Cheaters Skiff

[DougieK]

zip along pretty good for a 5 hp motor steve logged 14 knot on the GPS ( 26 kph ) with his demo boat with a 5 hp 4 stoke

That's insane. at 36kg or whatever you could literally self load them on and off roof racks. Think they'd go that fast with my 100kg ass and 20 of gear on it?

[purple5ive]

good stuff mate, will be great to see how this turns out..

[4liters]

Damn cheaterparts, impressed! Do you envision it to be less complicated than the sit in kayak?

It should be a quicker process being a stitch and glue boat over a strip build and to be honest it's more like what I'm use to except the panels are wood not steel and the welds take longer to go off

apart from that it's just epoxy and glass the same processes as needed on my kayak

hopefully it works out I got a kick out of designing and building the kayak and had fun designing and drawing up the skiff

I got the transom finished ready to fit last night so hopefully I'll start the bottom panels tonight - maybe have enough done to start assembly by the week end if the weather gods keep me off the water

I have also done most of the drawings for a new kayak build - this time a fishing ski the rough figures are 575 cm long 59 cm beam and 54 cm water line beam ( quite a bit narrower than most fishing skis ) and planned weight around 22 kg

this is longer , narrower and lighter than my fibre glass ski but should work good for my height and weight Or more to the point be easier and faster to paddle for and old feeble bloke like me

Will this one work with a little sail or would it just blow sideways?

[cheaterparts]

zip along pretty good for a 5 hp motor steve logged 14 knot on the GPS ( 26 kph ) with his demo boat with a 5 hp 4 stoke

That's insane. at 36kg or whatever you could literally self load them on and off roof racks. Think they'd go that fast with my 100kg ass and 20 of gear on it?

Steves not a little guy and the plastic boat weighs about 70 kg - I think

Plywood composite works out pretty light and Mals boat at around 38 kg is built using just 4 sheets of 4 mm marine ply - most of the weight would be glass and epoxy resin

[cheaterparts]

I got a small amount done this week end on the skiff - between other bits and pieces that needed doing around home

as the marine ply come in 2400 long sheets and I need 4300 long by 600 for each side bottom -- so I scarfed the bottom planks and got them glued up

the scarf is a 8 to 1 taper so 6 mm ply has the taper of about 50 mm and by doing them together as pairs the angle is pretty much the same - I just marked them out and clamped them in pairs one 50 back from the front edge and sanded of the angle -- it worked a treat

the scarfs where then lined up and the planks set up with a straight edge and a coupe of screws into a board to hold them square - a piece of plastic layed down under the join so the ply sticks only to the ply - epoxy and then thickened epoxy was applied to the join and a few more screws put in to hold the join tight

so atm both bottom sections are glued with thickened epoxy and should be ready to do a bit of a trim on the length and cut the rear to the finished shape and its ready to drill to except the zippy tie stitches

and while it just looks like 2 long pieces of ply it wont be long before it looks like a boat

[IFISHALOT]

Looking good mate.
Will certainly be easier in the Tide in the Mud Bay!

[cheaterparts]

so todays update - first I had to clean a space big enough to assemble the skiff that took most of the day ( boy I collect crap ) anyway I built an assembly jig that is on wheels so I can move it around as needed

above the start of stitching the bottom planks together once all the zippy ties were in it opened up to form the bottom - the bow just pulled into shape as it opened onto the jig

I made the jig with the correct angle supports that go under the bulkheads this way a simple clamp bar pushes the bottom to shape with the bulkheads this way there will be very little need for stitches or screws
once all the bulkheads and transom is clamped together simple thickened epoxy and fibreglass tape will fix all the seams

the bow just stitched just folded to shape

so hopefully though the week I'l get most of this stuck together - cant work on it tomorrow I'm going fishing

[ducky]

Looking sweet cheater. Good to meet you the other night.

[4liters]

so todays update - first I had to clean a space big enough to assemble the skiff that took most of the day ( boy I collect crap ) anyway I built an assembly jig that is on wheels so I can move it around as needed

IMG_1683.JPG

above the start of stitching the bottom planks together once all the zippy ties were in it opened up to form the bottom - the bow just pulled into shape as it opened onto the jig

IMG_1684.JPG

I made the jig with the correct angle supports that go under the bulkheads this way a simple clamp bar pushes the bottom to shape with the bulkheads this way there will be very little need for stitches or screws
once all the bulkheads and transom is clamped together simple thickened epoxy and fibreglass tape will fix all the seams

IMG_1685.JPG

the bow just stitched just folded to shape

IMG_1686.JPG

so hopefully though the week I'l get most of this stuck together - cant work on it tomorrow I'm going fishing

Ever thought of sticking a big fan on the back instead of a typical boat motor, like one of those Everglades boats? You’d be able to zip around without worrying about getting crap caught in the prop, which could be an advantage in the mud pond at low tide.

[smile0784]

Slowly getting there mate.
Do you have a time frame?