This boat has a generous motor well, to allow for a ladder and a step to climb back aboard. Incidentally, this photo shows the method used for turning the boat over a few times. Those are trailer winches mounted with straps going over a metal spool and under the boat.
Since the sides and back of the wall are all curved, I needed to assemble some support blocks from plywood pieces thin enough to be bent and glue laminated.
Below is the glued up assembly of three 1/4″ pieces of plywood.
After the glue set up, I shaped the pieces to hold the outside edge of the seat / step, and added a single leg framework to support the weight of someone climbing over.
Then, curved slats were installed to complement the curve of the back.
Here, the step is completed and ready for use. With the center cut out, the motor can be tilted forward during launch and travel.
This photo below was taken at Les Cheneaux Wooden Boat Show at Hessel, in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. With the ladder, step and a ski pole to replace the flag pole, it suggests the possibility of family use for swimming, tubing and skiing.
If I had planned ahead better, I would have installed the Ignition and Emergency Switches before the dash was permanently mounted in place. But I did not. So I had to devise a method of fitting them without drilling access from the back side.
The first problem was that the rectangular switch plate did not fit on the dash below the other gauges. It was too large and squarish to be pleasing esthetically with all of the other round bases.
The second problem was that gauges and switches usually need a larger hole on the back side of the dash and a smaller opening in the front for the dial and bezel rim to cover. The dash was already fixed, and I couldn’t get access to the back side.
So, I needed to make a wood washer to insert from the outside with the shape drawn on the paper below. The paper lists a sequence that was supposed to get me successfully through the process. That may not have been the final list!
Here is some experimenting, with hole saws, Forstner bits, and a bit of tune up sanding. The two wood washers getting close are between the blue hole saw and the standing Forstner bit. One is laying on the surface and the other is partly pressed into a suitable hole.
A last step in the process was finishing the middle hole with the Forstner bit, and finding a way to hold it for drilling on the press.
It eventually worked out, after more hours than should have been spent. Below is the dash on a pretty day in the fall in southern Michigan. And that is book matched Cherry in the foward panel.
Here is a detail photo of the end result, with the washers holding the rims of the switches, and glued into the dash. Incidentally, they were made of Okume marine plywood for strength in all directions, and blend just fine with the Sycamore.
A boat is full of surprises, and fortunately by now, I am forgetting many of the detours that took so much time and creative energy to solve. I am finishing three years work on this boat, averaging 10-15 hours a week, which is around two thousand hours. . .
After fairing and sanding the Sycamore Veneer, small holes were left from the screws used to hold the parts in place for epoxy.
The best matching plugs can be made from face grain. Below, 1/4″ x 1/4″ pieces are cut from the end grain of a 5″ wide Sycamore veneer plank.
Then, the 5″ fragile end cut offs are put in the chuck of the drill with medium tightness, and sharpened to points. When they are about 1/16″ at the tip, a 1/2″ tapered plug was cut off with a sharp chisel.
Each hole was filled by gluing a plug in place, tapping gently with a hammer. When the glue (Titebond III) dried, the plugs were carefully cut off with a pull-stroke Japanese saw, and sanded flush.
After varnish was completed, you can barely see some the face grain plugs, and the surprising figure of Quartersawn Sycamore.
Small face grain plugs are a detail often not noticed, but removing the screws prevents future corrosion, and 3/8″ plugs are not needed.
The front deck was built with 1/2″ marine plywood as an underlayment for the 1/4″ thick Sycamore veneer pieces. Sycamore is a common wood in Indiana, but not highly regarded for furniture or high quality wood work.
It is not as hard as White Oak, Black Walnut or Hard Maple, but harder than Soft Maple and similar to Cherry. So, when I found a group of 4/4 Sycamore boards from the same tree that were perfectly quarter sawn, I couldn’t resist buying the lot.
In preparation for the top veneer layer, I started with two layers of 3/8″ marine plywood as underlayment, which allowed for some bending of the deck contour, and some room for fairing. This can be seen below at the front.
