SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

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Ruge13
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Ruge13 »

3/1/21

Big day today, felt like I hit a major milestone. I glued down the Sole and one of the rear hatch floors tonight with thickened epoxy. I was happy to see that all the clamps met the plywood pretty evenly. Loaded it up with as much weight as I could fit. I can’t finish the starboard rear hatch floor and the center sole panel until I have the through hull transducer installed and cable run in a couple weeks. In the mean time I can finish off one hatch completely and move forward. Note everything I own is now covered in a thick layer of dust… if you choose to take something like this on, pony up for something like Festools or deal with dust. The dust management struggle is real.
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3/8/21

This week but sums up to about 10 hours of work. Finished all the final epoxy on the internal surfaces except for the one rear hatch because I am waiting on the transducer to show up. Ready for primer. This means I also finished all the foaming in front, void covers, thickened epoxy fill, and all sanding before final coat.

I started mocking up the flange layout for the poling platform. Here is my highly technical schematic. I have no idea if this comes close to what a normal poling platform on a boat this size will be so I need to reach out to a few fabricators to find out.
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You can also see in the above that I started fiberglassing the sole. I filleted the entire perimeter, tabbed in the edges along the hull, then laid down the layer of 1208 biax all wet on wet over a few hours. The following day I sanded out the edges and a light sand to get rid of sacrificial threads to lay down the first coat of fairing compound. Along the bulkheads I only laid a narrow bead of fillet so that I didn’t mess up the clear finish on the cedar. I knew this was coming, so when I glued down the sole I went heavy on the thickened epoxy and added clamps under those edges even though they were not in the plans to add strength there.
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Last, I continued working on the engine splash well. Traced and cut out the clear round hatch cover and the rear low point drain. I used a standard stainless kitchen drain for this. Coated all in another coat of epoxy. This area will be wet all the time so I am going heavy on the plastic coating 😊.
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3/14/20
Installed the first rear deck hatch frame using thickened epoxy and clamped in place. The corner closest to the rear section of hull is low compared to the plane the deck will be on. Not sure how that is even possible considering all planes were level but it did. I will need to fill this with thickened epoxy when I true up the edges of the deck opening. I’m not too worried about this. The drain is positioned above the through hull to the bilge.
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I spent a few hours this weekend fairing the Sole and gunnels. I should have one last round of fairing to go and I can start painting that area. The Gunnels are in great shape, just a few small air bubble holes to patch. The sole is even, just needing to fill to level out the weave after sanding away the sacrificial threads on top. I applied the last round of fairing mix, will try to sand through this week.
Last, I got the gunnel rail panels back from Impact Expressions https://impactexpressions.com/. I have to say, with very little direction as to what I was looking for Charlie Wade nailed it. These panels are 24” each and will be incorporated into the full 70” run on one side opposite of where I sit. Tails to the stern, heads to the bow.
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3/16/21
Spent some time adding the frame braces for the deck. Most of these align with pre-cut notches in the bulkheads or mate up with the gunnels by design however since I am deviating a bit with the hatches (not in the original design which called for simpler through-bulkhead access, not top down) so I’ll have to get creative with some additional braces.
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The front frames will enclose the hatch frame.
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3/21/21
Update from the past few days. Thursday night I got the two bow hatch frames cut and glued. Spent a bunch of time Friday night adding in all the odds and end pieces to firm up the frame as well as the two hatches.
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Sanded that down Saturday morning, already for the deck. The bow deck panels were rough cut so I went back and traced the true hull shape and trimmed down so they match the hull shape and ready to be glued.
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I cut the two gunnel caps so I can add those as soon as I put the braces on the bulkheads to mount them. I’ll do that after I finish fairing the sole and gunnels. I added the last of the expanding foam to the rear void To fill it up. I found out the transducer won’t be here until end of April most likely, apparently Airmar is having the same supply problems as a lot of companies these days. With such a flat hole it’s not that big of a deal, I’m going to put the transducer in the starboard rear hatch instead of the centerline line. It really won’t make much of a difference at all so at least I can finish the deck and bilge. I’ll finish that starboard hatch as well, and just leave one floor panel on sealed. I probably should do that anyway in case I ever need to access that transducer. It’s also one less hole I need for a wire run through a stringer so I’m probably better off anyway. That will also let me finish the entire deck without having to wait for the transducer.
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Last I glued down that last panel so I can finish up the deck and bilge this week.

