End of another month

This is the end of the 11th month of the build. I put 56 hours labor into the build in March. For a total of 428 hours to date.

I bought some nice cupholder inserts for the boat on ebay for about 3$ each. They are stainless steel and are made for poker tables. I also ordered the complete steering system, a 12' Teleflex The Rack system. I still need the fuel lines but need to do some research to see what type I need for my vintage restored 1975 Merc engine.

Rear seat

The aft seat is installed now.

Another mistake/Then first ride.

I saw this on a wood boat picture today. It was a placard inside a classic wood boat. It stated,

"If God had intended for boats to be fiberglass he would have made fiberglass trees."

Funny stuff. Anyway, I took a little ride in the boat today.

Boatbuilding bliss is spending 40 minutes perfectly cutting and shaping a part then on the final cut, cutting on the wrong side of the line and ruining the entire part. D*&$ IT!! It was the top of the port rear armrest. Need another 2.5' x7" board.

I finished the starboard rear armrest though, here is a picture of the joint with the forward armrest and cut around frame 2. Also glued up the seat box for the rear seat base. Only worked on the boat 4 hours today.

Interior work begins

Finally starting the interior work. I wasted 3 days looking at pictures online, sketching in my head then on paper and finally came up with a plan for the interior that I was satisfied would be easy enough for me and my lack of talent to build and still look good while being funtional. Here is 14 hours work over the last 2 days... basically 3 boxes. Sorry, the pictures are kind of yellowed out, I didnt have the flash on because all the dust in the air made it look like snow and it was dark outside so no natural light.

The side armrests will have cupholders mounted in them. If i decide to get fancy I can make them glove boxes too. The inside of the side planking will likely have thin upholstered panels in them so the inside grain of the boats exterior side planking is not visible. The throttle controls will be bolted on a mahogany plate extending down from the carling near the deck and the cables run aft under the deck. The front seat bottom will hinge up for storage under the seat. Once the seat cushion is installed the seat height will be slighly above the edge of the boxes on the side of the seat.
The seat looks low and it is, I dont like how in some Zips the people are seated up quite high. The front of the seat box is 4-1/2" above the floor and reclines to 3-1/2" at the rear. Its quite comfortable, I tested it. The recline angle makes the shallow area for your legs very comfortable. Your legs have plenty of room to stretch out. Your arm/elbow comfortably rest right at the deck height. Kinda like driving a pickup truck with your arm/elbow resting out the window sill. Cool. I

Above is the rear seat beginning to take shape. The vertical portion of the glove-box cup-holder thingy is cut to size just need to cut the top and shape it. The seat box is started, the rear seat is 1" lower than the front seat. The rear seat passengers' legs can exted all the way to the front seat box. The rear seat back will hinge forward to allow access to the battery and other electrical equipment as well as some extra storage. Again, I will likely have a thin upholstered piece on the side between the glove-box/cup-holder and the bottom of the deck.

Ready to move on.

Finally, the sole is encapsulated in epoxy and going back into the boat. I'm more than ready to move on, this process with the floor has taken quite some time. I also have applied the masking tape for my boot stripe. Once I decide if I like the placement I will prime the stripe.

I'll work on gluing the carlings and seat back framework in place tomorrow and get ready to start building the seat boxes for the bench seats. I need to keep from walking on the sole of the boat until it is completely cured.

Floor grain and color.

Tonight after work I started encapsulating the Sole boards in epoxy. You can now see the color they will be when varnished clear and the grain patterns really look nice to me. I think this will look great with the mahogany surrounding it. I only have enough room to do a handful of boards at a time and the wife still get her car in the garage and still be able to get into her car. I think this process will take a bit of time because it will take two coats to get even coverage. I could start on the side kick panels or seats in the interior but I am afraid of making dust that will stick on the wet epoxy of the boards. Plus the boards kinda need to be in the boat for accurate measurements for those next parts. So I'll most likely goof off with some other hobby while waiting for coats to dry.

