GF16 Kansas build

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piperdown
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GF16 Kansas build

Post by piperdown »

Lol....
Guess I need to learn where to put stuff on here.

So, here's my intro, hopefully in the right spot.

Whelp, I seem to use forums to document everything else I have as a hobby might as well go ahead and document my GF16 build (haven't figured out the picture thing here yet, but I will).

I got interested in building a boat a while ago. About 6 years ago, down and around the corner of our neighborhood, a guy built a detached garage. Saw it going up every morning and evening heading in and coming back from work. Fun watching construction projects go up. Well, about 3 months after it was finished, noticed the gentleman was building something :doh: Took a while to figure out he was building a boat! 8O Started me thinking (which the wife says is never good).

Bit about me. Grew up on a farm in Idaho. Was a tire buster then mechanic for a short time after HS. Also sold cars, did car wash maintenance, helped a roofer I knew, did siding. All this and not making a lot of money led me back to finishing college. Run a safety office now in Missouri but live on the Kansas side.

Anyhoo, picked up fly fishing from my uncles but didn't boat much. Most of the fishing I did was on river banks or in the creek. Nice rainbow trout, some cutthroat or browns depending on where I was fishing.

Started looking at boats after I organized a fishing trip with friends a couple years ago. Nothing I've looked at I've been overly impressed with and prices for used boats are mostly ridiculous IMO.

After putting together a punch list of house needs, I realized I NEED something to take my mind off of house repairs/improvements, and my other hobbies are only short time stuff. So, after much thought, went back to my bookmarks, and sure enough, still had the link to Bateau.

At first I was going to be more ambitious but let reason sneak back in and figured the GF16 would be perfect for the first build. Relatively flat, few sheets, etc. Plus, my fiberglassing skills are extremely limited and rusty. Had a body shop guy I knew let me "help" him fix some fiberglass on 70's Corvettes' (meaning he watched me like a hawk and usually elbowed me aside :lol: ). That was almost 30 years ago 8O

So, sorta cleaned out the garage this past week (need to finish up a few other projects to really clear some room), built a long work table on casters, actually found some decent exterior 1/2 plywood 8O for the seat frames and am patiently waiting on the 4 sheets of 1/4 marine plywood plus epoxy and tape to be delivered. Shopping around for cloth and see what prices I can find.

Other than the table, the progress I've made is cutting out the transom, foredeck, and forward frame. I've got the midseat forward side, midseat rear side, bow transom, and 1 clamping board traced out and ready to cut. Need to get the seat tops, rear seat frame and last clamping board traced.

All this was done between, getting siding to change the front of the house, ripping out a decorative evergreen that was dying, bunch of old bushes, installing 2 new windows. Nice to take a break from the house stuff and relax, ponder, draw and cut. :D

Off to get cleaned up for church, grab lunch with the family, get some shopping done and then starting to tear off the cedar shake siding on a bump out in the front of the house. Depending on how long everything takes I might even get another panel or 2 cut out :D
Eric (aka, piperdown)

"Give an Irishman lager for a month and he's a dead man. An Irishman's stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him." --> Mark Twain

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glossieblack
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by glossieblack »

Welcome to the forum piperdown. The GF 16 is a great choice. I'm looking forward to following your build. :D
Currently building Jacques Mertens ST21 "Skinnydip". Boating adventures: Splash testing and using 'Skinnydip, as a basis of further building refinement; Adams 44’ sailing sloop "Great Sandy" (cruising and maintaining); Iain Oughtred Feather Pram "Mini Dip" (building); Jacques Mertens R13 "Wood Duck" (built and due for maintenance).

piperdown
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by piperdown »

Here's my work table. Still need to do some cleaning, rearranging and finishing of other projects.

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Transom I cut out.

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Foredeck cut out.

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More interior pieces to cut out.

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In the meantime.....refreshments are in order!

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Eric (aka, piperdown)

"Give an Irishman lager for a month and he's a dead man. An Irishman's stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him." --> Mark Twain

Southern Gent
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by Southern Gent »

Piperdown, welcome. Yep a good bit of church can’t harm a boat builder. Have fun with your build. Ask questions, not a soul here hasn’t messed up any step of a build. They share sage advise temped with wit and wink.

piperdown
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by piperdown »

Southern Gent wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:47 pm Piperdown, welcome. Yep a good bit of church can’t harm a boat builder. Have fun with your build. Ask questions, not a soul here hasn’t messed up any step of a build. They share sage advise temped with wit and wink.
Yep! My only problem is that I swear all the hymns seem to be made for soprano which ain't right for me :lol:

Got 4 more panels cut (after church, Sam's club, other shopping, priming the new siding, and starting the cedar tear out, whew!).
Bow transom, another clamping board, both mid seats cut out. Still have to get the rear frame and seats cut out. I left the stern transom tall, as well as the clamping boards. Plan on clamping them together and router the edges to match. Surprised that they were only off by about 1/16. Just enough to feel it.

Wife and I made some nice chicken salad sandwiches (I had potato chips, she chose fruit as a side :doh: ). Relaxing right now with a nice Irish Whisky.