I used the rear hatch to experiment with the hatch frame and flush cutting the deck to the hatch because I didn’t trust my router skills having never used anything but a router table. I figured worst case if I didn’t like the result I could cut the entire thing out and start over there before messing up the entire deck. Glued the deck down with thickened epoxy. I went heavy on the rear, port side of the hatch frame considering it dropped lower tan the plane of the deck board.
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Cured overnight and got on it with the router. I was cautious, but this trim went very quickly. Far easier than I imagined. It’s a wonderful thing when tools work as expected.
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I hit one spot where the epoxy squeezed out into the sill and got below where the bearing on the router bit hits so it caused a bump in the path. Easy enough to sand back with a Dremel and straighten the edge. You can see it in the corner of the below image. That was easily sanded out.
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You can also see gaps in the deck to hatch frame on one side. The deck sealed down well, just needed to fill that void with epoxy because I did not put a bead along the edge of the hatch. Once cured, it will sand flat nice.
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With some confidence in the flush trimming I decided just to glue down the front deck and use the router to cut the hole vs pre-cut like I did in the rear hatch. I lined up the deck and spread a bunch of epoxy. This time I added a bead closer to the edge of the hatch edges.
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Once cured I went back and drilled a hole in the hatch area, then drew the router to the frame and repeated the trim as in the rear. This time I ran into more of an issue with the epoxy spill over considering I added the extra bead along the hatch edge.
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I was able to chip away much of the spill over, enough that I could get the router bearing below the spill by dropping the depth so this cleaned up nicely.
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Last, I cut the panels and bracing needed to support the gunnels so as soon as the second deck panel is cured I can get the gunnels glued down to complete the deck and get it glassed. I also mocked up the rod holders. One on each side, not much space for more than that and I don’t want rods hanging all over the place slapping against the gunnels or sole. I’ll make these out of scrap plywood cut from the hatches and they will add strength to the gunnel caps when I stand on them.
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Ruge13
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Ruge13 »

3/25/21
Ran into a problem. I never considered the drop of the deck supports nor the raise of the ½ deck when I considered my fuel tank. I’ll need to go another route. IO really do not want to deal with a fixed installation with deck fill if possible.
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Glued down the second half of the front deck. This was much easier than the box section for some reason.
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The next day I got on the router to open the front deck hatches. Was all good until the bearing broke off the bit. Lame. This caused the bit to jump over the hatch sill lip and chewed into the deck. Not great, but nothing I can’t fix with thickened epoxy and sanding before glass.
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Got a new bit and cleaned up the hatches. After some patching and a little bit of sanding I will be ready for glass once the gunnel caps are glued down later this week.
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It is starting to feel like I might actually complete the boat in time for Striped Bass… fingers crossed.


3/26/21
Got the gunnel caps glued on last night. That will let me make a lot of progress over the weekend. Also got all my deck fitting hardware so I started taking that apart. Note the cross brace 2x3” in the cockpit. This is to push apart the gunnels. I wanted a bit more shape, and one of the gunnels bends in a bit. Pushing it out with the brace before gluing the gunnel caps put it right where I want it moving forward.
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3/29/21
Decent progress this weekend. Got all the sanding done on the inside gunnels, sole, and bilge. Glued on the two support braces at the edges where the face plate will glue on, then went back and trimmed with the flush cut router bit. Coated all bare wood under the caps. Tabbed in the rod holders and coated with epoxy. Rod holders got 2 coats so I can touch up with hand sanding. Test fit the height to be sure most of my reels are not laying on the deck.
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One minor spot to fair in the splash well and then ready for paint. Finished up the starboard rear hatch. Floor was put in with a removable panel for the transducer later on, painted, wired, hatch frame glued and support braces in.
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Went back over the inside of all through hulls with a finger wet with epoxy and coated all the sanded seems of thickened epoxy visible in the cockpit to make for more smooth paint transitions.

