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FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:16 pm
by mhd
OK, we ordered the plans for the FB11 a while ago and the plywood and epoxy and other things are on the way. In preparation, and to brush up on wood work, I made a pair of oars, a test stitch and glue box, and the "Ditty Bag" described in The Sailmaker's Apprentice.

The ultimate aim is to build the FB11 as a warm-up project for a VG20 or VG23. And store it nested as a tender for the VG23 in future if we can fit that boat build in the garage.

Here are a few pics.

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Never done any epoxy work before so I decided to epoxy the oars (the hand grips are left unfinished) It wasn't perfect and messier than I imagined to start with. And I screwed up the painting (spray enamel) but after a lot of sanding, I'm more or less happy with the oars and the leathers.

Looking forward to getting cracking on the boat itself.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 8:27 pm
by Fuzz
You will do fine. While it is nice to have someone teach you epoxy tricks the best way to learn is by doing. Good news is a sander can fix almost all screw ups. Bad news is you have to run the sander :lol:

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 1:29 pm
by mhd
Fuzz wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 8:27 pm You will do fine. While it is nice to have someone teach you epoxy tricks the best way to learn is by doing. Good news is a sander can fix almost all screw ups. Bad news is you have to run the sander :lol:
Thanks for the positive words. Yes, I'm looking forward to it. Like you say, the best way to learn is by doing, and making your own mistakes once, and then hopefully not repeating them too many times afterwards!

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 5:06 pm
by mhd
In preparation for the plywood arriving, I built a scale model of the FB11 from paper, with a few planned changes to the original design. This was mainly to check how the boat would look when nested with the changes. These included

Added 10cm / 4" to the freeboard
Covered fore-deck (with storage under) - not sure how deep just yet.
Possible short boom - will test-sail first before any decision to add a jib.

Was only supposed to be a quick model from paper but I got a bit carried away.

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But looks good nested.

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Took a couple of hours and just before I got finished, the plywood arrived - all in good shape.

Time to start joining the ply and actually building the real thing.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:12 pm
by mhd
Did my first butt joint, and it was mostly successful. A couple of very small places where the epoxy didn't bond perfectly, or I didn't wet out sufficiently (white spots), but overall I was happy. I did an "over the knee test" on a small portion of scrap 6mm ply and it broke well away from the butt joint, so I'm resonably confident it has worked out as planned. After the joint cured for 24 hours I used a thin strip of wood as a batten and marked out the curves of the bottom panels and am ready for cutting these tomorrow (after I've checked the dimensions for the third time!).

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The second butt joint is curing now and I'm hoping to have the main hull shape formed up by the end of the weekend.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 8:34 pm
by mhd
FB11 hull after stitching together. A few places where my cutting ran out and and the pieces didn't align perfectly (should have practiced more with the new mini circular saw before jumping in) , but all in all I'm very happy with it up to now. The diagonals are bang on so I must be doing something right. Bending the ply to shape was a real challenge at the bow and I used steel wire to hold things together in a couple of places after the copper kept snapping under strain. I used 3/8 ply for the bow "transom" but the rest is 1/4 inch. After this photo was taken I put in some putty fillets in a few places to stiffen things up and will flip the boat tomorrow to start on the bottom.

I haven't decided on whether to put in a sloping foredeck so the bow "transom" still needs cutting down either flat or to a shallow point and the stern transom needs a nice curve shape also. After raising the freeboard, I need to somehow test if the middle seat needs lowering slightly for comfortable rowing.

Looking forward to seeing how things progress over the next week.

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2022 10:28 am
by Bogieman
Nice!

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2022 11:50 am
by VT_Jeff
Love those oars and the boat's coming together nicely!

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 9:34 pm
by mhd
VT_Jeff wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 11:50 am Love those oars and the boat's coming together nicely!
Yep, all good. Yesterday I made a rudder and daggerboard out of some 8" wide mahogany (actually 7 1/4 inch) - I'd been worried about this part but it went quicker than I imagined. Here they are ready for a first coat of epoxy which should bring the colour out nicely I hope. I ordered pintles and gudgeons too.

