Texas and only after ordering did I find a place in Houston that carries all those supplies! Anyways, after spending HOURS reading the forum I found myself debating on the ply. Should I use the cheap stuff, or go with marine ply...?!?

I wrestled with that question for 2 days. I read everyone's opinions on this site. I want to be as cost effective as possible..but I also want my boat to last longer than a couple of years. I ended up biting the bullet and searching for marine ply in houston. I found a Houston supplier in one of the posts here..Houston Hardwoods. They had Aquateck Meranti in stock for a reasonable price. So, me and the wife headed off to Houston this morning and picked up my ply! I was so excited.

Excitement is an understatement. Since I ordered my plans this project has been actually keeping me awake at night! I don't know what's wrong with me. My wife is sick and tired of hearing about my project and I havn't even started it! But she's being a trooper. She came along with me, and even helped me load the ply!

I got home and began measuring and making sure I followed the nesting by heart. I didn't have a pvc pipe for the arcs to trace the chines and I didn't feel like going to the hardware store, so I searched and found a long piece of trim in my garage. It worked beautifully. I ended up using a jig saw to make the cuts for fear that my skill would tear up the ply. It's such beautiful ply..too pretty to mess up I think i did okay on the cuts. Only a few got away from me.

So, at the moment, (my first day) I have the chines, side butts, the bottom butts, and the bow seat cut out. Tomorrow I'll work on the transom, the tops, and the bottom. I did want to ask for some advice. The notes say to go ahead and measure/cut the bottom now. I read a few posts where they recommend waiting untill you flip the assembly and then tracing the bottom on the ply. I'd love to hear your thoughts on which method you think works best.

Here are my first pics on the project! Glad to have this very informative forum to use. It's really making the process much easier. I almost feel like it's second nature, and I have very little wood working experience!!!!

Just waiting for my supplies to come in!

Where the magic happens!

[wegcagle]

Congrats on getting started. That "keeping you up at night" that your refer to is called Boat building virus (BBV). I hate to break it to you, but you got it bad Don't feel bad, we all do. I am already contemplating and tinkering with my next build. I'm probably 4-6 months away from being done with this one It only gets worse, but it sure is fun. I loved the part of the build where you are. You go from plywood to instant boat in only a couple of days. Enjoy it.

Will

[Cracker Larry]

Welcome aboard! You're off to a good start You'll never regret buying the good plywood

By the way, BBV seems to be an incurable malady. I've just started S&G boat number 4

[mguel]

Went to church, thanked God for my meranti ply, and came on home. Several hours later I finished cutting out all the pieces. This time I decided to follow the tip in the notes on adjusting the skill blade just slightly past the thickness of the ply. That worked wonderfully. It also went a lot faster than using the jig saw! I'll never doubt the notes/tutorials again.

I really hope Raka.com sends me my epoxy soon. I'm ready to keep going. I need to finish this boat this summer. I'm in grad school and once classes start in September my wife isn't going to let me do anything but study!!!

Here's a pic of my pretty meranti ply all cut up. Sorry about the ghostly orbs in the pic...haha

[mguel]

My supplies finally came in. Epoxy, glass tape and cloth, some tubs, mixing sticks, etc. I was still too chicken to try and glue my butt blocks for the chines and bottom. I ordered from Raka and the instructions are online, so I downloaded them to read later tonight. I want to be sure I read up on mixing before I get started. I want to make as few mistakes as possible. I ordered 3 gallons and I want to be sure I don't need to order any extra due to stupid mistakes.

To not spend the day doing nothing I decided to work on the batten frames. I ripped some pine 2x4's I had lying around. Finished those up pretty fast. Also went by lowes and purchased some supplies for applying the resin, some glue, duct tape, and more. This boat was supposed to be cheap!! WHAT HAPPENED!!! LOL

I should be ready to glue the butt joints. Ketchup consistency I believe. I ordered 2 gallons of resin and it comes with 1/2 gallon of fast hardner and 1/2 of slow. I don't want to end up having only fast at the end when I fiber the entire bottom of the boat, so I'm thinking about mixing the two. I hate to have to do that for fear of mixing wrong. But i purchased the pumps so I should be okay....i hope! I'm using maple wood flour. I wish I had an idea of how many scoops to put in 3 oz mix. But i guess as long as it's ketchup i'll be fine. Wish me luck tomorrow!! I'm hoping to get those joints cured by Friday so i can start the stitch assembly!!

Picture of my frame work

[mguel]

Well, I finished glueing all the frames. Very interesting process getting the pvc clamps to not move the battens around. But it just took a little jiggling.

Unfortunately, I had my first mistake. Nothing major...or I don't think. I accidently left a gluey mixing stick on the plastic and then proceeded to glue the transom on top of the mixing stick..so needless to say, I have a mixing stick glued to my transom!

[wegcagle]

That's nothing alittle grinding and sanding can't take care of Everything is looking great so far.

Will

[Cracker Larry]

That's nothing alittle grinding and sanding can't take care of

For sure that's minor. Wait until the cat get's glued to the boat. They don't like grinders

[mguel]

The weather today here near Houston was in the 90's. And even though i was in the garage...i felt it. Nevertheless, I got lots done!!!. I'd like to know how many of you tackled the fl12 all on your lonesomes...It's a heck of a lot heavier than i expected and flipping it over alone was a ....well, not a fun experience. But i somehow managed once I got the frames in there with some screws.



I hope that this was the most difficult part of the whole boat building process because by golly was i by the end of the day. I really didn't have a problem with the boat not curving well..I just had a problem with the gaps from the bottom of the boat and the chines. I finally gave in and stiched the bottom to the chines. It worked well and I can't really see any flat spots. I place the tops on and they just needed a little adjusting to fit flush. Some will take a lil sanding to be perfectly flush..but the majority of that is me cutting a lil under.





I still need to retape the bottom. I put a few stiches on bottom and they brought the chines in a little more, but the previous tape job had come untaped. That means FLIPPING AGAIN...I hope I can find a neighbor...or maybe the wife can help...yeah right!

I need to add the cleats for the bow seat and then I'll start filling and taping during the week! I am glad I read these boards before my build...it really helped me solve many issues i came across.

[mguel]

Another hot day in the Gulf Coast of Texas. Temp is probably near the mid to high 90's. During the week I glued the frames in place. There were a few gaps here and there but I finally decided I could live with them instead of trying to make it perfect. So, today I decided it was time to face my fear and tackle some fiberglassing.

I cleaned my garage really well. I had too many tools scattered all over the place and it was making the job difficult. So, after putting everything in it's place I cut the tape to the appropriate sizes. I originally was using maple wood flour for glue and I was going to use it for filler. But, I began to run low and I ordered pine from here. As I was making the filler it sure did feel like I didn't have to use nearly as much pine flour as I did maple. I used a 2 tablespoon scoop to add the wood flour to the epoxy mix and the pine sure did seem to thicken a lot faster.

Well, the filling went well. All except with the pesky stitches. I didn't know how to tackle the stitches. If I should fill under and over or simply under. I ended up filling up to the stitch. So, I finished all the seams. It's not a perfect job, and I know there were some, not many bubbles. I ran out of plastic and decided I really didn't care because this is going to be a fishing boat not a show boat. I did add some extra tape on some of the frames, just to make myself feel better because of some of the gaps I mentioned from the glueing.

Next on the list...the dreaded rubrails...