Expenses, All of Them

Over the course of this project I've kept every receipt and recently totaled up the costs. The first image shows my expenses, including the outboard, gas tank, books, and some tools I needed. The second picture shows the cost if I wouldn't have purchased the outboard and etc., and had just bought the materials needed. Keep in mind that these prices have been spread out since April of 2010. It should also be noted that I gained a huge amount of knowledge from this thus far so the experience in itself is worth it.

The only costs left that I can think of are paint, topside decking wood, a few pieces of hardware, and some more epoxy. I'm sure there will be a few unexpected items that will be need though as well.

Trailer Fitted

Here are some pictures after I made some adjustments to the trailer; it had previously been used to haul around a 13' Zodiac hard-bottom. It fits great and it looks awesome; Glen-L did a great job on designing the lines of this boat. There isn't a hook on the front of the Squirt but I was able to tie it down and that seems to work. You can see I haven't sanded the fiberglass down yet but that'll have to wait until I find a new place to work on it since my parents sold their house. Next on the list is to finish the seating, install the dashboard and components (which I have purchased), build the rear hatch and splash-well, and add a few more coats of epoxy to the inside. Once that's all complete I'll put the plywood on the top, and figure what kind of wood outlay I'm going to use for design and color. My last step will be flipping it over and sanding and painting the hull, I'm thinking of a white/blue combination. 

Encapsulation: 2 Coats

This is the inside after two coats of epoxy. The wood must have been really dry because it soaked it up like nothing. I did go light though because I was afraid to have it clump up in certain areas. I'll put at least one more coat on, and then a fourth if I'm not happy with it. This is when I wish I would have coated all of the panels before I installed them. It would have made this a lot easier and saved me some time, but it's all a learning process. Underneath the towel is where the bench will be installed, though it will not be epoxied down because I want to be able t remove it if I need to get under it for any reason. I'm not 100% on how I'm going to fasten it yet but I'll get to that when it comes. 

Seating Started

These pictures were taken in August. I got busy with school and moving apartments so I'll be updating with more pictures and a spread-sheet of my costs thus far. The pictures below show the deck framing done, but still needs to be faired; that'll come when I install the plywood. I cute out the seat with is 1/4" mahogany plywood, with is pretty flimsy for a seat I thought. I have supports running underneath though so it should be pretty solid. My brother works in an office furniture company and can be me some left over foam that I'll glue to the board and then wrap with fabric. 

I'll update with more pictures of the boat on the trailer, the interior epoxied, and the total costs later this weekend and into next week. 

Topside Started

The past two weeks not much was done. I flipped it, sanded down the excess fiberglass, encapsulated from frame #1 to the transom, and dry fit some wood. The first piece instructed to go on were the coamings. The wood used for this is 1x6, I believe, and about 5' long. It also has a pretty major bend so I soaked both pieces over night and dry fit the next day. This was definitely a two man job as I was constantly taking the coamings on and off to get the perfect fit. I also cut the deck battens, though I cut one too short and will have to make another cut. The dashboard is 12'' from frame #2 and I didn't look far ahead enough to see this.

Here are a few pictures of the progress. I hope to have the topside complete and be able to move onto the actual decking by the end of the weekend. I had previously wanted to African Mahogany king planks with a lighter colored wood in between, but summer is coming to an end I want to be able to have it launched before I go back to WMU in the fall. Therefore, I will be doing the deck as just the mahogany plywood, and then over winter I will install the better looking decking. Sorry for the poor quality on the bottom picture, I took it as I was rushing out the door on the way to class. I'll have better ones up after this weekend.

Fiberglass Complete

I completed the fiberglassing portion of the build and am very excited to put that behind me. I don't think I've ever talked myself up so much trying build some confidence to get something done. I watched the Glen-L video on fiberglassing, about 10 times, which you can purchase from their website along with a book, and used that as my main source of information. I also looked at Art Atkinson's Boat Building Blog for more information, and of course, I took advantage of the Glen-L forum with some questions. As a reminder, I had purchased the Glen-L fiberglass kit for the Squirt.