This was my solution for the chunked up hatch. Using a 90 degree square clamped in some plastic to act as a wall level with the plane of the hatch sill.
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Back filled with epoxy. The plastic will peel right off when cured.
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Ripped down a 2” thick plank of Sapele into 3/8 strips then planed down to 1/4”. Did the same with a fir 1x4. These will make up the trim and rub rails. Ripped down another 1 1/4” thick Sapele board to use for random trip and toe rails. I like the look of on deck toe rails. I used the belt sander to “plane” down all deck edges and establish the bow shape in line with the keel. Next time I will level the camera.
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I am pretty happy with the width of the gluing surface I’ll have for the rub rail. Finished up Sunday night with the first of the Fir run rails glued down.
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Started playing with fitting stuff. Nav lights… can you see the issue here? Remember, I built all hatches to be water tight so there are no limber holes draining to the cockpit or bilge.
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This put me back on the google machine to find new hull lights. Not to mention you clearly get what you pay for, the metal was far from well made. Cheap crap. I am going with Taco flush mounted LED’s under the rub rails instead. I can seal those waterproof and they won’t be on the deck. Fortunately all the pop up cleats are sealed and water proof (supposedly).

3/30/21

Scrambling to get the deck ready for glass this Friday since I have Easter off from work and kids have daycare. Last hatch cover down last night, just one more deck piece spanning the rear to go.
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Also added a section of Fir rub rail on the starboard side, completed the port side. I want this first layer of rail on before glass so I can glass right up to the edge. This way the height of the Sapele toe rail will be even for the final Sapele rail cover. The curves at the bow require some creative clamping 😊. I’ll add the last two sections of Fir rub rail to the starboard side tonight.
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4/4/21

Took advantage of the long weekend to get the deck glassed. Completed the first Fir rub rail, Sapele and toe rail is next. Put the last rear deck panel in place. Sanded out all the excess epoxy along all seams. Wet out the deck Wednesday night. I wanted to do this by mid week so that there was time to cure up by Friday for sanding considering I had the day off.

I trimmed off all excess cloth, put a ¼” round over with the router on all hatch openings, then sanded out the entire deck. I spent a bunch of extra time in the layup with the bubble roller Wednesday night to be sure there were zero air pockets. Really happy I did this, every edge is clean, hatches are clean, and I am really happy with the result… no air so no lost time filling voids in the deck. After sanding I went back over with a fill coat to protect the weave and ready for fairing. I expect minimal work here, just fairing some of the seams where the 1208 biax cloth overlapped.
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With that done, I sanded away a few drips of epoxy from the Sole and primed both the sole and the bilge. Gunnels and Blige will be Pettit Hatteras White which is more of a yellowish cream color while the rest of the sole and deck will be Fighting Lady Yellow with the as close of a match to the Hatteras White as I can get for non-skid.
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Above you can also see the Gunnel Rail clamped in place to double check for rod holder clearance and cut the length prior to finishing. I need to get these finished and mounted after the Gunnels are painted so I can get the Sapele trip in place. That trip will cover the plywood deck edges bow and stern.

While the boat was drying/curing, I finished the rails by mounting the switch panel and 4 coats of epoxy using 207 Extra Clear hardener and a full 24 hour cure in between each. This actually took some time because the laser engraved art continuously offgassed. I had to stay there tipping out the epoxy for 15-20 minutes as it set up to get rid of as many of the air bubbles as possible. Below is a before/after tipping out. Despite that, some tiny bubbles remained that were easily sanded out with 400 grit before the next coat.
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Final look… I originally intended to have all fish on the port side opposite of where I sit and opposite of the switch panel, and towards the stern. Then decided I would split them two and two, oriented towards the bow for symmetry. However, after I looked at them the following day I noticed something…. Did you pick that up from the photo below? I glued one side upside down by mistake. So lets say I re-designed this so that on one side the fish are to the front, on the other to the rear. Ugg, oh well. C’est La Vie.
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Ruge13
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Ruge13 »

4/12/21

This past week progress has been slow with life in the way. The inside gunnels and sole have been faired twice and sanded down in between. I did once, then primed all but found a LOT of pin holes and a couple missed anomalies that needed extra sanding or I would not have been happy after paint. This delayed a few days to get paint on the gunnels, which is holding up getting the rails on. At this point I got 90%+ of the holes filled and sanded. Two additional coats of primer with 220 grit sanding in between, and the initial coat of Pettit Hatteras White (which is actually yellowish) on the inside gunnels and rod holders. Got a really great headache after the primer coats working at night in a closed garage. That was fun. Woke up the next morning with what felt like a hangover. The ventilation struggle on cold Spring nights is real.

