[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Costs have risen somewhat above my expectations, for several reasons:
-I needed more epoxy than I originally thought, and it isn’t cheap
-Paint cost is almost never mentioned in any build log - and I wasted thirty quid on some paint I can’t use.
-I had to buy lots and lots of clamps - I haven’t added this into the official costing though, because a) they’re now part of my permanent toolkit and b)I bought them with some money I was given for my birthday.
So far it has cost me approximately £140, but I don’t think there’s very much more to buy now.
my boat will pass through an ordinary doorway and could be moved up and down a staircase fairly easily. I can lift it with one hand, but I think you’d need two people to move it through a door or up stairs without damaging something or injuring yourself. Turning a corner in a passageway might be tricky, but maybe still possible - it’s only about 11 feet long, so it could be partially stood upright to gain a tighter turning circle.
I have lots of ideas for a possible ‘next boat’ - I was thinking a coracle might be fun, but I also came across a design for an ‘umbrella canoe’ - consisting of flexible ribs fitted to a frame with waterproofed canvas stretched over it - I think that might be quite fun and I have an idea for waterproofing fabric by rubbing flexible sealant into it.
Mine hasn’t produced any. Epoxy resin is virtually odourless (the unmixed catalyst part smells of ammonia a bit, but it’s not overpowering unless you stick your nose in the bottle, and the smell goes away completely when the glue cures. The polyurethane (Gorilla) glue I’ve used for some other parts is also virtually odourless.
Two-part polyester resins produce fumes while they cure - that’s actually one of several reasons not to use them on a small wooden boat.
Painting will be a bit smelly, but no more so than gloss painting during a household decorating job.
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Thanks for the responses. The costs are easily acceptable. Eleven feet worries me a bit, however. I have a feeling there may be a tight corner or two in my house.
Anyway, I can’t wait for your first test. Please be cautious.
Thanks. I will be careful. I already have a buoyancy aid and the launch and initial test of the boat will all be done in quiet waters no more than waist deep.
Work continues on the boat - I try to get at least a little bit done every day, but at the moment, it seems the more I do, the more I discover is left to do.
I’m determined to finish it though and it can’t be more than a couple of weeks away now - I can’t let this become one of those projects that goes on forever, never quite being ready. That would be so depressing.
When I was a young child, I lived in Cyprus - my dad was posted there in the RAF - there was a little shack in Akrotiri called The Hovercraft Club - where a small group of enthusiastic RAF engineers and hobbyists were building a small (2-man, I think) hovercraft - it was always going to be ready in a few months. Just before we came back to England, I remember helping out in the construction of a new clubhouse, but the hovercraft was still a few months away from completion.
Fifteen years later, when we went back on holiday, the clubhouse had been expanded and enhanced. The hovercraft was still a few months away from completion.
Another fifteen years on and my dad went back there on holiday - the clubhouse is now quite a serious bar/nightclub/venue (still called ‘The Hovercraft Club’). I’m not even sure the hovercraft was there at all - it’s possible that somewhere out the back, it was waiting under a tarp for the last few finishing touches…
It’s really close to completion now - I only need to sand the outside of the hull, spot-fill any blemishes, then paint and varnish everything.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
It’s really close to completion now - I only need to sand the outside of the hull, spot-fill any blemishes, then paint and varnish everything.
[/QUOTE]
Cool. If it keeps raining, you’re gonna need it 
Si
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
So far it has cost me approximately £140, but I don’t think there’s very much more to buy now.
[/QUOTE]
:eek: Your bank balance is now, officially, doomed.
What did you end up using to dilute the sealant? (You started another thread on the topic, but I didn’t see the answer.) Did you wind up diluting silicone sealant with mineral spirits, as someone suggested? Did it work? I have to admit, I was skeptical, but then, I know nothing about sealant.
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
What did you end up using to dilute the sealant? (You started another thread on the topic, but I didn’t see the answer.) Did you wind up diluting silicone sealant with mineral spirits, as someone suggested? Did it work? I have to admit, I was skeptical, but then, I know nothing about sealant.
[/QUOTE]
I haven’t done any of that yet - the information is for my next project (or at least something I intend to do at some point in the future - either a traditional-style coracle, but made of more modern materials, or a collapsible canoe along these lines:
http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/summer/boats/umbrella_canoe.htm
Mange, I was browsing your site and you refer to trimming things using a quadrant bit for your router. I’d never heard of a “quadrant bit” so I googled, expecting to find about a gazillion references to “quadrant bits” for routers, leaving my ignorance well fought.
Instead I find that the only pages on the entire internets that refer to a “quadrant bit” in the context of a router are…
[drum roll please]
… your boatbuilding pages!
Fill me in, please.
Oops, looks like I just made the name up.
What I’ve been referring to as a ‘quadrant bit’ is more commonly (nay, universally) known as a Rounding over cutter. In my defence, I’ve been calling it a quadrant bit because when used at full depth, it produces a curved edge that is exactly one quarter of a circle in profile. Furthermore, if that edge is then ripped away from the board, it becomes quadrant beading.
But I probably ought to use the correct term - I’ll post a clarification on the my boat page tonight.
Gotcha, thanks. All makes sense now.
Nearly finished!
I’ve named the boat. There’s a picture on the website linked in my sig (I won’t spoil the surprise, but it will make you smile)