Ted's Wood Boat

Playing on the Water

2012-02-03T22:33:00.000-05:00

Now this is what boat building is all about....fun on the water. All the hard work, time and money was worth it. What a great boat.

New Wheel for the Boat

2011-08-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

I found this wheel online at Speed and Marine for $132.00 and fell in love with it. I installed it this week and was not on the water for more than 10 minutes when a guy saw my boat for the first time and the first thing he said to me was, "I love that wheel", I was really taken back because the first thing that most people say is, "Did you just restore that boat", or "I love your boat".

It feels and looks good.

The Launch Day

2011-07-21T10:04:00.005-04:00

Ted Gauthier's "Zip"

The day has finally come when I launched my boat. Things could have not been better..family, friends, the newspaper and photographers were there to join in the fun. In October 2009 a good friend walked into my office and said he had just returned from a trip up north (Michigan) and he was going to build a boat he saw on the lake and the plan was in popular mechanics. I said, "that's funny...I have been wanting to build a boat for years, show me the boat". After a short discussion, I told him (Art Atkinson) that I would build a Glen-L Zip and the boat he needed to build (because of building space requirements, design, performance and style) was the Glen-L Squirt. He agreed and we both started are builds. We never dreamed, nor did we try to both finish our boats on the same day but that is exactly what happened. On July 20th, 2011 we launch both boats. I am still smiling.

Years ago I built an airplane and the model is a Van's RV-6. The people who go for a ride in an RV always get what we call.......the "RV Grin". Well let me tell you first hand....I have the "Glen-L Grin" and I am sure that you will not be able to wipe that Grin off my face every time I jump into my Glen-L Zip.

Art Atkinson and wife Vicki in their "Squirt"

Ted giving Thumbs Up to Art Atkinson's "Squirt"

Front cockpit of the "Zip"

"It's Alive" - Stepping Up - Graphics

2011-07-19T12:35:00.000-04:00

Last night was another milestone....I connected all the electronics and turned the key after connecting the water to the motor and she fired right up. The Honda motor ran great, idle was good and I did not notice any problems.

I did have some electrical issues. Everything electrical is working in the boat including the new Honda RPM gauge but the lights inside the gauges and the other two gauges ( volt, and fuel quantity) do not work. I think this may be because I had them powered through the old key switch. So, I will need to trace the wires back. I think that they just need a power source. Same issue with my courtesy lights, no power. Everything else is working. Running lights, horn, bilge pumps, stereo, oil level and temp lights are all OK. I think I have the wiring issue resolved in my mind..I just need to get under the dash and sort it out. I will also need to run to the nautical department at Auto Zone to pick up a couple of special connectors.

I picked up my graphic for the sides of the boat... "Zip"......This boat was designed by Glen-L and the model is a "Zip".

I also installed my birthday and Christmas present from my wife, Lynn. She had bought me some step pads from Tender Craft out of Canada. I am glad that I waited until I had my seats installed. I sat in the seats, I quickly realized that if I had mounted them right in the center of the cockpit areas the step pads would have been located right were you would rest your arm. I think they are installed in a location that will not interfere with your arm resting on the boat and you can easily step into the boat and onto the floor. I think they really look nice.

Honda Throttle - Radio - Glove Box - Seat supports

2011-07-18T10:49:00.001-04:00

It has been a busy weekend. I have a list of more than 15 items that I would like to get done before I launch my "Zip". I was able to complete many of the big ones.

mount extinguisher - done
make and installed seat support brackets - done (the back of the seats were falling off the seat bottom cushions, now these brackets hold the seat backs in position).
remove trailer bunk guides - done (need to buy a different style)
install transom stainless steel trim - done
build and mount a new am/fm radio box - done ( the old location was in the way of the new throttle)
build a glove box and install - - done ( removing the radio gave me this spot to store stuff, like my phone/keys)
install trailer plate - done
install hoist cable - done
mount horn - done
secure steering wheel - done

Things to do:

Confirm my boat insurance ( I have a quote but they will not bind the insurance until they have photos, I have sent them in 3 times but they keep saying they don't have them...the funny part is they received my application).

install interior sides (mount with Velcro)
install step pads
make final electrical connections and test electrical system

hook up water to motor and test run in driveway

pick up graphics for side of boat and then install

take boat to canvas shop on Tuesday morning to have a mooring and trailer cover made

Things to Buy:

$$ - a new set of trailer guides that are adjustable (the old set were to wide for my boat)
$$ - stern light ( the one I have is 4' tall, I need to pick up a short light)
$$ - rear view mirror
$$ - a short ratcheting strap for the transom ( I lost one when I was coming home from picking up the engine, I have two large straps that cross each other and keep the boat centered on the trailer. The short straps are just another safety that keep the stern pulled straight down).

PLAN :

Launch - this Wednesday (if no major issues show up and the boat is back from the canvas shop..if not then Friday after work...Dawn and Mike will also be in town for the weekend..Jimmy Buffet at Pine Knob on Thursday night) Forecast = 100 degrees on Thursday.

A Squirt is Born

2011-07-13T21:00:00.001-04:00

Art Atkinson is building a Glen-L Squirt and had asked me to come over Wednesday evening to help move his Squirt boat out the basement and into the garage. I would not have wanted to miss this. Taking it up the stairs and through the kitchen and dinning room and out to the garage. Yes...Art also made the entire kitchen...it should be featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. For more photos and the story, check out Art's blog: http://artatkinson.blogspot.com/

Graphics

2011-07-13T15:00:00.001-04:00

The look of the boat is really taking shape. Today I was able to install the white strip above the burgundy paint line and the Michigan Registration numbers. This thing is really starting to look like a boat.

The Cutwater

2011-07-10T23:00:00.001-04:00

After several months, templates, telephone calls, miles of driving and a lot of hard work the Cutwater and Transom bands are done. I think they look great. They were hand made by Jim Mathis of Algonac, Mi. It was impossible to fit the Cutwater to the bow without Jim having the boat on site. Jim called me on Sunday morning and asked if I could bring the boat to him and I jumped at the opportunity. The stainless steel Cutwater was made over the winter months from my template but it just did not fit right at the top.

I arrived at Jim's home at 12:00 noon and we were not done until 10:30 pm. , no lunch / no dinner but the results are stunning.

Jim still was not satisfied and stated that it would really look good with a Fairleader on top of the Cutwater and I agree, I hope you do.

Jim Mathis used his skill to make it fit perfect.

Windshield Installed

2011-07-09T14:00:00.005-04:00

On Saturday my good friend and "Squirt" boat builder Art Atkinson came over for at least 4 hours and we mounted the windshield and brackets. It took a long time because it was important to get the correct angle on the brackets so the glass could fit into the grooves on the aluminum casting and chromed bracket.

I am very happy how it turned out. It really was a two man job and thankful for Art's help.

Bought a New Motor

2011-07-08T21:00:00.043-04:00

I started building this "Zip" boat about 19 months ago and at that time I had found a 1962 2 stroke 40 Johnson that I had purchased on Craig's List. I finally took it to a repair shop and after many discussions I thought I would be happier with a newer motor and a 4 stroke. I came across a 1999 45hp Honda so I bought it and this motor will be my power source.

There were a few problems mounting it. The first thing was the dealer, "Dropped it", Yes...there were cutting the bolts off to remove it from another boat and then install it on mine but some how..something when wrong. Lucky for me and for them...The motor was not hurt and no one was injured. They were using a fork lift truck to secure the chain but some how it came loose and hit the cement.. Everything appears fine other than a few more scraps and dents.

The second issue was the mounting bolts..one of the bolts were directly behind my gas tank so I had to take all the mounting brackets off and remove the tank to get the bolt thru the transom. An hour later that was done.

The last problem was the extra thickness of wood that I had epoxied inside the transom. The mounting bolts were located near the edge so my brother Marty machine a spacer/washer out of solid piece of aluminum and that problem was solved. My next issue will be mounting the throttle/shifter.

Move it "out of the Basement"

2011-07-06T21:00:00.002-04:00

It is time to make the move from the basement to the garage. I completed as much as I could in my basement on this boat build so it is time to buy a trailer and get a bunch of guys together.

My brothers, Guy, Gary, Joey and Danny we all on hand to help. I was also able to get many friends, Art Atkinson, Howard Barton, my nephew Travis and a couple of neighbors to give the added power.

The night before the move, my brother Guy helped me remove a section of the sun room with a couple of windows and door. The morning of the move we removed the sliding glass doors giving me the 72" width that I needed. The "Zip" boat's beam is 5'9".

Because I live on a lake, (Sylvan Lake, Michigan) and we have a narrow sized lot, I did not have room between my house to bring the boat to the road. I rolled the trailer between the neighbors homes, three houses down from mine and along the lake shore and back up to the basement. I was able to roll the trailer into the sun room after the wall was removed. About 8 guys lifted the boat up and turned it 90 degrees and set it on the trailer. Then our friend Howard supplied a wheeled dolly for trailer hitch and everyone pushed the boat and trailer across three neighbor lawns and up a steep hill, over the curb and onto the road.

Yes, I have great neighbors...they let me do the same thing when I finished building my airplane a few years ago. You just don't see too many airplanes rolling by your picture window overlooking the lake.

Here are a few photos that we took along the way.....enjoy.

Varnish Begins

2011-06-17T08:58:00.002-04:00

Yeah....after weeks of sanding, then applying epoxy and repeating this procedure over and over, I am so glad to move on and put the epoxy (and dust) behind me. I cleaned everything up and began the process of varnishing the boat. I know from my experience with my kayak that I will also be happy when the varnishing is done because the finish line is near. Last night I mixed up the varnish with brush thinner and thinned it to 50/50. I used brush thinner because I read that it helps to keep the varnish wet longer giving you time to spread it out. I really had to work fast so I did not have any dry spots along the way. I am expecting to put on between 4-6 coats of varnish. Each time I will mix the varnish with less and less thinner. The varnish will need to be sanded between each coat and should take 2-4 days to dry between coats.

I was very happy with this product. I used Captains Varnish when I did my Kayak and that product gave me all kinds of problems with the biggest one being....orange peel. I see no signs of that issue..yet. That's a good thing.

I sanded or filled with clear epoxy almost every day for 1-6 hours and this went on for weeks. I am glad I did not keep track of my time. I think all the hard work and time really paid off. The boat finish is not as good as a professional would do but I am very happy with my work.

Here is a photo of the Kayak that I built several years ago.

