FL14 - First Build Started

[Dane_Ger]

Well I finally began . . . the plans and epoxy/fiberglass kit arrived on Thursday (very fast service, btw). I was sure they'd be here by the weekend so my partner and I had gone and picked out the plywood on Wednesday. On Friday I began transferring the dimensions to the plywood, but ran into a bit of a snag there.

Posted for help and realized where I'd made my error. I forgot to allow for the offset on the transom and stern seat frame which made it appear that the transom and aft side panel edges would not align properly. After correcting my error, everything went along smoothly.

We started again on Saturday, rechecked our measurements, (wow did having my partner read them from the plans while I measured speed things up!) and began cutting . . . a bit of a scary proposition!

Got the side panels lined up and glued with the butt blocks and then cut out the transom and frames. I started a gallery and there are a few pics of our progress posted there. We will glue up the bottom panels tonight and can then start shaping and assembly this weekend.

http://gallery.bateau2.com/thumbnails.php?album=276

[Deltaskipper]

Great to see another startup. Keep the picures comming. They make a good tutorial.

[Steve_MA]

We will glue up the bottom panels tonight

I think the plans/directions say to stitch the sides to the frames first. Then lay the bottom ply of the hull and trace out its shape. Then cut the ply, butt block the 2 pieces together and then stiitch it to the hull. You can glue up the bottom panels until you cut them and there are no dimensions in the plans for the bottom. You dont get the bottom dimensions till you stitch up the sides and hull

Also, when you put the butt block on the bottom leave a little room on each side to accept the side panels. I had just put them down when I remembered that and had to trim them with epoxy on them.

[Dane_Ger]

Steve, thanks for that info . . . I realize that I have to have the sides stitched up in order to get the bottom shape, but I didn't see where it'd hurt to join the bottom panels at this stage. I'll check the plans/instructions again.

[ks8]

It seems the FL14 may be the *boat build of the year 2004/2005*.

Good to see another one shaping up.

If the butt blocks get in the way of the side panels at the edges of the bottom panel (gluing up the bottom panel butt ahead of time), there are several ways to make that sort of situation go away, either with a circular saw set just deep enough to trim off the butt height at the edge, or a bit of grind here and there. I don't know your boat exactly, but the general S&G principles apply to many of these boats.

You'll know what needs doing when you get there... or just ask...

If you encounter a situation there, maybe send a couple of pictures of the situation and the approach taken to make it a non-issue?

It's great that you've got Steve and Mike as recent FL14 examples with lots of pictures and *been there* (didn't mean to leave anyone out...).

Enjoy those early steps of seeing flat panels bend into a boat! It will give you the enthusiasm to follow through if some inerior details don't seem as *transformational* (but of course they hold those nice curves in place).

Sincerely,
ks

[Mike Adams]

Good to see you've made a start, Dane! As ks8 says, the FL14 is shaping up to be the boat build of the year! You will love this project - it's an easy, fun build. You will probably make some mistakes along the way, as we all do, but they'll be easy to fix and this forum is tops for advice and encouragement.
Unfortunately, Pensacola is on the other side of Florida from where I'm going in a few weeks, or I'd drop by to see how you're getting along with it. Good luck, anyway - and keep the pictures coming!

[ross61]

Seems like last year at this time, possibly slightly later, we had a mess of FL14 builds going on too, including mine. Do some FL14 searches and I'm sure you will find all kinds of info and pics. Good Luck, this is a great boat!!

Ross

[Steve_MA]

Another thing that comes to mind - I would do next - is round over the corners of my butt blocks, transom pad, for example. I think its easier to round these edges over before they get glued in place or assembled. To get rid of these corners, I have been adding small fillets and sanding down the edges. Just more epoxy and more sanding..... Round the edge off with a router (if you have one) and just cover it with clear epoxy. Its just a detail, everyone has their own opinion and now I have mine

I think part of my problem is that I never seem to get my fairing compound thick and thixotropic enough for these vertical surfaces. So it just becomes a pain to make these joints look good. Yesterday I was finishing my side butt block fairing and I remembered about 2-3 hrs after finishing to run down and check it. It was the perfect consistency to run my finger thru and smooth out the fillet. Otherwise, I would have had a thin fillet at the top and a bulge of epoxy at the bottom.

[Dane_Ger]

Thanks for all of the tips and encouragement. We stiched up the transom and all of the frames last night . . . and Voila . . . there was a boat!! We are having a great time so far with the build and I will have some new pictures later on today.

Here is a quick shot, the rest I've added the new pics in my gallery!

[Mike Adams]

Looking good, Dane!

I'm with Steve - I wish I'd rounded of the edges of the butt blocks before assembling them - it would have been a lot easier than adding fillets afterwards and sanding! Looks like you've gone too far for that now, but anyone else reading this thread might like to take the tip on board for future reference.

Be real careful in scribing out the bottom panels from the shape of the sides that you don't knock the frames out of alignment like I did!