Might be a day or so before getting back to the build. Helping a friend extend his gas line for a new gas grill cooktop for his kitchen. Already ran the main line a couple weeks ago, just need to tie it in with a coupling for a future expansion he has planned. Same friend where I got his boat running for him too just a few weeks ago. It was running poorly the last time he ran it and it's been sitting for 3 years :help: . Tarp had blown off, who knows when in the past. Lots of crap to clean up. At least no condensation (surprise!) in the oil. Gas got pumped out (15 darn gallons!) and new gas put in. 4 hours of going over everything I could and, out of that, about 1 1/2 hrs just cleaning up the carb 8O Don't know anything about props or boats in general but I do know "standard" motors (outboards...nope!). Took a few times to start but I got her fired up. Wasn't able to go out with him the following weekend to test it out but he said he was hitting 40 easy with no problems. Still, I think I can tweak it a bit and boost it up.
Eric (aka, piperdown)

"Give an Irishman lager for a month and he's a dead man. An Irishman's stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him." --> Mark Twain

OrangeQuest

Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by OrangeQuest »

Wow! You made me tired just reading everything you did. You are a very busy person!
Keep up the good work on your build!

piperdown
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by piperdown »

OrangeQuest wrote: Mon Jul 23, 2018 6:15 am Wow! You made me tired just reading everything you did. You are a very busy person!
Keep up the good work on your build!
Only because there's lots to do! I'd much rather be lounging around.

Here are some pics from last night's cutout session.

Bow transom

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Mid seats

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Before people ask....yes, when cleaning the garage I threw all my tools on top of my work cabinet; no, I don't have enough storage space at this time; yes, you can tease me about a messy shop :D

Tear off the remaining cedar shake siding from the front tonight, then off to see if I can find another good exterior 1/2 piece of plywood and get the seat tops drawn and cut.

BTW, while cleaning the garage (and digging around in the house) found about 15 various gallons of old paint and stain 8O . Most of it from the previous owners. Will be taking it all down to the hazwaste disposal place (it's free) and that will clear up a 4'x4' section of the garage. And...hopefully the platers will call me this week with the parts I had nickel plated so I can get the old barber chair put back together again. That'll give me another 6'x6' space :D

Before asked (or even not..lol) this is similar to the barber chair I'm partially restoring.

Image
Eric (aka, piperdown)

"Give an Irishman lager for a month and he's a dead man. An Irishman's stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him." --> Mark Twain

OrangeQuest

Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by OrangeQuest »

Add shelves to your "TODO" list and then add more shelves to it. If you can stack it in piles you can sort it into shelves. I use reclaimed plywood from a furniture warehouse down the street of my warehouse. They use it to protect table tops and just throw it away. It is very sub-standard plywood but for making shelves and work bench tops that get beat up a lot it works pretty good. I buy very cheap saw blades to cut it, has a lot of staples in it that I miss from time to time, to cut off the edges where most the staples are at. It's a little better than stiff cardboard.

Remember that it's not a race to finish the boat but an adventure to enjoy the path to having a boat. And as you already know (wife helping you) other people may help in the adventure.

Looking good so far.

(If you look at some of my pictures you can see my "messy" work area)

piperdown
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by piperdown »

OrangeQuest wrote: Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:51 am Add shelves to your "TODO" list and then add more shelves to it. If you can stack it in piles you can sort it into shelves. I use reclaimed plywood from a furniture warehouse down the street of my warehouse. They use it to protect table tops and just throw it away. It is very sub-standard plywood but for making shelves and work bench tops that get beat up a lot it works pretty good. I buy very cheap saw blades to cut it, has a lot of staples in it that I miss from time to time, to cut off the edges where most the staples are at. It's a little better than stiff cardboard.

Remember that it's not a race to finish the boat but an adventure to enjoy the path to having a boat. And as you already know (wife helping you) other people may help in the adventure.

Looking good so far.

(If you look at some of my pictures you can see my "messy" work area)
I've got shelves, I just have to move the stuff (cough, cough, "crap") from the garage to the shed I built in the back of the house. And organize the shed too :help:

Oh, I'm not racing along. I mean it would be fun to finish sooner rather than later but this boat build is my stress relief. Work on house for a while and when I'm tired, done, frazzled, switch gears and work on the hobby (whatever hobby that happens to be). Like this coming Sat. Probably work on the house a bit in the morning, then switch gears and work up a new batch of melomel (fruit mead) with sour cherries (cause I'm running low on mead). After that it's off to the BIL's new house for a house warming party.
Eric (aka, piperdown)

"Give an Irishman lager for a month and he's a dead man. An Irishman's stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him." --> Mark Twain

piperdown
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Re: GF16 Kansas build

Post by piperdown »

Not much to report these past few days boat building wise but I did get some items taken care of around the house.
Plus....I did get the marine plywood in last night, and Tuesday got my first 1 1/2 gallons of epoxy (Thanks Jeff and Reid!) plus 50 years of 6" tape.

Also, another big shout out to Jeff and Reid for getting me situated on 20 yards of cloth and another 1 1/2 gallons of epoxy coming my way next week.

I'm chomping at the bit to get back out on the build but have to do give some training tonight for an organization I belong to, KC Irish Fest.
Eric (aka, piperdown)

"Give an Irishman lager for a month and he's a dead man. An Irishman's stomach is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him." --> Mark Twain

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