Steering Mount

2011-05-31T10:52:00.000-04:00

The Steering mounting bracket is now completed. My brother Marty welded it all up for me and then I took it to a local powder coating company. The idea here is to be able to remove the steering control mounting bracket so the motor can tip forward for transport and draft clearance.

Sanding

2011-05-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

No Photos....not much to look at, just sanding.

I have been sanding the deck of the boat to get everything smooth and level. The white gap caulking turned out pretty well and I am happy with it but there are some high and low spots that I am dealing with. I am also having some issues with removing some of the blue tape that was not removed in time and is now epoxied down at the seams between the wood and white caulk (only in a few spots).

I am sanding with 180 grit using an orbital sander but I am hand sanding all the edges because I don't want to get into the stained wood. Yesterday, alone......I sanded for more than 5 hours.

This will be a process...sand then epoxy...sand and more epoxy...then level the white gaps and sand again. Once I get everything smooth and level then I will begin with the varnish. I am told that I will need 4-6 coats of varnish with sanding between each coat. I should have bought some stock in sand paper and blue tape.

Later this week or early next week I should have my steering mount system that my brother Marty welded up for me back from powder coating and the seats should be ready for pick up from the upholster. I will post an article and photos when they arrive.

White Caulking

2011-05-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

It was suppose to be an exciting day but it ended up being a long hard day and an exciting night. I have been looking forward to the day when I filled all the gaps between the planks on the boat deck. I knew that once the gaps were filled, the look of the boat would really come to life. I had been thinking about this look for months. I failed to realize how much work it would be to get to that point. Once this step was done, it was very exciting to see how it all turned out.

The morning started about 9:30 am on Saturday when a good friend and airplane builder Dave Pohl stopped by to take a look and I put him to work for a couple hours. Dave helped me tape off the boat and mix epoxy and was a great help. After Dave went home I thought that I would have about 30 minutes remaining to finish up but it actually took me another seven (7) hours before I was done with the caulking.

A couple of months ago I spoke with a Chris Craft Restoration builder and builder of some of the most beautiful wood boats that I have seen on the Internet about caulking my boat. He does not use caulking because it breaks down in time. He uses a mix of epoxy and white pigment with a caulking gun. I figured if it is good enough for him, I would give it a try.

The problem with epoxy is that you need to pace yourself because the mixture will harden. I had purchased empty plastic caulking tubes but after listening to a good friend who used this method to apply the epoxy I had second thoughts. He said it was a mess, trying to fill the tubes and problems with air in the tubes. What I ended up doing (and it worked great) was to use clear empty catsup bottles that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics. I only needed two bottles and I rotated them with each mixture of epoxy.

The reason it took me so long to caulk all of the gaps was the thickness of the epoxy. It is extremely important to get the mixture thick enough to stop the running (flow). I used cello-fill and microballoons the help thicken up the mixture. The boat deck has a large arch in it and the epoxy wants to flow to the bottom which leave low spots and the extra epoxy runs to the bottom. I found myself constantly dragging epoxy over the gaps to make the mixture level. I had work in an area that epoxy had set up and keep moving around the boat (for hours).

Another problem I had was pulling the tape off. I needed to wait until the epoxy had set up enough that it would not pull out of the gap, like taffy and when the epoxy finally kicked off, it was too late to pull the tape. I ended up using a razor knife and a pair of tweezers when that happened.

The final problem that I ended up with was, dripping. When I installed all the deck plank boards I used screws and washers as clamps. Well they made holes in the deck (Dahh.....). My original thought was that the epoxy would be thick enough to fill the holes and it did but only after dripping all over the inside of the boat. Lucky for me, I had plastic sheets covering the floor but the inside walls had white epoxy dripped all over them. Nothing that an hour worth of clean up with Acetone could not handle.

It was 7pm when I called it a day and the caulking turned out great. Next will be to sand it all flush and smooth. Then apply two more coats of clear epoxy on the entire deck. Then 4-6 coats of Varnish over the entire boat (except the painted bottom) with sanding between every coat of epoxy and varnish.

Test fit the Cutwater and Transom Band

2011-04-22T07:58:00.000-04:00

The Cutwater is a stainless steel part that fits on the bow of the boat. It serves as a protector and adds a little jewelry to the boat. I really like the look of a cutwater and transom band but I also thought that it could also hide any sins in my woodworking. I am so happy with how the bow turned out that I did not need to hide anything so that's a plus.

My first step to get a cutwater and transom band made was to make templates and get them off to the welder. I did that 3-4 weeks ago and this week I picked up the parts and test fitted them to the boat. The welder just made tack welds for the fitting and then once we get it just right he will finish the welding and polish the stainless. The transom band was perfect. The cutwater was very close to being good but it did not fit just right on the left side. I returned it to the welder ( one hour drive each way) with measurements and photos. He is not sure of my explanation so I am trying to get him to come over and take a look at my boat before we move forward.

Epoxy Issue Resolved

2011-04-22T07:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I was able to overcome my mistake with the last batch of epoxy mix. It took almost a week (not all work) to get back on track but I am now moving forward once again. I ended up taking a putty knife and a heat gun to remove the bulk of un-hardened epoxy. Then I used Acetone to wipe of the remainder while constantly changing out my rags. Then I took a green scotch pad to scuff up the surface again to hold the bond and get rid of any shinny spots. Then I was ready for the next batch of epoxy.

In both of these photos you can see my good epoxy applied. I ended up changing both of the epoxy pumps and the ratio of epoxy resin/hardener came out perfect.

The epoxy surface will not be smooth and level until I build it up with one or two more applications with sanding in between each coat. This will get rid of any of the orange peel look. It is great to get a glimpse of the wood grain with only one coat epoxy.

Stainless Steel Rail Trim and Epoxy Problems

2011-04-18T08:50:00.001-04:00

This week I took advantage of a big epoxy problem that I have been having and used the time to work on making and dry fitting all of the railing Stainless Steel Trim.

First, I mentioned my epoxy problem. Last Thursday evening I mixed up some epoxy and coated the entire deck of the boat. My plan was to let it dry overnight, sand and apply the second coat over the weekend. Well, things did not work out as planned. THE EPOXY NEVER DRIED. I realized that I made a huge error in the mix. There are two pumps, one for the hardener and one for the resin. My pumps were old and sticking so in the middle of mixing I changed one of the pumps ( looking back, should have changed both pumps) and the mix never received enough hardener.

I talked to the epoxy manufacture last week and they told me not to put a new mix of epoxy on top of epoxy that has not hardened. After spending three days using portable heaters to heat the room to 80 degrees and running a heat gun over the entire boat four times, I gave up. I hate to go backwards but that is what needs to be done. I spent all Sunday afternoon using a heat gun and spatula to strip the epoxy off the boat deck. What a job and what a mess. I was able to remove 80% and most has dried now but not all. I will call the manufacture again today and ask what my next move should be. I am hoping they can suggest a solvent to wipe the remaining epoxy.

OK, now for the Stainless Steel Trim.

A good friend and Squirt Boat Builder Art Atkinson came over on Saturday and gave me some good advice. We practiced and then made a few of the parts. His method for making the bends, hammering out the spear points, drilling the countersinking holes, and polishing stainless steel all proved to be great.

You can also see in the photo above the bad epoxy ( it was later removed).

The stainless steel trim fit very tight with little or no gaps.

I was really happy about the look of all the stainless steel trim. I did not want a joint at the bow of the boat so I made the bend using one piece. I think the Trim turned out very nice and professional.

Dye the Wood

2011-04-15T11:05:00.001-04:00

After many hours of sanding the deck surface down to 220 grit, I was ready to dye the cover boards and king plank. I used a Vintage Cherry wood dye from General Finishes and was very pleased with the results. I believe the darker wood color will give a good contrast between the mahogany planks.

The above photos show the before and after the staining of the mahogany.

Something that I learned was not to remove the Blue Tape to fast and with the grain of the wood. I surprised to see how aggressive the tape was. It pulled the grain of the wood up. Look at the photo. I was able to repair this by sanding but I was surprised that it happened. I solved the problem by taking my time, going slow and pulling up the tape against the grain of the wood.

I also stained the interior trim. The floor boards that can be seen were made from Ash wood.

Trim Work and Fixing Mistakes

2011-04-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

I started working on all the interior trim by making mahogany strips of wood 3/16' thick and then gluing and clamping them to the interior cabin (a week of work). I was very careful to line up the bottom edges of the 3/4" wide strips but once I sanded the tops down flush with the deck, the result was horrible. If you look at the bottom edge you can see the varying width of the trim. The bridge has an arch/curve and once sanded to the arch, a straight line will not work.

Plan Two: The photo's below show the trim with the corrections made.

I made the corrections by taking a wood chisel to all the wood strip pieces and then sanding everything smooth to remove all the previous work.

What I ended up using is mahogany edge banding that was pre-glued and activated using a hot iron (no clamps needed, just a pressure roller). I was totally amazed how nice this banding turned out. The seams are perfect and the edges sanded up very nice. I was able to complete all the interior trim in a weekend.

Trim the Cabin

2011-03-28T09:04:00.000-04:00

I made the mahogany Plugs from scrap and glued them in with epoxy.

It is now time to start some of the finish woodworking around the boat. This includes making some Mahogany wood plugs for the 42 screw holes and fit the trim in around the interior of the cabins and the splash well.

The trim work is very time consuming and it also takes a lot of patients. Time to turn the music on low and just relax. I have worked on this for 3 days and I am guessing I am only about half done.

I started out by making the curved corner pieces and I knew that I could not bend 3/16" material without it breaking so my plan was to glue up 3 pieces 1/16" thick so I could make the bend. The challenge I had was to get the material milled down to 1/16" thickness that I needed. My first attempt was to cut them on the table saw but I needed a zero clearance table saw insert around my blade so I made one. The zero clearance insert turned out really nice and I was confident that the thin stock would not fall into the hole between the blade and the table saw. Attempting to make a practice cut it became clear to me that I would have scrap material between the saw blade and the table saw fence so I stopped before I started. This method appeared to dangerous for me so I decided to use my planner.

I took some of the scape 5/16th inch mahogany deck boards and ran them thru the planner to get them to the 1/16th of an inch I needed. I used a scrap board to place my mahogany onto with double face tape so the planner would not tear up the thin stock. Then I used my heat gun to release the tape and removed my finished material.

I wanted to Pre-bend this material so that it would fit my glue up forms better, so I soaked the wood in hot water and clamped them to the curve in each corner and then let them dry overnight.

