Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

First post…
Bought plans a couple of weeks ago, spent a few days buying the materials and moving things around to make room. Started 3AUG and have kept a log of materials and time just for my own purposes. As of this evening, I am 48 hours into the project, lots of which has been staring figuring out what to do next. Maybe could be further along, but I have never worked with fiberglass/epoxy before, so I’m not upset by that.

Didn’t buy the kit because my foolish pride wouldn’t allow me to. I am a carpenter and couldn’t bring myself to let someone else cut my wood, despite knowing I’d spend the same money. Now that I’m fairing hull edges, realize the folly in that logic.

Enjoying the build as a whole. My kids enjoyed watching the foam grow. All of my dogs have epoxy drips on them somewhere. Learned that fast hardener is only usable here for someone of my skill level between 11 PM and 7 AM. Also, when low on filler, don’t try to make do when filleting, and tidiness when applying fillets is a massive saving of sandpaper and dermis on appendages.

Did a little more work on my hatch gutters (?) tonight. Just made them from a ripped piece of 2x material leftovers. Didn’t want to walk to the garage to get dado stack, so made several passes through tablesaw to carve channels, sanding with file sander to finish. I’m sure there’s an easier way to make the hatch pretty waterproof, but this is what I came up with. Have another miter frame and doubler for the hatch gluing up tonight to fit into the channel pieces. Once I find my gasketing material, I’ll plane the doubler and frame to make clearance also thought about routing a channel to let some thick o-ring or something of the sort sit in the channel. Once installed, will flush cut channeling to drain onto deck.

Will update when I progress further.
Rob

Boat looks close to splash day!

Good looking boat!

for your first time 48 hours is really good! Honestly even if it wasn't your first 48 hours is still pretty good with where you're at! Those gutters look amazing, I wish I had those skills, you give lessons?? haha

Greencoverob wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:36 pm
I’m sure there’s an easier way to make the hatch pretty waterproof, but this is what I came up with.

Usually is a better way, but don't get bogged down in that. You're making great time!

I took a 2 month side quest trying to make water proof gutters and think I have only achieved "splash resistance".

Keep up the pace and you'll be done in no time!

Boys knocked out the work this week, so we had a little maintenance morning and off before lunch.

Got the sole laid down today. Wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Hardest part was finding objects to fill with water to have weight, but got it pressed nicely. Had a little extra glass, so laid a “stomp pad.” Got the weave filled and fairing compound put down. Wasn’t dry enough to sand tonight.

While I waited on that, made the pads for the grab rail and decided to build a little box to mount on the grab rail to have a place for cup/pliers/knife. No real plan on that just yet, letting it come together as I keep going. CA glue to hold the pieces of 1/4” until I could get fillets to set internally worked very nice. Thought about making it big enough to store battery for nav lights, but think I’m going to stick with the clip ons. Mainly because I don’t want to see any wires and the sun has set on running chases. Going to try to do a bit of my real job this weekend, so that’s going to slow me down a bit.

Scattered showers kept a breeze most of the day and it was really quite pleasant in the barn. Had to take a break for a bit to eat with the family and play with the little ones. Will start fairing the deck in the AM before the work day starts.

Not sure why half of my pictures are upside down…

Also, thank you all for the kind words.

Boy do you work fast! I love my SK14 and yours looks to be even nicer. I run mine with a 5 horse propane tohatsu and a spot lock troll motor on the nose. I did run some wires along the side and they're not ideal, but thought this little guy is too small to fool with chases. No regrets for me. The boat should be great fun for your area.

Dougster

I picked up a 9.9 merc for a good price. Think it’s more than I need, but the price was right and I’ve always got a jon boat or two for work/hunting that can use it also. I figure on this thing I’ll just be easy on the speed. I didn’t tape every seam like most of the other peoples builds I’ve seen with overpowered motors. The only additional glass I did from the regular plans was where the sides and hull met for the rear 3’. That and the little bit of glass I laid on the sole. My guess is the hull would try to split if you ran it too fast especially in rough water. Don’t imagine I’m in too much danger of that, being that a 9.9 and an 8 aren’t dramatically offset. I will be adding a little extra on the transom, I used three ply knees, and think I’m going to add some bracing on the corners. Mostly to be able to clip a light to, but should add some strength.

I think the 9.9 will be fine, actually a litter nicer than my 5. I went with the 5 tohatsu 'cuz I wanted to try propane. Got sick of dealing with old gas and gummy carbs on my weed eaters and chain saw. The propane motor can sit for a year and start right up, so I like it.

Dougster

I like the propane for the same reasons. That, and my propane guy fills my camper tanks, grills, whatever when he comes monthly to top off my house tank, which would be wonderfully convenient. If I could’ve found an 8 hp propane, I’d fabricate an in deck tank for it too. That’d be a slick little project. Anyway, couldn’t find one, maybe one doesn’t exist. Have a birthday party for my buddy’s kid today, then back to sanding.

Oh sanding...what JOY!

