Pacific NW FL12 Build

[enolja]

Before I embarrass myself with pictures of my work, I should say I'm completely inexperienced with any kind of boat building or woodworking. I consider myself pretty handy though, and have some experience with different tools, but nothing on the scale of even the FL12.

I work in the IT industry and was an 'indoor-kid' all my life, but due to an unexpected friendship with an old high-school acquaintance and her husband, I've been fishing a lot this past year and for whatever reason decided I wanted to build a boat. I'm really loving the outdoors and learning to fish has been a blast, caught some salmon this last year and with the help of my friend brought in a very big king salmon (Was foul-hooked and had to let it go though... )

So I've gotten started on this project without any expectations. I knew I would make mistakes and I already have made a lot of mistakes. Which is why at the moment I am using the cheapest economy plywood money can buy from home depot. I think it's all CD grade garbage. Fortunately I live in Tacoma Washington and we have some great lumber suppliers with access to Okoume and also other 1088 standard plywoods. There is also a West Marine storefront 10 minutes from my house.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the boat I'm working on. Basic FL12 that I hope at least floats. Other than that, I just wanted to learn the Bateau method of building, when this is all done I think I will try to build something a little larger and more interesting.

Measurements and marking 24' typical lines.


Transferring the blueprints onto the plywood


Cutting out the shapes of the plywood. Many mistakes were made. I had to buy another sheet because I screwed up. Never used a circular saw before.


Gluing the butt-blocks with some Six 10 epoxy


Getting the frames cut out.

[Jaysen]

From one IT guy to another, here is the one thing you may struggle with most...

It doesn't have to be perfect.

This isn't code. The S&G method is much more forgiving to variance than and compiler or interpreter. The epoxy and wood flour will cover a lot of sins. As will the fairing compound.

Enjoy!

[enolja]

Thanks haha, yeah I'm banking on that fact.

Question for you or anyone else:

When building the frames, why is it that the frames are glued onto the plywood? If I'm not mistake this section of the boat will be totally dry, and the screw-holes could be filled with epoxy? I feel like an idiot using so much epoxy to glue these frames on (currently they're curing in my garage) when my brain is telling me that the inside of the seat compartment will be bone-dry if I do everything else correctly.

[enolja]

Alright a bit more progress. Clearly showing some mistakes here. Hopefully someone else can use this to see what kinds of things to expect.


Dry fitting of the mid front and mid rear seats


The other side


Prior to screwing in the sides a bit, looking extremely lopsided. I was sort of freaking out here


After screwing down the sides to the mid frames. Both of my butt-blocks cracked slightly or seperated slightly, I can't see where, and they still feel secure. It may have just been the glue cracking a little. I am worried about it but this is why I used all of the cheap crap for this build. I'll make sure to glass up the sides with an extra layer or two on the outside.



Thats all for a little while, waiting on my order of MarinEpoxy and glass cloth/tape to arrive on Tuesday. I'll try to get some little stuff done like finishing the frames and getting the bottom cut out, and sizing up the bow and transom seats.

[Jaysen]

long chemical bond of glue will actually be stronger than screws for the stresses that will be experienced. That's what the science side of me says. The water guy in me says that any time you break the wood fiber, not matter how sealed, you add a potential water ingress point. And then the practical side of me says, it's easier. And for the record, no part of a boat is dry.

But I really don't know. I'm sure someone with more experience will come along and answer.

That cheap wood will be the hardest part of your project. Expect a few issues with uneven bending, some separation of laminate panels, and voids. And it will suck up epoxy. You should be ok, but be patient when bending and make sure you completely cover all surfaces with epoxy. Even those that will be dry

[jacquesmm]

Yes, marine plywood would not have cracked. It is a large number of thinner plies instead of 3 thick ones. What you heard is probably a crack inside the plywood.
Fiberglass the whole outside to be safe.

[kjackson]

It's too late now, but Edensaw in Bellevue and Port Townsend carries Hydrotek marine ply. It is not as expensive as other marine ply.

[enolja]

Actually I went over to Edensaw in Tacoma, and they have it as well. Not in stock but I can get it sent to the store for free pickup.

[enolja]

Glue came in from BoatBuilder central and I've gotten a lot done. Glued the buttblock onto the bottom of the boat and let it cure for about 18 hours. Then I was able to get it attached to the boat, duct-taped it on, and flipped it back over.

Then the trouble came.

Seems like my seat frames are too big for the boat now? I wasn't able to get them lined up along the lines I had drawn earlier now that the bottom was on. As I pressed them into position the bottom would become separated from the sides and the tape wouldn't hold. I determined the cause to be the inflexible plywood I'm using. Basically the top of sides won't bow out enough for the frame to fit without also bowing out the bottom of the sides.

To fix the issue I had to do some stitching along the bottom of the boat around where the seat frames went in, this allowed me to jam them into place. The top of the sides could flex outward while the bottoms stayed in place with the zip ties.

That was only half the battle though, now I had to find a way to get a glue-covered seat frame into position in an unwieldy and too-small space without pushing out all of the glue while pressing the frame into place. I basically fought them into place and had to put a couple of screws into for them to hold like I was instructed to do with the mid-seat frames. This was extremely messy and I tried my best to keep as much peanutbutter glue in place even though the seats wanted to shift around while I was screwing them in. After a lot of sweating and wasted glue, I got them in place and was able to press a lot of glue in with a tounge-depresser. I worked at pressing more and more glue into the cavity for a long time and I think there is plenty now.

Here she is after a few hours of sweating and cussing.


One question for you all: The transom is "inside" of the sides right now, is that correct? Should the transom plate be inside and butt up against the sides, or should the sides butt up against the transom?

[jacquesmm]

Correct, transom between the sides and bottom panels.
It looks good from here.