Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

I'm started into my first boat and I've learned to appreciate all the information and advice provided by other builders here in the forums. I'm building the V10 and have what I think are modest goals and expectations for this build:
1. To actually build a boat - Well, I'm doing that.
2. To see if I enjoy the process and decide if I want to tackle something bigger - I'm having a great time and already thinking about the next one.
3. To learn how to sail - We'll see about that later. And,
4. To learn about boats since I've never owned one - I'm learning, but...

Here's my question. Cutting of panels and stitching went well until I got to the bottom panels at the bow. No matter what I tried I could not get the last 3 inches or so to pull together. I even cut all the ties better than half way back and started again loose and gradually pulling them together. Still no success. Finally I decided that I had simply not marked and cut the panels correctly and I began what seemed like judicious trimming and cutting until they finally pulled together. Looked good to me.

When I stepped back, however, and took a look at the overall shape of the hull I had to wonder if my trimming hadn't changed the shape more than I had realized. Was it still a V10?

I've compared my boat to the plan drawings and it seems that my bottom panels are meeting the side panels at a lower angle than is shown in the plan drawings. To my uneducated eye it looks okay, but I know nothing about hull design or how it affects boat performance. As I said I've got modest expectations. I want to use it for rowing and sailing on a protected inland lake in western Michigan. I'm not looking for perfection or high performance but neither do I want a boat that will fight me rowing or sailing.

I've attached a couple photos. Take a look. What do you think? My tentative conclusion is that it's fine and I should be on to the filleting.

Looks like you pulled your stitches a bit too tight which caused the bow to be misaligned and unable to meet the curve. Generally, 1/4 gap is OK. When doing you stitches, start out really loose and install all of them and then gradually tighten them to a just loose state (leaving around a 1/4" around the most loose stitches).

It looks like, while you may have altered the shape slightly, it is not big deal (IMHO.

Thanks Larry. Never thought about how the upper panels tightness affects alignment of the lower panels.

I can't seem to get the photos to appear in the post regardless of what URL I attach. They are in the Gallery. I'll try again tomorrow.

It sounds like from your description that the bow is a little less fine than designed. It will probably slow your boat. How much is hard to know. Posting in this forum won't attact the kind of comment that you probably need. Try posting in the other small boats forum. This one is for builder bragging not tech support.

It is a 3D object, the interactions are surprising sometimes. It looks fine though.

One of the things you try to avoid is direct wood to wood contact when stitching, it causes hard spots - a fancy term for an area where the mechanical properties are different than the surrounding areas (obviously, this is does not apply to sections with butt blocks). On the higher performance boats, it may cause a small problem after years of use but the V10 is not such a boat.