on 10/04/2008

We're building a boat!

Hi!  This is Tucker.  Since Captain is still waiting for his steel tubing to arrive for the fuselage of his Skybolt, I asked him if we could build a boat.  He said yes so we picked out some free boat plans from the internet at  www.svensons.com/boat/.  It's a 12 ft. Jon Boat that's great for fishing the canals and the Everglades.  Captain said that I have to help him build it if it's going to be my boat, so I agreed.  Yippeeee!

3/24/05- Can't stand it any longer and even though the last coat of resin is still a little sticky, we launch the boat.

3/19/05-  Well the boat is not finished because we ran into a problem with a new type of epoxy resin that we never used before not curing properly.  Now we have to scrub it with  acetone and scrape it all off and re-coat it.  Very frustrating.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

 

This Jon Boat is an old 1978 design although the first one was actually built around 1890.
This is the materials list and layout of the plywood parts.  The plans call for common AC exterior plywood and clear fir lumber.  Captain said that he wanted this boat to last for years and years, so we upgraded to marine plywood, stainless steel fasteners, and epoxy  glue.
This page of the plans has a detailed drawings of the inside of the boat.
This page shows how to square up the transom, mold frame, and stem without a jig so that you get a straight boat.
This is actually the first page of the original article from Science and Mechanics magazine.  On the website, Captain showed me the plans of 4 boats that he built when he was 12-14 years old.
Here are all the parts laid out in the driveway.  We had to splice the sides to make them 12 ft.  The stem (front) is at the bottom of the picture.  The mold frame and center seat are in the middle, and the transom and back seat are at the top.
This is the transom.  I hope that we will get an outboard motor for it when it's done.  Anyway, the motor mounts on the transom on the back of the boat.
The mold frame is mounted temporarily in the middle of the boat to give it shape when the sides and bottom are put on.  It is removed when the boat is all planked.
The stem is the front end of the boat.  It's built just like the transom, with plywood and fir framing.
The 2 pieces of plywood are 2 of 3 seat supports.  We are going to have seats at the front, middle, and back of the boat.  This weekend, Feb 5-6, we are going to assemble most of the parts.
2/5/05- We are fiberglassing the stem, transom, and bottom, so here I am cutting the glass cloth with a pizza cutter.
2/5/05- After I cut out the glass cloth, Captain mixed up the epoxy resin and I spread and brushed it on the cloth.  Amazingly it turned the cloth clear!  That's my friend Chase looking on.	`
2/6/05- I hope Captain didn't have beans for lunch of Gigi is in trouble!
2/6/05- Even my friend Nick and his mom Cathy were helping us build today.
2/6/05- Captain's tacking the temporary former in place.
2/6/05- I'm nailing the side to the transom.  The fiberglass that I put on yesterday is all hard now.
2/6/05- Here, I'm helping Captain rip the long boards into chines, seat supports and other parts.  That saw is loud!
2/6/05- By the end of the today, the old school jon boat is starting to look like something.
2/10/05- This is the left rear where the transom joins the side.  It takes about 140 nails for each chine.  I still have to nail in the seat support  and cleat rails.  That's about 840 nails for the 6 wood strips.  Anybody have a nail gun?
2/10/05- This is right front corner where the stem meets the side.  You can see all the stainless steel ringed nails running toward the transom.  The nails hold the side to the chine (the corner of the side and the bottom).
2/10/05- This is the 1x2 fir chine on the inside.  Besides being fastened with the stainless nails, I use T-88 structural epoxy glue.  No way is this boat coming apart!
2/10/05- The right rear corner.  Tucker and friends fiberglassed that transom.  Looks pretty good, huh?  I think we will probably leave the finish clear to show off the nice grain of the meranti marine ply.
2/12/05- Today we put the bottom on.  I'm drilling holes for screws to splice the fore and aft pieces of the bottom together.
2/12/05- Gigi is always a big help, so she pounded in 100 nails herself.
2/12/05- Watch out for the manicure Gigi!
2/12/05-  We even got Paige in on the action.  For a Boca girl she did great.
2/12/05- The bottom is all glued, screwed, and nailed in place.
2/12/05-  Paige, Gigi, and I flipped the boat over and now it's time to start fitting all the rails, seat supports and seats in place.
2/12/05- That's one of the seat support rails that I'm fitting in place.
2/19/05- After installing the seat support rails and the transom/stem framing, it was time for fiberglass!  Gigi is spreading the first coat of epoxy resin on the bare marine plywood.
2/19/05- We laid the glass cloth on the 'bias'.  Captain says that means we laid it across the boat at a 45 degree angle.  That way it goes around corners without causing a bubble and it is stiffer.