When fiberglassing, you can use fiberglass tape to cover any plywood joints (chine line, transom to side, transom to bottom, stem/keel), and then do a final sheet over the entire hull. I decided to go with just the sheeting of the hull and not use the fiberglass tape. I went with this decision because the only reason I was fiberglassing was to give the hull a little extra strength, but because I used screws to fasten the plywood panels to the frame, instead of screws, I decided a single sheet would be fine.

I started the process with an application coat of epoxy covering the hull. Next I fiberglassed the transom, with the fiberglass sheet extending about 3.5-4" around the sides and over the bottom plywood. I used the dry-method of applying fiberglass, which was recommended by the Glen-L plans and the Glen-L video. Following this I did the sides, and recruited my dad to help mix epoxy so I would have a steady flow coming to me. When I did the sides, I again had about 3.5-4" fiberglass sheet extending to the bottom plywood. This gave some support to hold the fiberglass up. Finally I did the bottom in a single sheet, as per the fiberglassing plans. I cut the bottom sheet to slightly overlap the side sheets. I also had my mom help during the bottom sheet, to keep the fiberglass smoothed down. It seemed with such a large piece of fiberglass, the sheet kept moving. Before each coat of epoxy or fiberglass I did a very quick sand with 80 grit paper, followed by a wipe down with a rag soaked in detergent and water. This made sure everything was clean before applications.

The first picture shows the application coat of epoxy. It really turned the mahogany a beautiful dark and made me wish I wasn't going to paint, next time I'll be leaving the side natural. The second picture shows the right side fiberglass applied, and overlapped on the chine and the stem,and the left side being fit. The third picture shows the fiberglassing complete. Remember, I have a lot more pictures in my full album linked on the right of this page.

Ready For Fiberglass

This weekend I epoxied and screwed the front panels into place. I had a friend help so I wouldn't be crunched for time, and everything went together pretty smooth. In my full album, located on the right side of this page, you can see I had a bit of a gap between plywood from the side to the bottom. I filled this with wood filler and now there's no trace there was ever a gap. I also sanded down any exposed screw heads, filled them with wood filler, took out any high spots in the wood, and filled the low spots with filler. While waiting for the filler to dry I was able to flip the hull for the first time and trim the plywood overhang. I had been worried that the hull may not have been straight, but everything looked great. I flipped it back over afterwards so it will be ready for fiberglass this upcoming week. The last step I did was to round off all the 90 degree angles, as is need to fiberglass.

The first picture shows the boat flipped right side up with the plywood overhang not yet trimmed. The second picture shows the boat ready, and waiting for fiberglass.

Transom Planking Complete, Front Panels Fit

I made good progress this week by screwing and epoxying the transom panels into place. I also trimmed and  countersunk all the screw holes for the front two panels, which will go on this upcoming weekend. To trim the front panels, I used a wet towel to dampen the side plywood near the transition joint, and then using a blue marker, I drew on the edge of the wood. This meant when I was fitting the bottom plywood pieces, I could simply bend them down to where they met the side plywood, and the blue marker would leave a line for where to cut. I'm not sure if my strategy comes across when explaining it so the pictures should help.

The first two pictures show the marking process I used to trim the plywood, and the third picture shows the bottom plywood completely fitted.

I would also like to add some mistakes I made this past weekend. I originally thought that I could mix up the epoxy, and then do all the gluing and drilling myself. As it turned out, there were far too many screw holes, which meant it took a long time to fasten the rear panels. By the time I was done my epoxy batch had hardened and was unusable. Then, not learning from my mistake, I tried to do the same thing while fastening the front panels but figured I could move a little faster. By doing this I didn't take my time to make sure all the screws were fitting properly in their corresponding holes, and at some point the screws and holes got off by about a half inch, which meant when I was doing the front, the panel didn't line up. Also my epoxy hardened in the process. I broke my number one rule which is to always take my time and ask for help when needed. Well, the lesson has been relearned and I will proceed with caution this upcoming weekend.