I got the deck faired and sanded down over the weekend. It looks good, but trying to get primer on as soon as possible so I can anticipate a second coat of fairing for the weekend if needed. If not, great. Primer tells all.
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The more I look at it, the more I think I am going to change up my deck paint plan. I originally thought I would use the same Fighting Lady Yellow on the deck, then use a cream or off/white non-skid. Now I think that will be too bold. I like the color of the Hatteras White, a much more muted yellow. I think now I am going to paint all with that color, then go with White or even off-white non-skid depending on the contrast.

I have also come to the realization that there are probably not enough hours left before the first week of May to be ready for Schoolies and holdovers ☹ with the way things are going lately. Shooting for June 1 as a final launch date now.

4/20/21
Lots of progress in the past week. Earlier in the week I got the gunnel rails glued in.
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Friday night I filled in all gaps around the hatch sills and along the gunnel rails with thickened epoxy.
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Got the bilge pump secured down and cleaned up. Also glued down the engine well panel.
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Saturday I ran the filet around the engine well.
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Afterwards, marked all anomalies on the deck and sanded down those areas.
Sunday I got all the hatch covers cut, dry fit, edges rounded over 1/4”, then a first layer of glass.
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Got both the bow and stern cockpit Sapele trim pieces ripped, rounded over, then sanded. For the toe rail, I needed thinner strips to be able to bend them more easily to match the bow curve considering they need to bend laterally. So, rounded over one side then ripped the 1” x 1/4” strips in half. I think if I soak these in the bath tub overnight I can get them to bend out without cracking them. The Sapele is pretty brittle. I cracked one or two up on the router table. Fortunately I cut extra. Sunday night I got the stern cockpit trim piece on (under the fir clamping strip) and the first of the final rub rail on the bow.
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The below will give you an idea of height. The 3” Sapele strips are wide enough to coverup the fir below with enough height for the toe rail. I used a small scrap piece to set the height as the toe rail will but up against it, then I will sand it flush to clean it up.
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I took the day off from work Monday and knocked out a bunch of sanding. Deck is touched up, gunnels sanded flush, hatch frames all cleaned up, ready for epoxy, and some minor fairing so the paint comes out clean.
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Last, I glued on a couple more final rub rail pieces and the bow cockpit trim to finish up the night. I can only go as far as I have clamps.
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The more I see it, the more I love that cedar strip look on the bulkheads. Really glad I took the time to do this.
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4/22/20
This week I started on the toe rails and finished up the outer rub rail. The Toe rail did not need to be soaked.
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Some creative clamping and added weight got it bent and secured where it needed to be. I’ll have to repeat this process over a few days to get all the pieces glued down.
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I rounded the corners on the transom caps because I couldn’t think of a different way to finish this and didn’t like a square edge.
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Ruge13
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Ruge13 »

