Hey Guys! So after some research online about how much a large scale boat would cost, (and after almost falling out of my chair) I decided to take on the challenge of building a boat myself... little did I know this was going to be a MUCH bigger project than I thought.

So after finding blue prints online, going to a print store to get them printed on 5 ft wide paper, going to get wood and epoxy at Lowe's, and heading home to the garage, I calculated my cost at approx. $65. Not bad so far...

I already had the electronics, 26cc engine, and tools.

It took me a while to cut out the ribs and stringers. Lots of cutting with the jig saw. Here are some pics...




I then cut out the sides/bottom. I ended up ripping one piece of bottom and one whole side off because I wasn't happy with how they matched up. (A LOT harder than you think!)



Deconstruction of one side.



To make the bow, I had to use a steamer to increase the flexibility of the wood. I used a clothes steamer and it worked suprisingly well.



To add interest in the project, I was getting the wood out of my shed and dumped 75-100 baby spiders on myself by accident... Still have no idea where/what the mother was but it has been 3 days now and I'm not dead... hahaha.




After fixing the holes with epoxy I sanded it down to make it smooth and decrease the drag. Here are some pics of that.





The bow tip had to be made with epoxy, as the pieces of wood were not lazer cut and did not match exactly. Here is a photo of the tip.



I just finished sanding the bow and have placed the top on. Here's what it looks like now, waiting for the top to be epoxied down...




In two weeks I will have more pictures up.

If anyone has any boat rudders, props, or shafts, let me know and I'll happily buy them from you. If not, I'm headed to Ebay. Any comments or suggestions or off the wall ideas would be great! Feel free!

Thanks!

Love building and seeing wood boats
As a scale project very nice indeed, get on some strakes for lift you should be well on your way to a very nice boat on the cheep.

I agree, looks like a nice project off to a good start! Keep us posted!

Looks great so far. I'm kinda curious tho. Did you scale the plans down? The original plans for that boat were for a 72" hull I believe. I know it has been scaled down by a couple guys, so maybe it was their altered plans you found. Great build so far, please keep posting pics as you go. Doug

Alright guys. I spent about 5 hours cutting out some stuff then replacing it with metal. I'm not sure how the metal might effect the radio but I like the option of being able to drill different holes for the engine and the holes being sturdy. Does not add that much weight either. Like I said earlier in the post, this build is for fun. I'm not trying to break any speed records, just have a fun floater for the lake while camping. Please comment and let me know what you think!

Nice work.
It is good to see the handbuit (scratchbuilt) boats, it looks great. They are a lot of work arn't they, especially when you are new to the hobby.
As I said nice work and keep those pics coming as you progress.

Thanks Moofy. I'll admit it has been a lot more work that I thought, but VERY FUN!

The project is at a somewhat stand still right now because I did something extremely stupid today. I made the mistake of starting the engine without the clutch bell on the clutch. It shattered and spewed 3 inch pieces of clutch everywhere, including into my hand. I will admit I am a mechanics son so I should have known better. No broken bones, just stitches and butterfly bandaids. The pinky finger is black and blue and numb. The right ring finger is swollen and has two deep gouges in it with stitches. The middle finger is slightly cut but not bad.

Anyway, you live, you learn. I'm extremely thankful the 3 inch pieces did not hit my face or chest.

Time to look for a new engine or clutch. I think it'd be cheaper just to buy a used weedy engine than replace the clutch.

Lookin good Keep the pics come'in ..

It's looking good so far. I'm not too sure about replacing the wood stringers with the metal pieces tho. The wood was glued to the bottom and gives a lot of support to the bottom. If the metal is not somehow attached to the bottom I'm afraid the boat will be able to flex where you cut the wood stringers out. When the original plans were shrunk to 58 inches from 72 I realize the stringers became too close together for the motor to fit between them correctly, but I would have glued new wood stringers in further apart after cutting out the originals. The wood is plenty strong if done correctly. Doug

Doug,

This crossed my mind and I am going to lay two 1/8'' stringers horizontally for strength beside the metal stringers. The reason I made the new stringers metal was so I could easily take them out and drill holes, mount the engine, and fiddle with different set ups as far as engine positioning. This will also allow me to put in different engines if I want to switch later.

It is my first boat, so lessons will be learned. Hopefully this small modification will work to my advantage. Thanks!