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Today I glued pieces of 1/4 inch ply together to make 1/2 inch thick seats and I also finished filleting the seams and removed all the copper wire from the hull. I will hopefully be able to start on taping the inside seams tomorrow.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2022 11:02 pm
by mhd
I sanded the numerous drips and splashes off the ouside of the hull and then lightly planed the lines with a block plane and then taped the three long bottom joints...long job and I almost certainly used too much resin (boat is noticably heavier than when I started!), but it seems to be a decent tape-to-wood bond. At least I'm becoming a little less messy with practice.

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Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2022 6:56 pm
by mhd
Right...a decent few days over the weekend. Bottom and sides were taped and then covered in 4oz cloth. Today I taped the inside joins (6 inch - 6 oz biaxial tape). Getting a lot better, and less mess, with practice.

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I've also been varnishing the daggerboard and rudder and making a tiller and extension. Always something to keep busy with.

Next jobs will be cloth inside, adding the gunwales, then the extra bulkhead and rear seat supports.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2022 9:49 pm
by mhd
Rough cut on the deck and bulkhead...

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:07 pm
by mhd
Well, the last couple of weeks I didn't have quite as much time to work on the boat as planned but there has been progress.

The boat is now glassed inside and out, the forward compartments are made and the fore-deck has been cut and fitted. Gunwales are almost complete and today I added two transom gussets. With a bit of luck I'll hang the rudder next, and then proceed to cut the boat in half!

There are three compartments under the foredeck. Left and right, are (hopefully) watertight, for storage. The central triangular compartment contains the mast-step and is not watertight. It contains a drain-hole (15mm copper pipe epoxied in place) and also there are holes drilled to fit a u-bolt just under the central inspection hatch. Also, the top central hole is to fit a bulkhead compass.

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The mast-step is white oak, partially cut with a hole saw, chiselled out, a drain hole drilled, and then epoxied.

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The foredeck and compartments replaced the bow seat in the original plans. There is definitely more weight at the bow now though and it will be interesting to see how significantly this affect the boat's trim when she is in the water.

I've also got the daggerboard case made, glassed and ready to be fitted. This is the second case to be made...I *stupidly* measured the first one based on the daggerboard *before* I epoxied and varnished it. That increased the thickness just enough that the daggerboard was too thick to slide through comfortably. So I made a second case rather than sand down the daggerboard and epoxy it all again. Live and learn.

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Next job is cutting the boat in half, and cleaning up and finishing off the central bulkheads.

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:24 pm
by mhd
Rudder and tiller (with extension) fitted, and today I epoxied on and taped the skeg. I drilled (and rounded) a hole in the skeg in order to give me something to use to tie down the boat when it is nested and on the roof-rack.

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Rudder and tiller function as intended, thankfully.

Getting there slowly. Next job will be a few final touches of epoxy where the cloth weave isn't fully filled on the bottom and then some serious sanding and fairing. I'm going to cut the hole for the daggerboard before I start on the fairing but I won't install it until after the boat is reasonably fair as it is likely to get in the way.

I also emailed the New Mexico MVD and asked for a HIN in order to register/title the boat. Minimum length is 10' and sadly we're at 10'6". I'm hopefully it isn't too arduous a process but we will see!

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 3:35 pm
by mhd
The big cut! All went well. I cut from each side and put in the bulkhead bolts as I sawed past their locations, to keep the two parts together. Went well. After that I cleaned up the ends of the central bulkhead and will round them over before glassing.

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Next job will be fitting the daggerboard case. And now the boat is in two parts and I can check the nesting, I'm going to figure out exactly how large I want to make two small aft compartments. The plans call for floatation foam, but I'm going to make two triangular compartments and use them to also support the rear seat. I also thought about a couple of circular holes in the central bulkheads. These could be used to slide the oars through when not rowing to keep them secure and out of the way as much as possible. Still not figured out exactly if/how that will work though.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 3:54 pm
by mhd
The boat is now joined back together for the first time with the six bolts joining it together. Plans required four, but I added two extra due to the extra freeboard and other changes I made on the original design. The extra weight at the front puts a lot of stress on the two widest bolts, so I'm thinking of adding steel bracing plates on the gunwales where the joins are and use wing nuts to secure these in place - maybe I'm worrying too muich, but better safe than sorry.

