Conchfish 16

I have the frames just laying in there. I will lay those out on divinycell this week and tab them in when I lay the glass. It sanded down very easily. I think I will make my cockpit around 6’ long. Run 6 rod tubes. 3 each side. I haven’t decided yet on how wide of gunnels I want to run. Any suggestions?

Looks great Travis,
I will say for everyone looking at the inside here. The gaps are no big deal. Fill them with thicker putty. Fair off, vacuume out well, then resin coat. Let cure, then lay your glass in.
I always glass my bulk heads first. I do the whole sheet at One time. I can use all the pizza pie pieces somewhere down the road. Also I never used Coosa board for builkheads. I understand it easy as it’s stiff. But it’s heavy.
I always glassed bulkheads with 1 layer of 7oz cloth on each side. They are only in compression. Anymore glass is a waste of $ and time. Tab in with 2 layers of 1-1/2 oz. matt or 1 layer of the biaxel scraps you have.
Remember any weight you save you can use with gear and stuff. These skiffs like you are building can weigh about 300-325 lbs finished. A 40hp, 2 guys, gear and stuff and you will be going along at 29 + mph.

As for buying a 2 stroke in the Bahamas, call Spanish Wells Marina. They are the Yamaha dealer there. Get a price and ask them the cost to ship to you on the freight boat or if they can get a fishing boat to drop to your in Ft. Lauderdale. They cost the same throughout the Bahamas as it’s one family that has the dealship.

Boatbrains said:

I have a small 5x9 layup table that I use to layup the full sheets...

Click to expand...

Those dimensions can only mean one thing!!

I always bought my sheets of core by the box. I kept a sheet of 3/4” ply on top to keep the sheets flat and not trying to look like a potato chip. I would slide out a sheet and lay it on top of a 4’x8’ sheet of Formicad plywood that was waxed and perfectly flat. I glassed on top of this and hand rolled out air. When just cured I would flip and glass the opposite side. These sheets would end up perfectly flat. Very light and extremely strong. I would make up 7-8 in a day and these I would use for the build. Please just think that all bulkheads supports and such are only in compression. Why add weight. When you glass and glue the hull and deck together it’s like the end of a beer can. Very strong. When I see a 1/4” of glass on a Beavertail bulkhead I see total ignorance of structural engineering and building. A huge weight, cost loss. Just think outside the box. The bottom matters, the sides less so and inside it’s just the joints-connections. These skiffs if built to my plans will weigh 150 lbs less than a Chittum Skiff at $56,000.00. They are the same size. When you are done launching your CF16 go out and buy a new car with the savings.