Malahini from MD

[Sarnian]

Hi all - I have been scouting this forum since starting my build (Jan 18), doing lots of reading before I do various bits, and desperately looking for solutions after I screw things up....anyway, I will attempt to post some photos now - and do my best to be a little more active - primarily so others can avoid the many mistakes I have made

first batch of wood. White oak for the frames

here I made templates from thin hardboard (actually all that my big box store had available was thin blackboard wood...

I purchased the oak from Exotic Hardwoods, who are in Frederick and Annapolis in Maryland. Great store - and nice folks too.

Making the stem

Setting up my work area

[PeterG]

Welcome! You came to the right place, there are several of us here in various stages of Malahini builds, several completed ones too. Ask away with any questions you may have and please do share your project. Check out the builder's photo archive and particularly (in no particular order) Simon Foord's, Matt (hercdriver) and Bill Brandenstein's versions.

[hoodman]

Welcome, keep in touch!

[Sarnian]

So - here are some more photos. Just for info - white oak frames, 1/2" marine ply for gussets. Side and bottom in okoume ply. Most of the early laminating/gluing done with gel magic - then I moved on to system 3 silver tip with silica thickener. After sides and bottom were on I did a little fairing/filling on the bottom, then decided that I wanted to see planking on the sides. There was a great deal on African Mahogany at my wood dealer, so I bought a bunch of 4/4 shorts, resawed them into 1.75x1/3"(ish), then thickness planed them down to ~3/16. Had a bit of trouble with tear-out at around that thickness.
Veneering...at first I used brads shot through tape covered ply - this worked well, but was a pain to remove - so then I moved on to trying the raptor staples with a hand gun - this was a real pain...and in hindsight a waste of ~$50 (this was the price of the gun) - I ended up buying the raptor stapler - completely worth it - I was able to get a much tighter fit on the veneer. Once the veneer was on I did a sand with an ROS - then a little longboarding (not enough....).
After putting these veneers on I took a while to decide if I wanted to stain or not - eventually I ended up using 1/2 and 1/2 of interlux interstain Chris Craft Red, and Mahogany Brown. I let this set up for a week, then I hit it with 2 heavy coats of CPES. That has sat on for a week or so, and this morning I started fiberglassing - which is daunting - but so far not so bad. Pics below.

I have made two big mistakes along the way - which I think are fixable - the first is that I put one of the gussets on the wrong way around (so it doesn't have the full 6" support on one frame member on each side) - the second...a terrible one - I did not use QS white oak. I just completely spaced on this - got too excited to get cracking and only realized much later on. My solution (will be), to laminate the white oak frames with ply - and this will also allow me to add an extra gusset. Probably overkill - but I am ok with that. Plus, my inside sides will be 'hidden' - so aesthetically it is not a big deal.

I'm starting to think about motors now....I would like a 4 stroke - on the high end.

[Sarnian]

some more pics

african mahogany on

transom stained first - to check I liked it!

sides and transom stained, and cpes'd

[Sarnian]

and a few more from today

letting the glass rest

first coat of epoxy

[hoodman]

I don't know if I would be that concerned about not using quarter sawn. As long as the boards were nice clear heartwood I think you'll be fine. These boats don't rely a huge amount on the strength of the frames. Once completed, the hull is essentially one solid structure with the ply planking itself providing much of the strength and stability. If you laminate with 1/2" plywood everywhere I think you're adding a lot of unnecessary weight.

Somebody chime in if I'm completely off base here.

[Sarnian]

Thanks Matt - I suspect you're right - paranoia might get the better of me though...

Now for a question - I have a sturdy transom - however, I only used one knee - given that I'm thinking of putting something relatively heavy on the back - I am considering attaching two additional knees fixed to two of the bottom battens - any experience out there from anyone for ways to attach these knees to the transom and to the battens without penetrating the hull (or the outside of the transom)? Just screw from inside and let the epoxy do the work?

thanks -

[PeterG]

You sure do work fast... Seriously your hull is looking great. Do you recall the ratio of the stains in your mix, and did you have any issues with different shades of mahogany? Don Dananberg has been a great info source, he has used the same approach with staining and the CPES as a sealer. Though nowadays he is using pettit sanding sealer instead of CPES as it has lifted or smeared the stain.
Your oak is strong enough, quarter sawn is best for dimensional stability but plain sawn will work in these designs. And your upside down gusset is probably fine too. If it bothers you, you can sister/laminate a 1/4" gusset to it, with a little filler piece of the 1/2" ply. Leaving as-is is ok especially since the design calls for 3/8" gussets. I used 1/2" ply for my gussets, didn't have 3/8" ply on hand till later. I also used filler pieces between the gussets on all frames. I don't like little pockets in boat interiors.

Oops, reread above, your stain ratio was half and half

[hoodman]

Wow I responded before the rest of your pictures posted. Looking awesome! If you build a motorwell like this: http://www.glen-l.com/modifying-the-mot ... all-boats/ then there should be no need to add extra knees.

[PeterG]

Yes, like Matt pointed out if you build the motorwell like that or the plans you will be fine. The plywood sides of the motorwell combined with the 2x4 strong back form an H shaped reinforcement that help transfer the transom loads to the bottom and deck structure, better than a couple extra knees would.

[Bill Edmundson]

This motorwell design is strong! Just locate the mounting holes first.

Bill

[Sarnian]

Do you recall the ratio of the stains in your mix, and did you have any issues with different shades of mahogany? Don Dananberg has been a great info source, he has used the same approach with staining and the CPES as a sealer. Though nowadays he is using pettit sanding sealer instead of CPES as it has lifted or smeared the stain.

Hi Peter - 50:50 by weight, plus about 30% of the solvent 333 I think). The solvent i added until the mixture seemed to be the right consistency. Yes even after a week of dryingbtime (90 degree heat) the cpes lifted the stain a little. Actually this wasn't so bad - however, if there were drips of cpes as I was applying it they lightened the stain - so I had to aggressively apply cpes to those spots which then evened things out. Not ideal. The second coat of cpes didn't have the same problem.

[Sarnian]

Wow I responded before the rest of your pictures posted. Looking awesome! If you build a motorwell like this: http://www.glen-l.com/modifying-the-mot ... all-boats/ then there should be no need to add extra knees.

Fantastic - I will check this out. Thanks so much!

[Bill Edmundson]

Sarnian

About engine choice.
I boat on the Alabama Gulf Coast, mostly ICW. From my back deck I can see 17 Yamahas, 1 Merc., 1 Honda, and 1 Suzuki. Inland it would be mostly Merc. Yamaha is tried and true in saltwater. But, Suzuki is coming on strong down here. It is a fine engine at about 25% less than the Yamaha. One dealer said that he is selling 6 Suzuki to 1 Yamaha. The other thing (not the smallest) is to look around and see how many places service your engine. You don't want a nice spring and have the shop tell you that they're booked up for two months.

Merc is not popular in saltwater. Honda seems to have trouble after 2-3 years with the lower unit.

Two stroke? Hands down E-Tec. No question. Great engines.

Bill