Some other builders reported water coming up between the two halves when the dinghy was being towed so I also plan to put a thin neoprene gasket between the two halves to hopefully prevent that happening and it should for a nice seal. After that is in place I'll add a couple of hardwood dowels at the top of the middle bulkheads also to help with alignment of the two halves if she is ever joined on the water.

Just finished fitting the daggerboard case. I decided to cut it flush with the bottom of the boat after it was in, so I had to put a lot of weight near the sternb to get the hole for the daggerboard up high enough to get the case through at the right height. I'll cut and round off and glass the bottom in a day or two. I've also almost finished fitting the aft compartments now - it took a lot of measuring to get them level and matched up to the right height. They now just need the tops cutting to the exact size and the edges rounding off and then glassing over. I already made a removable seat as per the plans, but it may not actually be needed - will test that out when she's in the water. It is getting closer now.

Mick

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 2:28 pm
by mhd
Rear compartments are now ready for the tops to be fitted and then finishing.

Daggerboard case was cut off flush with the hull and then glassed and smoothed over with putty.

All in all the boat is pretty much done and ready for fairing/painting. I'm very happy with it and can't wait for the maiden voyage.

Mick

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:18 am
by Fuzz
Let the fairing fun begin :lol:
Been meaning to ask how was the pucker factor when you were cutting your new boat in half?

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:54 am
by mhd
Fuzz wrote: Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:18 am Let the fairing fun begin :lol:
Been meaning to ask how was the pucker factor when you were cutting your new boat in half?


Hi Fuzz,

Well, yes, I was very very nervous (!). "Squeeky bum time" as someone once wisely quoted. It is not every day you spend a few weeks building something and then attack it with a saw. But it went well. Slow and steady. In one place the saw blade scratched off the top layer of ply on the aft section, but that will be glassed over so otherwise all good. I'm making up the oarlock-holders today. These were originally meant to be permanently attached inside the gunwale, but on second thoughts, it would be a tight fit and they would always be in danger with the nesting so I'm going to attach them externally, and make them removable and bolt-on with wing-nuts.

The last couple of days I've been trying to figure out where to put cleats and other deck hardware for sheets, etc., and how the boat will be sailed and managed when on the water. I think I've got a plan, but a plan is no use until it has been tested of course! I'll get back to work...

Cheers,

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 11:30 pm
by mhd
Busy few days. Lots to write about. We carried the bow section outside and tested the mast fit...just right...maybe 1/4" gap around. Enough room to leather the mast where it meets the deck to prevent chafing.

The mast itself (and boom and sprit and various other spars for ill-defined purposes) were actually made when I made the oars a few months ago. The first spar was done by hand - spar gauge and hand plane and hand rounded and sanded - trusty Stanley block plane. Every one after that was done by power plane and belt/random-orbital sander :D The mast is made from two reasonably straight 12' long 4x2s epoxied together, and rounded and tapered, and cut back to 10' - some glassed, and some not. All spars (bowsprit, sprit-boom, sprit) are from 2x2s or 4x2s of similar size. Mast has 2" brass mast band hammered on.

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Stepping the mast was good, but what do you reckon? I'm worried that with such a short waterline length that her hull speed is going to be pretty low....hmmm.... :doh:

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The mast is ~2.5 metres above deck (bang on 8'). And we measured up roughly for sails etc. The plan now is definitely to test out a bowsprit and jib. I made that decision after seeing this webpage - so thanks to Ross - no bowsprit, but a workable jib and it woke me up to the benefits of a jib with a sprit-sail, especially for sailing to windward.

http://rosslillistonewoodenboat.blogspo ... lying.html

Who knows if it will work on the FB11 - it will certainly move the centre-of-effort for the sails forward, but I think it is worth trying out at least. And if it isn't very efficient, then easy to just stick with the sprit-sail on its own.