Next, I had to make templates for each of the 4 corners in the cabin areas and transfer each curve onto its own form. I then used the forms to glue up 3 pieces of 1/16" material. I let the glue-up dry overnight and then trimmed and epoxy each piece into place. I was only able to do two corners at a time because I ran out of clamps.

I had to get creative with the clamps for the corners

The above photo shows one corner glued in using epoxy.

These photos show some of the trim pieces clamped into position with epoxy.

The Deck is now glued down

2011-03-21T08:25:00.000-04:00

All the epoxy glue up is done and the boat is beginning to show its design. Next, I will need to make mahogany wood plugs for all the screw holes and sanding begins.

In the photos below you can see that I have placed the front seat and side panels into position. They are just there to check the fit and to get a sneak preview. The rear seat has not been finished. I am very happy with the white and burgundy colors as they match the bottom boat paint.

Dry Fit of the Deck Boards

2011-03-17T09:15:00.000-04:00

Now the real fun begins because you can really start to see the boat take shape. The outside cover boards and King Plank (the green taped boards) are all glued in with epoxy and I have started the process of cutting and fitting all of the deck boards.

In this photo, all the deck boards are now dry fit into place. I still need to cut the boards to the proper length. The deck boards are all Mahogany and measure 2 1/8" wide and 5/16" thick. The spacing between the boards are 3/16" and will be filled with white pigmented epoxy. The washers/screws are temporary clamps to hold everything into position.

King Plank & Cutwater

2011-03-14T11:06:00.000-04:00

This week I had the chance to calculate the board widths that will be placed between the outside cover boards. The main board the runs down the center length of the boat is called the "King Plank" and measures 5 5/8" wide. On each side of the King Plank I will place strips of Mahogany that measure 2 1/8" wide by 5/16" thick with white caulking filled in the 3/16" wide gaps.

The King Plank is glued down with MAS Epoxy mixed with Cell-u-loose thickener. The washers are used to clamp the planks down to the sub deck. The green tape was used to protect the outside cover boards from dripping epoxy while I was working on the King Plank. Also, the green tape really shows the cover board shape. It took several days of trimming and sanding to get the outside cover board to get the shape correct. I also used a router in some areas to round over the outside edge. I hand sanded a lot of the outside edge because the side of the boat falls away from the router bit and then I had no place for the guide bearing to rest on. I am very happy with the look.

The above photo is my template for the stainless steel cutwater with lower photo of the transom band. The templates do not show the width or shape of the cutwater and transom bands but they will give the welder good idea for the boat shape. On Saturday I took the templates to a wood boat restoration guy down by Lake St. Clair and his buddy will tack weld me up the pieces I need so I can test fit them.

Epoxy and Clamping Cover Boards

2011-03-07T08:42:00.000-05:00

After fitting and sanding the inside curve of the outside cover boards that surround the entire boarder of the deck it is now time to epoxy/glue and clamp them into position. I had to use a lot of clamps because I wanted to use a limited number of screws to hold the boards down. The screws that I did use will be removed so I can countersink them. I will reinstall with bronze silicon screws and cover the holes with wood plugs.

Clamping the boards down was a real challenge. I was very lucky to be building in my basement because I have a finished wood ceiling and was able to make good use of it. The problem that I had was in the placement of 3rd hand clamps and 2x4 braces. The first problem that I had was that the ceiling lights were directly above the boat. The lights were in the way making the braces clamp because they pushed from an angle vs. straight down and the second issue was the length of the 3rd hand poles. The 3rd hand poles were about 2" to long. The problem caused the braces to slip and once I had one brace in position another one would get loose and fall. I was by myself during this clamping operation. This was one time that I wished I had a helper. One thing that I would do differently next time is not glue up too much at one time. I mixed and spread more epoxy than I should have and I was just not prepared for that much clamping.

The next day it was time to do another area and I learned my lesson and only clamped and epoxy/glued one board. Things went very smooth and my brother Dan stopped by to lend a hand for 20 min. to help hold things in position.

I have one more outside cover board to be glued down and the boarder will be in its place. Next will be to layout and fit the King plank that will run down the center deck the entire length of the boat.

Time to Dress Her Up !

2011-03-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

It is time to start putting on the top decking. Covering up my boat project with the final boards begins to give you an idea how she will look.

The first thing I had to accomplish was the layout on the sub deck. I started by drawing out a 2" square grid. I learned the hard way that easier is not always faster. My metal square was exactly 2" wide so I thought that I would just use that width and do all the marking but any small error showed up over a long distance, in fact the measurements were more than 1/2" off by the time I got to the other end of the boat. All that work had to be lightly sanded off and I started over. This time I used a combination of a string, square, laser light and most important was a tape measure. The grid pattern turned out really good the second time around and will give me the lines to measure from so that both sides of the boat layout will be symmetrical.

The next step in the layout process was to figure out the shape, curve and width of the decking boards. My good friend Terry Kohler came by and we spent a good hour completing the layout and doing some of the calculations needed for the spacing. I used a beam compass to layout the curve for the outside boarder. Once the boarder was determined we figured that a 5 5/8" King Plank and 2 1/2" wide boards with 3/16" spacing will fill the interior area.

The outside boarder board measures about 7" wide and all the mahogany used for this area was taken from one 16' long by 10" wide board. Layout proved to be a little time consuming to get all the grain to match as best I could. Part of the problem came from three issues. The first issue I had was the length of the board. The boat is curved and once I laid it out on the curve I only had a couple of of inches of remaining wood. The second issue came when I resawed the 16' board in half. I wanted to book match the grain and once the board was 5/16" thick it cupped a lot in the wrong direction. The third issue I had was a split about 6" long on the end of the 16' board and of course when it was resawed, I now had a split in both boards.

Careful measuring proved that I could cover the areas needed with only a couple of 1-2" scraps. The cupping in the wood was solved by using towels soaked in very hot water and by putting pressure on the boards with a 3rd helping hand stick and 2X4's pressed between the wood and ceiling. I solved the last problem by orienting the boards so the end splits were place in the cut off areas.

The right tool for the job seams to be hand tools. I continue to be amazed how many times I decide that I would rather use a hand tool over a power tool. My outside boarder boards were 16' long and 10" wide and they were to large to fit on my table saw or chop saw without using some major gymnastics to get the correct angle. The easiest way for me to make the joint cuts were to overlap the boards, draw a line, score the grain of the wood with a utility knife and make the cut by hand with a back saw. I am pleased with the cuts and joints I made.

It seems that I always have someone supervising my work. Our Bengal cat, "Storm" looks on.

Trip to Armstrong Millworks

2011-02-23T12:45:00.003-05:00

Well it was time to go to Armstrong Millworks in Milford, Michigan and select the African Mahogany for the decking on the boat. Good friend and Squirt Builder Art Atkinson volunteered to tag along and help me with selecting some great boards.

When Art was ready to re-saw his wood for the deck on his squirt he used his shop bandsaw to resaw his wood and he said that although his bandsaw did a good job, it was a painfully long task. I have basically the same bandsaw so I selected the easy way out and asked the guys at Armstrong's to resaw and sand the boards to the 5/16th thickness that I needed. Looking back, this was a great decision. The boards turned out great and now they are almost ready for installation. I will still need to run the edge on the jointer so I have one straight edge and then rip the boards to the correct width. Bottom line: Armstrong Millworks is highly recommended by me and others. I have been getting my wood supplies from them for years and they have always been great people to work with.

Dennis Armstrong

Adam is planning the rough wood

Adam and Dennis are resawing the 16' X 10" Mahogany

Art Atkinson lending a hand with the sanding

Ted Gauthier happy with wood grain

Sub Deck Milestone

2011-02-22T10:58:00.001-05:00

My big milestone this week was to epoxy the sub deck onto the top of the boat. I used 1/4" Okoume Marine Plywood for the sub deck. Once again my brother Gary came over and spent the entire day. A very good friend Dave Pohl helped out for a good part of the afternoon. We had a great system set up with one guy mixing epoxy and then spreading it out, drilling, countersinking the holes and then putting in the 3/4" silicon bronze screws. Now that the entire sub deck has been installed, I will need to get the overhanging material trimmed flush with the edges so that the stainless steel bumper rails will fit properly along with the cabin areas so they will accept the trim molding.

Making the Sub-Deck

2011-02-14T08:21:00.001-05:00

I was able to get a lot done on the project this Saturday with the help of my brothers Joey and Gary. They are always there when I need them. Most of the winter I had been working alone on the boat and did not need their assistance but now it was time to start handling large sheets of 1/4 " marine plywood. Sometimes when you have more people working on a project it does not mean that you will get things accomplished twice as fast but this time we were really able to make good use of everyone. Yes, I could have done this part of the project by myself but it would most likely taken me several days and not near as much fun.

The large square wood blocks where used as a washers to support the screws so they would not pull through the plywood under stress.

On Sunday, I took everything apart and flipped the decking over. Everything received a coat of epoxy.

There is still a lot of work that will need to be done with the sub deck. All the seams will need to be glued and clamped with epoxy. The screw holes will all need to be drilled and countersunk to the correct size. This will take time because I want to be sure that I have as much done in the cockpit area as I can before covering the deck. It will be much easier to do it while the deck is open than to crawl under there later. I will also need to do a little bit of fairing in one or two spots where the sub deck did not lay down as nice as I expect.

Steady Work and Making Progress

2011-02-08T11:30:00.001-05:00

I have been slow to update my blog because there is little to show for all the work that I have been putting into my boat project. I have been working on something almost every day.

Rebuild and paint the shifter control selector: I cleaned, polished and painted the shifter control center and then installed all new cables. I started to look at the control cables that I received with the used motor that I bought and found that the old cables were all rusted. After giving it a little thought, I think it was best to just replace them with new and not worry about them breaking.. A safety thing for me..

In the photo below you can see the shifter all painted and put in its place. Also the radio was installed by cutting a hole in the mahogany and mounting the brackets. Here you can also see the red courtesy lights that I installed for a total of four LED strip lights. The walls will have upholstery that is yet to be installed.

The wiring project on the boat was much larger than I ever imagined. I am amazed how much wire is in a simple boat. I now have about 80% of all the electrical installed and tested but most of it still needs to be secured. I used a brother label maker to identify each end of each wire and then covered the label with clear shrink tubing to secure them in place. I also did this when I built my airplane and the time it took paid itself back many times when you need to do repairs.

