Posted by Del Morissette on June 15, 1998 at 13:32:23:
In Reply to: Re: Power Skiff 14 posted by Roger Clauer on April 19, 1998 at 14:22:12:
My son (14 at the time) and I built the 14 last summer. We did glue the butt blocks, and, yes, that was much better. I was worried about how "sloppy" the sheer was until we put the inner shear into place. It stiffened and trued up very well.
All, in all, we had no problems building it. We completed it, start to finish, in three weeks with my only taking four days off from work, We'd never built a boat before, but I've built a fair amount of furniture and found the familiarity with the tools and layout process very helpful. My son, though, was able to do a great deal of the work on his own.
It's not only a great little skiff, it was a great investment in my son. He and his buddies regularly take it out on several lakes around his home and often bring back supper.
: I am probably a few days ahead of you in building the Powerskiff 12. So far so good. I just started stitching. The plans are very accurate and I have had no problems. Use their C-clamp/rope trick to help hold -- without that it was real tough. Even with that I was pretty tired by the time we finished. The only other thing I would recommend is that you glue the butt blocks. The bottom butt block alone has 80 some screws which need to be ground down at least 1/4" -- what a pain. The side butt blocks have the similar problem plus the screwing does not leave for a real nice even line. The joint on the side somewhat portrudes. This should be okay once I sand it down but I think it probably would have bent better if you had glued it.
: Good luck
: : I have just drawn the plans on my ply and hope to cut
: : them out tonight. Would appreciate comments from anyone
: : who has or is building this boat also.
: : Good Luck to others who boldly build when they haven't
: : a clue.