The FB11 now, with the aft compartments and gunwales fitted feels *very* stiff and strong. We weighed the bow section as I was starting to get nervous about the weight overall as the entire boat was feeling heavy, but was happy to see the bow section (the heaviest) come in at around 40 kg / 90 lbs. We'll weigh the complete boat (and find the COG) when she is finished. I'm guessing somewhere around 75 kg / 140 lbs. I'll be happy with that. This build is meant to be a tender for an eventual VG23 - but also to allow us to do some reasonably serious sailing and do some overnight camping trips in the meantime - I think it still fits that requirement.

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Today I painted primer inside the aft compartments and epoxied the seat-tops on, and also added strengthening mahogany to the daggerboard case.

Jobs for the weekend include rounding the central bulkheads and glassing over them, and also biting the bullet and fitting some hardware. I made some decisions about rigging and control lines and ordered some cleats/blocks, etc. I do want to keep the rig minimalist and easy to set up (and repair when needed) but also want it to be manageable.

The other major job now looming is to figure out how to use our major Christmas present - a sewing machine. So time to start learning about sewing some sails I suppose.

The original plan was to nest the boat on top of the Jeep (Wrangler 4 door) on a home made roof rack. But after weighing and measuring I think it will fit perfectly on a cargo rack on the 2" hitch receiver. Out of the wind, not too heavy, and we can drive it anywhere like that and not worry too much.

Anyway, enough for now. Comments/suggestions always very welcome.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 5:55 pm
by mhd
So the last few days I've been fairing the boat and fitting the seats and finishing off other bits and pieces. I rough-finished the middle seat and so managed to test the location of the oarlocks.

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I also centred the bowsprit supports (gammoning rings - mahogany, not iron!). Using a small bowsprit will give us the option of a small jib - probably not even 20 sq ft so it won't move the centre-of-effort forward very much, but it might help sailing to windward. It will be an interesting experiment.

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The seats are in now, and the daggerboard is ready to go

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All looks nice and more-or-less aligned

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I still need to fit the cleats for the midships seat. I'm also going to fit some small half-round peices of wood on the rear compartments to use to secure the aft seat using wingnuts. And I need to finish off fairing. The bottom of the boat is almost done but still a way to go on the interior. Once those jobs are done, I think we'll be ready to get the paint brush out. It would be nice to be finished before the end of the month, but it is probably going to take a week or two longer - work is getting in the way of shipwright duties at the moment.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Tue May 03, 2022 4:43 pm
by mhd
I've been busy with work and a few other things the last week or two, so the boat didn't progress much except some fairing and sanding and varnishing the removable seats a few times.

I finished the fairing of the exterior yesterday and after washing with water a few times, and wiping over to remove any dust, I put the first primer coat on today. Went on easy and it looks good. I used a high-quality natural black-bristle brush and it worked very well. I'm planning on at least two coats of primer and two coats of paint. I'm really impressed/amazed at the level of finish on some of the boats on here, but I'm not personally looking for a boat-show finish - I don't have the patience required.

I've spent quite a bit of time building out the cut bulkheads to match better. After cutting/sanding/fairing they aligned but the gap wasn't flush and even all the way around and didn't look good. It is still not perfect now but better than before. One thing that isn't a problem if you don't cut your boat in half!!! There will be a neoprene gasket between the two halves so I'm not massively worried about water getting in and time will tell exactly how it lookes when painted and on the water.

Anyway, I've been trying hard to not rush things and will be happy with something that is "good enough" for me. No prizes but also not the bottom of the pile either.

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A quick look over and I only noticed one slightly shallow spot that I must have somehow missed when fairing. I'll leave it on the boat to annoy me so that next time I'll spend more time getting the next one a bit better. The inside of the boat still needs some more sanding/fairing. It is a real pain in some places but I'm getting there slowly. With a different boat, that didn't involve cutting in half, I think I'd have been finished long ago.

Next jobs will be another coat of primer and finishing the inside.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Wed May 11, 2022 9:18 pm
by mhd
Well, it took a few days of effort and some skin off my fingertips, but the boat is finally sanded and primed (System Three Pennant Primer). I'm happy with the result.