The switches in the first picture are:

Top = Key switch

Left of the switch panel is a little button switch that is for the courtesy lights

On the Switch panel from left to right are: Horn, Anchor/Nav, Stereo, Bilge Pump1, Bilge Pump2.

Everything is connected and working but not secured

Volt, RPM and Fuel Gauges

Installed supports in both the main and passenger cabin areas around the deck.

I made two speaker mounts that I installed just under the front deck. You will not be able to see them when seating in the boat.

The Steering system has given me my biggest head ache and I have spent so much time and money trying to resolve this problem. The problem that I have been having is not getting enough right and left turn of the motor. In the photo below was an attempt to install a splash well mount steering system. In this setup I used an 11' steering cable. I was not happy with set up so now I am attempting a linkage type steering system that will be mounted above the deck. The Linkage type steering required a 12' cable and a linkage arm. It will also require me to build a custom mount. In my next post, I will show some photos of that setup and let you know how things work out.

It is just a Stick

2011-01-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

I have spent more than a week working on my side bumper rails. Sure they look like a couple of sticks attached to the side of the boat but they are much more than that and very challenging to build. When I think that I will just go down in the basement and a make something up in a few hours I should know that I am just day dreaming. On the surface it looks like it will be an easy task but with a boat, there are curves everywhere and this was no exception. The side of the boat has a curve up and down, along the horizontal axis with a nice twist. Now the chore was to mount a straight bumper rail just at the right location.

The first thing I did was take my time and that paid off by building a stand to hold the wood into position. Every time I put the wood back into position it was in the same exact spot. Then I only had to measure, mark, plane, cut, and sand for two full days to get it fit just right. I am very happy with the results.

I decided to epoxy T-nuts into the bumper rail making hard points so I could bolt them on from the inside of the boat. This way I could pull to rail to the side of the boat making a perfect joint so I could clamp, caulk and epoxy them into position. One trick that worked out well was to put wax on the bolts so the epoxy would not stick to the bolts while I was setting the hard points.

Now that the bumper rails are done, it is time to start working on the steering linkage.

Zip on Floor Jacks - Seat install

2010-12-27T09:07:00.000-05:00

I have done a lot of work on my "Zip" boat project since the last time that I made a post on this blog so I will attempt to give you the rundown. The big milestone was on Christmas Eve when I had most of my brothers, son-in-law and nephews over and they all offered to help me lift the boat and it's cradle so we could place the floor jacks under it. Once everything was raised 12", there was enough room to put the 40hp motor on the transom. I needed to get that into position so I could start to figure out how all the steering linkage and electrical wiring would be connected.

Some of the other things that I have been working on were mounting the battery switch into the rear seat frame, making boxes along side of seats to hide wiring, steering cables, shift control box and of course a place for an afternoon beverage.

I have also built the seat bottoms and backs and started the upholstery project. I really wanted to get the foam seats glued up to them so I could sit on in the seat and feel if the position of each on was correct. I am so glad that I did because when I built the seat frames I thought that everything fit just right with enough room to remove them when I wanted, but I was wrong. The seats did not fit after gluing up the foam pads on the seat bottoms and backs. Ten minutes of trimming saved me major headaches if I had found this out after the fabric was put on them.

Whats next....fairing the top deck, and getting the steering control linkage figured out. Begin the wiring process and having a lot of patience when things don't go just right.

Cutting Holes and Getting things done

2010-12-05T20:45:00.000-05:00

I was able to work on the boat a lot this week and over the weekend. I don't really have much to show for all the work that I put into this part of the project but a few things were real milestones. Most of the week I have taking everything apart I previously fabricated so I could epoxy and glue them. These items included the seat box frames, seat bottoms and backs and four side panels. If you notice in the pictures, the interior of the boat is gutted. The reason it is empty again is: That is the process you need to go through when building. You fabricate and then take it apart, epoxy it and then reinstall it. It is almost like building several boats because you end up putting things together and taking them apart many times in the course of fabricating.

The seats are gone to the upholstery shop. I ordered my own fabric and fabricated everything that I wanted to have upholstered and I found a real talented lady about a mile from my house who is taking on that part of project.

I spent a good part of the weekend cutting holes in the instrument panel for the instruments. I will have an RPM, fuel gauge and a volt meter in the dash. The biggest project was to cut a 2 1/4" hole and (3) 5/16" holes to mount the steering wheel. I have been waiting a week for the 20 degree mount and it finally came in so I made a trip to West Marine to pick it up. I did not have the correct size hole saw so I also made a trip over to my brother Joey's and he loaned me his. A couple of 1 1/2" holes were needed in the bulkhead to route the steering cable and the rough mounting and fitting of Teleflex rack mounting system was complete.

I also mounted the bilge pumps and made a box to house the battery. The battery drops right into the box and it is very secure. I always worry about accidents and the possibility of sever weather so I added tie downs for budgie cords if needed.

Proof of Concept - Boat in the Kitchen.

2010-11-28T19:10:00.001-05:00

You Sure it Will Make it out of the Basement?

A good friend of mine who is building a "Squirt" boat in his basement asked me to come over this weekend and help get his boat out of his basement and into the kitchen. His name is Art Atkinson and you can follow his blog and watch his progress. He is really building a piece of artwork.

The PROOF OF CONCEPT - The million dollar question? Will it really come out of the basement? Art wanted to build in the basement because that is where his wood shop and all the tools are located. But will the boat fit around all the corners and up the stairway and through the kitchen. So, before starting his project he made a jig that had the dimensions of his boat and the jig fit so he started building. Fast forward, a year later he now he has a hull and really did not know if his new boat would make all the turns.

Art is to the point in his boat building that he will need to start working on the deck. If he was going get that boat out of the basement the way he planned then now was the time. The boat is lighter now than it will be when finished and if it does not fit up the stairway and into the kitchen then into the garage and finally outside he would have all winter long to plan an alternative option.

Check out his wife's Kitchen....Yes, Art Atkinson built every little piece and it is so beautiful it has been featured in magazines. Did you notice the padding on the glass cabinet. This is what we were faced with at the top of the stairway.

Well, as you can see......Art's planning was perfect. No problems, the boat fits up the stairs and we were able to get it into the kitchen. We were all smiles and so was his wife Vicki. She said, OK take it back down in the basement and finish it. So, that is what we did, we took it back down in the basement and Art will continue to build.

The moving crew from left to right....Bill, Ted, Art, Rick and Brett.

Making Progress with the Interior

2010-11-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

I have been working long hours and finally feel like I am making progress. The floor is now behind me and I am onto boxing out the interior. My first step was to make two boxes out of Mahogany along side of the seats. These boxes will serve several purposes. They will help in the finished look of the interior, be used as mounting supports and cup holders and they will also hide some cables and wires. They were very time consuming and took me more that a week to build. The inside wall of the boat is curved from front to back and sloped up and down. Need I say, there are no square corners on a boat unless you build them.

My next step was to figure out where everything was going to be placed. This includes the instrument panel that houses the fuse panel/switches. I started with a $50 piece of wood and put in a slopped instrument panel 5" in front of the one in the photo above. Once I realized that I wanted more room in the pilot cockpit I discarded that panel ( after 4 hours of work) and now I am going with my original frame as the instrument panel/dash and I will tilt just the steering wheel 20 degrees for comfort. I wanted to position the fuse/switch panel in the right corner so I needed to make a mount for it. It does not look like much but this little guy took me an entire evening after work to design and build. I will epoxy it to the existing frame/instrument panel and when it is done will look like one piece of material..

Next, building the seat bottom frame boxes, seat bottoms and backs. The seat bottoms and backs are removable and sit in the frame box. I still have another day of work on the seating but the rough fitting is done. I think I spent almost as much time thinking, measuring, and designing as I did building the seats. I will not fasten the seat boxes into position until my upholstery is done and the steering wheel is mounted. I want to be sure that the seating is comfortable and in the correct position.

Like I mentioned above, the seating is rough fit so my next project will be to finish them up. I need to drill a couple of drain/air circulation holes in the seat bottoms. I need to router all the edges on the seats so the upholstery will not tear from use. The final thing for this stage will be to make some templates and cut out four insert panels that will be upholstered on the right and left side of each seat.

The floor is installed

2010-11-15T08:31:00.001-05:00

I have finally completed the floor installation. The rear floor area was milled to 1/2" X 4.25" Ash and that weight came in at 17 lbs. I am pleased with the look and now it will be time to move forward.

What is next?
This afternoon I will make another trip to the wood mill to pick up a few more Mahogany boards. I will then start to make the bumper rails and boxing in the seat areas.

Taking some Weight Off

2010-11-08T08:40:00.000-05:00

I have been working on the floor of the boat. I made this floor from 3/4" ash and installed the two front sections. The three sections are made up from front (under the deck), the main cockpit area and rear passenger cockpit area. I really like the looks of the floor but the weight of the floor has bothered me. I just had to know, so I put the floor from the under the deck and the main cockpit onto the scale and it came in at 72 pounds. I went to the table saw and set up a dado blade and was able to shed 8.5 pounds off the weight.

Now my plan is make the rear cockpit floor from 1/2 inch Ash. The span is not as long and I don't think the planks need to be as thick. I will need to take the rough Ash that I have planed to 3/4 in, down to 1/2 in for the rear floor.

Yesterday evening, my brother Gary joined me for a few hours and were able to fit all the blocking and supports for rear floor.

It continues to surprise me how long some of the little things take to make. Once again it was great to have my brother help me with measuring and fitting. It is also nice to have someone around so you can run ideas back and forth and come up with a better plan.

Interior Structure lay out

2010-10-31T19:39:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been sometime since my last post and I am sorry about that. I have been very busy with life, the house, my airplane and just very busy at the fire department. I have been working on the boat at least 2-3 times a week and even though it does not look like it in the photos, I have accomplished a lot of work on my boat. In earlier pictures that I had posted, most of the interior structure was cut and fit into position and was held in position with either clamps or screws.Now, all the battens and motor well/splash well, bridge and passenger compartments and permanently glued/epoxied and screwed into position.

The fuel tank is now in position. Building the motor well and doing the layout of both passenger compartments were a big job. The real truth was that it just took a lot of thought and measuring.

I also decided to put in two drain holes with the brass plugs on the outside of the transom. I will have two bilge pumps but if I ever park the boat outside without the battery, I will have an option to drain some water. The other to drain holes do not have a plug and remain open to let the splash water drain out. I also put a couple of side holes into the well so the bilge can pump into the well so the water will flow out by gravity.