S-L-O-W-L-Y getting there on the floor. The aft section of floor is going in.

Never ending floor

Seems like the floor is taking forever. Ive got all but the rear seat area done. 6 more planks to go. Then I to build the brace that helps support the wieght evenly among the planks and transfers the load to the keel.

I do need to replace one plank in the forward cockpit. I snapped off a bronze screw head in the plank and while trying to remove the shank from within the board I goobered it up so its not pretty anymore around the countersunk screw head. Thats only a 15$ mistake so not bad. If it werent a custom cut board I could just flip it over to the not goobered up side but this one is cut to fit around the frame gusset.

The boatbuilding budget got a boost today. I sold my Precision 13 sailboat. No need for 2 boats.

Here is a picture of it from last summer.

Sole continued...

Just a few more pics of the Sole progress today. I worked another 7 hours on it today. As expected I got distracted by my motorcycle and the nice weather and rode to where my Precision 13 sailboat is stored in my buddies hangar and put the new registration and license plate on it. Then rode the long way home. ;)

As far as the Sole goes I got most of the front two areas finished. Both compartments still need the outer most boards. These take quite a bit of fitting and sanding and fitting and sanding. Im being extra careful not to accidently make a part too small and waste wood, so it takes a while. I havent even started on the rear passenger compartment's Sole yet. I'll run short of wood back there by a couple pieces so I'll have to get another 8ft Ash board to cut to size.

Sole (floor)

I learned a new term in my Boatbuilding with Plywood book this week. Its not called a floor, its called the Sole. Whatever you call it, it takes a lot of time to install. Ive been at it 8 hours and dont have much to show for it.

I started by making a bunch of blocks to support the ends of the sole planks. I could have saved time with one long piece but I didnt want to be able to see the support between the planks. Also had I used the bottom frame member as the support I could have saved even more time but I wanted the floor lower so I have the blocks sunk down so the planks are flush with the bottom frame members and butt against them. This gives me an inch lower seating position and I like the look. I will also have some bracing directly under the seat that will spread the load of the passengers evenly amoung the planks and to the keel.

I have the planks spaced 3/4". I like the look. I dont normally carry loose change or other small items when I go in a boat so I am not worried about stuff falling in the gaps. If something does get lost between the planks the seats will be easily removable with 4 screws and the sole will only be screwed to the blocks, not glued. Everything can be removed in just a couple minutes for access and cleaning. This is something Todd B told me when I visited his boat. Everything in his interior looks great but is easy to remove quickly as well.

The planks themselves are Ash and I am excited to see how these turn out varnished in contrast to the rest of the interior which will be varnished mahogany. I think the contrast will look nice...I hope. They do have some interesting grain. If I dont like it I can always put marine carpet over the entire floor.

You can see my 8 hours of work didnt get me far. I only have the middle of one section so far.

I have most of the planks for the forward storage/fuel tank section cut to size also but not pictured. I glued up the blocks for the forward planks before calling it a night. More of the same work tomorrow. The weather is warming up here so I might get distracted by r/c planes for a couple hours like I did today or maybe a motorcycle ride, if it doesnt rain.

Ordered Floor Material

I've been agonizing over the floor material and method of installation for days. I priced a mahogany plank floor and it would be very expensive, more than I want to pay for the floor of the boat. I had mostly ruled out a plywood floor because I dont really know if I want to carpet the floor which would be required to cover the ugly plywood grain. So I looked for a cheaper material for a planked floor which could also be carpeted if I choose later on. I settled on an Ash planked floor for price and durability. Its only 100$ more than plywood. I pick up the order on friday. The goal is that the lighter color Ash floor contrasts nicely with the mahogany on the rest of the boats interior and exterior.
I plan to install the floor even with the height of the bottom of the frames. Which will allow the floor to lay about an inch lower than normal in the boat.