2/19/05- Gigi and Captain finished with the fiberglassing.  Next step is to nail on the external keel and bottom battens.
2/19/05- Here is my 15 horsepower Mercury that we are putting on the boat.  Captain and Gigi won it for free down at Outdoor World.
2/20/05- The bottom is stiffened up with a 1x4 fir keel and 2 fir bilge battens.  This shot shows how far they have to bend to meet the bow.
2/20/05- This is the stern view of the keel and 2 bilge battens.  Tomorrow, I will glue and fasten them to the bottom.
2/20/05- This view shows the whole bottom and sides.  The white lines are where I grinded down the fiberglass seams.  I also grinded the area under the keel and strakes for better adhesion.
2/21/05- The bottom is coming along.  Gigi got the 1x4 keel glued and nailed on.  It took 280 nails!
2/22/05- Today we got the bilge battens glued and nailed.  There is a pretty severe bend up toward the bow, so we had to bolt the front of the batten to the floor with a stainless carriage bold.
2/22/05- Here is a high view of the bilge battens (or strakes) and the keel.  Next step is to apply another coat of resin to seal the bare wood.  That will take away those ugly white grinding stripes.
2/27/05- Gigi has a laugh while she is spreading epoxy glue for the cleat rail.  It's sooo much fun working in Rice's Boat Works.
2/27/05- While Gigi spreads the glue on the hull, Tucker and Paige spread it on the cleat rail.  Super job guys.
2/27/05- I finally got Gigi to face the camera and give me one of her famous smiles.
2/27/05- Tucker gives us a big smile because he's thinking this boat is going to be done soon and I won't have to spread any more of this gooey epoxy.
2/27/05- After 140 nails and 6oz. of glue the cleat rails are on.
2/27/05- This is the aft seat turned upside down while the epoxy dries on the support rail.  The seat floor support is also done and waiting to be glued and nailed in place.
2/27/05- This is the mid seat floor support with the mid seat turned upside down in the background.
2/27/05- The fore seat is made of 1/2" ply instead of 1/4" like the other 2 seats.  The floor support really sweeps forward with the 45 degree rake of the stem.
2/27/05- When you are trying to nail into wood that is unsupported, you must have a heavy solid block to back up the wood while you hammer away.  I use this 4lb. lump of lead.  Stainless steel nails are a must.  No rust!
2/27/05- This is a shot of the reinforcement on the transom.  Since we are powering the boat with a 15hp motor instead of the recommended 6hp, a little extra strength was in order.
3/2/05- The seat supports are all glued and nailed.  This is the aft seat support.
3/2/05- The center seat support is mounted.  They are surprisingly strong.
3/2/05- The fore seat support has a 45 degree rake on it so I had to clamp it in place to keep it from settling forward.  I want to have a nice tight glue joint between the top of the support and the bottom of the seat.  Tomorrow, the inside will get its first coat of epoxy resin.
3/5/05- Bobbi applied the final coat of epoxy resin to the inside except for the seats which we will do later.
3/5/05- Capt Al is inspecting for drips and sags.  It's really shiny!
3/5/05- Bobbi is making one last inspection before going to bed at 12:30AM.
3/8/05- It's important that all the wood is encapsulated with resin to avoid rot.  Here the seat undersides get a coat of epoxy resin to seal them.
3/8/05- We finally get the seats installed with glue and about 200 stainless steel nails.
3/8/05-  All the seats need now is 1 coat of Steel Flex epoxy to make them impervious to weather and water spots.
3/9/05- After Bobbi, Paige, and Captain flipped the boat over, we put the last coat of Steel Flex epoxy on the outside.  That stuff is thick!  All we have to do now is water test it this weekend in the Everglades.  Captain says we're going to go catch some gators.
3/24/05-  It's Thursday and we have the day off for Spring Break.  Even though the boat is still a little sticky, we decide to hitch it up and go for the maiden voyage.
While I plug in the lights, Tucker inspects the floor to see if he will fall through.
Tucker and Captain are ready to go.  What's with the weird face Captain?
I love the 'old school' look of a real wood boat.  You just don't see boats like this anymore.
About 10 miles from the house at the end of Loxahatchee Rd. is the Everglades.  Watch out Captain, there's gators in there!
Captain takes the helm first and revs up the 15hp Mercury.  He even went full throttle and we were going really fast.  I yelled at him to slow down!
I took my turn driving the boat too.  Got to get used to the twist grip throttle and the steering.  When you push the handle to the left, you go right and when you pull the handle to the right, you go left.  Really weird!
This was the 2nd gator that we saw today and he was right at the boat ramp.  Gigi moved in close to get a picture and scared him away.  If you look close you can see his head in the center of the picture.