New build - See Our Sea Flea Fly!

Grandad

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
1,504
Boy scoutabout, this brings back memories. More than half a century ago, at about age 13 or 14, my dad helped me build my first boat, a MiniMost. I bought a 10 HP Mercury, not realizing it was actually a preferred model for racing these things. It was a "Hurricane Super 10" with a self contained fuel tank. My dad, the toolmaker, made me a throttle lever control. As I recall, the Hurricane only has a forward gear and so a very small lower unit for less drag. I never had instruments, but guessed that it ran at about 30 MPH. I'm glad that we mounted the steering wheel directly to the dashboard crossmember rather than extending the mount as seen in one of the pictures you posted. You need all the cockpit space you can get and when you start, the nose rises high and you may need to climb over the wheel onto the foredeck like I did to get her to plane sooner. Here's a picture of me terrorizing Hamilton's Botanical Gardens at about age 16. OK, nuff talk, order some plywood and get going. - Grandad
 

Grandad

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
1,504
This is cropped from a distant photo. This wasn't on a wave, so you can see the bow rise and the need to move weight forward on start. - Grandad
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Well, five long months after that last post we are finally making some sawdust...It was becoming obvious that trying to grab an hour or two here and there to start the project just wasn't happening, so I just booked this week off work, dragged the kid out of his dim video-gaming den and we set off for the boat shop....

IMG_05511.jpg


Now, here I need to provide a bit of an update. Affter perusing the plans for the Minimost hydro, I came to the conclusion that it was a bit small. Our lake can kick up some good chop and - while there are certainly calm periods - having one eye on the wind direction would be critical...plus, once the thing was built, it could only be enjoyed by one person at a time.

So I contacted the seller of the plans and asked if they could recommend a slightly larger boat that still had the charachter of this little hydro. As it happens, he had come to the same conclusion and was in the process of adapting the design into a two seat configuration - basically 25% bigger in all dimensions. He had not begun selling plans in earnest yet as there were a few details to work out but asked if I would be willing to be one of the first builders.

In exchange for a set of plans provided at his printing cost we would have a go at putting it together and provide feedback on the build process.

Well....sold I say! (There are actually three prototypes on the water already, built by this guy, his brother and cousin...so I at least can be assured they float!)...
 
Last edited:

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
So, in order to build the Minimost XL we were going to need a bit more wood than the original. We settled on a combination of mahogany and white oak for the frames and internals, and a combination of 1/4 inch marine ply for the hull, sides and decks, and 3/4 marine ply for the transom.

This conglomeration will be held together with stainless screws of various thicknesses and Titebond III waterproof wood glue - all to eventually be encased in glass and resin.

(The prototypes were constructed of lumber yard stock like pine etc, and fastened with deck screws. Perhaps my choices were overkill but I wanted the experience of working with "real" boat-building materials...and want the thing to last as long as possible. It might be the only boat I get to build!)

Boat shop guys helpfully suggested I label the stuff so when I got home we'd remember what stock was for what...

IMG_05561.jpg
 
Last edited:

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
So...once back at the Bat Cave...er Boat Cave, we set up. In our case the shop is the very al fresco carport of our townhouse with the trusty ol utility trailer with our plywood on top serving as our work bench.

Tools are fetched as needed from that unholy mess of a garage and the entire arrangement is working quite well. Probably not so much come this February, but for now we're good! (and a big shout out at this point to our neighbours, who, while living in such close proximity to the project, instead of complaining about the noise and mess as was my worry, drop by on a regular basis to cheer us on, offer the loan of tools, and vie for first waterkier rights... :) )

IMG_05921.jpg
 
Last edited:

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
So...first step, lay out the plans, cut some templates and get to tracing them onto the appropriate pieces of wood. Although the plans call for starting on one of the more complicated cross frames, we thought the knee might be a harmless enough beginning. Two pieces of 1 inch mahoghany glued, screwed and sandwiched in ply...

(At this point I should mention the construction of this boat doesn't require building around jigs or frames. The basic internal structure is constructed with the marine ply skin added after. This will create some challenges down the road keeping everyting square but we'll jump off that jetty when we come to it...)

IMG_05751.jpg
 
Last edited:

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
First blood!....er sawdust...

The boy cuts out one side of the knee with our trusty $29 jig saw...then glues er up...

IMG_05801.jpg


IMG_05811.jpg
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Clamped!

I love the look on his face. He is just loving this and has said at least five times a day since we started, "Dad - I'm having such a great time."

IMG_05831.jpg


I tell ya, even if we launch this thing and it turns turtle and heads to the bottom instantly, this experience with him will have been worth it. Although he's a great kid, at just on 14 years old I can see the teen age stage starting to set in so I'm so glad to have grabbed this time off work to kick this off....)
 
Last edited:

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Our new favourite power tool. I didn't even know what an oscillating belt sander was until I went looking for a disk sander and found people generally liked these better. You can replace the belt with spindles too. Makes short work of shaping curves etc. On sale for a coupla hundred off doesn't hurt either...

Here, my son cleans up the bonded pieces (which includes a quick intervention on keeping your fingers a tad further away from the work surface...)

IMG_05881.jpg


IMG_05911.jpg
 
Last edited:

lckstckn2smknbrls

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 18, 2008
Messages
1,114
Nice work.
I have an oscillating drum sander and use it often but I have not seen the belt sander.
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Encouraged by our success with this small part, it was on to other transom elements. Here the lower cross member is traced onto stock. (not sure why photobucket posts some stuff upside down...looks right on their site...)

IMG_05931.jpg


Trying to cut a long straight line before our table saw was in play...

IMG_05951_1.jpg


And voila...

IMG_05961.jpg
 
Last edited:

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Aii Karumba....these coupla sticks are starting to look like a boat!

IMG_05981.jpg
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Well, by "looks" like a boat I mean I can almost imagine the rest of a boat surrounding these pieces....:D
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
OK - now for the other frame pieces that make up the transom - upper nailing strips and side pieces, as seen here on the plans...well..if I had moved the square...

IMG_06071.jpg
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
More tracing and cutting...and in this case, gluing and clamping a piece that split. This damn wood is too expensive to chuck in the bin if something can be saved...

IMG_06041.jpg


...and here they are in place...awaiting the transom motor board insert to which everything will be tied...

IMG_06051.jpg
 

scoutabout

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,568
Motor board is fabricated from butt-joined boards, notched to receive the upper nailing strips. Eventually it will be sandwiched in ply both sides.

IMG_06081.jpg




Some fairing and squaring...

IMG_06181.jpg


Now a little cleanup of the chine, stringer, keelson, and carlin notches with files and rasps...

IMG_06191.jpg


Get a load of that kid's got focus. At this point he hadn't played a video game in 12 hours and showed no signs of withdrawal...:D
 
Last edited:
Top