Hello from Vermont

[Timmy]

Howdy from Lake Eden Vermont. I just purchased plans for the Flying Saucer and am excited to get started. I am a retired Navy vet and even though my nickname in life & on here is "Timmy" I am all woman ! I have average wood working skills and a few tools to start but mostly I have enthusiasm. I have wanted to build a boat for most of my life. I bought a lake front home last year & now the yearning to build has increased to the point where I am ready to take the plunge. I hope to begin this weekend and have given myself a one year time schedule for completion. I have studied this forum and read until I couldn't see straight. It has been awesome and I know the members are a great source of info & help. So here's to new beginnings, thanks Timmy Girl P.S. my very first question, I have access to Marine Aquatic and Marine Grade Okoume and would appreciate your thoughts on which would be best for the build ? Thank you in advance

[mrintense]

Welcome Timmy. You'll definitely find plenty of friendly folks here.

Not sure what Marine Aquatic plywood is, but I've used Okoume for nearly all of my build. It's the Jobert brand (from France). Well made, lightweight and with a nice finish. But it is expensive. I also used some Hydrotek (Meranti I believe) that was very heavy and splintery. I ended up only using it for the extra thickness for my transom.

[Timmy]

Thanks, I guess I didn't spell it correctly. It is listed as "Marine Aquatek "

[JimmY]

Welcome Timmy Girl!

+1 on the Okoume plywood, it was very nice stuff to work with and is worth the price. I think you may have meant Aquatek, which is made from Meranti. From the link I found, it appears to be a low cost marine plywood that is to compete with Fir plywood and is lower cost than hydrotek (which is also Meranti which splinters). It is marine grade so it should be suitable for boat building. A lot will depend on your budget, but the plywood is a small portion of the overall cost (frame lumber, fiberglass, epoxy, paint, hardware, etc...) that it should not be a big deal.

Depending on how you deck out the Flying Saucer, a year build is definitely doable. Just remember that the boat will be around a lot longer than a year, so try to avoid cutting corners or just living with a mistake to meet an arbitrary time table (right Carl?). It sounds like you have done your research online, also look into getting the "Boatbuilding with plywood" book and some other hardcopy references. They will take you step by step through a typical boat construction, something that you don't' get with the plans.

Also, if you want to keep a project moving along, always be thinking ahead on how things will go together so you avoid disassembling something or having to work around something. This also means ordering supplies before running out. You can also get a lot accomplished 15 minutes at a time.

Enjoy!

[Roberta]

Welcome aboard! Good to have another woman builder. I also like Okoume. Joubert is the best. There are some Asian brands out there that seem to be fine. Best to look it over, though. Joubert no worries.

Roberta

[Timmy]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I have taken all your opinions and decided on the Okume Joubert plywood & the specialty lumber store can order it for me. I also went to a sawmill a few miles from my house and had a look at the Sapele. I thought it was beautiful.I attached 2 pics. The sawyer even gave me several samples to bring home. I also got my lumber for my form so I will have an exciting weekend, thanks Again !

[JimmY]

I used Sapele for my Squirt frames, and it is very nice to work with and looks great.

[Roberta]

Sapelle is great to work with. It can be gnarly in the grain pattern causing it to be prone to breakage during bending of chines and shears. I used it on the Torpedo for the framing, keel, chines and shears. It stabilizes the wood if you laminate it in 1/2 finished thicknesses. That way the grains can be alternated, like in plywood, to cancel any tendency to warp and thinner lengths are easier to bend.

In the picture you can see the top lamination clamped to the lower lamination of the chine. Scarfing joints helps when longer pieces of wood are not available. Then just stagger the scarf joints when laminating.

Roberta

[hoodman]

Sapele is really gorgeous under clear epoxy. Mine had some waviness from the milling which took some doing to get out. If you hand plane it, make sure your plane is freshly sharpened or else you'll get lots of tearout. Have fun with your build!

[Gayle Brantuk]

Welcome Timmy! I second Roberta in welcoming another boatbuilding girl. I wonder if I've spoke to you on the phone. It seems I've talked to a number of women looking to build boats and even a camper this year. Maybe it's a new trend...