FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Boats up to 15' for oars, power or sail. Please include the boat type in your question.
wakenedhands
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FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by wakenedhands »

Hi Everyone,

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?
Cheers,

SK

TomW1
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by TomW1 »

I agree with you, you do not have enough room for the FS17LS, even on wheels 1' would not be enough to roll it forward to place the transom and one foot would be almost impossible. As far as Ecopoxy I looked it up. It does not be applicable to boat work. Both the 30 and 60 mention working with wood. neither mention any thing about being applicable to boat building. But let us see if Jeff has any info to help.

Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

Fuzz
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by Fuzz »

You can do it. And rolling one up on its side to get through a door can be done, no big deal. Other shorter hulls to look at would be the 13-14-15 foot Garveys.

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Jaysen
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by Jaysen »

Where is the door to the room? If it isn’t on the end wall (10’ wall) you might not be able to maneuver the hull through the door.
My already completed 'Lil Bit'. A Martens Goosen V12 set up to sail me to the fishing holes.
Currently working on making a Helms 24 our coastal cruiser.
“Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens” wrote:Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.
Jaysen wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:44 pm I tried to say something but God thought I was wrong and filled my mouth with saltwater. I kept my pie hole shut after that.

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VT_Jeff
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by VT_Jeff »

FS14LS is great but as other have said, 2 adults max unless you're just transporting humans from point A to point B. Mine is a +10% and is so far working perfectly for our fly-fishing in lake Ontario, ponds and reservoirs around upstate NY and VT. Biggest downside is the gymnastics required to get rods in/out of the rod holders, but that was a known/measured compromise.

Your diagonal length of your room is 20.59. I would chalk out the FS17 on the diagonal and see what it looks like.

Should not be too hard to get the boat on it's side, on a sled and then slide it out the door, just remember to leave the console off until it's outside.

Sam Devlins book was good but the build threads and how-to's on this site are more up-to-date and directly applicable to these builds, so I'd recommend exhausting that stuff first.

Welcome and best of luck. Starting today we may actually be able to get back up to the Ottawa River for some WW kayaking and fishing, been too long!
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

narfi
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by narfi »

Shelter logic tent, FS17, follow your dreams :)

I built the fs17 hull in my wife's dining room, and it barely fit out the double garden doors, then we finished it in the tent over the next couple summers.

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VT_Jeff
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by VT_Jeff »

narfi wrote: Wed Aug 11, 2021 1:35 pm Shelter logic tent, FS17, follow your dreams :)

I built the fs17 hull in my wife's dining room, and it barely fit out the double garden doors, then we finished it in the tent over the next couple summers.
Don't listen to Narfi, he's not a human, he's a laskan. Operates on a higher plane. And operates on planes.

:lol:

Kidding aside, I agree you can do it if you decide to.
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
Completed Jacques Mertens FS14LS + 10%, Build Thread
Started Iain Oughtred Tammie Norrie

wakenedhands
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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by wakenedhands »

Appreciate the feedback and encouragement! I've gone ahead and bought the plans for the FS14LS, also contacted a few wood merchants about Okume ply. It might make sense to order the cnc kit, have it shipped to a border town and cross over to pick it up... I'll weigh options once I have a few quotes in-hand.

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Re: FS14 LS Dreams & Realities

Post by Fuzz »

If you go the c-n-c route have Jeff put together a package for everything you will need. It will save you time and money.

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