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I also finished varnishing some detachable oarlocks that can be removed when just sailing and to nest the two halves. The oarlocks holders are bolted through solid mahogany and held in with a split pin. The will then be bolted through the gunwales on the outside with wingnuts.

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A few days for the primer to fully cure and then some more final sanding and a couple of coats of paint.

One other thing that I'm not sure of is the paint scheme. I have white and green paint and can't decide whether to go with green all the way up to the gunwales or just on the bottom with a stripe. Any suggestions?

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 11:03 am
by mhd
Primed and bolted together and measuring for sails.

Mick

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 11:22 am
by Jeff
Nice!! Jeff

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 11:31 am
by cape man
Going to be a very pretty thing!!!

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 5:18 pm
by mhd
Jeff wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 11:22 amNice!! Jeff
cape man wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 11:31 am Going to be a very pretty thing!!!
Thanks Jeff/Cape Man,

I'm trying not to rush but looking forward very much to the maiden voyage :-)

Cheers,

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 12:11 am
by mhd
Painted and some hardware fitted. Will give another coat of paint to the outside hull, plus not-skid to parts of the inside, and maybe the deck.

The first paint session I was cursing System Three Pennant paint - it was drying as soon as it went on and practically impossible to get a decent finish...I now blame the record low humidity in New Mexico this year. Adding ~10% water to the paint really helped. I'm actually much happier putting it on now, as it has time to flow out smooth, and it is looking like it is going to be a really decent finish.

MVD for title, registration, and hopefully a HIN tomorrow.

Hope to have her in the water in the next two weeks, at least for a test row.

Mick

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 9:21 pm
by mhd
The MVD insisted on seeing the boat before they would issue a HIN, and then want to check again when the HIN is affixed to the boat. So I'm heading for the first appointment tomorrow.

Today I made a platform on top of a cargo hitch. Did a test drive up to 50 mph and it is stable and solid and I'm pretty happy with it. Stated capacity of the cargo hitch is 350 lbs and the boat is nowhere near that, so it is a pretty good solution - at least it seems so for now.

Mick

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Mon May 23, 2022 12:19 am
by Fuzz
Neat way of moving the boat. Not many you can pull that trick with :D

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 12:18 am
by mhd
Well, three trips to Santa Fe MVD and the boat is officially titled and registered. And today was an eventful day, just a few days more than three months since the plywood arrived. The first time on the water. It was blowing around 18 knots and so the conditions were against us, but we got the boat in the water and that at least made us very happy! The wind was directly onshore with a not-great location (rocks, nowhere to set up easily, etc.), and as we were putting the boat together some folk with paddles in inflatables were driven onto the rocks purely due to the wind/waves. A guy in a powerboat was struggling to control his boat bashing against the floating dock, and in general it wasn't ideal for a maiden voyage. Kids were scared off the rocks by a rattlesnake. The photos don't show at all how little room there was to manaeuver or how choppy the water was. First time in a new boat and I wasn't confident of being able to easily sail off and beat out against the wind from where we launched - too many things that could have gone wrong - so we have to find a better place to launch for next time. We still thought it worthwhile to have a go though and once the boat was in I managed a few pulls on the oars to confirm that the boat was in good shape and that was about as far as it went - rowing against the wind/waves was a challenge enough, and with nowhere to easily get the mast/sails installed ashore, and the boat then launched easily, we decided discretion was the better part of valour and decided to search for a better launch location for next weekend, or go to the same place and hope that it isn't quite as windy next time. Would have been a better story, I think, from a nice open sandy beach. Anyway, that is for next time. The main thing was accomplished. Malarkey afloat and all is well. Am I a boat builder now? I suppose I am.

*Pros*

Boat is very strong.
Boat looks good.
Nesting on the jeep cargo hitch works even better than I imagined.
Watertight compartments were actually watertight. Very good buoyancy and boat was stable enough, even when 1/3 full of water :-)
Foredeck was a big help in choppy conditions - boat would have been completely swamped without it.

