Ozarks float boat
- Thread starter dawallace45
- Start date
Got back to doing a little work on the OFB yesterday
Now when I set the frames up on the jig I spent a lot of time making sure every thing was straight , even , square and dead level , it was a few days before I was able to get back to it because of heavy rain and then heat with about 100% humidity , seems that in that time the jig warped slightly so the frames have moved a couple of Milimetres , wouldn't be noticeable except I made marks for them to line up , will have to move them just slightly , been thinking about making hatches in the front deck and the rear seat but think maybe round water proof plastic hatches will be better for added flotation rather than a top opening hatch
Have turned it over so I can run the inside fillets and give a saturation coat of epoxy , will need to order some glass cloth soon
David
Now when I set the frames up on the jig I spent a lot of time making sure every thing was straight , even , square and dead level , it was a few days before I was able to get back to it because of heavy rain and then heat with about 100% humidity , seems that in that time the jig warped slightly so the frames have moved a couple of Milimetres , wouldn't be noticeable except I made marks for them to line up , will have to move them just slightly , been thinking about making hatches in the front deck and the rear seat but think maybe round water proof plastic hatches will be better for added flotation rather than a top opening hatch
Have turned it over so I can run the inside fillets and give a saturation coat of epoxy , will need to order some glass cloth soon
David
Well finally got around to ordering more epoxy and some glass cloth and I must admit that I've been a bit slack with it , haven't been home a lot so progress has been slow
I turned it over so I could have another look and just placed the seats and front deck in place to make sure every thing was going to line up and to see how it was going to look
Any way I run the glass on the hull and gave it about 4 coats of epoxy , I then screwed on the keel runners , I picked up some pine ceiling battens last time I was down Maryborough , didn't have the trailer on the car at the time so I cut them in half and put them on the roof racks , that of course meant that i had to scarf join them but I used polyurethane glue for that to make it easier , worked out well
The Pine in the battens is reasonably clear in comparison to what I could buy locally so they worked out fine after I cut them down and put them through the plainer , next up I removed the screws I used to hold down the keel runners and filled the holes with thickened epoxy and bamboo tooth picks
In between I put the outside gunnel's on
And then put a bit of 18mm ply on the transom to strengthen it up
I run some thickened epoxy along the sides of the keel runners to seal out any moisture from getting between them and the bottom of the boat but before that I run a saturation coat of epoxy mixed with timber preservative , this stuff is made to keep out pests and dry rot as well as thin the epoxy so it penetrates into the timber better , for some reason fresh epoxy is extremely attractive to fly and bugs
In between doing stuff on the boat I've been doing another bow
The bow is now pretty much finished but have spent the last week spraying it and then rubbing it back the next day and spraying it again as every time I spray the bloody rain starts half way through and the finish goes milky
This being Easter I of course had to take some time out for a bit of exploring , about 10 miles or so up the back of me just over the top of the range there is a little creek called cave creek
There are fish in the creek , probably just Spangled perch but I've heard that they some times get Jungle perch this far south , will have to take a pack rod up there and find out
Any way thats all for now probably won't get back to it until after easter
David
I turned it over so I could have another look and just placed the seats and front deck in place to make sure every thing was going to line up and to see how it was going to look
Any way I run the glass on the hull and gave it about 4 coats of epoxy , I then screwed on the keel runners , I picked up some pine ceiling battens last time I was down Maryborough , didn't have the trailer on the car at the time so I cut them in half and put them on the roof racks , that of course meant that i had to scarf join them but I used polyurethane glue for that to make it easier , worked out well
The Pine in the battens is reasonably clear in comparison to what I could buy locally so they worked out fine after I cut them down and put them through the plainer , next up I removed the screws I used to hold down the keel runners and filled the holes with thickened epoxy and bamboo tooth picks
