Enthusiasm vs Experience for boatbuilding

After spending many summers on the Chesapeake Bay and spending time on baybuilts, I now want to build one and have been researching for some time.
Wanting to do it right the first time and not make any BIG mistakes I am asking for guidance on how to proceed. Will be using a male mold and c-flex at this point. What next? Epoxy or vinylester? No previous boatbuilding experience but have built 2 houses myself from below the ground up. What I lack in experience I usually overcome with enthusiasm. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

new build

Why not consider building out of wood? Wood lasts generations. Plans for about any size and design are very avaiable and your carpentry skills are more than enough to do a quility build.. Your have skills a lot of people never had when they first started. Go the Gen-L marine designs.com and click on boat plans and you can look over some 300 different ones.

 

Rasorincs advice is particularly valid if you have never used Fibreglass before.

I quick, easy stitch and glue project covered in Epoxy/cloth (even a canoe or similar small craft) will teach you a real lot about bigger FG construction.

 

If you want a traditional bayboat, Chapelle has plans. There is nothing wrong with C-Flex, except the boat will be rather heavy and there is a lot of sanding and fairing fiberglass; way more than what they claim. If you build in wood, the only really hard part to plank is the twist on the forward part of the bottom. Tradionally, those planks (staves) were carved to acommodate the twist. You can cold mold them with more ease.

 

thing is if you have wood working experience you can build out of wood and as long as you use the correct kinds of wood be fine
woods pretty forgiving if you ask me

having done fiberglass repair ( although not on boats ) I'd say fiberglass takes less skill but is easier to screw up. Somewhere around here there is a discussion on why the industry moved to fiberglass in the first place and it was primarily because it was faster and required less skilled workers, the boats require less maintenance although they likely have a shorter life span ( the epoxy manufacturers quite studiously refuse to discuss the longevity of there product ) and so the profit margins are favorable for epoxy.

Im not so sure a one off fiberglass hull is going to be any cheaper or more rewarding to build than a one off woody and it will certainly be less impressive visually IMHO

whatever you decide to build Im sure there are a few folks who will chime in familiar with your style of construction and help you along

cheers
B

 

Thanks for the responses. Gives one pause to think. Will definitely check out chapelle.

 

The only way to build a classic bay boat is by cross planked bottom and plank construction. If you are looking for the shape with an alternative method, go with cold moulding. If you are not familiar with building boats, there are several guys on the bay knowledable in the look, profile and building methods.
Give a jingle to these folks for starters.

http://www.cmdboats.com/smlboat.htm

 

All the luck with your build. I'm also working on my first boat and am very enthusiastic, but have little to no experience on boats...

 

For a first boat it is hard to go wrong with wood if you have carpentry experience. focus on structural integrity first, style and performance later.

 

Don't be afraid to give it a go.I had never built a boat before and just had basic DIY skills, all the help you need is out there and everyone started were you are now or with less,I am now on boat 2 as I just love the building and then the feeling when you launch a boat you built yourself.

This is my first build and launch.
http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx179/fergalbutler/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoP_2AERUQo
and this what I am working on now.
http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx179/fergalbutler/crackerbox/

 

Chapelle was a guru a real pro, get his book, or one of em, make sure the chapter about lofting is there, he gave me my grounding in that subject, cheers Stu
they are avail .on amazon