*Cons*

Open oarlocks weren't ideal in choppy conditions...oars jumped out a few times and I lost one and had to swim to retrieve it. First time I've rowed in years too, so probably I'm to blame somewhat too. May try closed oarlocks in future.
Boat is 150+lbs - heavier than I wanted. Makes it tough to carry easily when the mast/gear/oars/rudder/daggerboard/seats are inside also.
Bolt holes really should be larger radius to allow for a faster set-up. Will drill slightly larger holes for next time.
Boat is bow heavy - skeg is completely out of the water with just one person in the midships seat. This was intentional, but probably over-done. It will be less of a problem with the intended two person crew and someone sat in the aft seat at the tiller. I never discussed it on the forum but I added a 1 inch rounded piece of oak, glassed over on the centreline, to aid tracking when rowing and seeing the skeg out of the water, I'm glad I did.
Setup takes longer than I wanted, but that should improve in time.
Boat was originally built with the idea it would be a large tender but could also be nested. As time has gone on, I realise that it is really too heavy/large for that. I bought the plans for the Prameke78 a few years ago and may build that as a lighter smaller tender in future.

*Things I'd do differently if building again*

Aim to not over-engineer everything and go for a lighter build. I used 3/8" thick plywood for the foredeck as I didn't want it to bend but 1/4" would have been more than adequate. Used too much exoxy as well - once the boat is waterproof, adding more doesn't make it more waterproof, just heavier.

Build a deeper mast step - I will probably add this at some point. I worry what might happen with a capsize - the mast needs to be held down completely securely against the step either with a line or some other method.

I'll probably write a longer report/follow-up with some more pics and thoughts, once I've had more time to digest. And once we have the sails up for the first time in more clement conditions!

Cheers,

Mick

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Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 4:13 pm
by TomW1
Not very nice conditions for a first launch, you are right there. 8O Congrats on doing so though. :D

Tom

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 7:08 pm
by mhd
TomW1 wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 4:13 pm Not very nice conditions for a first launch, you are right there. 8O Congrats on doing so though. :D

Tom
Thanks Tom,

I was disappointed not to test the sails yesterday, but there is always another day! We're going to try a different lake, hopefully next weekend.

Mick

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 1:53 am
by Fuzz
If you were able to get in the boat and off the beach in those conditions I would say it was a great first time out. I am sure a little better weather will make things much nicer for you.

Re: FB11 New Build

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 5:12 pm
by mhd
Right, first sail successfully completed!

We're getting faster getting the boat on/off the jeep now and quicker to set things up. Some early rowing to test out the boat and then the wind picked up and once we managed to row off the shore we hoisted the sails and were off. Sailed a few miles with the wind, but trying to get the boat anywhere to windward was impossible. Of course, the small mainsail was the issue. I suspected that before we set off, but just didn't have time to make up a full-sized mainsail and fit the sprit and boom for the intended sprit-rig. In the end I made the largest triangular sail I could out of a single piece of 54" wide cloth simply to test how the boat sailed. I calculated the area of the mainsail as ~20 sq ft and the jib ~10 sq ft.

Wind was over 10 knots by the time I'd rowed back a few miles into the wind...sore shoulders and sunburn today :-)

Good points were:

Boat rows really well.
Boat feels stable and I'm sure will live up to expectations once the final sails are done

Some changes needed:

Move oarlocks at least six inches further forward
Buy turnbuckles with locking pins - we lost the forward stay as the turnbuckle unwound itself and had to lash the jib to the mast as that and and stay were flying around in the wind.
Move leathers on oars down six inches.
Sew a full-size mainsail and rig the boom and sprit.
Tiller is far too long and in the way - needs cutting down and making narrower.
Having full size oars in the boat when sailing with two people is a total pain!

There will be more, but I can honestly say it was a success and I'm happy. Different from the boat in the original plans, but for my first build, I'm very happy with it.

Sadly due to working away we're not going to be back on the water for a couple of months, but will hopefully post some more when we have the revised rig ready to be tested.

Mick

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