In between I put the outside gunnel's on
And then put a bit of 18mm ply on the transom to strengthen it up
I run some thickened epoxy along the sides of the keel runners to seal out any moisture from getting between them and the bottom of the boat but before that I run a saturation coat of epoxy mixed with timber preservative , this stuff is made to keep out pests and dry rot as well as thin the epoxy so it penetrates into the timber better , for some reason fresh epoxy is extremely attractive to fly and bugs
In between doing stuff on the boat I've been doing another bow
The bow is now pretty much finished but have spent the last week spraying it and then rubbing it back the next day and spraying it again as every time I spray the bloody rain starts half way through and the finish goes milky
This being Easter I of course had to take some time out for a bit of exploring , about 10 miles or so up the back of me just over the top of the range there is a little creek called cave creek
There are fish in the creek , probably just Spangled perch but I've heard that they some times get Jungle perch this far south , will have to take a pack rod up there and find out
Any way thats all for now probably won't get back to it until after easter
David
Jack
Don't know , probably not , it runs to the western side of the range but the creek just below it had a 7 ft croc in it for some time last year ,
David
Don't know , probably not , it runs to the western side of the range but the creek just below it had a 7 ft croc in it for some time last year ,
David
That kind of takes a bit of the relaxation out of fishing there, ehh? Not good to doze off.
When I was a kid, I fished. Dozed off once and woke up with a chickadee (small, friendly song bird) sitting on my toe. Most dangerous animal I encountered as a kid, next to human beings.
When I was a kid, I fished. Dozed off once and woke up with a chickadee (small, friendly song bird) sitting on my toe. Most dangerous animal I encountered as a kid, next to human beings.
In that last pic is as far as you can get by following along side the creek , from there you have to cross over the ridge line and then follow another ridge along until the creek widens again , I've only been about a km or so past that so I don't know how far along it widens , there is another big rock pool along further but you pretty much need to abseil down to it and getting out would be a problem .
The creek is pretty much at the top of the range , so crocs up there would be unusual but not impossible , I've seen them up north right up in the mountains in the tiniest of creeks , mind , I was shocked to find out that there was one that high up in the creek just this side of the range , it disappeared when the creek flooded last summer , actually all the creeks have been in flood lately , Cave creek had been running about 8 feet higher a few weeks prior
David
The creek is pretty much at the top of the range , so crocs up there would be unusual but not impossible , I've seen them up north right up in the mountains in the tiniest of creeks , mind , I was shocked to find out that there was one that high up in the creek just this side of the range , it disappeared when the creek flooded last summer , actually all the creeks have been in flood lately , Cave creek had been running about 8 feet higher a few weeks prior
David
Well I turned it over to fiberglass the inside , first up was to cut the glass to size and lay it in place ready to epoxy
A closer view of the glass in place
Glassing finished ,
It all needs to be sanded and another coat of epoxy then sanded again and another coat of epoxy , won't be today though , infected sinuses , feel like crap
David
A closer view of the glass in place
Glassing finished ,
It all needs to be sanded and another coat of epoxy then sanded again and another coat of epoxy , won't be today though , infected sinuses , feel like crap
David
Well all the coats of epoxy have been finished , I've started putting in a bit of framing to hold the deck and the seats , if I'd gone to 9mm ply instead of the 4mm stuff I'm using I could have got away with less framing but it will still work out light
All the framing in place and waiting for the epoxy to harden
Epoxy hard and the clamps off
Deck and seats on , just need to run a bead of thickened epoxy around the seams to seal them off and add a bit of strength give a bit of a sand and start on the inside gunnel
David
All the framing in place and waiting for the epoxy to harden
Epoxy hard and the clamps off
Deck and seats on , just need to run a bead of thickened epoxy around the seams to seal them off and add a bit of strength give a bit of a sand and start on the inside gunnel
David
That is one ...SHARP.... looking boat , I really like the looks of it. Looking forward to the test run you can do when she is completed.
Chuck.
