[omegadef]

I've finally got enough progress to post something. I had debated back and forth about whether or not to post this online, but I figure I learn a lot from seeing other builds and maybe someone will learn from mine. Also, you guys have a tendency to prod enough that progress happens.

I had originally designed the boat to be built stitch and glue, and had completed most of the jig. I was waiting for the right opportunity to go buy the marine plywood (3hr round trip), when I came across some of the conchfish builds on this site. The idea of not having any wood in the boat appealed to me greatly.

I went back and forth about ordering plans and starting over, but I'm the kind of person that would rather build something I designed. So, I took my design from freeship and modified it in sketch-up to include a few design features that Chris Morejohn uses, as well as adding a bit of forward flotation. It took a bit of thought to devise a way to get some use out of the work I had already completed. Screen caps explain the modifications fairly well;I'm not sure why freeship left an artifact of a vagina in the transom, I never bothered to remove it.

My wife scoffed at the $1200 box of foam that arrived on our doorstep. Forgiveness is easier than permission. I had already purchased 3gal of epoxy so I'm stuck with epoxy. Price difference is not that high vs vinylester, but I'm understanding that the work involved is. I'm not sure on lamination schedule yet. I also don't fully understand if stringers are necessary. Maybe Chris Morejohn will chime in.

The boat will land somewhere between 18.5 and 19 feet long. Beam is about 75 inches. Might be too big to be considered a micro-skiff.

I still have to get the transom angle support figured out. I think I will cut the transom out of a piece of foam. I am also going to attach the flange mold to the jig before I attach any foam, but we are going pretty quickly now. The bow mold has a very slight curve in it. I will pull it straight with the flange.

I'm sure work, the 8 month old son, or hunting season will slow me up again. If the temperature doesn't cool off soon, bow season will become boatbuilding season.

Anyway, here comes the pictures.

 

[BassFlats]

Very nice. Keep the pics coming. What power and interior layout?

 

[omegadef]

Very nice. Keep the pics coming. What power and interior layout?

I haven't really decided on either one. Big casting decks. Will have a trolling motor. Not sure if it will be poled at all, doesn't work well on the mud bottoms we have.

 

[jglidden]

Very cool! I am looking forward to watching this one

 

[Fritz]

Excellent! I’m glad you decided on a build thread.

 

[Zika]

Nice. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Chris Morejohn]

I've finally got enough progress to post something. I had debated back and forth about whether or not to post this online, but I figure I learn a lot from seeing other builds and maybe someone will learn from mine. Also, you guys have a tendency to prod enough that progress happens.

I had originally designed the boat to be built stitch and glue, and had completed most of the jig. I was waiting for the right opportunity to go buy the marine plywood (3hr round trip), when I came across some of the conchfish builds on this site. The idea of not having any wood in the boat appealed to me greatly.

I went back and forth about ordering plans and starting over, but I'm the kind of person that would rather build something I designed. So, I took my design from freeship and modified it in sketch-up to include a few design features that Chris Morejohn uses, as well as adding a bit of forward flotation. It took a bit of thought to devise a way to get some use out of the work I had already completed. Screen caps explain the modifications fairly well;I'm not sure why freeship left an artifact of a vagina in the transom, I never bothered to remove it.

My wife scoffed at the $1200 box of foam that arrived on our doorstep. Forgiveness is easier than permission. I had already purchased 3gal of epoxy so I'm stuck with epoxy. Price difference is not that high vs vinylester, but I'm understanding that the work involved is. I'm not sure on lamination schedule yet. I also don't fully understand if stringers are necessary. Maybe Chris Morejohn will chime in.

The boat will land somewhere between 18.5 and 19 feet long. Beam is about 75 inches. Might be too big to be considered a micro-skiff.

I still have to get the transom angle support figured out. I think I will cut the transom out of a piece of foam. I am also going to attach the flange mold to the jig before I attach any foam, but we are going pretty quickly now. The bow mold has a very slight curve in it. I will pull it straight with the flange.

I'm sure work, the 8 month old son, or hunting season will slow me up again. If the temperature doesn't cool off soon, bow season will become boatbuilding season.

Anyway, here comes the pictures.