Next, I will be to build a battery mount, control mounts and the seat boxes but before I do all that, I will need to finish the floor in the rear passenger compartment. All the other flooring is done and fitted, I just removed it for now so I have room to work with spilling epoxy on it.

Motor Well / Splash Well

2010-09-30T13:27:00.000-04:00

I have cut and fitted all the parts for the splash well and things are looking good. My good friend Art Atkinson came over and helped me lift my 40 hp Johnson outboard onto the transom. I wanted to see if I was going to have enough clearance before I epoxied everything into solid state. Well, the answer was not really. On the first attempt the motor did not fit on the transom because it measured 2 1/2" thick so I got out my router once again and cut away. Now the transom width measures 2 1/4" and the motor slipped right into position and the clearance around the splash/motor well is good. So now, I need to get at drilling two drain holes and start to epoxy everything into position.

Fuel Tank Install

2010-09-28T09:08:00.000-04:00

I know it has been a while since my last post but I am back at boat building again. I have struggled with the placement of the fuel tank. As a matter of fact, I purchased a portable and a permanent fuel tank but at the end, I decided to go the permanent route. I like the idea of a portable because I really don't need a lot of fuel and it would be nice to take the tank out for filling on shore but I just did not feel that I had the room to get the tank in and out and the bottom line is that I really did not like the look of an open well in the rear of the boat.

So, my final decision was a mounted fuel tank. I choose a 12gal tank which I am mounting in left aft of the boat. I ran into a few problems and they were all related to space. The tank was just a little high because I had an 1 1/2" stiffener epoxied to the floor batten. Using a router made a fast work to remove the vertical stiffener allowing the fuel tank to sit directly on the floor battens. The position of the tank was important because I needed to allow room for the bilge pump between the tank and the transom knee. Another area that I needed to pay close attention to was the slope of the splash well. The top corner of the fuel tank needed to clear the bottom of the splash well. I will have photos of the enclosed splash well fitting in my next post.

If you look very close in the photos you can see that I have epoxied stainless steel bolts into the floor batten making a hard point. I feel that these hard points, attached using nylon nuts will be much stronger than screws. All of the fasteners are not installed in the photos but you can see how the fuel tank is clamped into postion.

The only problem with this fuel tank location is that the rear seat box will need to be removed if there ever is a need to take the tank out for service. It can be done, but will be a challenge to reach your arm around the tank.

Windshield Brackets Arrived

2010-08-10T20:10:00.000-04:00

I ordered my windshield brackets from Lake Shore Aluminum Castings in Erie, Pa and they are now in my hands. At the same time that I ordered mine, I also got a set for Squirt builder and friend Art Atkinson. Art is now doing the research for us. We are going to get them polished and chrome plated.

If you look at the Zip boat at the very top of this page you can get an idea of what the windshield will look like once the glass is installed.

Layout of Floor and Fuel Tank

2010-08-09T15:34:00.000-04:00

I have been busy encapsulating the floor boards with epoxy and trying to figure out where to place the fuel tank. I bought a portable tank but after trying it in the boat I thought that it would be very difficult to remove without leaving the rear compartment open. Having to leave the rear compartment open is not the look I want so I purchased a permanent fuel tank and now I am measuring for it's installation.

Outboard Motor Startup Video

2010-07-18T21:50:00.002-04:00

Today my brother Gary and I were able to start up my Johnson 40hp outboard for the first time since I purchased it last fall. When I bought this engine it was out of the water and all I had was an opportunity to turn it over so it was very exciting to see it run. No problems. I used an Odyssey Battery 680 with 225 amps (the same battery that I use in my airplane and it turns that 200hp engine over in -4 deg weather with no problems).

Floor Layout

2010-07-09T19:36:00.000-04:00

I have begun to layout the floor. I am using 4 1/4" X 3/4" "Ash" boards with 1/4" spacing. They are just put in position. They are not fastened because I will need to remove them so I can epoxy coat the floor supports before the final assembly.

Interior framing has started

2010-07-06T11:16:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I have made any postings on my boat build but I will have more photos and news on my progress in the following weeks. I have been working on the boat a couple of days a week because of the great weather that we are having here in Michigan. This project is a hobby, so the speed of things have slowed down while I enjoy the outside weather.

I have been able to put some of the structure supports into position. They are not glued or fastened into position. I am trying to make a few important decisions before I make them permanent. I need to figure out the fuel system. I am having a hard time deciding if I should make the tank permanent or a portable tank. It all comes down to how much room I have and the type of use this boat will see. As of right now, I am leaning towards putting in a portable tank. I have a plastic dock and I get a lot of static electricity and a portable tank would allow me fill the tank on shore and not have that worry about a fire. (That would not look good if the Fire Chief had a fire for doing something stupid). A portable tank also allows me to keep the gas fresh.

I have also obtained my wood for the floor. I will be using Ash wood for the floor. I will plank the floor with 4 1/4" X 3/4" with the spacing of 1/4".

Life Gets in the Way

2010-06-20T09:37:00.003-04:00

Well, not much boat building going on. On Friday night we got hit with a nice storm, taking out one of the top limbs on my willow tree. Needless to say, I spent all day Saturday cleaning up the mess. I was able to make a run to Detroit and pick up a few sheets of 1/2 inch marine birch plywood so I would have the wood on hand when I started to make the seat base. Today is Fathers Day, so I am just planning on spending some time with my wife on the lake and watch a little golf in the evening. You have got to love a DVR. My daughter, Dawn lives in Chicago and see sent me a real nice package of cookies. We will spend all next weekend together flying hot air balloons in the Howell, Michigan Balloon Festival.

A Boat Builder's Visit

2010-06-18T08:02:00.005-04:00

On Wednesday evening "Zip" boat builder, Howard Katzman from West Bloomfield, Michigan came over to my house to see my project and give me a little critique on my "Zip". Howard has a wonderful boat and it really shows when you look at all the details. Howard offered to have me take another look at his boat so I jumped at the opportunity. On Thursday evening I was able to take measurements and get a real good idea on the challenges ahead of me. Also, visiting with me were my brother Gary, Uncle Ray and "Squirt" boat builder Art Atkinson.

In the first photo is a Howard looking over my "Zip". Picture two, from left to right. (Howard, Ted, Art). Picture three, shows all of the photos that Howard gave me of his build process.

My "Zip" Flip

2010-06-11T13:00:00.000-04:00

June 12, 2010....It was a monumental night. Thursday afternoons are golf night and we finished a little early. Once we were in the clubhouse we started talking about my boat build and I explained that I was ready to flip my boat. Everyone said, "Lets do it now", so the decision was made. I gave a call to my neighbors Scott and Heath and "Squirt Boat Builder", Art Atkinson. With the help of a friend and golfer Rick, brothers Joey and Gary, Uncle Ray and my wife Lynn (photographer). The boat was picked up and Flipped over. What a feeling. The same great feeling I had when my airplane was in the canoe stage of building and we rolled it over to look inside the cockpit for the first time. Just like moving day for the airplane. Thanks too everyone who helped me get to this stage in my build.

Ready to make the "Flip"

2010-06-10T08:28:00.000-04:00

After 2 coats of primer and 6 coats of color and hours and hours of sanding, buffing and polishing I am ready to "Flip" my boat over and start working on the inside and the top deck. I did have many issues with painting and I never did get it as nice as I hoped but it is good enough and I need to start moving forward. The straw that broke the camels back was when I was almost done sanding, just before buffing when I tipped over the halogen light and it fell right on the corner of the chine taking out a big chip in the paint right down to the fiberglass. That is when I yelled, "uncle" and said, make the repair and move forward. I came to grips with the fact that 90% of what I painted will be under water and it still looks pretty darn good.

A friend of mine and fellow boat builder Art Atkinson loaned me two floor jacks and a large oak stairway rail so I could support the boat while I dismantled the Jig that is located under the boat.

The Jig is now removed and the cradle that the boat will sit on once it is flipped over is waiting for the boat. Now all I need to do is get a half dozen guys together and flip this thing. I am hoping this will happen Friday afternoon.

Yeah...The Boat is Flip, but it is not mine

2010-06-08T13:04:00.000-04:00

Monday afternoon I was asked to help Art Atkinson flip his "Squirt" boat project. He is doing an excellent job. Take a look at his blog by clicking on the link above.

Visit with Dale McCann

2010-06-05T16:51:00.000-04:00

A Chris Craft Restroration: (click on any photo to enlarge)
It is amazing what you see driving down the road if you are looking. I found a new friend who is in the middle of his Chris Craft Restoration. I was on my way to have a couple of new tires installed on my hot air balloon chase vehicle when I looked out of the corner of my eye and thought that I saw an old wooden boat in a guys garage. I thought to myself, no that could not be. I flashed back when I first got into hot air balloons (more than 35 years ago) when every thing I saw driving down the road was a balloon in the air. I remember going around a curve and seeing what I thought was a balloon only to find out when I got closer that it was just a water tower. But this time it was a different feeling so pulled over to the side of the road and turned around. It really was a wooden boat. Those of you who know me well, know that I am not shy about stopping to say Hi to a stranger. I am glad that I did. Dale McCann of West Bloomfield, Michigan is in the middle of restoring his Chris Craft and I was very impressed with his workmanship and knowledge. Dale took time from his project and made me feel very welcome. It is always great to meet new boat enthusiasts who are willing to share their experience. I invited Dale to stop by when he has an opportunity and take a look at my build. I will try to keep in touch with Dale and keep you posted on his project. I have attached a few pictures of his boat status here so you can see the progression of his re-launch.

Vistor and Boat Builder

2010-05-25T07:42:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I had a fellow co-worker/friend/Squirt Boat builder stop by to try out his antique boat motor. Art Atkinson is building a squirt (doing a wonderful job) and purchased a motor for his Squirt over the winter. He did have an opportunity to run it in a bucket but that is not the same as taking it out for a spin around the lake. Art, hooked it up to my fishing boat and put it to the test. I am sure that he will post more photos and inform ation on his blog.

As far as my progress with my "Zip Boat". I have been moving at a snails pace. Life has really gotten in the way. Summer is here and the hot air air balloon is very active. I have been doing some traveling to inspect a few airplanes and my hot water tank dumped its water so I spent a day replacing that. I have had the opportunity to get some airplane flying in. Last Saturday I flew to Grosse Isle, Mi. were they had a small boat show (display of new and used boats) that was interesting. Stay tuned, I am doing a little more sanding, and some polishing on the boat and should be ready to flip in a week or two.