Chuck.
i've never fibrglassed the inside of a boat, but it looks like you're doing it in pieces
would it make any sense the glass just the bottom, let it cure to some degree of stiffness, then turn it on one side and glass that side and repeat for the other side? Seems like you'd always have gravity on your side and you wouldn't be fighting runs and drips up vertical or near vertical sides
just a thought.........
would it make any sense the glass just the bottom, let it cure to some degree of stiffness, then turn it on one side and glass that side and repeat for the other side? Seems like you'd always have gravity on your side and you wouldn't be fighting runs and drips up vertical or near vertical sides
just a thought.........
Chuck
Thanks
Seedtick
Using the 4 mm ply over that size open boat even with the inside frames in place it would be extremely difficult to turn it by my self until after the whole inside is glassed , the whole thing tends to be sort of like a limp noodle at that stage , actually it's not until the gunnel's , seats and the deck goes on the whole thing firms up , it possible it would be okay turning it with help but not by my self , but it's no problem glassing the inside doing the sides and floor all at once
David
Thanks
Seedtick
Using the 4 mm ply over that size open boat even with the inside frames in place it would be extremely difficult to turn it by my self until after the whole inside is glassed , the whole thing tends to be sort of like a limp noodle at that stage , actually it's not until the gunnel's , seats and the deck goes on the whole thing firms up , it possible it would be okay turning it with help but not by my self , but it's no problem glassing the inside doing the sides and floor all at once
David
Well in amongst the other stuff I've been doing I've pretty much finished the Float boat
The Gunnels are on
Lots of sanding and plaining of the gunnels
The gunnels come out good and really stiffened it up
It's looking good , have now given it several coats of clear in the inside and two on the bottom , will give another coat this afternoon or tomorrow and that will be enough , bought some seats for the boat yesterday , plastic folding seats , I need the back support , will post some more pictures of it finished in a few days
David
The Gunnels are on
Lots of sanding and plaining of the gunnels
The gunnels come out good and really stiffened it up
It's looking good , have now given it several coats of clear in the inside and two on the bottom , will give another coat this afternoon or tomorrow and that will be enough , bought some seats for the boat yesterday , plastic folding seats , I need the back support , will post some more pictures of it finished in a few days
David
Bears buddy
Thanks , but I have to admit that I have taken a few short cuts , for some reason the inside glass that I laid late in the afternoon bubbled in a few places right in the crease , only a couple of places and most people wouldn't notice it , don't know why , I've never had it happen before , and it was fine when I'd finished it , but instead of grinding it out I just made some small holes in the bubbles and filled them with epoxy from a syringe , also my attempts at brushing on the varnish are pretty awful , my brother reckons I should never be allowed to touch a paint brush at all and that I should call him if any thing needs painting or any big areas of epoxy need brushing on , he may well be right
David
Thanks , but I have to admit that I have taken a few short cuts , for some reason the inside glass that I laid late in the afternoon bubbled in a few places right in the crease , only a couple of places and most people wouldn't notice it , don't know why , I've never had it happen before , and it was fine when I'd finished it , but instead of grinding it out I just made some small holes in the bubbles and filled them with epoxy from a syringe , also my attempts at brushing on the varnish are pretty awful , my brother reckons I should never be allowed to touch a paint brush at all and that I should call him if any thing needs painting or any big areas of epoxy need brushing on , he may well be right
David
try the roll and tip technique
put it on with a roller and brush it out
the roller lets you put on an even thin coat
most runs and drips come from putting on too thick of a coat
tipping the boat so you're always coating horizontal surface is a big help
put it on with a roller and brush it out
the roller lets you put on an even thin coat
most runs and drips come from putting on too thick of a coat
tipping the boat so you're always coating horizontal surface is a big help
Well I finished it some weeks back but my wife has been on holidays so we've been out and about a bit , not much time home and definitely not much time on the computer so here are some finished pics
Haven't had a chance to try it out yet , maybe next week
David
Haven't had a chance to try it out yet , maybe next week
David
