Jeckle9, in stitch and glue?

[volkswagen50]

Looking over Clark Craft's Jeckle9 and I like what I see. Having built a few small boats, I think it might be doable as a stitch and glue, rather than conventional. I think overall weight will be similar given the deduction of some parts, but with fiberglass cloth and epoxy it will last longer and be stronger.
I'm looking for a life span of 10-15 years, garage kept, so maybe I could use exterior grade plywood and get away with it. These designs have been around for years and I'm sure many of them only saw paint for protection.

So here we go, lets here the opinions!

[hoytedow]

Exterior ply would be a mistake.

[u4ea32]

Sounds like it would work.

However, perhaps you might consider using door skins instead of plywood over the forms, and then just lay up a fiberglass boat over it. Just like building a custom fiberglass boat.

I don't build boats, but professional builders tell me that its cheaper to make a one-off 'glass boat like that than to build a one-off wood boat. Basically, because then you are working with stiff stuff (wood) only to get a shape rather than a structure, and then working with easy to handle stuff ('glass) for all the structure.

And the wood requires sanding and fairing over and over and over, instead of just twice: once on the mold that provides the inside or outside surface surface, and one for the other surface. And while you need to wear a bunny suit, glass does fair quite easily.

Some builders use formica instead of door skins. But it seems nearly everyone just uses door skins, one layer of glass, waxed, for the mold.

And the prices I got from professional, widely respected builders all over this planet was always less for the glass boat (really, glass with foam cores) than for the wood (or aluminum for that matter) boat.

Originally Posted by u4ea32

I dare to disagree here, sorry. Converting a design from one material to another is quite often very tricky!

That might be the case (it is not always) in commercial boatbuilding. But just due to the lesser skilled labourers one needs for glassing. A homebuilder is cheaper away with wood.

That is nonsense, sorry. You build in the structural strength with wood. The glass layers only provide some abrasion resistance, in ALL but one method. The latter being glass over thin strip planks.

That is wrong again. The S&G method mentioned above, using plain ply, needs almost NO fairing, Strip planking would need some more, but still far less than a GRP one off on a male mould. Only cold moulded requires more sanding than the latter.


And the prices I got from professional, widely respected builders all over this planet was always less for the glass boat (really, glass with foam cores) than for the wood (or aluminum for that matter) boat.

The reason, that prices for GRP boats often are lower than for wooden composites , are the lower wages for laminators and the fact, that GRP boats are produced in series. For a one off, that is not always the case.

Ah, yes, I produce in both materials, wood EP, and GRP. (and metal until Nov. 2009, just for the books)

Regards
Richard