Introduction
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This page is dedicated to all the boat builders that have helped me by sharing their ideas and experiences. I found it so helpful to see pictures of other boats that I wanted to do something similar. |
| Even though I have been a sailor since my
youth in the San Francisco bay area, I have never gotten very good at it.
I have only sailed when I could rent boats. I have built many
wooden model ships. The desire to build a real sailboat has
been growing for many years. I have looked at a number of designs
and toyed with building one of them.
When I came across the Weekender design I knew I had found something different. I was thrilled with the lines of the boat. It looked traditional. The fact that you could make almost everything on the boat was the clincher. I like making scratch models. Those are ones not made from kits but made from whatever you can find. This Weekender seemed a natural for me. |
| The plans specify a method of construction.
The designers even provide a video that shows all the steps - really handy
for a beginning boat builder like me. After some considerable thought
and investigation I decided to use a different method. I decided
to use epoxy encapsulation instead of polyester resin on the boat exterior.
I applied the fiberglass and epoxy prior to putting the parts together.
This changed the way a number of things were done. I also replaced some
stringers and screws with fiberglass tape and epoxy (the so called Stitch
and Glue method).
Goals: When I realized I could make a boat that could look really nice, I decided to use the best materials I could get (within reason) and make the best looking boat that I can. I also wanted it to last as long as possible, since I don't plan to build another like it. I wanted to be able to use the boat in the Great Salt Lake and to trailer it to various lakes around Utah or perhaps the neighboring states. I wanted to be free from hardware failures. The very high salt content of the Great Salt Lake made me want to reduce all metal below to waterline to a minimum and to use very little metal that would corrode easily. I also wanted to make everything that I could on the boat. Disclaimer: There are some definite advantages to using the method that the designers of this boat planned, to say nothing about the problems that one gets into by going off on your own into new waters. I show what I did for the sake of interest only. I would not advise anyone try this method without thoroughly knowing what you are getting into in advance. Time & Effort: I ordered plans in June '97 for the Weekender and for the Pocket Cruiser. It was not until Apr '99 that I could begin in earnest. Until then I collected tools and experimented with some small parts, like the wheel and carving the trailboards. I decided not to keep a daily work log, since that alone would be an effort. It might also be a bit discouraging. I decided to document the construction by taking pictures and adding comments. The date the picture was taken will show as a cursor tag. My typical work day consisted of 1 - 1.5 hours in the morning and 1 - 4 hours in the evening. This was consistently done 3 - 4 days a week and 4 - 8 hours on Saturdays for 18 months. I believe I spent easily 1200 hours on this project. This is much more than would be required to just get a boat in the water. Cost: I kept accurate records on my cost for the boat, but since my goals in construction are different than most, my actual figures would be of little use, except to point out to what an excess it can become. For this reason I will not create a cost log on this site. For those curious, it cost me about double what the average Weekender costs. Don't feel sorry for me, this is what I expected going into it. Conclusion: I am very happy with the construction and the end result of Aloha. I like working with epoxy. I used it for all gluing, filleting, glassing and encapsulation of the wood. Even though it is more costly I believe that there are some real advantages for using only epoxy. I believe that doing the encapsulation as I went was much easier than trying to apply fiberglass after the boat was constructed. I would do the scarfing and stitch & glue again. I am still trying to decide about the birds mouth mast. I'm glad I did it but I don't think it has enough advantages to be recommended over the regular mast. I think building your own trailer would also need to be something you would really prefer. Overall as an experiment in a different method of constructing a Weekender, I am very satisfied with the way it worked. |
