Glen-L.com

I have been looking over the plans for the Zip and I find that they are not very detailed as far as the seating. I thought that some where I had seen three options for the lay out of the seating area. If I was not dreaming, I don't recall where I saw that. Any one know.
The only reference that I could find about the top of the boat is on sheet 3 of 4. Is that correct.
I want to mke my interior a walk through.
Is their another book I need to get. I have building with plywood.

Any way yesterday I trimmed the sides down to meet the sheer. I used a hand power planer. Worked very well. Got close and now I will use a belt sander to finish fairing in.
Jeff

I wore out two sets of blades on my power planer. The power planer took off the bulk. I then used a block plane to bring it tolerably close. I only had to use the belt sander for smoothing everything out.

Now, I know a gent who knows a gent who knows a gent ( ) that has this magical grinder that does it all.

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Dave

My Riviera build - the Midnight Cry Project

Video of Midnight in Action
Blog

Few things in the world measure up to the thrill and satisfaction of boating in a boat that you built.

Yea,but he's talented with that grinder!!!

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

I too had to turn my blades over. I think it is because of the glue used in marine plywood. Also wat planing some epoxy off. The other thing is that I have sanded the plywood edge on the wood i used and it eats up 80 grit belts fast.
The thing I liked was that it removed the plywood and did not chip or otherwise harm the finish on the side of the boat.
Jeff

I'm a fellow Zip builder and the fact is that now you are on your own, there are no complete 'plans' for the seating. As I recall there is an indication as to where the top back cross rail to support the top of the seat back goes, but after that it's 'build your own boat'.

I am personally using small 'bucket' seats and not a 'traditional' bench seat, plus my floor is set much lower than most so I can't help you much as to building a fron bench seat, but if you are looking for some basic dimensions I'm sure other Zip builders will chime in. I did go with a bench seat in the back, withn the back of a seat on a piano hinge so it can 'fold down' for access to the area behind the seat.

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This is my first, last and only boat build.

http://www.gdzipbuild.blogspot.com

I like the idea of 2 seats in the front and a back bench seat. Where did you get you seats. I also see you put your steering on the port side, do you have a left hand rotation prop. What did you use for your floor and did you put in other support for them.

Jeff

Here's a photo of the floor board install. I added 5/8" thick x about 1 5/8" deep strongbacks/stiffeners to the top of my battens to stiffen the battens and provide mounting 'Joists' for my floorboards. Because I used 3 battens per side, and they are roughly 6" apart, I was able to use 5/16" thick material for my floorboards, which should make my boat significantly lighter than most floorwise. This also dropped my floor over 3 1/2" at the middle of frame 4, allowing the seat, and therefore me, to sit lower in the boat. I'm 6'.

As to the left sidedness, pick whichever reason you want.

A) I'm left handed
B) I always dock at the cottage with the port side to the dock and want to be able to reach the dock as I come in.
C) It allows me to run the teleflex cable along the starboard side and have a very gradual bend as it turn towards the helm.
D) I didn't know any better.

As for the seats they are elcheapos that came with the donor boat I purchased for the trailer and windshield. They run about $40.00 at the boating big box stores. Mine happen to have a swivel accessory so if I'm ever towing anyone the passenger can turn around and be facing the back of the boat, a legal requirement in Ontario, Canada where my cottage is. The rear seat I made myself.

PS: The bucket seat set up should give me room for a cooler between the seats.

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This is my first, last and only boat build.

http://www.gdzipbuild.blogspot.com

I have faired the outside plywood sides to the shear. When I stand at the transom and look forward to frame landings I see that the shear is flat and the frames are arched. Do I have to sand the out side of the shear so that it matches the frames. I hope not.

If so could any one direct me to your pictures so I can see what I have to do.
Thanks Jeff.

