Originally posted by Winger Ed.:<br />
was it as simple as it looks? <br />mikey
That's a good looking jon boat project.<br />On filling those larger holes, I hope the patch doesn't 'pop out'. I've had good luck with that sort of thing if the edges of the hole are beveled on both sides, and the patch sort of humps over on both sides too. Laying a slightly over size piece of fiberglass cloth on both sides and mashing the epoxy into it is good too. That way you sort of have a rivet made out of expoy rather than a plug that is only holding on by its outboard edges. In the past in similar situations, anything bigger than 1/2" gets a Aluminum sheet cover on the outside, epoxyed, and then its riveted down. So far, I haven't had a patch leak or blow out.<br /><br />...<br /><br />Most aspects of boat building are simple. But they also can be very time consuming.<br /><br />I built The 'Ben Hur' from Clark Craft plans back in the 90's. Only I built mine out of Aluminum. It too me about 4-5 months to complete.<br /><br />I'm almost done with another Aluminum hydroplane now. I've been on it since last Aug. Getting all the stock from various scrap yards at $1.40 a pound, including about 8,000 rivets has really held the price down. Its from the plans over at the 'Boat Plans' site of the 12' "F" type Airmarine Special from 1958. I lengthened it to 16', and widened it in the tunnel 6 more inches so I can hang a 200 hp. V-6 on the back of it. I hope to get the thing to 100mph on smooth water. <br /><br />I've got a couple pictures of it from a few weeks ago over at 'Scream & Fly' in the 'Racer's Hangout' forum. A bunch of folks over there have been helping with advice and support. I post about once a month on its progress, and then take down the previous posts. <br /><br />If you're going for something small, or unique-- building it yourself is great.<br /><br />For the bigger boats, you can usually scrounge a old one, trailer & all for next to nothing that can be re-built for a fraction of the cost and time involved compared to building it yourself from scratch.<br /><br />If ya go that route, and can't keep your completed boat inside, I'd sure think twice about building it out of wood. No matter what all you do, it will deteriorate faster than fiberglass or Aluminum. <br /><br />Ed.
