Its that time of year that i tend to get a little bored and my mind starts to wander, thinking of the upcoming adventures on the the river and what not and next thing i know i find myself designing yet another boat. It seems i change boats far more often than most people should but what the heck, it brings me joy! So Friday evening i started a new build............

there are only a few things that i require when starting a new build. It requires a model, plywood, epoxy, a warm shop and the traditional Mirror Pond Pale Ale......................

shes going to be a 17 x 54 Highside, a boat that i have been pondering for nearly a year now but have been having way to much fun with my current boat (16 x 48 Tatman) to even think about another build but now is the time for the build and thanks to Rick Newman i am now on a time constraint do to a little wager as of Friday night......................

so as of last night i have finished the scarfing and all of the panels are glued up, all the lumber for the frames have been resawn and gone thru the planer and the boat will start taking shape this weekend! Im going to need some more Mirror Pond though..........................

so last week i did a quick mock up so i could get some good measurements and varify that the plywood would actually do what i wanted it to and it actually worked out just as i had hoped! Now time to start building frames .......

i really like my fingers and being able to rebuild another boat if i so choose so i always make some desent jigs to keep my fingers away frome the blades and to reproduce parts if i happen to screw something up along the way and have to rebuild another part. I managed to finish all the frames even though i was hit with a few problems along the way, halfway through cutting out all the uprights my tablesaw decided to be a little stuborn and the spindal fried and the electronic brake assembley decided to come apart too but my former machine tech and millwright days kicked in and I got er all fixed up and working again with a quick trip across town for some new bearings.............................

so yesturday i was able to start the assembly and couldnt have been more pleased, the prototype turned out looking pretty nice except for one frame i must have taken a really bad measurement on (the #2 frame) and quickly rebuilt a new one and got the bottom cut out and ready to put on, today i will hopefully have the chines fitted and installed and have the bottom screwed down!

she has a really nice profile and cant wait to go hit some nice big water with this one! More updates soon!

So Saturday and Sunday i took  it a little easy, i was getting a little tired but managed to get the chines fitted and the bottom on.........................

nice fitting chines!

and tonightits the dreaded clean-up of 3m5200 from all the sqeeze out and filling all the screw holes but tommorrow i should be putting down the glass on the bottom!

02/25/13

made some more progress over the weekend, got the glass on the bottom, rubguards made and glued on, chine caps on and a couple of coats of epoxy on the sides..............

 and then i got a little impatient and figured i could make better use of my time over the weekend if i could work on the inside of the boat rather than waiting for the flow coats of epoxy/graphite to cure so i went ahead and flipped her over..................................................

passenger seats, oarsman seat and flydeck have all been mocked up and parts cut and glued!

so the build is pretty much done other than the floor boards and transom seat and install the gunnels, then i can finally relax with some finish work, finish work is nice because its not a full days work, do it earlly and let it cure while you're out fishin'..................................................

03/04/13

so as of last night i have the gunnels on! everything is now built and just about ready to start all the finish work...............

all and all the build went pretty good with a few minor little changes to make if i choose to ever build this one again, the #6 frame taper was slightly off and the angle of the back-cut on the transom needs a slight adjustment but im pretty happy with it for now, ha. Just a few little things to wrap up tonight like trimming the floor boards and cutting down all the carraige bolts on the gunnels and adding acorn nuts and the build is done! Then its all a bunch of sanding and finishing, sanding and finishing and more sanding, and more finishing........................i hate sanding

03-12-13

have i ever stated that i really hate sanding? my finger tips have no skin left and i have realized that i am taking the fun out of this build and beating the heck out of myself. i have made great progress over the last few weeks and very pleased with the results of my labor but it is time to take a rest for a few days so Rick my friend, you can have that dang ol' bottle of vodka! Ha!

still have a couple more coats of varnish to do, i quick flow coat of epoxy/graphite on the bottom that i forgot about and install the anchor system and it will be ready for the water so i am hoping we get a little bit of nasty weather in the next couple weeks so i can break her in proper

i guess i really havent spoke to the material used on this build so i will speak of them know i suppose, the plywood is all red meranti 1088bs other than the fir i have used for the bottom, P.O. cedar for the frames and seating, a few sapelle accents throughout, white oak for the chine, some nice dark Kayah for the chine cap and honduran mahogany for the sheer rails, stem and knee locks. 20oz cloth on the bottom and all the ply has been covered with silvertip epoxy. the paint is Pettit easypoxy with pettit ezprime underneath (formally known as 6149 white undercoater) and put together with all stainless fasteners and 3m5200

i plan on adding a aluminum strip over the chine cap like i did this last fall on my other boat as i do so much boating that i had to replace the chine cap after one season and not interested in doing that again anytime soon. i should have some fun video to share before to long also.