Row Boat Seat Repair

2010-05-16T18:22:00.000-04:00

I have spent the last several days repairing the bench seats in the row boat. This spring when I flipped the boat over after storing it elevated and upside down during the winter I found the plywood seats completely dry rot. Lucky for me, I built an airplane and still have all my tools which include rivet guns, squeezer, rivets and a good table saw. This boat has a mix of pulled rivets and hard rivets which presented a few problems taking everything apart. After three coats of exterior paint see looks like new again. When I got everything apart, I found that a couple of the support brackets were tore apart and there was nothing holding them in place. I fabricated new supports and riveted them in position and now it is stronger than ever.

Looks like it is time for me to put my 10 hp motor on her and do some fishing. I know I have another boat to finish, but that is also a Hobie so they will have to take turns.

No More Orange Peel

2010-05-09T11:11:00.000-04:00

The paint job is turning out pretty good. The best thing is that I finally figured out how to get rid of the orange peel but let me tell you it was a learning process. Just like everything you do in life you wish you had a chance to do it over again because you know that you could do much better the next time. I will save you all the stories and grief that I went through so I will just tell you how I did it. It certainly is not perfect and never will be but I may do a little more just to make my mind happy. My wife, Lynn and my airplane buddies keep telling me to move on, it's just a boat, but I know it is there and if I see a flaw..I know it will bother me and it will be so much easier to fix things now while the boat is upside down.

OK, lets get to it....Here is the process that worked for me. If you look close (on the right) you can see how the paint looked after it was first applied. REMEMBER- You can click on any photo to see a close up.

This is the Orange Pad and Swirl & Haze.

This is the White Pad and Fine Finish

Half the bottom done.

Two coats of primer and one coat of color. Sand the primer after 2hrs, then primer, then sand (400-600grit), then color. Then let the color harden for at least 48hrs and sand between each coat. 5 coats of color...you may not need that many coats if you are more careful with your sanding than I was. The last coat of color I sanded with 600grit, 1000grit, 1200grit.. This is what it took for me to get rid of the orange peel and all the air bubbles that did not flow out after using a roller. I tried using a brush to tip the paint after using a roller but that caused more problems with the brush marks not flowing out. The brush marks were so deep that I would rather deal with the orange peel and all the air bubbles. The air bubbles left bumps all over. It looked and felt like someone sprinkled sand in the paint but the wet sanding took care of the that.

The magic came in when I started using the Adams Polishes system. I used a Porter Cable 7424 polisher with the Orange pad and Swirl & Haze remover. The next step is the white pad with the fine finish. The photos show the result. I will later use the black pad and the wax.

I did have a couple of very small spots where I held the polisher to long and made a shinny spot (burn spot)...the learning curve that I was telling you about. They are very small and on the bottom so I am not going to worry about them. Oh yeah....VERY Important, wait at least 2 weeks before buffing with a machine. The paint is still soft and I think this is why I have a couple of burn spots. The one thing that I am not happy with is my wet sanding. I have two sanding spots about 6 inches long where I sanded too much and I can see a color change. I think I will tape them off, sand and repaint. I can still flip the boat because I can get at them in a couple of weeks and polish them like new.

Time to move on and get this boat flipped.

Update on Sanding Paint

2010-05-05T09:02:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am working on the boat. I have not made a post here in a while because there is not much to report. Click on the Blog Archive months in the right hand column if you wish to see photos and discriptions of my progress with this build.

Here is the status. I have applied 2 coats of primer and 5 coats of color to the bottom of the boat. Each time I have been sanding between coats. One of the main reasons it is taking such a long time is that you need to wait at least 48 hours to sand but you really need to wait at least a week for the paint to fully harden. I am at that stage now, where I am waiting a couple of weeks because I would like to try to buff and polish the paint. Each time I apply a coat of color I have orange peel and not all the bubbles in the paint want to flow out smooth. This requires sanding and sanding and more sanding. The plan is to do a final sanding to 1200 grit and then buff it out. My polishing supplies have been ordered and I will be really ready to move on. I will post again next week and I am hoping for some good results.

Sanding Orange Peel

2010-04-05T08:38:00.000-04:00

Sanding, sanding and more sanding. I guess I am just not happy with the way that the paint layed down on the bottom of the boat. Using the roller for application will leave an orange peel texture that needs to removed if you really want to get that shine when you buff. The only way that I know of is to sand out this bumpy texture. I am sanding with 400 and 600 grit wet sandpaper and will increase to 1500 grit. I am using soapy water, changing it often and wiping the surface down as I go.

The shinny area has not been sanded yet. The dull areas have all been sanded. Once sanded with 400 grit I will add another layer of paint and they sand the entire boat one more time. I am hoping this will be the last time. I will need to be less aggressive by using a finer grit sandpaper so I don't go too deep into the paint. This is a long process because it takes about 6-8 hrs of sanding between coats and a week for the paint to cure each time. I think this bottom photo shows you a more accurate color of the burgundy paint color.

Here is the Color

2010-03-28T16:56:00.000-04:00

This weekend I began painting the bottom of my boat. I used Supermarine Marine Paint because it came highly recommended by another builder. There were several other reasons, like self leveling, durability, you could apply it with a roller or brush and low odor. The roller application and the low odor were very important because I am doing this in my basement.

I found the color to be just as advertised "low odor", but the primer (664 primer) odor was very strong. Lucky for me, I was able to open the outside door in the Florida room and turn a fan on. That helped a lot. The other thing that was helpful (and important), was my wife was out of town this weekend visiting my daughter in Chicago. Boy, was I glad that I did not have to listen to her saying, "Boy does that smell". I already new that. The smell from the primer went away in 24 hours. Just in time for her return. Life is good.

The paint process is going well. A coat of primer and wait 2 hours and lightly sand. While I was waiting, my brother Gary and I drove to Public Lumber in Detroit and picked up some more Mahogany Plywood. When I returned it was time for the second coat of primer, then 2 more hours to kill so I took off to airport and changed the oil in my airplane. Then it was time to apply the color (300MT Burgundy, SM-1000 Revolution). The color went on great and flowed out nice. Now I will wait for 48 hours, lightly sand and apply a second coat of color.

A couple of things that I did, that worked out good for me were that I lightly sanded between each coat of primer and color with 220 grit paper. I also went to the dollar store and bought a small ladle. Using the ladle was an easy way for me to measure the 10% thinner that I needed to add to the color. Another thing that I was worried about was when to pull the tape. I used the green tape. This green tape is great and leaves a nice line. I painted both coats of primer and the color with the same tape. I waited 30 minutes after applying the color and then pulled the tape off. No problems at all, the tape came off the boat great and no paint came with it.

Several people have asked if I am going to paint the whole boat and the answer is No. Just the bottom of the boat and a few inches on the side will have paint. Everthing else will be Mahogany. I am thinking about adding a small vinyl gold and/or black accent strip between the burgundy and wood.

Building a Cradle

2010-03-21T18:01:00.000-04:00

I had some spare time in the build process because I am waiting a week for the epoxy to fully cure before I paint the bottom of the boat. The timing was perfect to build a cradle which will hold the boat. I will need this cradle to stabilize the boat after it is flipped to the up position which will be done after painting. I am glad that I decided to build it before the paint was on because the epoxy is tuff and can withstand more abuse from the lumber than the paint.

All it took were (5) five 2" X 6" X 8' boards and a small piece of carpeting. This was all fastened together with with 3 and 4 inch drywall screws and staples. I was very happy to see how it turned out and it meet all my goals. It was cheap to build, level, solid and low to ground. I wanted it low to the ground because I know that I will be climbing in and out of it during the build.

Next weekend I will tape off the bottom of the boat and apply two coats of primer and one coat of color. It is getting exciting now.

Skeg is Installed

2010-03-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was able to make use of my broken piece of Mahogany used for the Chine. It happened to be just the right length so all I had to do was tapper it from 2" aft to 1" forward, round the corners and install. I used epoxy thickened with milled fiberglass and 2" brass silicon screws to secure it in place. I taped the area around the skeg before a coat of epoxy. This made the cleanup very easy. All I have to do now is fill the screw holes and let all the epoxy cure for a week and then the painting begins. ( I will only be painting the bottom of the boat, the sides will remain with the wood look )

Fiberglassing the Bottom Trailing Edge

2010-03-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

The Fiberglass work on the outside of hull is 90% done and 90% to go. That is what every one says when it looks like you are almost done with a project and there seems to be so much more work to do before it is completed. I have been working for the last couple of weeks with fiberglass and epoxy followed by washing and sanding and sanding and sanding....I keep saying, I LOVE SANDING but it does not help. The only thing that does help it seeing the progress being made and how nice the boat is looking.

The one thing that I have been working hard to get right is to fiberglass and sand everything straight and level. If the bottom is not straight and level, I am told you could have issues with the boat propusing and I want to avoid that problem. A very important part of the hull shape is the the bottom edge along the transom. The area where the transom and hull meet needs to be a very sharp edge. When you first lay up your fiberglass cloth over this area the edge is sanded round so the cloth will lay flat and not cause air bubbles under the glass. This is a problem because in high speed boats this area needs to be a sharp edge for better performance. My solution was to tape a scrap piece of wood with duct tape (so the epoxy will not stick to it) and make a form/dam for the epoxy mixed with fiberglass powder to form against. After the epoxy hardened, I pulled the form and all the edge needed was just a little sanding to get just right. Did I mention sanding again. It was very nice to have the boat so close to the wall so I could use some scrape wood to apply pressure against the form. No need for clamps, just a little more duct tape and it was held into position nicely.

Fiberglassing and Epoxy Resin

2010-03-07T19:56:00.000-05:00

What a great weekend to be with my brothers, well almost all of them. Gary and Joey spent their Saturday and Sunday helping with my project which is quickly becoming their project because they seem to be here anytime when I need an extra hand.

When you are fiberglassing you need as many hands as you can get so when my brother Dan stopped by to take a look we also put him to work for a few hours on Saturday. My youngest brother Marty did not come by but I did have a chance to have breakfast with him on Sunday morning before I took my airplane out to burn holes in the sky for an hour and a half. My oldest brother Guy lives in Texas so he has an excuse not to be here helping but he is always there to give me some good advice and put his two cents worth in on the phone or email.

I started last week by applying two coats of MAS epoxy resin and sanding and washing between coats. Saturday we sanded and washed the boat then fiberglassed using 6 oz fiberglass cloth. One guy mixed epoxy and two guys spread it out. On Sunday, Gary and Joey came over and we applied another two coats of epoxy. After it dries (about 24 hrs), the sanding begins. I will sand to a smooth surface, trying not to get down into the fiberglass cloth. Then I will put one or two final thin coats on before we can begin painting the bottom. I have ordered the paint and primer and that should arrive next week.

