Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

So I have finally made enough progress worth a post but first a few questions.

I need suggestions on building a rod locker through the floor of the sole for surf landings. I need to cut holes in the frames so the compartments aren't sealed so I figured I would cut a square even to the floor, stringers and sole bottom. What about a lid, how do I make it keep the sole's curved shape?

Speaking of the sole I'd like to lower the sole at least and 1.5 or so. Anybody who has built one of these have dimensions for the sole in this lowered position? Figured I'd ask since it would save me a couple hours.

When cutting the storage for the aft compartment, is this much easier after the top is in place?

On to the build.















After a lot of resin...

Wow! That's looking really good. Is that glass tape on the seams, or did you fully glass the inside?

The boat looks nice, clean fiberglass work.
Did you buy those puzzle joints panels from us? That looks very much like my puzzle pattern and size.

That is just fiberglass tape on the seams, though I am considering putting a layer of glass on the bottom for extra protection. The extra weight trade off may not be worth it though.

My okoume had an extra couple inches past the last station line so I used a router to cut the puzzle then lined it up to the adjacent board. Traced the pattern and routed it out to fit.

Does that mean that you cut those puzzle joints yourself, with a router and a template or guide?

BTW, the nesting drawing shows the plates on standard panels that are 96" long (244 cm) but many Okoume panels are 98.375" (255 cm).

That's some fine router work on those puzzle joints

Thanks.

There was no template really, a pencil and a steady hand with the router. I used a cap to something random in the garage for the circle then sketched the fillets in.

That is impressive. It is very difficult to cut those puzzle joints by hand, there is somewhere a web page about that by a guy who sells a steel router guide. There is also a Porter Cable dovetail template.

How did I miss this months ago? Very nice work. Makes my hatchet job on the ugly step sister look pretty bad (actually that's my fault, not yours, of course). Are you further (done?) now? Curious if you did side drains or drains at all. And if you are done, how it handles.

Not done yet, it has been too cold for resin to kick off but my goal is to finish this before I start my cobia tower for the big boat and the offshore season is around the corner so I'm going to be kicking it in high gear soon.

I did manage to do a float test to see if I was happy with the height of the stringers and stability. I think I'm going to lower them 2" which should be high enough to still keep the scuppers above the water line and help with the stability but I'm still pondering the rod storage compartment similar to the one you did but going forward instead of aft.

Boost240sx wrote: Speaking of the sole I'd like to lower the sole at least and 1.5 or so. Anybody who has built one of these have dimensions for the sole in this lowered position? Figured I'd ask since it would save me a couple hours.

You look like you're sitting up pretty high- are you sitting at plan sole height in the photo or did you lower it already?

I just saw on another thread that you said this is your first large fiberglass job. That is...umm...astounding . I've done a bit of fiberglassing in my life and can't begin to compare with your work, and even so, nothing has ever gone ahoo with it.

You have a future in boat building, methinks.

In the picture the stringers are per the plan and I'm sitting on a 1x4 across them. There is way too much freeboard in my opinon so that's why I'm considering removing ~2 inches. Hind sight being 20/20 I should have taped the water line when I had it in, so I'm going to re-float it and mark it before I cut the stringers.

Thanks terrulian, I would love to kick the engineering gig and move 75 miles south to build carolina beauties but I fear it only a pipe dream.