New build - See Our Sea Flea Fly!

[Patfromny]

Or a dad with good timing. Lol

 

[scoutabout]

This^^ is a very good safety point. ALL boats like this, should have an Auto Kill switch wired so if the operator falls off the motor stops!!!!:nod:

Absotively! I'll be looking to fit one up. The other alternative is one of those period spring grip type throttles that backs off to zero if you let go. I'd rather go the lanyard route though as keeping one hand squeezing the throttle all the time Just seems like it would get old on anything other than a balls-out racing boat.

 

[scoutabout]

Wow...never saw this thread before. I build one of these with my dad in the mid 80's when I was an early teen. I had an 18 HP Evinrude on it that I bought myself. Had some great times on it along with some near death experiences with my friends. One time I turned too sharp and I fell out into the lake and it was left by itself turning circles around me....my dad had to come with his boat and time the circles, jump into the water and catch the boat without getting hit by the prop to kill the engine. Still have the engine but my folks didn't like the boat sitting around their lake place when I moved out and they used it as firewood. I actually recently found the original plans we had used in a box of old junk.

Hey, thanks for drooping by k! Yep - bit of a trip down memory lane here for me too. Had some hairy experiences on the water in my younger dumber days - never fell out of a boat tho!

I'm hoping that by starting with ten horses the safety margin will be pretty wide.

 

[jkust]

Hey, thanks for drooping by k! Yep - bit of a trip down memory lane here for me too. Had some hairy experiences on the water in my younger dumber days - never fell out of a boat tho!

I'm hoping that by starting with ten horses the safety margin will be pretty wide.

I don't let my boys do 1/3 of the stuff I did when I was their age. My dad ended up adding a kill switch to the 18 hp engine with a lanyard. 18 hp and it still only went 30 but I'm sure the prop was not the best for speed.

 

[scoutabout]

LOL - yep, I hear ya. Every once in a while my kid will get a couple stories out of me and his eyes go like saucers. "No way, dad- really?!"

Then I come to my senses, tell him not to ever tell his mother and try to change the subject.

 

[scoutabout]

So, clamps off and you can get a sense of the finished thickness of the transom at the bottom. The inner motor board skin increases that by another 3/8 of an inch.

Note the slice we still need to take out there to get at the keelson insert. We made those two cuts prior to gluing up the first outer transom sheet.

I figure I'll just drill two holes either side and maybe get the jig in there to complete the cross cut.

 

[scoutabout]

Can't believe we are almost ready to think of anything other than this transom.

And on that note it's time to spool up to fabricate the mid frames so we can start runnin sticks between em!

Picked up about 14 feet of sapele (kind of a mahogany wannabe I think) to cut thiese pieces out of.

Since the top mid frame is going to double as the dash I'm hoping it will sand up and seal nicely.

 

[jbcurt00]

Sapele should clean up great

 

[scoutabout]

Ok folks.....officially gonna change this build thread to The Five Year Flea....My word I can't believe how time has flown.

This is project got a little further...But then we ran into that Photobucket fiasco wherein all our images disappeared, held for ransom I guess that I'm sure 90% of the world didn't pay. So... I stopped documenting a lot of it and progressed slowed for other reasons too.

We both got distracted by life and other activities (more intense workload at school, at least one job change for me, etc etc) and before you know it that fresh-faced kid of 14 is now graduated high school and preparing to head off to university in the fall.

Since we've last been on this site he's got his boater's operator card and his provincial driver's license, travelled overseas by himself to visit family and landed his first "real" job at Starbucks. The boy is growin up!

Then today...I dropped back in to check the thread for old time's sake and noticed the pics are back. I guess they fired the dummy whose brilliant idea the Photobucket ransom plans were? I see other than a big watermark, we are all in business again...

Anyway - I do have some videos to post and we've bought a bunch more motors in these past years to consider so we've not been completely idle... (In addition to the '56 Johnson, there's now a '52 Merc KG-7, a '56 Merc Mk. 25, and for good measure, a '71 Evinrude Fastwin 18. ) Ya.....I've developed a problem.

So.....anyhoo- the boy and I have decided to try and resurrect the project and see what we can do during this "last" summer together before he heads off. Working in the aviation industry I could be unemployed tomorrow anyway.....so lots of time then! Will we finish? Who knows? But it's nice to be back...

and with that.....let's blow the dust off so we can get some dust on!

 

[scoutabout]

Let's get reacquainted with boat and project with this vid....originally made last March for Chris Taylor over at his SeaFlea site. I stuck on an intro to give it some context...

(I also see I incorrectly referred to the sapele dashboard framing as merante plywood....the horror!)

 

[Willyclay]

Glad you are back! Most of us have not left. Looking forward to the splash.

 

[scoutabout]

And here's a discussion and bit of work to get a vintage Sheller steering wheel prepped for rigging.

(I should say that some of these videos might mention other websites which I think is generally verboten. As it happens the products or services are not available on iboats. There's no intent to divert traffic away from here.)

 

[scoutabout]

Glad you are back! Most of us have not left. Looking forward to the splash.

Thank you sir!

 

[scoutabout]

Sorting out an ignition short...Some of you might enjoy seeing the old Johnson featured previously running in a garbage can. Shot late last summer ( with apologies for the shaky camera work!)

 

[scoutabout]

And in this video my son hits the waves with the Johnny to test out his newly minted operator's card. I tag along in the Scout with Herschel the Wonder Dog on the foredeck keeping an eye out for mermaids...

This vid is interesting because on a 14' tinnie the Johnson turns a respectable clip (and in fact needed some camping bags of water in the nose to ride level). Wondering on a 10 foot flea if we might achieve similar cruise speed.

 

[Willyclay]

QFT of the highest level!

 

[scoutabout]

Love that old Johnson - so smooth and quiet. The old Mercs are fun too but sound like a cat in a clothes dryer!