Building pictures into a 3.5 minute video
For those impatient folks like myself…. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6pmvIo8HIQ4UGJkNGRtdDVqZEE My two daughters picked the song – for the record, I was going for a “Boston”
Hull is almost completed… but, unfortunately, this is where my boat building stops.
Hull is almost done. However, unfortunately, I won’t be able to finish my Mayfly 14… at least for another 3 years. About 2 months ago, I found out that I need … Continue reading
External stem
I decided quite a while ago to add an external stem. Not for any specific reason; it just looks cool and seems like most of the Mayfly 14 builder seems … Continue reading
Decks painted and attached
Nothing special here. Two coats of marine primer, two coats of marine paint to the top side and one coat to the bottom side. Same primer and paint from Rustoleum used to paint … Continue reading
Upper and lower leeboard guard attached
Last week, I attached the lower and upper leeboard guard to the hull. The lower leeboard guard was attached using six #8 stainless steel screws and washers. Note that the two at … Continue reading
Hull painted
I had to move the boat out from the basement as ventilation is not good and the smell from paint goes right up to kids bedrooms. I used Rustoleum Marine … Continue reading
Leeboard and Upper Leeboard Guard
Shaping the leeboard took some effort and patience. I started off with an orbit sander, then eventually I ended up buying a belt sander with a few 40 grit sanding … Continue reading
Lower leeboard guard
The overall process took way more time than I thought due to my lack of jig saw skill. While I was cutting the lower leeboard guard into shape with a … Continue reading
Mast Step – back to boatbuilding after a two month break
I made little progress over the last two months – not zero but one or two hours a week at most. Usually the second quarter is the busiest time of … Continue reading
Decks and coamings completed.
Over the last few days, I finish the decks and coamings. Decks were first cut to rough size and then a router was used to get to the final size. The … Continue reading
Hull – Joints glass taped.
Over the last three days, mostly after the kids went bed, I worked on glass taping the joints. The whole process took about eight hours, 3X vs. what I expected. … Continue reading
Hull flipped right side up, excess epoxy cleaned up and hull alignment checked
Today, I flipped the boat right side up. It’s been about 2 moths since I saw the boat this direction. Again, two young daughters won’t help much here so I … Continue reading
Bottom – fairing and two epoxy fill coats; didn’t go very well.
Last week, I faired bottom, especially where the 3 in glass tapes were added and applied two layers of epoxy fill coats. Two epoxy fill coats were added over 4 … Continue reading
Bottom glassed!
Today was a big milestone. Bottom was finally glassed and it went probably not perfect but without any major issues that can’t be fixed. I originally thought 2 hours should … Continue reading
Bottom – fairing done and ready to glass
Progress has been slow as I struggled from jet lag this whole week after two weeks of Asia trip. Last couple of days, I spent a few hours fairing the areas … Continue reading
Bottom attached!
I am starting my two week business trip to Asia today so I spent a good four hours yesterday till 11pm attaching the bottom. It was a slightly stressful process, … Continue reading
Bottom – 3 bottom sections rough cut and block butt jointed
I wasn’t sure what type of wood to use for the butt joint as it probably need to handle a fair amount of stress. Eventually, I decided to glue layers … Continue reading
Chine logs installed
Over the last weekend, chine logs were ripped, beveled at ∠10°, edge rounded and installed. This was the first time for me to see the hull upside down. One set … Continue reading
Homemade bench cookies
I made my own version of bench cookies out of 2×4 blocks with left over epoxy after scarf jointing chine logs. Looks like I’ll get some good mileage out of … Continue reading
Wales completed
I came back from CES in Las Vegas last Friday and completed the wales over the weekend. First thing I did was to reasonably trim the excess side panels using … Continue reading
Wales – port side inner wale attached
I added ∠10º bevel to the inner wales using my table saw and dry fitted them with clamps. And the joint survived. To attach the wale, I used epoxy with silica … Continue reading
Wales – Scarf jointed two 3/4″x1-1/2″x8 ft to get a full 16 ft piece; was not as easy as I hoped
I tried to find anything 16 ft long from my local Home Depot, mainly to avoid jointing work. The only thing I could find was a finger joint (FJ) primed board. … Continue reading
Made an air purifier for my basement shop
I am building Mayfly 14 at my basement and I would say ventilation is not very good; in addition it’s upstate NY here and I seldom open windows and door … Continue reading
Hull – stem, transom, bulkheads and side panels epoxy glued and screwed
Last few weeks has been pretty hectic with my work and I was not able to make much progress. Also I was spending whatever time I had building an air cleaner … Continue reading
Hull – dry fitted side panels, stem, bulkheads and transom
Using drywall screws, I assemble the hull – stem, bulkheads, transom and temp forms to the side panels. After many iteration of unscrewing and screwing, I felt like I got it close enough. … Continue reading
Transom – screwed up again and had to build a new one….
I actually was able to sort of fixed the mistake I made last time, as in the picture below and now I have room to make an outty bevel. However, now I … Continue reading
Stem completed
I cut the stem a few inches longer that what it needed to be and dry fitted first to see if it interacts well with the side panels. Before I make cut … Continue reading
Stem – bevel cut with my new table saw
I got my first table saw a couple of days ago and finished the stem today after dinner. My first cut was a bevel rip cut (if I got it … Continue reading
Side panels completed – error in the plan?
Last weekend, I finally completed the side panels. I don’t have a wooden batten so I had to come up with “something”, and I found a ~11 ft left over siding which … Continue reading
Side panels – Epoxy started to cure!
After two days, total ~10 hours of heating with hot air, tackiness is almost gone and epoxy feels quite solid. I am guessing more time is needed for the epoxy to fully … Continue reading
Fiberglass-butt-jointing the side panels but having epoxy curing issue
As I shared in one of my earlier postings, I am using fiberglass butt joint to connect the two sets of 2X8 and 2X6 panels – 2 layers of 3″ tape … Continue reading
Transom – I think I made a major mistake here
As I was trying to figure out how to make the bevel cut to the top and bottom frames of the transom after the two side frames were glued and … Continue reading
Bulkheads completed but will need some filling work later
I finished the two bulkheads over the last couple of days. Titebond III and stateliness screws I bought from DUCKWORKS were used. Bulkhead 4.2 has a double framing on the top … Continue reading
Temporary forms completed – the first sawdust!
A few days ago I completed the two temporary forms. Basically my first sawdust. As a first timer woodworker, it took longer than I thought, 3 hours believe it or … Continue reading
Side Panels – “fiber glass butt + short scarf joint” instead of “butt block joint” (planning)
In Jim Michalak’s book “Boatbuilding for Beginners (and Beyond)“, he uses butt block joins to connect plywood. However, I am planning to use fiber glass butt joint instead for the following reasons: … Continue reading
Plywood arrived but…
Plywood arrived yesterday. However, when unpacked (and I have to say that it was very well packaged), I found out that all three 1/4 sheets had some bend/warp; Some as big … Continue reading
Workbench completed
I spent a a few hours yesterday and today to build the 4X16 work bench. It’s basically two 4x8s side by side. Likely early November is when when I’ll actually start … Continue reading
Why did I decide to build Mayfly 14
What I really wanted to build is Paradox, or Enigma 460 (if there is a detailed plan) by Matt Layden. As I was going through 150 pages+ of Paradox build plan and manual I purchased, … Continue reading
How this boat thing got started…
I always had this fantasy of traveling alone long distance for a long period of time where there isn’t much civilization and by means of something that does not burn … Continue reading
Han Learns to Build a Boat - Jim Michalak's Mayfly 14 