BYYB Forums

wow that is a beautiful job, already something to be proud of, can't wait to see more!

Thanks!

Update:  Fiberglass arrived today.  20 yards of 10 oz and 5 yards of 4 oz.

Pretty hardware bits should be here today or tomorrow through USPS.

Now that you've gotten to this stage, one more thing to consider, might be a veneer for the sheer, instead of varnished strips. Veneers are easy to work with and if you have a specialty wood shop near by, you can get them full length for your boat. A single, 5" - 6" wide length of oak, ash, hickory, cedar or what ever, glued to the planking, then brightly finished, does look nice. This is of course just in case you haven't had enough decisions to ponder, during your build . . .

Lastly, your 'glass seems to have arrived folded and rolled up tight. This saves some shipping costs, but puts creases in the fabric. Un-roll it and spread it out. You can iron it to help remove some of the wrinkles. The area where you roll out the cloth should be very clean and you should wear gloves to protect the cloth from your fingers and oils in your hands. As a rule, if the cloth isn't folded, just rolled, you don't need to do this and shouldn't, but yours already is folded (my assumption). Again, if it's a full length roll then don't do anything, until it's read to install, but if it's folded, un-roll it and smooth it out as best as you can, then re-roll it up on a relatively big diameter tube without wrinkles and creases. Trust me this will save you a lot of "wetout" worries come application day, you see, creases and folds like to stand up from a surface, even wetted out with goo, which will just cause a bubble, pucker or other problem.

Ack! Not more options!  (o_0)

They're full length, not folded, but I did notice that they had plastic wrapped it very tight (for shipping as you said, I'm sure).  I will unwrap the plastic and let it breathe a while.  I was surprised that they rolled the 4 oz fabric, since it was only 5 yards.  I even called to ask them to roll it onto the same roll as the 10 oz instead of folding.  It seems they did me a favor and went ahead and rolled it.  BTW, the 4 oz is only 30 inches wide, which may be why it looks folded. 

Putting on the sealer/fill coat tonight, then fiberglassing tomorrow night.  Will post pics as I go.

Pics of the sealed and filled hull.  If I were to clear coat it, this is what it would look like.  Unfortunately, the wood putty kind of ruins the effect.



Here's a good shot of the sheer strake.  The rough edge will be covered by the rub rail and painted over.


The whole boat, warts and all-


Clever photography making me look good.

I thought you were going with the natural colored sheer?

Yep, I thought the fabric was the typical 52" bolt. All good 'glass suppliers will roll fabric, as they know what folds will do too.

Too shy for bright.  The stain gives me the best of both worlds. It covers the goofs but still shows the grain off. As I mentioned, the "wow a wooden boat!" effect.

New shiny bits came in the mails today! :-)

The big (1.5 inch wide) bar will be cut in half lengthwise to make 2 ~5/8 inch stem bands. 

I'm seriously considering going keel-less.  What do you think?

The reasoning behind this is as follows:

First, I kind of like the way it looks without a keel.

Second, I've blown the whole "traditional" concept out of the water already.

Third, the keel will add significant weight.

Lastly, it appears structurally sound without the keel. The 10 ounce cloth that I'm using will overlap on the bottom and be used to sheathe the inside as well.  I figure that if canoe guys can get away with no keels or stems while using 6 and 4 ounce clothe (replacing stems with "heavy structural fillets" as Paul calls them), it would seem that such a heavy layup will be plenty stiff.

Do you mean keel or skeg? If it's the "false keel" that's attached to the outside of the planking, you could live without this, but you'd be well advised to add some additional fabric, preferably biax along the centerline, to stiffen things up and add abrasion resistance. If it's a skeg, you'll probably want to leave this in place, as it's what keeps the boat tracking straight. A skeg is typically sacrificial in nature, so doesn't need to be pretty or heavy, just symmetrical and square with the boat (plumb).