Glen-L.com

Congratulations on your launch of Miss Maggie! What a beautiful boat!

Although my execution of it wasn't perfect, I'm happy with my decision to build a laminated keel. The forward bend was very easy, with no resultant "bulge" in the aft area where it's supposed to remain flat. The full thickness along the back half of the keel, combined with the fact that I ...

It's still a long, long way from the water... but it's getting there. Reached a small milestone this weekend. I laminated on the last remaining piece of the keel, and epoxied & bolted the transom knee permanently. I also trimmed the aft overhang of the keel. That reminds me! If you buy the Dreme...

I'd put that on a Zip in a heartbeat. Plenty of people have had good luck with 30hp motors on the Zip. Joshua Burks recently completed his Zip and got good performance out of a 2-stroke 25hp. Look for his videos on YouTube. You'll be glad you did. Of course, you could also build a stretched Flying S...

Here are some more measurements of the 5 inch bolts through the transom knee.

As you can see, the 5 inch bolts are indeed a little too long. As Jimmy mentioned, I will cut these to a shorter length.

In retrospect, I would have preferred 4-1/2 or 4-1/4 inch bolts.

Have you bolted the keel to transom yet? If yes what size of bolts did you use? I test fit it and drilled the holes tonight. I haven't attached it permanently yet, but here is a photo of it bolted to the keel and transom. These are 5 inch bronze carriage bolts. The depth of my transom and motor boa...

Ayman wrote:Thank you micheal. Have you used 2 bolts keel to stem?

Yes, I did use 2 bolts for the keel-to-stem joint. Here is a photo from the side, showing the 3-1/2 inch bolts and how far they protrude through the stem. The thickness of the keel here is approximately 5/8 inch.

Looking great, Matt!

The rubber base seems like a good idea to me. It's simple, and should also serve as a gasket to keep water out of any wiring running under the light.

I just bolted my keel to the stem this morning. I used 3-1/2 inch bronze carriage bolts, and they worked fine. Keep in mind that my keel is laminated, and the thickness of the keel at the forward end is only 5/8 of an inch. Still, 3-1/2 inch bolts should be fine if they are countersunk into a 1-inch...

Keel attached.

Drawing a little inspiration from GDCarpenter, I didn't use any screws to attach the keel to the frames. I only used thickened epoxy, and bronze carriage bolts at the front of the keel.

Bronze will be much softer than the stainless steel. The stainless steel will be stronger.

Since the bow eye is not a structural part of the hull, I would use stainless steel.

Thanks, Mike. I've often wondered what denatured alcohol, referred to many posts on here, is - we don't have it in the UK. A quick Google search reveals it's what we call 'meths' (methylated spirit). Purple stuff, right? I'll try it when I'm home but I'd imagine it'll raise the grain of the wood so...

What I do is sand the surface, vacuum it, then wipe it of with a little denatured alcohol. Once the surface has had a few minutes to dry off, I apply a thin coat of epoxy. I repeat this process until I have applied three coats of epoxy. You have to be sure to let the epoxy cure for 24 hours before w...

That upholstery work looks amazing, Jim! Very inspirational. Very!

I'm going to have to check out those videos. Now that Joshua's Zip is finished, I need something to watch.