Side Planking Complete, Bottom Cut

I have epoxied and screwed both side panels into place. I then sanded down any exposed screws and covered them with a mahogany filler, which was also sanded down after it had hardened. I had a little extra space at the bow where the plywood meets the stem but I was able to fill that with the mahogany filler also. I then leveled the plywood with the frames and made the transition joint for the bottom plywood to fit.  The transition joint is the point where the overlapping plywood turns into a butt-joint, as you move forward. I made mine about 7.5" inches from frame #2. As always, there are more pictures in the Full Album on the right of the screen. 

The first picture shows the contrast between the sanded down filler (left) and the filler that still needs to be sanded (right). It also shows the filler I used in the small space between plywood pieces at the stem. The second picture shows the filler sanded smooth and the bottom planking pieces cut out. The two near the transom are ready to be screwed and epoxied but the front two need to be trimmed still.

Side Plywood Section Screwed and Epoxied

It was warm enough to finally put the plywood on but I ended up running into a different problem. As you can see in the first picture, the nails that I had were about 1/4" too big. I found this out about halfway through the day so I posted a question on the Glen-L forum about using a different length. It was also recommend that I could use screws, and since I already had to get new nails I figured I mine as well get screws. I ended up getting #8 3/4" Bronze screws which worked out pretty well. I pre-drilled and counter-sank all the holes and because of this I didn't have any screws break on me when I put the plywood on. The second picture shows the bottom panel installed. Next weekend the other panel goes on and hopefully the bottom planks too. I'll have more pictures up in my "Full Squirt Album" later this week.

Trimmed and Epoxied side Panels

Over the weekend I was able to trim the side panels for the plywood on the sides. I was working by myself and getting the longer piece of plywood on and off of the frame was quite a challenge until I was able to get my hands on a drill. Most builder just use a few screws for placement and are able to take the plywood on and off a lot easier, which eventually I was able to do. I also epoxied the butt-joint which was good because it's not suppose to be above 65 F for a while and the epoxy needs to set at about 75 F. With that said, I'm not sure what I will be doing next weekend if I'm not able to epoxy the panels to the frame. Anyways, here are a few pictures of the weekend progress.

I used some 20 pound weights to hold down the square piece of wood used to join the butt-joints.

Dry Fitting Plywood

Today I dry fitted the plywood and was pleased with the results. Taking my time fairing paid off as everything went together pretty well. The only trouble I had was making the bend around the transom. I really had to shove it into place to make it bend around the curve of the transom. I went to the Glen-L forum and through past posts found that working your way toward the bend with slow progression is a good way to do it. I gave it a shot and it seemed to work pretty well. I did have to do a little bit more fairing on the transom curve but that didn't take long. I wont be working on the boat for about 4 or 5 days so I put all the plywood wood on with clamps, not screws yet, and left it so the wood can get use to the bend. Next weekend I plan on screwing everything into place and fiberglassing the butt-joints where the plywood meets.The first picture shows the gap I had between the plywood and the sheer. The second shows the plywood clamp fitted.

Finally Back

First day back working on the Squirt and couldn't be more excited. I took about an hour just going over my work from last summer and trying to get an idea of what all needs to be done. To my surprise, my fairing from summer was better than I had thought and looks like there is only some around the stem and breast-hook area that needs to be done. My main focus today was on the sheer to chine and chine to stem section for fairing as well as trying to figure out where I want to place the plywood on the chine. There seems to be about a full days worth of work left on fairing touch ups before I start to plank. Before I do any of this though I still need to epoxy the new batten I have attached after my last one broke.

Above shows me taking a piece of plywood that will be used for the side/transom and seeing how it fits between the chine and sheer. As a side note, I shortened the longest battens by about 2'' to decrease the chance of having another one break.