Glen-L.com

I would like to "drop" the stem a bit to look a bit more like an old runabout. Not quite blumb, but a bit more of a "spoon".

Any thoughts?

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Don't wait and see where life takes you, take the wheel and decide for yourself!

OK, but remember that the Squirt was designed to be planked with plywood. If you change the shape of the bow, it may no longer be workable with plywood and you'll have to cold mold it. I'm not saying this is etched in stone but it's worth giving some thought to.

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Isn't it amazing!! The person that never has the fortitude to pursue his own dreams, will be the first to try and discourage you from pursuing yours.

Well, that was my concern.

I'm trying to figure out how to detemine the answer Before I am too far along the process.

I guess I could make two stems...see how the chines go then test with some ply, but sounds iffy.

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Don't wait and see where life takes you, take the wheel and decide for yourself!

What about a test model? Maybe some balsa frames with heavy construction paper. If you can't get the paper to conform, then you'd know. I'm just throwing out ideas here .... trust me. It's nothing I've had any experience with.

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Isn't it amazing!! The person that never has the fortitude to pursue his own dreams, will be the first to try and discourage you from pursuing yours.

Yes, I think you could be letting yourself in for some real problems!

Be very careful.

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Graham in Shepperton, England

Good, Quick, Cheap, pick any two.

Graham says to be very careful. He may be right (he usually is). All I can tell you is my experience.

I designed my 18' runabout. I studied plans for a plywood runabout and determined that if I kept the curves approximately the same, then I shouldn't have a problem with bending the plywood. I changed the length and width of the frames but I kept the same curvature top to bottom. I also completely redesigned the stem to get a more vertical look. I didn't see how this would cause a problem since all that happens is that the plywood is longer towards the bow and ends on a different angle. The actual curve is caused by the frames, not the stem. Just to make sure, I built a scale model with corrugated cardboard frames and paper for plywood. It looked fine. When I built my boat it looked great, just like the paper model.

There are some other issues you should consider if making your stem more vertical and that is handling of the boat at speed. A vertical stem can cause problems when turning at speed as it may hit waves. I have no experience with this. I'm just repeating what I've read. I'm hopping that my boat will plane with the bow high enough so that this won't be an issue.

Bruce.

Hey Bruce,

I went back and tracked down some pictures of your boat...Did you finish it yet?...if so I would love to see the most recent photos...actually what I wanted to ask is, It appears as though you cold molded, or layered the bow with strips of ply. Is that correct? If so, any trouble matching up the thickness with the rest of the bottom and sides?

thanks.

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Don't wait and see where life takes you, take the wheel and decide for yourself!

I didn't do any cold-molding. I simply covered my plywood boat with 1/8" mahogany plywood cut to 6" wide strips. I did this because I didn't like the look of the mahogany plywood hull when I was finished. I have a fair bit of experience in wood finishing but I was unable to get the different sheets of plywood to look the same on my hull. It is a large surface area so differences from one sheet to another are very noticeable. Also, there were definite differences in the tone of the natural mahogany from one sheet to another. I tried to correct it by staining but I was not successful.

In my photos ( http://www.chelseacoachworks.com/boats/ ... frame.html ) you will see that I ran the planks on a vertical angle at the bow below the shear. I did this simply because I thought it would look better. I ended the angled planks well below the water line and used an epoxy fillet to transition to the plywood bottom. I didn't want to plank the complete bottom of the boat as it was simply cosmetic. There is a step at this transition point but since it is below the waterline and is painted, it is impossible to notice. At speed it will be out of the water so it won't effect the handling and no one can see it since the boat will be moving.

I am still working on my boat. I hope to launch in the early summer. I am currently working on the seats, gas tank, rudder, steering, floor, windsheild ..... I get tired just thinking about what I need to finish before it hits the water.

Bruce.

Bruce, you should name that boat "Mahogany Rush." Not after the Frank Marino band but because it's a wooden go fast. It's gonna be a total blast when you get it completed.



The old classics actually DID plane with the bow high enough to avoid this problem.

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Isn't it amazing!! The person that never has the fortitude to pursue his own dreams, will be the first to try and discourage you from pursuing yours.

"Mahogany Rush" Now that is a cool name. If I ever build another runabout (and I would love to but I guess I better finish this one first), I think I'll use that name.

The name I was originally going to use was "Riviera". Not because it was anything like the Chris Craft or Glen-L models of the same name but simply because I loved the feelings that come to mind with that name, sun, fun, and the finer things in life. I eventually came to my senses and named the boat after my wife. The boat is the "Cara Jen". My wife's name is Carrie Jennifer.

I would highly recommend the age-old practice of naming boats after your wife. It has done wonders for me when I explain to her that I really have to get back to work on the "Cara Jen" so I can get it finished and in the water for "everyone" to see.

Since we're talking about boat names, I considered many methods of getting the name onto the transom. It is a big part of the look of the boat. I felt that the correct lettering style and size were critical to get it to look good. I ended up designing it on my computer using the "Commercial Script" font. I simply printed one letter per page and then cut them out and taped them to the transom. I then traced them with pencil. I then hand painted the letters using a small brush and gold leaf paint. I'm no artist but it was easy to stay inside the lines. I'm happy with the results.

Bruce.