Completed the Hull Shape

2010-03-04T08:09:00.000-05:00

It is getting exciting now. I can finally see the shape of my boat. My brother Gary and good friend Terry Kohler came over last Sunday and we worked for 4 hours fitting the last piece of plywood into postion to complete the plywood planking on the bottom. It was really special to have Terry come over and help because he gave up part of his birthday morning/afternoon to lend me a hand. Thanks, Terry.

The wood blocks located around the final piece were used as washers to relieve the pressure placed on the bent wood.

After all the plywood planking was epoxied and screwed, the screw holes were filled with famowood filler and joints were sealed with epoxy resin mixed with wood flour filler.

Then I placed a 6" wide fiberglass cloth over all the joint seams and epoxied them in place. Then came sanding or feathering all the seams to smooth service.

I used clear epoxy to encapsulate the entire bottom of the boat.

Next will be to sand the epoxy until I am happy with a flat smooth surface and lay up the entire boat with fiberglass cloth. ( the progress and work done for this post was done over a week period)

Panic or Frustration

2010-02-17T08:31:00.001-05:00

Not really “Panic”, but more like frustration. As a Fire Chief, Registered Nurse and Paramedic for years I have seen my share of panic. Last night had its moments of highs and lows. Gary and I started off with all smiles, reminiscing on how good the boat looked. We began working on planking the bottom of boat near the bow. We measured the area and yes we double and triple checked before we made the cut. The plan was to get both sides out of one sheet of mahogany plywood ($69 sheet). Well, things did not go as planned. The piece was too small. That’s where panic came in and then we said it’s just a piece of wood and not a finger. We tried everything we could to make it fit and finally just gave in to our mistake. We knew why the piece would not fit after we scratched our head. We measured from a straight line but a straight line is not really a straight line when it runs down the keel – stem – to the tip of the bow. When you bend a straight line it becomes a curved line and there’s our problem.

I still had enough wood from the remainder of the sheet to cut another side so we pressed forward. After laying the new oversized cut piece into position I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to bend this and get a “sweet curve” without snapping it in half.

I sent a panic email to another good friend and Zip builder Chris Atwood to confirm that I was installing it correctly. Chris got right back to me and we were both on the same page. You have got to love cell phones and reassuring friends.

Here is how I installed this piece. It may not be the right way but it worked well for me. No hot towels or steam was needed and the piece went right into position. All three sides of this piece needed to be custom cut and fit. After rough cutting the pie shaped piece I fitted the edge along the Chine. Back cutting the edge with a slight bevel as we went along. Then we started the bend. Using wood blocks as washers to give more surface area we stated at the bow point and worked our way along the chine line and the stem toward the rear of the boat. Then we struck a line across the boat to fit the joint between the panels. Next, I marked and cut a straight line along the stem. I did leave about a 1/8” overhang on the stem that will be planned off after the epoxy dries.

After six hours of determination I was very happy again with nice job we did. All is good.

Planking and Epoxy

2010-02-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

It is amazing how much you can get done when you have a three-day weekend. This week was President’s Day and I had Monday off for the holiday so I put my time to good use. My good friend Terry Kohler and my brother Gary came over to lend a hand. When it came time to epoxy and screw the sides and bottom on I had my hands full and they were a big help, always one step ahead of me.

Gary Gauthier and Terry Kohler, they work for food...yeah

I learned that you really don’t want to leave a lot wood over hanging because it just causes you more work later when you need to trim it off. Another lesson learned is that I wish that I had made my “jig” a little taller. If the boat frame was mounted just a little higher it would be easier to get under the boat if you wanted to mark something or just look things over. It would also be just a little easier on your back, not having to bend over so much.

I was very happy to see how well things fit. All that fairing is paying off. The seams along the joints fit great and things are going well. A few straps helped the clamps pull everything into position for the final fit. Pre-bending the plywood with hot towels really gave the wood shape so we did not need to put a lot of pressure on side pieces.

I am using famowood wood filler to cover the screws and MAS epoxy with wood filler to seal the joints.
Next…. will be to finish sand everything smooth and epoxy an end cap ¼” plywood on the transom. The only end grain that will show will be covered with a stainless steel transom band.

I will also need to finish planking the bottom (front), fill the screws with filler and seal the joints with epoxy. I am not sure when this will happen because I am leaving for vacation this week and will be gone all next week. My wife, Lynn and I are off to our vacation home in Longview, Texas located on Lake Cherokee.

Fairing & Plywood Side Planking

2010-02-08T08:22:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a while since my last post but I did have two excuses. My first excuse is that fairing is hard to see and fairing is very boring read about and my second is that I lost my camera. The following photos I took with my cell phone and the light makes them look brown. Fairing is just smoothing or planning off wood on the chines and sheers so that the plywood planking will lay flat on the surface of the longitudinal members. It is a long slow process and you really cannot see anything happening in photos. I wished that I had taken a couple of pictures with all the wood chips on the floor; you really do remove a lot of wood. I just needed to take my time and keep checking my progress with a straight edge. Fairing is an important part of building because if you don't get it right your boat will not have smooth sides and bottom. I was sure glad when it was completed but I was pleased to see how it all turned out.

Once all the fairing was done it was time to move on to the side plywood planking. The idea is to attach the 1/4" mahogany plywood to boat framework with #8 3/4" silicone bronze screws. I purchased 4'X 8" sheets and they needed to be cut in half making two 2' X 8' pieces for each side of the boat. The problem is that the plywood needs to wrap around the framework and curve was too sharp without once again adding some steam so the wood would bend without breaking. The other issue was the length was about 16' so I need to fiberglass them together make one long plywood piece for each side that was wider than the 24” width that I had. I was trying to get the most out of a sheet of plywood because they are $129 each; I off set them so I would have the correct width along the length of the boat. I used a piece of plywood as a backer board and fiber glassed a butt joint to achieve the length that I needed.

I found that pre fitting the plywood with clamps and using towels soaked in hot water made bending a breeze. When it came time to do the final assembly, the wood went right into position.

The one thing that I did just prior to gluing and screwing with epoxy was to the test fit with clamps and marking all the screw holes with an “EVEN RIVET FAN SPACING TOOL”. This is a fan spacer that has 20 fingers / opens to 38” @ 2”. I happened to have this tool when I built my airplane and I used it for layout and marking of equal spacing for screw hole patterns. It worked out great for spacing the screws in a straight line every 3". You can get one of these for $45 at Averytools.com

My brother Gary came over once again and helped me install this 16' piece. A good friend, Terry Kohler also stopped by to see my progress so I put him to work helping us clamp things into position while we drilled and screwed the plywood sheet into place for the final time. Be careful, if you stop by to look you may become a boat builder.

It's a Boat Party

2010-01-16T15:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, people can tell it is a going to be a Boat and not an Airplane !

Today we had a build party and finished up with the sheers. We epoxied the strips of 5/8" thick Mahogany together for the last sheer. It was fit into position, screwed and clamped. My brother Gary was amazed how many clamps we used (52) and we still could have used more. My Brothers, Gary, and Joey came over along with my nephew Travis which made the job of gluing everthing up a simple task. When I clamped up one of the Chines, I was all by myself and not only was it a tough job but it took three times as long. (left to right...Ted, Gary, Joey)

Ted, Joey, Gary & Travis Gauthier

THE BONES OF THE BOAT ARE DONE:

I call it the bones of the boat because it is the main structure. Well not all the structuce because there is certainly more to do once we flip this thing over but for now we are done building the framework. I am very happy with the all the joints and my epoxy work. Next job in order will be to begin the fairing. Fairing is when you bevel all the pieces to make a smooth transition around the bottom of the boat giving the planking a solid resting surface.

I have attached some photos of my crew and our progress so far.

The Breasthook / Sheer attach point.

The Sheer clamped into positon.

The Sheer / Transom intersection

A closer look at the intersection joint.

Chines - Sheers and Limbers

2010-01-13T09:19:00.001-05:00

Chines
The Chines are now epoxied into position. They were a real chore. Having two 3/8" pieces for each chine I needed to epoxy them together and I found that it was easy to do with them clamped in position on the frame. I just separated the two pieces and used a foam roller with epoxy resin and squeezed the roller between them, then clamped as I went along. The following day my brother's Gary and Joey came over and we cut the chines to fit the stem and transom and then epoxied both chines into position.

Sheers
The sheer bending went great. Soaking the strips in the PVC tube for 48 hrs and then wrapping them with hot towels really worked well. I am limited for space because I am building in my basement so the plan was to bend one sheer (two pieces of 5/8") and clamp for a day. Then dry for a day. Then I removed the bent wood sheer and flipped it over and clamped it to the other side where space was limited. Then I bent the next sheer using the same plan, soak in water for 48 hours and using hot towels....All went well. The best thing that I did was to make a clamping block for the breast hook. This gave me something for the pipe clamp to clamp on.

Limbers
Limbers are just drain holes in the bottom of the boat that allows the water to move aft and find its way to the drain plug. I used my router with a fence attach to make the limbers in the rear battens. I did not put any limbers in the Keel because I was not sure if that would make that area weak. I will need to do some research to find out what others are doing. If I leave the keel separating the limbers then I will need to install two drain plugs, one on each side of the keel.

What's next?
I will need to epoxy the sheer pieces together and fit to the notches in the frame. Then cut and fit the sheer to the breast hook and transom, epoxy and screw it all together.

Bend Wood with Steam and Hot Towels

2010-01-05T08:24:00.000-05:00

I have been working hard on the boat but the progress did not show so it has been a while since my last post. My brothers Gary and Joey have been very helpful. Gary has been pushing me along when things sometime come to a slow crawl.

I glued up stiffeners on Keel and Battens. This process went along just fine with no surprises. Just cut the marine plywood to fit and mix up some epoxy and clamp.

The Chine Log pieces proved to be a real challenge. After snapping this very expensive piece of mahogany the first time, I did not want to repeat. I came up with new plan to soak the pieces in water for a couple of days. Gary came up with the idea of buying a 4" diameter PVC drainpipe and gluing a cap on the end. We placed these 16 feet pieces in the pipe filled with water and strapped the pipe to the handrail in the stairway. It sure helps to have an understanding wife.

