Plywood Boat Building at it's Best!

Boatzilla!
(Carl's Build of the Summer Breeze)

Building Log (below)

I ran across these plans while looking to build a small car top sailboat with little investment. I love the style and straight forward design of this boat.

Previous Boat Building
Previously, I built a Wing Dinghy (Stevenson Projects http://www.stevproj.com/FastSailrs.html ). When I was building the Wing Dinghy, I was sceptical of the full length keelson. I was also concerned with the shortness of the transom. I spent about 120 hours and $300 in materials buiding it. She was fast, but tacked terribly and at a total weight of 130 lbs, she was hard to car top. Additionally, in fresh water, her transom was only about 4" from the water and the rudder box was almost entirely submerged. I am hoping that the Summer Breeze will handle properly, and be much more car-toppable.

Changes To Summer Breeze Design
Here are the things I am doing with the summer breeze that are different from the online build diary:

1) Using 1/4" ply for transom and other hull/parts. I am using 3 sheets of 1/4" plywood for the construction of my Summer Breeze. David uses 1"x12" stock for his original plans in order to meet rquirements of the contest he entered. I can get the plywood a lot cheaper than 1" x 12" stock.
2) Curving transom. I learned building the Wing Dinghy that curving plywood and "stressing" it makes it a lot more rigid and stable. I will probably end up using two laminated 1/4" layers for transom, but I might get away with one layer.
3) Internal chine logs using 1"x2" ripped in half and using relief cuts for easy bending. I used this on the Wing Dinghy and it worked well.

Those are the only changes I have made so far.

Day One -

Photo 1: 35 min set up and build of 1 Flare Bottom Sawhorse.

Photo 1 and 2: Measure and mark hull bottom and sides.

Cut Hull Bottom and sides.

Photo 3 and 4: Glue side butt joints and left and right triangles for hull bottom using custom cement clamping system and banned books.

Photo 5: PL Glue test - after 3 hours dry time I could not rip these two pieces apart!

Day 1 = 4.5 hours

Next 10 days = 40 hours to complete

Expected time = 20 hours

Actual time = 45 hours

Where did I miscalculate? Finish work (sanding, bondoing, painting).

Proposed Budget: $120.00

Actual Expenses: $150.00

Where did I miss calculate? Paint! I figured it would take 2 quarts...it took 5 quarts. Plus I bought an extra quart for touchups next year.

Laying out the bottom was the hardest...with only max width and transom it took me a while to lay "fair lines" over the 96" length of the hull bottom. I left excess width to allow me to plane down edges of hull bottom after I attach wood strips I am using as chine logs.

I am a trailer park bohemian and the 2 spring clamps I have won't work for this joint. Luckily, gravity (one of the things that keeps you down) works effectively. The rock belongs to my neighbor (I'm just borrowing it ... really!) (I found 16 spring clamps at W-Mart for $4.44).

This clamp system is based on Celtic technologies. (Note the powerful druidic cement magnet)

The lightest wood is a scrap of 1/4" fir plywood. Directly under that is a scrap of redwood (from my $0.78 sawhorse) which I used to spread the PL onto my first butt joint, then pressed onto the plywood scrap and left to dry without any clamp (or rock or cement). The whole thing is resting on a scrap of OSB. After 3 hours in the 95^ Phoenix heat I could not pull these pieces apart. This PL (Peanut butter Locking Adhesive is nice!) *** Note: I later discovered Bondo does not stick to PL Adhesive. This is UN-Good. If you are planning on using bondo to finish your boat, be very careful with excess PL Adhesive.***

Here is the bottom with internal chine logs glued up.

Here is the dry run to make sure sides fit bottom ok. My sides are about 1" short. No problem. I leave the gap at the bow and will use bondo to sculpt bow.

***Note This Is Where I Discovered PL Adhesive and Bondo DO NOT BOND TOGETHER : ( ***

After construction of the hull, I found the sides too flimsy for my tastes. I put in these utralight angled supports. They add a lot of rigidity. I also added a support under the mast guide (to more evenly distribute the load of the mast).

My boat is named Boatzilla. It took me an additional 5 hours to paint this tatoo!

I altered the rudder design. The rudder box is smaller. Their is a "tab" that extends up from the back of the rudder. The tiller bolts to the tab. To rais the rudder, I can pull forward on the tiller.

Special Thanks to David at Simplicity Boats! Great Free Plans and info!

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