Minimaxed underway!

[justagp]

Hi Folks,

Our Minimaxed is finally underway!
The kids and I plan to complete it before boating season 2013.
I hope to use it as a platform to learn a few things before tackling a more complex design (Flying Saucer).

We've now cut all the 1/4" plywood pieces and we're working on the "framing".
I'm using all marine ply and African mahogany to learn how to work with the stuff.
We're going to fiberglass the whole hull. The kids have picked fire-engine red and bright yellow for the paint job.

We're building it in our unfinished basement. There already seems to be one of everything stored down there someplace, so why not a boat factory!

Some minor design changes planned: the coaming will extend right to the front of the cockpit to (hopefully) make the boat a bit drier, and the steering board will be vertical on account of our salvaged steering column having a 30-degree angle built-in. Power will come from a 1970 Mercury 9.8hp. I also have a 1980 Johnson 4hp weedless drive, but I don't think it will be up to the task.

Helpful hints, pointers, suggestions all most welcome!

[Paul Kinneberg]

Looking awesome and what great memories for you and your children!

[Roberta]

Look's Great!! The kids really look enthusiastic about the build. The 9.8 Merc is a great little motor. It pushes our Super Spartan about 22 mph.

Roberta

[justagp]

Thanks Paul and Roberta! The kids are really excited. I'm trying to involve them in all the steps where's there's little risk of losing a finger. My son is already pretty good with the cordless drill (when he was younger he got his hands on it and practiced on my wheelbarrow tire, two bicycle tires, then the rear tire on my sister's motorcycle. I discovered these little projects at about 3-day intervals one summer, since he wasn't talking. I can laugh about it now, but at the time... ).

After my first tries milling some of my lumber I discovered that I needed a new blade for my table saw. I also discovered that I need a few pointers at using my new-to-me jointer (so far I suck).
For anyone who may be in my situation, on the magazine shelves locally I found a special issue of "Fine Woodworking" magazine called "The Best of Fine Woodworking: Basic Skills and Techniques".
For $11 it has about 120 pages of great basics like jointer and planer techniques, how to avoid tearout, sanding tips, chisel basics etc, etc. Each page seems to have a great tip that wasn't obvious to me as a beginner.

Hope to post more progress soon!

[Lowka53]

Like all equipment safety first I lost a finger tip to a joiner when I was sixteen thinking I knew more than the people who wrote the reg's

[polarisman14]

Sounds like an awesome project, provided my flying saucer project goes well I definitely plan on building a boat with the kids when we have them . Tip, be careful with the red-and-yellow paint scheme...At least for me, you don't want to look like a floating McD's advert. Maybe do all of it red and then just the reg numbers and a tastefully placed stripe on the gunwale yellow?

[justagp]

Good point about the red and yellow color scheme! Before you mentioned it I was thinking of putting a big yellow "M" on the bow, for "Minimaxed". Just kidding!

Made some more progress today after a break. Mostly created lots of sawdust cutting the framing members. My new table saw blade works well! Next I need to make some good push blocks for my jointer to complete the milling of the rough surfaces. Hopefully on to stitch-n-glue in the next week or so!

Hope everyone's having a good winter. We just got hit with over a foot of snow from a weather system that apparently came up here from Texas (thanks guys). There's still a foot of ice on our lake, too. Have to keep plugging along to have the boat ready for summer!

[justagp]

Some more progress - I think we're on track for launching summer 2013!
Almost ready for filleting the interior seams.

[Roberta]

That look's like a fun build!!!!!Good Job!!!!!!

Roberta

[justagp]

Thanks Roberta!

Interior filleting and fiberglass complete.
Pour-in foam in place (boy is this stuff fun!).

Next step is to complete fairing and install top deck...

[justagp]

Some good progress over the weekend.
Fairing completed, top deck mocked-up then glued. Had to trim the front radius so that it would meet the lower deck without a large overhang.
Steering board mocked-up with recycled steering wheel/hub.
Also finished the knee and laminated the 3/4-inch ply for the motor board.
On to hull preparation for fiberglassing next.

[justagp]

Ready to apply fiberglass today! I also fabricated the skeg and the final pieces of blocking for the motor board area.
I think this boat may actually see water before too long!

[justagp]

I applied fiberglass for the first time yesterday. Perhaps unwisely (since I've never worked with the stuff before) I chose to start with a large piece covering the port side of the bottom and wrapping over the chine at the back and all the way around the bow at the front. It looks like the application was OK overall, but I found the edge of the glass cloth had a tendency to unravel, leaving me with a bunch of fluffy bits at the edges. I think this was happening mostly along the edge that I had carefully cut with scissors. Some of these fluffy bits I was able to remove before the epoxy set-up but some I wasn't. I haven't tried feathering the edges yet with sandpaper, so I'm not sure how much trouble I'm in for. I've watched the Glen-L video on fiberglassing cloth, but I didn't notice that the cloth was unraveling at all. Any hints for how to avoid the cloth's tendency to unravel at the edge? Is there another technique for cutting the cloth?
Thanks folks!

[Bill Edmundson]

You're fine. It will sand right off.

Bill

[justagp]

Thanks Bill. Going to have a go at it again today.