Yes, I followed the curvature of the frames when fairing the sheer after the flip. Best picture I have of it. http://picasaweb.google.com/vupilot/Chr ... 8224509522 Use a 2'x1' or so scrap piece of 1/4" plywood laying over the arch of the top frames and following them to the sheer to simulate the sub-deck. Hold it in place and look under it from the sheer to the arch and you will likely see a gap. Youll want to fair the sheer enough to remove that gap but be careful not to introduce a gap at the outside edge where the sub-deck and side panels will meet.

To do this I used a hand held 3x21" belt sander and held it at the approximate angle. Then used the hand held electric planer to ensure there was no "crown" in the sheer so the outside edge fit nicely to the sides panels.

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My Zip build log...
http://www.vupilot.blogspot.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/vupilot/Chr ... O0x7SvsQE#

"Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape."

This is like shaping the chine for the bottom to fit correctly.? Seems to me that by the time we have shaped the sheer for the top and the sides, there is not going to be much of it left.
While I have you remembering what you did on the top I have some other questions.
When the battens are installed in the front deck do they also have to be curved some
Also I saw that you used some wide boards when you decked your boat. Would you tell me where you got them and how thick and how thick was the plwood you put down first.
By the way I have that same 3x21 belt sander that is in the picture
I am sure their will be mor questions.
Not quite sure why Glen L does not have a book on directions, for top decking and some hints about flooring and seating.
Thanks Jeff

I've been giving serious thought to rear-facing bench seats in the back of my Zip. Once I flip the boat, I fully intend to do some mock-up work with that idea, before I settle on anything.

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Andy Garrett

"When all else fails, follow the instructions." -Dad

Andy,Just my opinion based on years of boating,rear facing seats are good for watching skiers/tubers,but they suck for riding.

People usually twist around to talk to driver/front seat people and to look forward.

Some get sick riding backward.

If the seats are too close front to back,I've hit heads when hitting waves.

just some food for thought.

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Cusoak:

The deck battens and strongback in the front need to be faired to take the decking plywood. As in the process Chris described, use a piece of 1/4" plywood to simulate the deck and shape the battens for good contact.
My Malahini took 1/4" plywood for the subdeck. I'm sure the Zip would be the same.

A hardwood supplier can usually supply wide boards. I bought some 5/4 mahogany and had it resawn and then planed to 3/8" thickness for decking.

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Bob
Completed Malahini (launched 6/24/2012)
http://bobsboatbuild.blogspot.com/

I think rear facing rear seats are a neat idea. The downside the the rear seat in the Zip with a two stroke motor is that your head is close to the motor and its pretty loud back there when cruising. Your idea would help that if you have enough leg room I'd go for it!

Yes the battens up front have some curve to them as well which is more reason the sheer needs to be faired. Youre only removing just less than 1/4" from the outside portion of the sheer around the boat or until you dont see any gap. The sub-deck is 1/4" marine ply on mine. I topped that with the African Mahogany deck boards and perimeter coverboards. That started with two 16"x16ft 4/4 boards resawn and planed to 3/8" thick. I used one board for the coverboards and king planks and the other was ripped into the 2-2/8" wide deck boards. I got all my lumber 20 minutes away at Northwest Lumber here in Indianapolis.

Do you have the boatbuilding with plywood book?

Chris

_________________
My Zip build log...
http://www.vupilot.blogspot.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/vupilot/Chr ... O0x7SvsQE#

"Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape."

The Zip plans show some seating details and we followed this for our build. If I had to do it over, I would either move the seatback forward four inches, or move the dash back a like amount. Our bridge deck is 12" wide, so anyone wanting to see what we did can get a sense of scale from this in the photo archives.

The helm is a pretty fair reach, even for a six-footer with relatively long arms. I was able to make things a little more comfortable by making the seatback cushion from 3" foam, and when I machined the adapter for the Moto-Lita steering wheel I made it long enough to move the wheel aft two inches from where the original Teleflex wheel resided. We estimated the seatback angle to be roughly eight degrees from vertical, and I would make this 10--12 degrees next time.

-Mark Shipley

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A boat is just a wooden box with no right angles.