4/26/21
Nothing crazy this past week. Rain prevented me from sanding and I didn’t get the fairing mix on the deck until Friday night so it was not set up enough on Saturday to sand anyway. For some reason it has been very slow to cure, I must have messed the mix on that one on top of a cold snap brining my garage to 40 degrees overnight. I did manage to get most of the toe rail completed. It is slow going one strip at a time taking all my clamps to keep it s tight as I can get it clamping both vertically and horizontally.
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5/2/21
Slow moving this week, not much time to work. I got all the rails sanded down. Final sanding on all the hatch sills. Interior trim wood sanded down clean to the deck and all the remaining fairing compound is sanded down. Got the transom engine well all sanded fair, all cap wood is clean. There are a few gaps on the rear corners that I don’t like, not sure what I am going to do about those yet. Probably fill them and sand out before clear coat. I am adding a decorative walnut nose piece to cap the bow as well. I’ll sand that to rounded edges meeting the Sapele below. The hatches were faired on both sides and sanded down. I’ll hit the routed sides with one last epoxy coat. The deck and hull are taped off and ready for the final coat on the wood this week.
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5/11/21
Again progress is slow, my patience to complete the project is waning. I want it done, to the point of being irritating, and making it very hard to avoid cutting corners. I’ll admit it, I am not a strong person 😊. I got all the remaining wood sanded down and bright finished with clear coat and West 207 ultra clear. 3 coats with light sanding in between. There are a couple areas to touch up but it is fishable so for now I am moving on to paint. Also layered up additional 2 coats on the hatch sills. I wanted to make the nice and clean, and be sure they are well protected considering they will channel water. Also hard to sand smooth so thicker epoxy leveled to cover up saw marks etc in the wells.
Before that, I added a couple test strips of weather stripping and hand placed the hatch covers to mark all the hinge locations. I’ll drill the holes after primer. Placed pieces of the gasket material to support the hatch to get the right height. Then I placed the hatch and judged by eye. I’ve been measured along one side to set the hinges in what seems like a reasonable with. Traced out the hinges and I’ll go back and drill later.
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Started Operation: “hide sloppy finish work” and swapped the tape from the deck blocking the clear coat on the wood, to tape on the wood to protect from paint. Got the first coat of primer on for now. Tonight the moment of truth, I hand sand and look for anomalies. Already found one epoxy drip mark that needs a little sanding before the second coat of primer. I want to be painting tomorrow night.
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5/19/21
Several coats of Pettit Hatteras Off White applied to the Sole and Deck. Pretty happy with the way this came out. Aftter pulling some tape there are a few spots the edges are not as clean as I would like but I’ll live. I’ll let it cure a couple days then apply tape for white non-skid.
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5/21/21
The hatch saga continues… after 2 coats on the top and before painting the under sides of the hatch covers I decided to make the final cuts and drill the latch holes. Before that, I used the 1/2” weather-stripping on the hatch sills and sat a test board on top for fit. Glad it is near perfect because it ain’t coming off easy 😊.
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Now back to the latch holes, three are 2” holes, one is 2 ½” hole. I measure them out and cut a practice board. All good, although I did not finish it completely by installing it using the latch on the sill. Guess I should have… measured and drilled the first real one. Sure enough, the offset was not enough and the catch hook does not clear the wood sill ☹. No way to fix this and the hatch needs to be pathed and re-drilled. Second hatch I moved back ¼”.. all good, cleared the wood… but not enough to clear the need catch once installed on the insider sill when closing. Hatch number two is dead, needs to be filled and refinished. 3rd hatch I moved again another ¼” and finally got it right. Watertight close perfection. So, two of the four are good, two now need to be refinished ☹. Of the good ones, the result is exactly what I wanted and take a little pressure to mat down the weather strip to make a latch so confident they are water tight.
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Stripping off all the tape from paint, this is what the hull looks like before non-skid. I am starting to rack up a list of aesthetic improvements for next winter to fix scratches, fishing work, etc but I am not doing it now. I’m mentally done with this and should be fishing already… Never the less, its kinda pretty if I do say so myself, pretty happy with this.
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Now, fixing the hatches… just makes me angry, guess it could have been worse. So, sitting on plastic so the epoxy won’t adhere I put the plugs back in the holes. Mixed up some slightly thickened epoxy and will fill up all gaps and mound it up a bit so I can sand this down fair. Experience with other parts of the hull and epoxy structural performance I have zero concerns with this patch long term even when I drill back on top of this for new holes. Of course once set I will need to sand down and likely fair as well as re-prime + paint again.
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5/24/21
Earlier this week I got the hatches patched up from last week’s mishap. I filled with one round of epoxy to get it solid, then a second round to level the surface for sanding. A few minutes with the sander made things nice and clean.

Placing the hatches again, I remeasured and re-cut the holes. This time all went well. You can see the offset in the new plug.
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A coat of primer, a little more sanding, and three coats of paint and we were back to square one.

I installed and sealed in the pop up cleats on the gunnels as well as the mount for the power pole micro on the stern.
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In the meantime, I taped out the entire deck in a pattern I thought might look nice. I used different widths of tape to get to look I wanted and then went back with the largest socket I had and used it as a template with a razor blade to round all the edges.
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I mixed up white Pettit EZ Decks Non-skid. Using a foam roller, I put down three coats which seemed like more than enough material and by the third coat a nice even consistency in the grit. All this was over the course of a week with drive time in between each day.