Then, I began with a 1/2″ Cherry stripe in the middle, and added the first 5″ wide Sycamore strips, rough cut and sanded as well as possible to fit to the Cherry deck trim. I pre-drilled 1/8″ holes to screw it down to the underlayment.
Rather than drilling a 3/8″ counter sink hole for a screw head and future plug, I used a wood spacer to protect the Sycamore veneer.
This is the cross deck behind the back seat, and shows the wood washer / spacers. After the parts were epoxied in place, I removed all of the screws, leaving only small holes.
After epoxy and removing all of the screws, this is how the deck parts looked, ready for final fairing and sanding. It takes long sanding boards to smooth out the hills and valleys.
Next up is making some small plugs to fill the small screw holes.
The best location for a stern navigation light turned out to be on the port side, where the top trim was angled down from level. I wanted the navigation light pole to stand nearly straight vertical. The two choices were using a hinged pole, or adding an angled flange before drilling the entry hole. I thought the angled flange would be the better look.
I started with a compass, drawing a 3″ diameter circle on a piece of the Cherry wood I used for the top deck. The first operation was to drill a 1/8″ deep starter hole, with a 1″ Forstner flat bottom drill bit. Then I drilled the center out with a 1/4″ bit to place a 1/4″ bolt through.
After band sawing the circle, I put the 1/4″ bolt through it, and began spinning it with my drill against the moving edge sander. It created a regular circle, and I added a pleasing round over shape on the top corner.
Then I finished drilling the 1″ through hole for the post, and sanded the base on one side of the flange until it gave a good vertical position for the navigation light.
The mounting sleeve with cover was rotated to the best vertical angle, and screwed down to the deck. This bother is a detail that doesn’t get noticed often, but still satisfying. A sideways leaning Navigation Light Pole would always be noticed by some, and not considered right, if only by me.
To begin this process, inside deck stringers were notched into the cross frames to support the deck trim planks. Then, the stringers and frames were faired and routed with a bearing-guided rabbet bit to receive the 1/2″ marine plywood sub deck.
Approximately 8″ sections of 1/2″ marine plywood were fit into the rabbeted long stringers, and epoxied in place, held temporarily with screws.
American Cherry was used for the deck trim, interior frames and panels, having similar color, weight and strength properties to Mahogany. Cherry may not be as rot resistant, but considering that the boat sides and bottom are marine plywood covered with fiberglass fabric embedded in epoxy, no solid wood will be exposed to continual moisture.
Below, I have selected a 12′ foot Cherry board, and free sawed the curved line on the table saw, which was drawn from the boat sheer line.
When the sides are switched across, with the outside straight edges glued together, it makes a curved board, to fit the deck curve. If a relatively straight grain board without sap grain is used, there is with little evidence of being re-glued.
Some solid wood boat decks are made from narrow, long re-sawn parts to make a curved laminated whole, and this can look great as well. But, if the grain of the board already had some natural curve, this easy single cut method may follow the sheer in a pleasing line with less joints and glue lines.
As the deck trim went toward the stern, the width got larger, and I had to assemble some parts together to complete the solid wood part. A 1/4″ plywood pattern was made to help find and cut, good compatible parts.
With some patient material selection, and careful joint fitting, the deck edge trim can be assembled to create a beautiful, fair line.
Next, on to installing the 1/4″ Sycamore deck veneer . . .
Before the top sub deck and trim are added, it is the easiest time to make the channel for all of the wiring, throttle cable and the hydraulic steering tubes. They are all intended to be run up under the deck trim on the starboard side of the boat.
I drilled large holes with a hole saw, to allow relatively easy access under the cockpit skirt.
At the stern, the holes were enlarged to make easier bending where the wires and tubes exit the wall of the motor well.
Another big step was to define the dash layout for the steering wheel and gauges. I will be using a Suzuki motor, and along with recommended gauges.
From the specified diameters, I cut patterns to visualize how the dash could look. It was asymmetrical due to five gauges and the wheel helm, and I preferred the choice below.
