New build - See Our Sea Flea Fly!

[scoutabout]

Well Sir, 2 things... I wonder what treasures are in the garage waiting to be re-found....(mine is in the same condition, so Im not taking a shout at you) Also, looks like the angle on the bottom pieces and the transom knee are off....

By the way, cool build!!

LOL - you are indeed correct about that garage, Corjen! Don't know how many times I've bought some staple like electrical tape only to find a new unopened roll in the wreckage while excavating for something else!

And you're gettin' warm on the angles issue...

 

[scoutabout]

A sharp chisel (notches) and a hand plane (the rest) will have the right bevel cut in minutes, If you need to preserve the hieght bevel the ends of the battens. (not sure what to call them)

Since my helper has a hard time staying interested when helping I think it's awesome to see your helper stayed interested W/O electronic aids.

Yep! With the transom set at the prescribed 15 degrees, anything set into those notches would naturally want to lie like the set square there - I.e. Not parallel with the hull bottom.

Shoulda realized that before cutting the notches out. But you're right, a chisel should work, although you've got me thinking that maybe a nip out of the stringers would be easier. Going to consider how much material that would mean. Perhaps not structurally significant. The bevel on the bottom of the transom I was going to do with the table saw.

Anyway thanks again for the encouragement guys!

(As for the assistant, 36 degrees with the humidex last night kept him in his gaming lair and it was just me scratch in' my head over this. He'll be back tho, I'm sure!)

 

[scoutabout]

So - a couple more steps down the road tonight.

First, we traced and cut the inner motor board cover out of 3/8 marine ply.

The idea was to trace against the transom, then add a cut line just offset. Once glued and dry, a (hopefully) minimal few passes with a sander will take the excess off.

Ya....meet the Clampits!

(Although not in the plans, we decided to carry this piece down further than spec to overlap the bottom frame. Seems like an easy way to a more solid transom structure. We'll trace and cut out the keelson notch later..)

 

[scoutabout]

And here's the knee becoming the core of a ply sandwich.


( Goofup Alert! : the plans actually called for the reverse- a ply core at the centre of the two mahogany pieces, but we goofed and forgot so hope this workaround is just as good....)

We'll hit this again with the belt sander to true it up once dry.

 

[scoutabout]

Tonight we "declamped" and did some sanding...

Knee first...

Seen this movie before...

But my don't she come up purdy...

 

[scoutabout]

Next, the motor board front cover.

Little trickier to sand the overhand back to the underlying form. Tried a hand held belt sander first but it didn't get into the crannies so good.

Then decided to try the spindle attachment on the Rigid. Good access for the most part and really chowed down on that ply. Problem was it left the faintest wave in the edge.

To be expected I guess when round abrasive meets flat edge.

So we finished it up with some good ol fashioned chisel and rasp work topped off with the palm sander...all of this will get a final once over prior to sealing. Just too eager to keep moving right now

 

[Grandad]

Hi Scout. Just catching up with your progress. Looking good. I know you said that this design is essentially an enlarged MiniMost, but how about posting a concept picture of the design? There must be a promotional picture or drawing that prompted you to undertake the project. - Grandad

 

[scoutabout]

Hey GD- thanks for dropping by!

Good idea about the pics. The beginning of this thread has images of the original Minimost design from back in the day. And of course your cool shots too.

The following prototype pics are of Chris Taylor's (of Muskoka Seaflea fame) adaptation, enlarging the craft by 25%

Here seen piloted by his niece.

As you can see, bumping the design from 8 to 10 feet created a significantly beefier craft, which is what I was after for our lake, however I now have my doubts our ten horse originally purchased for the 8 footer is going to be enough power for this application. The yellow boat has 25 and the mahogany decked beast above is sporting 50 ponies!

Chris reports however that both prototypes have a lot of added weight, especially the second one and a stripped version should be ok with ten at least for relaxed cruising - which is just fine for me. And hey- if I gotta buy another motor some day, well, shoot - when was that ever a problem...

 

[Grandad]

I think you're right Scott. A 10 HP may not be enough. I wouldn't think that more than a 25 would be required to have a lot of fun. A 50 would be kinda scarey. After building my MiniMost, my next project was completing a 15' molded mahogany after buying the skin minus transom. A 40 HP was OK on it, but when I upgraded to a new Merc 80 HP, once in a while the back end tried to pass the front end. Created quite a thrill. - Grandad

 

[Patfromny]

I think your both nuts. The only thing in the water on that yellow one is the lower unit of that 25. Lol. Not saying I wouldn't take it for a spin with a 50. A few years back I rented a lower Jon boat model 1542. I put my 69 9.5 Sportwin on it and I got to about 25ish. The owners of the lake were watching me and they said it was faster than that but I'd say 25ish is close enough for this discussion. I think a 10hp on a 10 or 12 ft boat with a better hull will blow your skirt up so to speak. :lol:

 

[mickyryan]

I had a 8 ft hydroplane as a kid I wish I knew who had made it it had wings out to side and fins back by outboard, anyways it was a 30 we found as a sweet spot .

