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I have a 25' electric launch on a double axle trailer, you can see a picture on my website www.wolfeboats.com. The trailer is low and extends a good bit past the axle, it doesn't take much of an...

We have been using an Iwatani brand butane cooker all winter in our little fiberglass camping trailer. It works great and is a real quality piece. Butane canisters are available on Amazon for $2...

Here in SE Michigan its easy to find used trailers on craigslist for $300 - $500 but it takes some looking to separate the wheat from the chaff. If you aren't too far from a city I bet you could...

Greg, My 0.02 on the pattern stock. I've found 6mm luan floor underlayment the same price (about ten bucks) and easier to handle than the 3mm door skin stuff.

Thanks to all for the comments. Plans came today, suggest 3/16 planking stock. I think I'll use mahogany for the trim and sheer strake and WRC for everything else. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a...

My shop is a spruced up RV storage shed. It had three posts down the centerline supporting a doubled 2x8 center beam. I took out the middle post and added 2x12 doublers on each side of the 2x8 beam...

Epoxy fillets are used to add strength to the joint and make sure no water gets into the edge of the plywood where it can soak into the end grain and cause the ply to start delaminating. Depends on...

Happy New Year to all.

I'm starting the new year by building my brand new grandson a Jordan Baby Tender - a 45" by 22" by 9" cradle boat. It's pretty much a half scale lap strake dinghy with...

Jefe, the Diablo on the drop sheet website was stretched by 7%, as David wanted a 16' boat instead of 15'. It worked fine and from the pictures you would have to look very hard to see that it wasn't...

Looks cool. I love that four leaf clover window.

Merry Christmas to you too.

Denny Wolfe

A investment in a boat that big might justify a custom design from an NA. Graham Byrnes at http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/ocracoke.htm would be a good choice.

Denny Wolfe

Hi Ken, Looks sweet. That fore transom with the bow sprit sticking out sure begs to have a face painted on it!

We are wandering around Fl with our camping trailer this winter. If we find our...

I hate routers anyway but this seems like the worst possible way to trim the sheer plank.

Denny Wolfe

My AT patterns, in spite of being folded and mailed from the UK, needed no more fairing than boats I have lofted.

Regarding size, boats shrink a lot once you get them outside and shrink by half...

Jeff, Hydrotek would be similar to the fir in strength and weight but will look much different if you varnish the inside of your hull. As it is a variant of Luan, it looks quite a bit like the luan...

Right.

Denny Wolfe

I strip planked the chine flats because there is very little waste compared to ply and the sassafras is much nicer to work with, not to mention lighter and cheaper.

The chine flats act as a spray...

Glad you like the website. The author is my ex-son-in-law who is a pro web developer and talented artist. He didn't find much artistic expression in the sanding but did build a very serviceable...

Steve, we often go down the South Channel a bit, cut through between Harsons and Russell Is and head home. I don't know if the new boat will be done next summer or in 2014. In spite of global...

Since I got the table working I'm on to the cockpit sole.

Picking up the shape with sticks hot glued to a batten:
...

Another update - detailing the table that magically rises out of the sole.

We often have a picnic dinner while putting down the river. Currently I have a 16" x 48" folding Formica/ aluminum table...

Thanks Dave. I asked Moeller tech support about painting something on the tank but they had no ideas. I do know it's really tough to get anything to stick to some plastics.

Denny Wolfe

I believe fiberglass cloth has one surface treatment (lubricant used in cloth manufacture??) for bonding with epoxy and a different one for use with polyester resin. Something to check but I'd never...

Yes you want to epoxy them together. You need something thick to fill the unavoidable gaps between the two sheets.

Couple of notes about cost: 1) the Meaben plans are available seperate from the full size patterns for half the $1400. You'd save $700 but have to loft the boat - really not a bad idea anyway; 2) If...

Thanks for the feedback. I've decided to keep the tank and see if the smell is a problem.

If it does smell I will go with Tom's idea to add a brushless computer fan that turns on with the...

Why not make the bottom out of two layers of 3/8 instead of one layer of 5/8? Your boat would be a few pounds heavier, a little stronger and you might save enough on plywood to maybe afford the good...

I bought the Moeller hold-down kit which is four Z shaped overpriced pieces of aluminum. They clamp down tank down in the four recesses you can see in the picture. They mention 3 % expansion with...

This picture in my "Epoxy as bilge paint" thread prompted a PM to me that these tanks literally 'stink'.
...

Nice job!

Denny Wolfe

I had no choice. Under the aft bench seat is the only place there is enough headroom to run the filler hose.

It would have been nice to put the tank about 3' further foward so its CG would be on...

Here's a couple of pics:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2cf01b3127ccef1fc5b68cacb00000030O00AZM2rdm3ct2IPbz4C/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D720/ry%3D480/

...

Thanks all for the replies and good words Mike. And Paul for the PM, too.

I've got two coats of plain resin on already and, in sptite of a few runs and places where the brownish red filler shows,...

Just about done with "finishing" the bilge on my 22' runabout and wondering about just calling it good with a couple of heavy coats of epoxy resin (Raka 127/350). It looks OK and will be protected...

How about Ruell Parker's 36' Commuter?

http://www.parker-marine.com/C36BG01.jpg


http://www.parker-marine.com/C36BG02.jpg

added images with my PC. Haven't figured out how to do that with...

I'm seeing the gondolas being rowed through the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas with a prop wash streaming behind the hull from the trolling motor hidden under the bottom. Looked like the gondolier...

We'ed love to see the pics.

You need to store the pics on a site like shutterfly, then link to them. Search "posting" here for step by step instructions.

Denny Wolfe

It's a great tool for keeping track of weights and center of gravity, LCB, weight vs depth of immersion and a zillion other things. I really enjoyed building my new boat in Freeship and it gave me...

It's a balance between first cost and fuel cost. I use two 15amp 120volt electric heaters that look like old fashioned radiators. They are about $40 each and have enough heat to keep my 600 sq ft ...

I'd start with a strip running along the turn of the bilge and let it lay naturally. I've never seen a strip planking job start at the keel, too much edge set as you are discovering.

Just a note about fillets: I'm doing my 22' runabout now and finally got the cake decorating gear people recommend. I'd tried putting thickened google in a plastic bag with the tip cut off but that...

A simple trolling motor would give plenty of power for such an easily driven boat. You could build one into the rudder or maybe have two rudders, one with and one without the motor. You could also...

Embla, I was reading your blog about planking and spilling difficulties and would suggest you try the "two batten plus trellis" method of picking up plank shapes. I used luan patterns for an...

Finally Flipped!

After a month away I got back to painting the boot stripe and fitting bunks on the used aluminum trailer I got via craigslist last spring. This morning was the big flip.
...

Beef, Welcome to the WBF. Lots of experienced help is available and lots of folks who love to look at boat building pictures. Be sure to post a lot.

I built boats when I was a teen-ager too but...

Sassafras - half the price, half the weight, rot resistant, nice to machine.

My $0.02:

$0.01 - My boat has been painted black for 8 of its 10 years. No difference in durability or anything else except when it was white for 2 years the topsides showed every bit of spider...

Where did you find the boat? Dimensions? Sheet ply screwed to frames? Did seller know anything about the boat?


Help us help you.

Denny Wolfe

I built an Oughtred Arctic Tern from paper patterns folded and mailed across the Atlantic. The molds were fair as set up with practically no tuning required. Could have been just good luck but...

Boy those sound like big waves and these are little boats. Maybe OK for a couple of experienced fishermen but a wife and child? Probably nobody would drown but plenty of potential for wet and...