 And
this is where I am at at the end of the first week. The hull is stitched
and formed and the inside coated with two coats of epoxy. The knee
was built and used to position the transom which is glued in place.
The battens and keel are cut and will be installed next. I also tried
my first fillet which was along the chine. I went quite well (easier
than I expected) and I found a fillet shaping tool which worked great for
me - a computer CD-ROM disk! It is flexible enough that by bending
it and varying the angle I can produce a smooth fillet the necessary size.
Yet it is stiff enough to direct the thick epoxy putty where needed.
I have about 20 of there courtesy of AOL, Compuserve and others that keep
sending them free in the mail. If I run out my son has a few music
CD's that I would like to use....................
(NOTE - I am not an engineer. Just a guy with fairly good woodworking experience. The result of these modifications are yet to be determined. I can not recommend them and if attempt it is at your own risk! Also you will note I am not using mahogany. I had an ample supply of white oak on hand so it is being used. It is not as easy to work as mahogany as it is a much harder wood. All fastners - including nails - must be pre-drilled but it is a good hardwood that is suitable for boat building.)
Because of this I have lengthened the boat by 2'. What you need to realize that even what looks like a simple 2' extension of the hull produces a domino effect of other changes. Because I want to maintain the graceful lines of the craft, adding 2 " actually cause the transom to be higher and narrower than called out in the plans (had to buy a second sheet of 3/4 plywood). Also, since the aft bulkhead is now located at a different point, the size on the plans is not correct so it must be custom built. The keel laminations, battens, long beam, sole, ect. must all be modified. I know it has at least doubled the building time just trying to figure this all out and custom cut the parts to fit!
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If
you have plans you may notice that I have chosen to modify my Cabin Skiff
(CS). This was done after MUCH consideration. Glen-L's plans are
very complete and following them I am sure will yield a very nice boat
in the shortest time. BUT after many hours of consideration I decided there
were several things I wanted different.
I
really liked the Cabin Skiff design but for my use there are several drawbacks.
The first is fuel - there just isn't enough storage. I feel I need
at
least 20 gallon onboard for normal use. Also I plan to use the
CS several times a year for long runs of about 200+ miles with no fuel
available along the way so having room for temporary fuel storage is needed
(I run the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois river where marinas and fuel
are scarce).