Cool, I like the way you have drawn her out to fit flat panel sections, or planks. I am writing here in the San Francisco airport with a 8 hour delayed flight to my latest build job in Hawaii.
Don’t have a way to draw here so will post sketches in a few days.
I will show how you and others could plank your hull up in a couple days and have her glassed in another days time using your hull design.
You can just use my hull layups like my other skiffs. The info is on my blog or just PM me via email which is way easier for me to talk with.
She has lots of flair above your designed waterline which will add a bit of righting moment to her lever arm when a big boy walks out to the forward bows outer sheer deck edge. That’s all I see you might want to consider.

 

[omegadef]

Cool, I like the way you have drawn her out to fit flat panel sections, or planks. I am writing here in the San Francisco airport with a 8 hour delayed flight to my latest build job in Hawaii.
Don’t have a way to draw here so will post sketches in a few days.
I will show how you and others could plank your hull up in a couple days and have her glassed in another days time using your hull design.
You can just use my hull layups like my other skiffs. The info is on my blog or just PM me via email which is way easier for me to talk with.
She has lots of flair above your designed waterline which will add a bit of righting moment to her lever arm when a big boy walks out to the forward bows outer sheer deck edge. That’s all I see you might want to consider.

Thanks for positive reinforcement.
I will plan on the two layers of 10oz on each side. I bought 3/4" core for the hull and 1/2 for the deck. I was planning a full second layer on the inside of the transom, so 10oz,10oz,core,10oz,10oz,core,10oz,10oz.

I'll try to get some close-up images of the flared area. The flare starts at the 16' station, the last station is at 17'. I want to keep as much of the flare as I can for aesthetic reasons, but at 6'2" and 250, I may qualify as a "big boy".
Haven't seen many skiffs with a flare. I had always thought it was because of lost displacement up front. I will have a trolling motor over the bow most of the time while fishing, so that may prevent most of my walking close to the edge.
If she floats level at 6" draft (fingers crossed), I believe the 16 station will be about 3" into the water.
I'll do some digging. I can always modify like I outline on the left side below, maybe not as drastic.

 

[omegadef]

I took some pictures. I measured from the model and came up with the tip of the 16' station being 5 3/8" above the lowest point in the boat.

I did a bunch of useless calculations to determine I've added ~30lbs of displacement below 6" with the wing additions. This puts me at 1275lbs or so at 6". It's ~60lbs of extra displacement at 8", or 1900lbs. The boat is also going to grow 3/4" in all directions after core is applied, hard to say where it will float, but I'm not super worried about the final draft, it is what it is. I snipped some shots of the freeship model while I was in there.

This has not helped me make a decision about the flare part though. Can people with similar length boats chime in on how much lower the bow sinks with a person on it? I know it can vary based on what else is in the boat, but its hard for me to gauge. I personally have never gotten to ride in a flats skiff, only aluminum flatboats and bigger bay boats.

 

[omegadef]

Update from another day of working on the boat. Drill battery kept dying on me, which slowed progress quite a bit. I went against everything I stand for as a woodworker and purchased a kreg jig to attach the flange. I have to admit, this is an awesome tool for stuff like this that wont be seen or is just temporary.

I also got the transom angle set at 12 degrees and attached a flat panel to act as a guide for the foam. I will trace the outline of the core onto the panel and use that as a template to trim out the core for the transom.

I waxed the hell out of the flange and applied packing tape over the seams.






I laid the first sheet of foam as the light was fading last night. Took a bit of learning to determine the best method to cut the foam and how big to make the strips. There's a reason you see everyone using 2" strips. To cut the foam I used a long razor knife with a sheet of ply wood clamped over the foam to use as a straight edge. Pulling the knife with a slight angle toward the board kept directly on the line. I may redo the first section I started near the transom, not super happy with how it turned out.
I bought 9 sheets of 3/4 and 6 sheets of 1/2, so I should have plenty of material. Below was about 45 minutes worth of work, most of that was me fumbling through figuring out how to cut the core. This stuff will fly on once you get in a groove.
I also found that one of my stations did not make a fair curve at all. I must have missed a dimension by 3/4". I put a piece of foam over the edge of the frame and it lined out perfectly.

These pictures didn't turn out very good due to lighting, but there will be plenty more.

 

[omegadef]

Got most of the second sheet on today.
Someone at work asked about the deadrise so, I figured I'd post it here.
Transom(0 foot station), 3 degrees
10 foot station, 6.5 degrees
14 foot station, 14 degrees
16 foot station, 30 degrees

 

[omegadef]

My helper and I were able to get the rest of the second sheet on today.
[image removed]

 

[GaG8tor]

You got some good help

 

[omegadef]

I am still slowly getting it ready to glass. I have removed all the nails on the port side and begun the pre-fiberglass fairing and hole filling. I would recommend going with screws instead of the nails. Pulling the nails without crushing the core was nerve wracking.