After I pulled all the tape, I was really happy with the way this came out. I like the white non-skid contrast with the yellowish Hatteras off-white. I also like the pattern. The only place I would’ve done differently was the cleats, I should’ve taped them off but that’s OK.
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Last thing for the weekend was finishing up some of the raking. I put in the last through hell and then ran all of the half inch tubing for the hatch drains. I couldn’t find a neat way to do this in a way that wouldn’t leave uphill runs so I just let them hang inside the hatches. Just have to work around them when I stuff things in hatches. Last, I installed and sealed the rod tube covers on the bulkhead. Sorry for the unlevel camera.
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Ruge13
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Ruge13 »

3/8/21
Over the weekend I started ramping up what would be the rigging finishing work. In order to finish up the storage areas with final epoxy, primer, and pain I needed to drill all the rigging holes for wiring, drain through hulls, rod storage tubes, etc.
All the LED lighting wiring holes drilled, rod tubes drilled and test fit, and last drain through hull. Man It kills me to drill holes through the bulkhead that is finished clear with cedar. It is pretty.
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I did this all now so I can cover the holes in epoxy to water proof them even though this entire area will be dry… I hope. Test fit the rod tubes. I used 1 ½” flexible PVC. I need to heat this up to straighten and will add some clamps for the ends up in the bow section.
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These are the LED’s I am using for interior hatch lighting. ½” hole, ¾” wide, flush fit. Nothing fancy here, they are $5 LED’s without lenses found on some generic lighting website. I really like these, very bright. I went all red. 2 per front hatch, 1 per rear.
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Last for today, I needed to finish up the transom rigging so I could finish the rear hatches. The last to do was the lifting eyes. Not sure why I even need them but every boat has them so it kind of feels naked without them. I measured a 4” board marked so I could just clamp it to either side of the transom to mark the drill holes at about a 60 or 70 degree angle for aesthetics.
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The first issue is that the lifting eye shanks are not long enough to span the transom because I overbuilt it so I need to recess the nuts on the inside to tighten. Pilot holes, true width holes, then forstner bit recesses drilled. Unfortunately on both sides I missed on at least one of the two recesses to I had to drill them a bit wider with multiple passes. No big deal, they will be filled in with thickened epoxy and only sit ½” deep out of the 3”+ wide transom. The pucker factor is always high wen I have to drill through pretty external wood.
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3/13/21
Made a fair amount of progress this weekend. I got the interior primed and painted with 2 coast of Pettit white Cabin Coat. Drilled the last bulkhead and installed all the rod storage tubes. To do that you might notice that I added extra backing plates at the front bulkhead to glue in the tubes against the bulkhead opening and additional brackets in the bow section to straighten the run a bit.
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With those in place I fit all the forward wiring, installed the battery box, battery switch, then rigged up the LED lights to test with a spare battery. Pretty happy with how bright they are. That rats nest near the battery box will b cleaned up as soon as the under gunnel lighting is completed towards the end of the build.
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4/4/21
Prior to sanding the initial deck glass, I roughed in the side rail pop-up cleats so that I could fair the surface and seal the under side before paint and gunnel rails.
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4/13/21
Spent some time rigging up the wiring now that the gunnel rails are done and ready for install. Much easier to do this with leads now than trying to do it backwards and upside down once the rail is installed. The leads are long enough to leave the connectors inside the water tight hatch.
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4/20/21
Last week I got the Gunnel rails installed, then spent a night finishing up the wiring for the rest of the boat. The red switch is the Bilge Pump, I wanted this one differentiated. The fuse block is in the hatch, opposite of the bulkhead there so there is a 24” run back under the gunnel through a through hull. It is all protected with split loom, but the run is tucked up against the gunnel cap so high and dry.
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All LED’s were wired up and connected. Hatch and Gunnel/cockpit lights are separate.
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4/26/21
Installed the Nav Lights last night while the toe rail was curing. There are Taco flush mount Coast Guard 2NM lights. I set them back according to the instructions. Dropped them 2” below the rub rail where by eye seemed like a good place to avoid hitting the sheer clamp etc inside the sealed hatch. Drilled 5/8” holes so the fit is nice and tight, but with enough tolerance to wad up marine sealant and epoxy in the holes to protect the wood and leaks.
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That’s when I noticed I got really lucky! The heat sink on things is about 3” long. If I was another inch down or to the stern I would have hit the braces for the rod holder tubes or the tubes themselves. That would have been annoying because I would have had to drill completely through them. Lucky enough, I missed but not by much. I also realized I didn’t leave enough lead on the internal wiring to easily get to it by pulling it out of the hatch so I had to extend them all by about 2 ft. Anyway, all sealed up and heat shrinked so good to go.
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Taped out the hull so I could lather everything up in sealant and tighten down, then pulled the tape.
Hooked up power to test it out, all good. In the end I am glad I went this way instead of the flip up light. Just wish I noticed this before I sealed the deck, would have been easier to install with the deck off. In the end, no big deal. These are front access LED lights so if I ever have an issue I can replace from the front and I left about 2ft of wiring in the hatch so I can pull them out a ways to work on if needed.
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6/4/21
After a good float test I installed the ram mount and wired up the transducer for the GPS.
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The engine also digs a bit into the wood on the transom front and back so I decided to add stainless plates to protect the boat and the engine can dig all it wants. ¼” plates front and back. Had them made up by a local welding shop.
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And of course the engine clamp is not wide enough with the ¼” plates, so I need to change the interior one to a 1/16” plate ☹. Back to the fabricator. I measure, but I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention, thought I had room to spare.