After the pieces soaked for a couple of days, out to the steamer they went. Gary and I removed them from the steamer and clamped them into position. Yes, success....so I thought. This process worked great and I would do it that way if I ever had to do it again. The only thing that did not turn out just right was the front section between the frame ( frame 5.5) and the stern. It needed a little more twist. We solved this problem by making a jig. We just screwed some blocks down on the table. We wrapped the pieces in very hot towels and poured hot water on the towels keeping the wood wet and hot. After about 30 minutes of this process, the wood was placed into the jig to dry for 24 hours. The results were great.

The buckets underneath the chine were used to collect the dripping water and boy did this work great. A couple of dry towels wiped up what little water landed on the basement floor.

Now that the Chine logs are bent to the approximant shape it was time to epoxy to two pieces of wood together. This was easily done with a temporary clamp to the forms while spreading them apart and applying epoxy with a foam roller. The hard part was the clamping. I used every clamp I had and it took a good hour to get them all in place.

My next job will be to epoxy to the other two pieces of the second chine log together.

Broken Chine Log

2009-12-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

Wood Steamer Step-up with PVC pipe and a turkey heater.

It was time to bend wood. I was fortunate enough to borrow fellow Zip builder Greg Mazurek's steamer to bend my "Chine". I researched this and thought I had a good grasp on how to do this because so many builders before me have had a problem making this bend.Well, I did it......Welcome to the club... I snapped the "chine log" into two pieces. This is a 16 foot piece of Mahogany that is 2" x 3/4". I put the piece of wood in the steamer for about 2 hours and proceeded to fit it to the frame. After building an airplane, kayak and hot air balloon all I could do is smile, giggle and say to myself, welcome back to homebuilding. In a funny way, I proved to myself that I still have the patience for building.

I understand why others want to give up when they have such a setback. I just look at it as a challenge to solve and that is what interests me.

I keep saying, "remember the journey" and move on. If your good at hide n seek (looking for a tool you know that you just had in your hand a few minutes ago), you stay organized, follow through and keep moving forward, do something everyday (even if it is just reading or research), have patience, then you are a builder and will complete your goal.

So I am still feeling good about practicing what I preach.

Starting to look like a boat with holes

2009-11-23T21:30:00.000-05:00

One big step today. My brother came over tonight and we ripped all of the ten foot battens on my table saw. Then we completed installing the keel to the stem. Now all of the battens and keel are glued and screwed into position with epoxy.

I am very happy to see how nice all the joints are fitting together.

Boat Form is Built

2009-11-23T08:21:00.000-05:00

I made a lot of progress over the last week. My brothers have been a great help. Brother Joey came over last Wednesday and Brother Gary has been with me every step of the way. Gary and I went to the nautical area in Home Depot and bought the lumber to build the boat form. The boat is built upside down on this form (jig). I would have had a difficult time this week without their help. Also, my very best friends Terry Kohler and Dave Pohl stopped by to see this project (we all built airplanes together). While they were here, I put them to work holding the stringers on the form so Gary and I could get everything straight, level and square. Having my laser light from my airplane build was a great help.

I was able to get my keel cut and fitted. We started out with a twelve foot piece and trying to rip that piece of lumber on my table saw in my basement without help would have been a real challenge. No worries, simple deal with the right tool and great help.
My Shopsmith, was a perfect tool to do the horizontal boring in the "Knee".
Other big accomplishments were getting the "Knee" mounted to the "Transom" and the "Keel". It is all epoxy (glued) and screwed in place.

The next step will be to mount the keel to the "Stem" (front of the boat, bow) and the Frames". Gary and I are planning on doing this tonight. Then boat building will come to a halt for a few weeks. I am going to Guanajauto, Mexico to fly my Hot Air Balloon and then I will be taking a weekend trip to Chicago to visit my daughter and son-in-law in their new home.

First Really Big Mistake

2009-11-13T10:45:00.000-05:00

I have made several mistakes in this build but I have been able to overcome them without too much problem. When I talk to airplane builders, I always tell them the difference between good craftsmanship and poor is how well you can recover from your mistakes. Well I needed to take my own advice.

I was in a rush to build my transom, which I did by planning for a "short shaft motor". A short shaft motor transom is 15 inches high. Well, last week I bought an outboard motor for my Zip project and it is a "long shaft motor". Well, a long shaft motor transom is 20 inches high. No recovery from this one. I needed to build a new transom and with the price of 3/4 " marine plywood, that was hard to take.
Off to Public Lumber I went and returned with another sheet of Mahogany Plywood. Gary came back over last night and in one evening we built another transom. The first transom was good but the second one is really nice..... We are getting good at cutting angles.

Notice the center of each transom. The new transom has a taller motor board mount.

Starting Glueing with Epoxy

2009-11-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

I began gluing up the Stem of the boat with expoxy. If you look close in the photo you can also see that frame number 5 1/2 is mounted into a block clamp on the table and I also epoxied up the corner gussets......

Epoxy, Fiberglass...makes me feel like I am building another airplane.

Found a Motor

2009-11-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Gary and I have been searching the Internet for a 40hp outboard motor for a while and last night Gary called and said, "I think we have a motor, lets go take a look". Located in Novi, Mi. the trip was about 45 min. away.
It was on an old broken down boat in a guys back yard. We hooked the battery up to it and turned right over. We disassembled everything and brought her home.

Of course I had to make a boat motor stand for it.

Making the Transom

2009-11-03T21:46:00.000-05:00

Well, making the transom has been a real learning experience. My brother Gary has been coming over several nights a week and giving me a hand. We have had some challenges through out this build. We needed to wrap our brains around how we would cut the 12-degree angle along the bottom and the 10-degree cuts on both sides of the transom. We figured out 3 different ways do this but finally decided on building a jig. I drew the angle for the floor (bottom of the boat/transom) on the transom. Then I placed the Mahogany frame on this line. I then screwed another straight board on this floor line (the white board). The white board is the angled cut for the floor line. I then set up the temporary fence with the saw blade set at 12 degrees and touching the wood fence bottom. We pushed the transom thru the blade, a perfect cut we had for that side. We then flipped everything over and cut the other side. Same, plan was done for both sides of the transom.

Getting the Marine Plywood

2009-10-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

It was time to get some more wood if I was going to build a boat. I purchased all my hardwood from Armstrong’s Mill but I needed to go to Detroit to buy the Plywood. I found Public Lumber very good to deal with and they had all the material I needed. Art Atkinson who is also building a "Squirt" need to get his plywood so we a trip of it after work. My brother Joey loaned me his Hot Air Balloon trailer and we were able to get everything in one trip. I picked up 6 sheets of 1/4 inch and 1 sheet of 3/4 inch. Ouch...the bill was about $700. I keep telling myself, measure twice and cut once.........Right.

Very Big Day at the Wood Mill

2009-10-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

The last couple of days I have been spending my evenings down in the basement wood shop transferring the plans onto a witness board and making wood templates. I did not have any of the my wood so I was making the best of my time.

Well, today was a very big day at the wood mill. Art Atkinson (pictured on the ladder) and I went out to Armstrong Mill Works in Highland, Michigan. The Mill is about 1 hour away so we headed out to select all of our Mahogany for the Frames, Chine, Shear and Keel. We will get our plywood from another lumber yard. If you don't remember, Art Atkinson is a good friend who is also building a boat. His will be a Glen-L "Squirt", which is a 10' runabout that he will extend to 11 feet. We both took advantage of each others help and made one trip to the mill.

Now we have no excuse. Each of us are building a boat. We have the wood, plans...and it's time to get started.

A Bengal Cat & The Workshop

2009-10-20T08:36:00.000-04:00

Last night while I began to look over the boat plans and attempted to make templates from the drawings, I became a little distracted by our cat. As you can see from the photo, my workshop is small. I am guessing it is about 14' square and full of things like a table saw, band saw, lathe, chop saw, shop vac, dust collection, shop smith, router table, planer, jointer and other misc. hand tools. Even with the small space, it seems to work out because everything is on wheels and I just move stuff around to make it work.

A Return Trip to California

2009-10-12T21:40:00.000-04:00

As I had mentioned in an earlier blog post, I first saw Warren Percell building a sailboat called a "Weekender" when I was on vacation two years ago in California. Well, I am in California again and today I stopped by to see Warren. His sailboat is finished and he told me he is having a ball sailing it and even took it to Mexico for a couple of weeks. He showed me a video of him sailing and does it really move through the water. Since then, he has been building a houseboat that is all wood and encapsulated in epoxy. He even built the wood ladder. I was very impressed. He's accomplished all this while running his sign company (and I thought that I get a lot done)! Warren also put me on to a guy who sells outboard motors. He has powered his house boat with a 55 hp. Bearcat. The Bearcat is an American four stroke outboard, produced from 1967-1972.

A first Look a finished Zip

2009-10-04T19:12:00.000-04:00

I was searching the Boat Builders Forum and found a guy, Howard Katzman, who lives less than 3 miles from me who completed a beautiful Zip Runabout. I sent him an email and he invited me over to take a look. What a wonderful job he's done! He is a true craftsmen. I only hope I can do as good a job as he has! Howard was very kind with his time and offered me all kinds of suggestions. I am really looking forward to the day when I can show him my completed boat.

The Boat Plans Arrive

2009-10-01T18:41:00.000-04:00

After many years trying to make up my mind about which boat to build, I finally decided to build the "Glen-L Zip". Two years ago, I was on vacation in Petaluma, California when I came across a guy, Warren Percell, who was building a "Weekender" sailboat and I was hooked. I really did not want a sailboat because I just did not think that I would get that much use from it. Well, after researching the web and talking to a lot of people, I made up my mind and ordered the plans from Glen-L boats. Along with the plans, I ordered the fasteners and a book called, "Building with Plywood", which I am told is the bible for frame, plank and plywood boat building.

The hardest thing for me was to pull the trigger (make the jump or decision) to get started. All I needed was a little push because I have been thinking about this for years. Well, that push came when a good friend and co-worker, Art Atkinson, came into my office one day and said to me that he was visiting a friend in Northern Michigan on Torch Lake who had built a boat which convinced my friend Art to build a boat. Art brought home some plans and ideas and we both kicked the idea around for weeks. Art changed his mind on the type of boat he was going to build and finally ordered his plans for the "Glen-L Squirt." In the weeks and months to come, I will try my best to keep you updated on my progress. I am really looking forward to this even though I know this is a very long project and a lot of hard work. Everyone tells me, "if you can build an airplane, you will have no trouble building a boat." Time will tell.