I bought slow 2:1 epoxy and the temperature outside is lower than normal, so I have long waits between being able to get much done at this point while I wait for fairing compound to cure. I used close to 5:1 microbubbles to silica. I am seriously considering switching to vinylester resin for the remainder of the build to save time on mixing.

Slowly but surely.

 

[Zika]

Making headway!

 

[No Bait / Lures Only]

I am still slowly getting it ready to glass. I have removed all the nails on the port side and begun the pre-fiberglass fairing and hole filling. I would recommend going with screws instead of the nails. Pulling the nails without crushing the core was nerve wracking.

I bought slow 2:1 epoxy and the temperature outside is lower than normal, so I have long waits between being able to get much done at this point while I wait for fairing compound to cure. I used close to 5:1 microbubbles to silica. I am seriously considering switching to vinylester resin for the remainder of the build to save time on mixing.

Slowly but surely.

U gotta be from Louisiana for all d flair in d sides!

 

[yobata]

^

 

[omegadef]

I ordered the vinylester resin and more microbubbles. I should have the thing basically ready for glass in a few weekends. I am stuck waiting on the resin to do more fairing because mother nature decided to make it cold early.

I still need to take the mold off the back and fit the transom core in and remove all of the nails on the other side, and then get it ready for glass.

I need to ask Mr. Morejohn what scantlings to use now that I'm using vinylester. I think I remember reading somewhere that it should be a layer 1-1/2oz mat and a layer of 10oz on each side.

 

[Chris Morejohn]

I ordered the vinylester resin and more microbubbles. I should have the thing basically ready for glass in a few weekends. I am stuck waiting on the resin to do more fairing because mother nature decided to make it cold early.

I still need to take the mold off the back and fit the transom core in and remove all of the nails on the other side, and then get it ready for glass.

I need to ask Mr. Morejohn what scantlings to use now that I'm using vinylester. I think I remember reading somewhere that it should be a layer 1-1/2oz mat and a layer of 10oz on each side.

I can see lots of energy going on in your build.
Just a reminder polyester resins don’t stick to Epoxy. Vinylester resin is in polyester group.
My advice is to fair off the big white epoxy area down to shut the seams that are filled with epoxy putty.
Finish filling with polyester filler made up of glass bubbles. Then fair the hulls of bumps and hard edges.
You can then glass the hull using the resin you have ordered.
The thin seams of epoxy won’t affect the bond strength much as the cloth will be bridging the seams when it bonds to the core.
My suggestion in hull layup now that you are using a polyester type resin is to go .....
1 layer 1-1/2 oz Matt
1 layer 10 oz cloth
Let cure
Then repeat
Same for the interior.
Or
Go....
Matt, 1708, 1708
Both sides.
Once glassed fill and fair in your lows.
I prefer the first type of cloth sequence to using biaxel.
Looking forward to seeing her flipped.

 

[omegadef]

I can see lots of energy going on in your build.
Just a reminder polyester resins don’t stick to Epoxy. Vinylester resin is in polyester group.
My advice is to fair off the big white epoxy area down to shut the seams that are filled with epoxy putty.
Finish filling with polyester filler made up of glass bubbles. Then fair the hulls of bumps and hard edges.
You can then glass the hull using the resin you have ordered.
The thin seams of epoxy won’t affect the bond strength much as the cloth will be bridging the seams when it bonds to the core.
My suggestion in hull layup now that you are using a polyester type resin is to go .....
1 layer 1-1/2 oz Matt
1 layer 10 oz cloth
Let cure
Then repeat
Same for the interior.
Or
Go....
Matt, 1708, 1708
Both sides.
Once glassed fill and fair in your lows.
I prefer the first type of cloth sequence to using biaxel.
Looking forward to seeing her flipped.

Thanks Chris. That putty spot grew out of control when the mix was too loose. I'll grind it off. On the other side I was able to grind the core down to be flat, so I should be able to do the same over there. Hopefully I can start glassing by December. We are hosting the son's 1st birthday party at the end of the month so I have to get the boat building area(carport) cleaned up before the fiesta.

Today's Progress update coming after I upload pictures.