Ruge13
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Ruge13 »

5/28/21
I am about as done as I can be for this year. Still more to do to clean up finish work but I’m tapping out for this season. First step, get the boat on the trailer. To do this I backed the trailer up to the bow of the boat and winched it on. The Graphite on the hull made this very easy. Slid right up with very little effort and fits relatively well. Fits well enough to get it to water locally anyway, I’ll do some adjusting of the trailer after that. I am really looking forward to getting my garage cleaned up!
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I took the boat out before Memorial day for the first sea trial, yes, I know… illegally. I couldn’t help myself, I wanted to test run it before I went through the process of inspection, registration and titling.
I was pretty happy overall with the way the boat floats. No listing, even with me in it which is great. I could stand on the corners rails or bow and the boat is extremely stable. Rides and cuts turn beautifully at 6mph.
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Now if you look close in one of the photos above and are a boater, you might notice the main issue here… trimmed up the engine lower unit is out of the water. Dropped down, it is hardly low enough. As a result the boat glides around great at no wake speeds but when I try to run it up to plane out it washes out. The designer definitely knew what he was doing when he said it needed a 20” shaft 😊, my 15” engine isn’t going to work. Looks like I am repowering at some point. For now, I’m cool with cruising around at 6mph. The good news is I still have lots of room to go weight wise. This boat floats MUCH higher out of the water than my old tin boat so I can easily get away with another 50 lbs of engine or more before I start messing with the way the boat floats so next time around I can add a few horsepower and go from the 20 to say 25, maybe 30.
Back at home I spent a few hours jacking the boat off the trailer and messing with the bunks and tongue. I moved the tongue forward, dropped the tongue roller stop and winch down lower a few inches, then reversed the bunks so they are more aft than before. The end result better balances the weight, pulls the boat forward and gets more bunk under the back 3rd of the hull. You can see in the earlier photos that it sits off the back of the trailer and the bow stop was hitting paint and scuffing it up. Now the winch is pulling the bow eye down into the stop on the graphite black on black and the keel is hitting the keel rollers so much harder to miss them and scratch up the keel. Also adjusted the guide-ons to fit this width, a bit wider than my previous aluminum.
Last, I got the boat inspected by MA Environmental Police and ready for Registration… if they were open ☹. I’ll have to mail it in and wait, after I get sales tax figured out… by mail. The rest of the world is open now except the state of MA. I can’t guarantee this boat isn’t going to get fished while I wait… what can I say, I am weak and I am dying to see how the sonar performs.

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9/27/22
That's it... final numbers wise I spent about 345 hours give or take over 9+ months not counting the god knows how much internet research and video watching time as well as the 4 or 5 hours it took to post all of this up. Final cost was about $10.5K not counting the Engine or Trailer that I already had from the tin boat and a few other parts I already had like the bilge pump. That was pre-Covid supply chain issues. I have little doubt the cost to build now would be 50% to 75% higher 8O . This summer I had a guy at the ramp ask me what I thought it was worth then offered $15K to buy it. I declined.

