New member here who's caught the boat building itch bad. Before I jump into the deep end with a build, I wanted to pose a few questions to the community. Encouragement, commentary and sober thought are all appreciated.
- Primary use case is for a fly fishing platform to be used on small lakes and shallow rivers in the Ottawa Ontario area. I really like the lines of the FS17 LS but unfortunately I don't believe I have the space to build a boat of that length. Hence the compromise decision to go with the FS14 LS. Or do I?...
- On space constraints, I'm planning to build out of my basement workshop. Essentially I have a room which is approximately 18' by 10', with an adjacent room of a similar size which houses my woodworking machinery. Both rooms have a standard 32" wide door as entry/egress points. I don't believe I'd have an issue with rotating a boat on it's axis 90 degrees and fitting it through the door. The basement is a walkout FYI. Again, first time doing this so feedback is appreciated.
- On the practicalities of building out of a basement, my thoughts are to complete the boat in stages. Assembly and fibreglassing in the basement over winter, move the boat outside in the spring for sanding and final finishing taking place in the summer. Although I have pretty good dust collection, I want to avoid sanding fibreglass indoors as much as possible, especially since my furnace is near by.
- Anyone have any experience using Ecopoxy? It's low VOC which is important to me as much of the epoxy work will be taking place inside. I've seen some mentions of it being used online but would like to hear some first hand experiences if anyone has any to share.
- Beyond just studying the plans, any recommendations for good books on stitch and glue boat construction? Any other good books that I should read to form a foundational knowledge base?
- Finally, back to the 14 vs 17 question. With all things boats, is it better to follow the heart or brain?
SK