 

[scoutabout]

LOL - thanks guys. Always love a good power to weight to sanity discussion

Since I've got the ten we'll start with that then work our way out the plank as able. But must admit I've been perusing some local classifieds for larger vintage iron...

 

[Patfromny]

LOL - thanks guys. Always love a good power to weight to sanity discussion

Since I've got the ten we'll start with that then work our way out the plank as able. But must admit I've been perusing some local classifieds for larger vintage iron...

The first step is admitting, that's what they say right? :watermelon: Whichever way you go we are all hanging on for the ride. This is just a cool build. Great wood work so far scout. A project with my daughter and I (also 13) is for both of us to get through her softball game without upsetting one another (I'm her coach) lol. Or for her to spend more than 10 mins,. Without her ear buds in. Now that is a near impossible feat.

 

[Scott Danforth]

The Mark 20 or the Mark 25 I have hanging on my stand would look great hanging on the back

 

[scoutabout]

The Mark 20 or the Mark 25 I have hanging on my stand would look great hanging on the back

Hmmmm......just LOVE those....

 

[scoutabout]

The first step is admitting, that's what they say right? :watermelon: Whichever way you go we are all hanging on for the ride. This is just a cool build. Great wood work so far scout. A project with my daughter and I (also 13) is for both of us to get through her softball game without upsetting one another (I'm her coach) lol. Or for her to spend more than 10 mins,. Without her ear buds in. Now that is a near impossible feat.

Thanks P! Very nice of you to say.

Gotta admit there's so much talent on this board I seriously considered just quietly doing the build without telling anyone. Kinda stressful letting it all hang out for everyone to see. But then I decided a warts n all build would both be a chance to get ideas as well as show others pretty well anyone can do this stuff.

And ya - it's both startling and exhilarating to experience your kid becoming their own person with ideas that don't necessarily jive with yours!

 

[Patfromny]

I post my screw ups right next to my accomplishments on my build thread. If someone else sees that they aren't the only ones screwing up it makes them feel better about their abilities. Not that I'm a boat building role model by any means. I think the story isn't complete without the good and the bad and how you over came all screw ups.

My daughter finally opened up to me and said she feels she is letting me down sometimes on the softball field. I am one of the coaches. I'm was happy to see her speak her mind like a soon to be adult. I could have said any number of things but I decided to be honest. I told her I was just happy she was trying. I told her I'm not even close to the best player on my teams but that I give it my all. I finally said that as long as she is trying, she cannot in anyway disappoint me. The look on her face told the tale. She was relieved tremendously and started playing better without the baggage. Our kids need to see us screw up too. They need to know we aren't invincible. It teaches them that it's OK and hopefully we can handle the screw up in a way that helps teach them how to deal with their own goofs. Sorry for the diatribe. You just hit a nerve with the last post. A good nerve. I hope you and your son can mature your relationship over this build and both look back fondly for the rest of your lives on this experience.

 

[mickyryan]

lol good point I always tell my kids about my screw ups so they realize everyone is human and we make mistakes to learn from them I put my own father on such a high pedestal when he fell he double bounced! I swore I would never let my kids think as I did and forget he was as human as anyone else.

 

[Patfromny]

True micky. It is easy to upset your kids without meaning to. I am a competitive player but don't bring that to Little League. What I do is instruct. I now realize that me constantly telling her, "bat back" and, " take an angry swing" that she thought I was yelling at her or lecturing her when all I was doing was trying to help her hit better. You have to praise twice as much as instruct was my lesson learned. Sorry Scout. Hijack over

 

[scoutabout]

Great discussion guys. I think we underestimate how much our kids take on themselves either trying to be what we want or what their peers want. It's tough! What's so great about this project is we just get some time to joke and chat, and if I listen really carefully, he might sneak in a question or comment about life, growing up, dealing with girls (gasp!) or any number of other things.

This is wonderful because traditionally he's been much more likely to have these discussions with his mother than me, which always made me feel kinda like a failure as a parent.

Who knew a little sawdust n glue could bond more than wood!