I ordered a new 20" 20hp engine (never went up in HP because I just didn't think I needed it and knew that if I did, I would run the boat faster and likely crack it up running in conditions it was really not built to handle. At the height of supply problems I ordered in June 2021, engine came in December of 2021. Oh well, at least I could fish it in the mean time.. slowly. The 2022 season I hit the ground running and love it! With me alone and 3 gallons of gas I top out around 25mph and planes instantly. With my wife and 2 young kids it hits 18-20 and has no issue planing out quickly. The most I have ever burned fishing False Albacore about 8 hours was 2 of the 3 gallon tank. Fishing striped bass in the salt ponds this spring I went 7 night trips before refueling 3 gallons.

I never did put on the poling platform, although I still want it. I just have not figured out how to design around the arc needed for the tiller steering. It will cause a wider platform than I want aesthetically. I will probably play with this a bit over the winter and I'll build it from leftover wood. I am thinking removable with tension bolts. I'll consider a trolling motor down the road but I hate the look of them on the bow. It will take some convincing to pull the trigger I think. I love the power pole micro, it is really helpful drifting then stopping on flats up to about 7ft of water. Or just posting up for my kids to fish or swim at the lake near the house.

I added a Garmin Livescope Plus sonar system on a pole mount this spring which basically lets me sight fish at night. Love it! With the kids I have turned into a night owl if I want to have fishing time.

I have since touched up the graphite around the keel a few times under the bow eye where my trailer scratches it up at here and there and gets deep enough to hit fiberglass. To date that is the only maintenance I have done. Boat seems bulletproof.

I thought about adding a Fusion stereo. Right now I use a portable waterproof Fusion they no longer make. Works great, so I can't bring myself to cut speakers into the cedar stripped bulkhead.

What would I have done differently?
I would have ditched the dead space in the bilge and under the rear deck and added a livewell. I may still consider cutting one in some day. I say that now, mostly because my kids love the livewell to play with fish but as they outgrow that I probably would never use it anyway. I fish all artificial and fly anyway.
I would also have put a second rigging tube from bow to stern so that if I wanted to add or swap lights, or add a stereo or trolling motor, the cabling for all could be passed through. The tube I put in is already tight and I thought that would have enough room. Sad part is I planned for two tubes then at the last minute thought.. nah, I'll never need 2.

Would I build another boat?
Not sure I would. Even reposting all of this made me relive the agony of fairing and the grind of all the finish work. 2 years later and I am STILL cleaning sawdust and fiberglass dust out of my garage and basement. I threw out all my clothes. Maybe a more simple design but for sure not something more complex, at least not without a lot more time on my hands. I am glad I did it, I learned a ton, and truly appreciate the work of others on this sight and those like it. If you have ever considered building and on the fence..... DO IT. Take the time to be proud of your work, it makes fishing or boating that much more enjoyable.

I can't say enough positive things about the Smith Marine Design Crystal 16. I LOVE the boat. It rides better than I hoped, is more stable walking around the deck than I imagined, and gets a lot of comments at boat ramps. The amount of storage in that boat is insane for its size.

Again thank you sincerely to everyone on this site. Your build threads, photos, and advice were an invaluable tool to me throughout.

Dan_Smullen
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by Dan_Smullen »

Thank you sharing your journal. I’ve made it through to cutting frames, but skipped ahead to comment.

Great looking hull! So many trade offs in this enterprise. Go for the ease of hull shaping with plywood S&G, or get the sexy flare afforded by strips?

We all make the right choices for ourselves, and perhaps, set the stage for the “next one”.

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VT_Jeff
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Re: SMD Crystal 16 Build Thread

Post by VT_Jeff »

Great work and great blog! I really like the way your toe-rail came out(among other things), that's a great touch!

I'm looking at poling platform options myself right now, actually just emailed some plans to a local welder to see what may be affordable.

Jeff
There are only two seasons in Vermont: boating season, and boat-building season.

Completed Paul Butler 14' Clark Fork Drifter
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