Made a little progress on her this weekend. A lot, truly, just doesn’t look that way. All my small parts are at least coated. Got the knees on, cup holder box faired, decided to put doublers on the deck for the grab rail. Just liked the way it looked. My gutter system is almost ready to install, but want to prime and paint the compartment before I close it up or put things in the way. Had to get creative when planning the install of that assembly.

Comedy of errors, was putting the rough fill around the edges of the sole where I had some gaps, forgot to put hardener in the mix. Luckily I was using more of a lamination consistency with milled fibers to follow up with fillet once it settled flat… well, it settled out beautifully but an hour later when I came back to start fillets, still ketchup. Cleaned all that out with half a bag of rags, denatured alcohol, reapplied. After being frustrated with that, glued a knee upside down. Almost couldn’t get it to release by the time I saw that when applying fillet to knees. Sand, clean, reapply. Almost real bad on that one.

Otherwise, I’m prepped for first coat of primer other than the additional corner braces I’m planning and possibly something to add push pole holders. Couldn’t do any paint things today, raining sideways on me.

Nice little detail on the transom motor mount area. Regarding the boo-boos with mixing and such, I would challenge you to make some mistake I haven't made!

Dougster

Got a bit of time in today after work, was able to get the gutters glued in, sanded down deck and inside of transom enough to feel ready for primer to show me how much more sanding I have to do. Got a coat of primer applied in compartment and on deck. Rain actually stayed in a vertical pattern, so that process was uneventful.

Because of how I did the rub rail, I planned to put the deck piece “on” the front instead of “in.” If I do another, won’t do it this way. Once I planed the deck to carry that angle all the way forward, didn’t like the thickness of the deck at the edge so I ran some tape. I extended the cleats under prior to laying it down because I didn’t want only 1/8” thick deck at the edge of the cleat, didn’t take a picture of that. Goal is to be paint ready by next week. Should have primer on total topside by the weekend, hull prepped for paint by Monday. Thinking of calling one of my best friends who owns a big fab shop with a paint booth to actually do the painting. Just so many bugs getting on it. He also has a very large CNC router and expressed interest to try to do some foam cutting to lay on the deck. I wanted non skid, wife wants the foam. So I got foam. And my kids think that what my tool trailer needed while I was working last night was dirt pie racks complete with a full load of them. Daughter told me I could sell them to customers for extra money. Gonna get a jar of change today and bring it home after I clean the trailer. Should be fun.

Nice looking boat you have there. Tom

Thank you Tom. I put on what I hope to be the last layer of fairing compound last night, west systems, fast, with 410 filler, this morning had an orange goo all over. Cure felt normal, came right off when I rubbed with scotchbrite and water. Haven’t seen this yet. Any input?

Only thing I can think of is that your mix was wrong. I would just rub it all off wash the hull clean and try again. We have all had failures of one kind or another. Yours is just a little bigger than others. Tom

Could it be amine blush? That's not usually a problem with slow and medium hardeners, but when you go to the fast, and especially in certain weather/temperature conditions, it's an issue. If that's what it is, then you are fine once you've washed it off. I've never used the fast hardener, so let's wait to hear from somebody more experienced.

pee wee wrote: ↑Mon Aug 29, 2022 9:25 am Could it be amine blush? That's not usually a problem with slow and medium hardeners, but when you go to the fast, and especially in certain weather/temperature conditions, it's an issue. If that's what it is, then you are fine once you've washed it off. I've never used the fast hardener, so let's wait to hear from somebody more experienced.

I would not think so peewee. Amine blush only is a thin layer on the surface of the epoxy, he was able to wipe it all off. Tom

I was cleaning up today to prep to start paint and noticed what seems to be the same orange film on top of my hardener cans. I’m going to assume I got too heavy with the hardener causing the orange film, which is terribly embarrassing considering I’m using the metered pumps…. Didn’t affect the cure, it was a large batch, so wasn’t as bad as an extra pump in a small batch.

Made arrangements to take the boat to friends shop to utilize paint booth. Then when trying to figure out schedule, realized it would be several weeks before I could get a weekend to do it and not interrupt his workflow. Considered building a paint tent or something along those lines. Remembered I have an enclosed trailer sitting in the yard that had decided to not be road worthy some months ago. Still rolls around property fine, but wouldn’t take on actual roads. Built plywood “doors” with box fans and slots for filters. Two inlet fans in the rear door, two exhaust fans on the side walk door. Leave the exhaust fans on medium, intake on high, puts positive pressure in bay and dust out. Have lights coming and will paint walls white after I get the boat out. I build a fair amount of furniture items, so I can justify the expense and effort. Coat 1 on hull today. Didn’t spray, wanted to try the roller method, and didn’t cover interior with plastic yet. Happy so far.

Also picked up a trailer yesterday. Been shopping marketplace/craigslist since I started this project. Used trailers in rough shape only a couple hundred less than this new aluminum jet ski trailer. Picked it up and set it on my work pad to be able to stay in front of the portacool. Nice thing about aluminum.