BYYB Forums

You will suprise yourself. It's wood, if you make a mistake, more wood and epoxy will fix anything Don't wait a year to clean up the living room like I did. Congratulations on getting started!

Congratulations on getting your wood to start!  That's a big step :reak it into small steps and the project won't seem so big!!

Regards,

    Will R.  Everett, WA.

Interesting project. Looking forward to seeing more updates and pics.

Of plan sets sold, only 50% of builders actually purchase materials, so you're further along than you thought already. If you haven't, look into previous build threads here and stem off some of the more common build issues you'll stumble over.

After many problems with my account and with pics etc, I think I got it figured out.  In 2017, when I started my weekender build, I was able to work on her 41 days.  Pics of progress attached

Looking good there Michael. Hopefully you will continue to make speedy progress on her.
Tom

That looks to be "Exposure 1" APA grade plywood. This isn't recommended by most that know plywood. The stuff you should use (APA grades) is "Exterior" without the words "exposure 1" in it anywhere. Expose 1 is intended for intermittent contact with moisture, while Exterior is designed for continuous contact. This seems a minor point, but it's not. If you look, you'll see huge defects, repairs and voids in the stock you have assembled. These are all weak points where things will break and/or leak. Those huge knots with a missing veneer layer, need to be filled, not with body putty, but a structural fillet compound, heavy on silica and milled fibers, preferably with epoxy, just to restore their origional thickness. Also, you need to encapsulate the plywood, fully embalming it in goo and fabric, for durability and water tightness.

Consider using Exterior APA grade plywood on the remaining planking, for longevity and no pressure treated stock as a rule, as it's not compatible with epoxy and is usually made from the poorest quality stock.

I hear ya - the plans call for ACX, which isn't really available without huge expense.  I guess this was the closest I could find with ease and within my price range.  I did plan to wet it all out and I have been filling the knot holes as I come across them.  Now my desire to wet it all out is just that much stronger.  Then of course it will get fully covered with glass and epoxy.  I never intended for this to be an expensive, perfect, or forever boat.  I guess we'll find out how short lived that will be.  Thanks for your post - I appreciate it. Please keep good advice coming.

I know the plans call for CDX, but the APA has made lots of grading changes in plywood in the last few years. CDX is still available and the cheapest of all the plywood's, but absolutely the worst available. 40 years ago (when the plans where done) CDX was fairly reliable, though was still crap. Now, it's just crap, in fact most land based builders don't even use this stuff, preferring to use OSB, which costs just a little more, but is stiffer and stronger than CDX.

It's okay, but as a general rule the planking, you know the stuff that keeps your socks dry, is typically the best stuff on the boat. You can save some money with lesser grades inside the boat, like bulkheads, furniture, partitions, etc. The boat can be built with the least expensive stuff you can get, but it's unreliable, tends to check, crack, rot, etc. 'Glass sheathings can help, but adds to the effort and costs, so the savings are mitigated to some degree with this extra work and labor.

There's no need to 'glass the inside of the boat, though filling those defects with thickened goo and some patches of fabric is a good idea. On the outside the minimum I'd do, is tape the seams around the transom, along the chines and the stem, of course before the keel goes on forever. If the keel is on for good, just place a healthy structural fillet along the joint between it, the bottom and stem and hope for the best. Lap up the side of the keel with a few inches of fabric, when you 'glass the bottom for extra insurance, if you'd like, but leave the rest of the keel, unsheathed.

In a perfect world, you would want to 'glass the bottom in the cockpit to protect against abrasion, maybe the cabin sole too. The bottom and outside of the boat can also benefit from this, but again, it's an added cost and not completely necessary.

Lastly, a light layer of fabric in epoxy, isn't going to add any strength or stiffness to a piece of plywood. To do this you need a lot of 'glass fabric (24 ounces or more), just for a marginal amount of strengthening.