I did some test cutting, to make sure the parts would fit. I had a hole saw for the 2″ gauges, and had to customize routing for the larger holes. I used a bearing guided rabbet bit, changing the bearing size to enlarge the hole as I needed. Then, I followed with a straight bearing bit from the opposite side to finish the hole. Supplemental holes were drilled from the helm layout pattern.
Then I made a final layout, and drilled and routed holes, sanding as needed to fit. I picked old school gauges to fit the attitude of the boat, even though it has an open bow, a ski pole, and a ladder for modern convenience.
The dash was installed at a tipped angle to allow comfortable view from the driver’s seat and knee clearance for the wheel. Space was needed behind for the steering hydraulic lines, and electric wiring for the gauges.
This is the kind of progress that gets a satisfied sigh with a check off, and back to the notes list for the next up assignment.
The photo below shows the hull after the sides and bottom were covered with fiberglass fabric embedded in epoxy. Fairing was completed before the e-glass, and the evidence can be seen in the smooth surfaces and clean flowing regular lines. The dark brown lines on the sides, were where I had to sand through the outer layer of marine plywood. The hull was built using 4″ tongue and groove plywood planks.
Wherever green shows were slight depressions, that were too deep to be faired with the surrounding sanded wood. Those areas were filled by a green two part epoxy filler, and then sanded fair.
We used the lift system made of four boat winches to raise it up off the floor and rolled a flat bed trailer underneath. Then it made a slow cautious road trip to the paint shop.
Below is the boat after having the bottom primed and painted with Total Boat Wet Edge, a one part high-gloss, polyurethane topside finish. Over epoxy, it is a very effective water barrier for a couple of days, but not intended for full time immersion. This boat will sit on a lift most of the time, coming out on the water for day play and a few road trips.
Jeff and Kruse both have a couple of decades of paint experience, and did a fine job of finishing the bottom and part of the sides, stage 1.
Back at the shop, with inches to spare on the sides coming in, we prepare to turn it over to right side up one last time.
Here it is back on the temporary cradles, for the final construction work on the top and interior.
With the boat upside down, it was time to put the outer covering of fiberglass fabric over the marine plywood hull planks. Glass fibers are very strong in tension and resistant to abrasion. When embedded in epoxy on the inside and outside surfaces, it creates a strong, stiff and relatively light weight composite structure.
The photo below shows the hull bottom after placement of the glass fabric. The corners have been filled with a thickened two part epoxy filler that were sanded to shape. The back edge of the bottom surface was left as square as practical, for the most efficient water cutoff at planing speeds.
Experts disagree on two main methods of adding the glass fabric: laying out the fabric and then applying the epoxy or brushing a coat of epoxy on the wood first. Since the fabric catches on sharp or sticky things and deforms easily, I prefer to carefully lay it out over dry, sanded surfaces, primarily in one plane, as shown below.
A 36″ wide layer was rolled out and taped, overlapping the previous finished areas. With a smooth under surface, small changes can be made to smooth out wrinkles for the best possible fit.
The downside to this method is that the epoxy must penetrate the fabric, and fully bond to the wood underneath, or risk delamination later. The surface needs to be fully wetted and transparent, but not so much extra that would make epoxy flow zones. The application begins, rolling epoxy from top down, working out wrinkles as we go.
When the epoxy has set up to the stiff, not sticky stage, before it gets hard, the edges can be trimmed with a sharp knife.
Next strakes were added, and rough sanding all over with 80 grit to allow best primer and paint adhesion. The hull planks of 4″ tongue and groove marine plywood show through on the sides. The dark lines show where the top ply layer was sanded through, and the green where low spots had been filled for final fairing.
My shop is not equipped to spray paint , so the boat was loaded on a flat bed trailer and slowly hauled five miles to get professionally painted. This is on the return trip, preparing to lift the boat with the four heavy duty winches mounted on the temporary posts.
There are many ways to slow down a big project like building a boat, which happened but it is off and rolling again, passing this significant milestone. Work on the bottom is completed and following a final flip, this boat is intended never to be upside down again.
