Cameron's FS14LS+5%

[VT_Jeff]

Hey Jeff,

I'm starting to think ahead on making my own poling platform. Since you've already designed yours, I was wondering if you'd considered any other designs before going with what you did?

Kinda thinking about fiberglass tubes. Maybe buying the braided sleeving and making some curved molds to form them on.

I considered that(FG tubes) as well. Shine with BBC did that with an FS17LS, it came out very cool.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16831&start=330

Somewhere there is a thread dedicated to his platform but I'm not easily finding it.

His 2-legged platform was a big insipration for my design and I toyed with the idea of stealing it more closely. In the end, I went the way I did(with the design) because I like the asthetics of the swept back legs matching the angle of the console and the transom, I like the ability to easily remove the platform, and the fact that as designed, the transom takes none of the load. I also prefer to work in wood wherever possible, so fabricating FG legs/platform was not an attractive option to me. But, FG/CF tubes with pool noodle or some other forms offer limitless possibilities, def a smart direction to be looking!

I'd personally recommend getting Fusion 360 to toy with the design, it's free for personal use and there is a great user community to help get spun up. I just started with it myself but it has made decision making far easier! Dan Smullen recommended it to me so credit to him.

[bamaguy0]

Oh yeah I use Fusion360 already. I have a 3d printer and make stuff from time to time using it. I use CatiaV5 for my day job so it's interesting jumping back and forth, but I've gotten the hang of it I think.

I've modeled the boat using F360. I made a version of the boat at nominal, plus 5%, plus 10% and even a slightly raised sheer version when I was trying to decide how far to go. I used it to do my math for me as once I laid all the panels out per the plans just adding a *1.1 or 1.05 to the dimensions scaled everything appropriately. I also used it to decide my nesting at +5% and using 9mm thick stringers. Ill be designing the side console in there as well as my deck hatch layout, and battery and tank positions.

Thanks for the info on the glass tubes. I'll definitely be looking through them.

[VT_Jeff]

Ok, I know who I'll be coming to with my f360 questions!

[bamaguy0]

I'm by no means an expert, but always willing to lend a hand.

Started sanding tonight. Got a long way to go. Been trying to rig up my vacuum to work on my electric sander and it's just been awful trying to get something to fit. Hoping my Amazon order will solve the problem. Should arrive tomorrow.

[bamaguy0]

It's been a while since I posted last but I've been hard at it trying to fair the hull. I've run myself out of Blended Filler mix and I think I'll be switching over to QuickFair from here. Here are a couple of photos along the way.





I realized after I was in too far that I probably applied too much filler in the beginning so I sanded a lot of it off with the Random Orbital.

I also decided to apply 6oz biax tape up the sides of the hull. In hindsight this ate up a lot of my filler material because of how sparce the fibers are compared to a more dense biaxial or light woven cloth. I wanted to cover the side in fiberglass and I figured why not the 6" tape since I had it on hand and it fit right in place with some minor trimming. Oh well, you live and learn.

I'm going to work on forming the sharp chine with woodflour and bonding a skeg and likely also the rubrails on at this point before I continue fairing anymore.

Last week I traveled to my parents in Alabama for Thanksgiving. I realized a couple days before I left that they had recently replaced their porch columns due to some rot that had set in from not putting them on risers off the porch floor 30 years ago. They were 4x6x8 cedar posts that only have maybe 6" or so of rot on the end at worst. Following the seaslug hatchmaking guide we took the 3 best columns of the 6 and made 6 pieces of 2 1/4 x 2, 4 pieces of 2 x 1/2, and then for sole and deck cleating we cut the remainder to 7/8 square. Ill trim them to get the rotten portions out, but I thought this was an excellent use of some cedar that would otherwise go to waste.

[cape_fisherman]

Looking good.

That RO sander probably added to your fairing woes. If you're looking for a smooth surface, the RO probably adds 1-2 extra fairing coats. Running a board is more labor intensive, but it'll give you a fair surface faster than the orbital sander...and a more fair surface period. I would suggest following up your previous fairing/sanding with at least one final pass with a 2' board. It's a good idea to have it when you move on to high-build anyway.

[bamaguy0]

That makes sense, thanks for the insight!

[cape man]

Great use of the columns! Nothing like reusing old wood. Good Karma for the boat to have a piece of the family house in her.

[bamaguy0]

I know it's been a while, but I don't feel like I've had much to update on so I'm just checking in. Had a bit of a hiatus from Thanksgiving to New Years and then that carried into January a little bit. I was able to go to both the Rose Bowl game and the CFB National Championship game. They were a blast! It's fun when your team wins.

Anyway about the boat, fairing is moving along at a slow pace. I've used more Quikfair than I'd like to admit, but I'd say the vast majority of the hull is complete. I have a couple spots to level on the transom and then the rest is leveling some sags I had between the transom and Frame D. The port side was worse so I applied a milled fiber paste to build up the lowest spot and then faired from there. On the starboard side, it wasn't as bad so I'm building up with Quikfair only. I think another couple nights this week and I'll have it to a point that I'm satisfied with moving on to a couple coats of primer. I will need to make some strakes as well as I've chosen to add a couple strakes vs a skeg. It's mostly to attempt to avoid adding as much depth as possible, but still attempt to add some level of control to the hull.

I've also made some purchases for the boat. I've been watching FB marketplace for certain items to try to save a bit of money. I've gotten a poling platform and a 55lb bow mount trolling motor recently for 400 each. The poling platform is on the tall side as it came off a bigger boat, so I will probably cut it down and have pads welded back on. The trolling motor has a bad copilot module, but I plan to upgrade to ipilot anyway which removes the copilot module. As long as that's the only thing wrong with it I'll be golden. I also bought a 5gal tank from Boyd's in Ocala. Got the "custom" feature of a filler hose neck vs the stock item with a threaded cap neck. I've converged on a center console design where the tank will be under the fwd seat that will be part of the console.


Here are a few WIP pics from this weekend. I'm even closer now than I was when these were taken.

[VT_Jeff]

Those fairing photos are making me (not) nostalgic!

Progress looks great. Nice work holding out for the tank with the filler neck.

I'm not adding any strakes/keel but I considered the same thing you are planning: strakes that will not add depth. Interested to see how you do those.