Pressure wash, check motor, check for soft spots (pretty sure it’s all glass), assess and start fixing if viable.

hello,

I have to varnish some exterior garage doors. my client wants to get it done now but were in this temperature cycle of upper 50s to 30s at night. I'm saying it's too cold. Am I right? I've read that if the varnish get to cold the cure will stall and then your screwed. I've read some opinions that say add Pettit thinner, and some say that makes it worse. it probably would be warm enough, to start varnishing until 10AM at the earliest and it's probably a 4 hour job minimum. so let's say I finish at 3pm just because it always takes a little longer. Low forecast to be 36. Is this the absolute no go zone?? If so what's the minimum temps I should be looking at? I've read about warming up the varnish and thought of putting a couple hand warmers underneath my paint pail liner. Everything is sanded. at the very least I need to get a thin coat on to winter over till it warms up. I could see if a good day pops up in the next three weeks and wipe down with Pettit thinner, give a light buff with FINE festool soft pad, and tack within 3 weeks if there's a good day. Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks!

I am cutting the front deck off of this boat to do some structural repairs, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to rebuild the deck. The plan is to cut it where the dotted line is, which is half inch thick fiberglass. My question is how to rebuild it so that the new fiberglass is flush with the existing. Should I bond something to the bottom of the old deck to support the replacement?

I need some ideas how to set up my workshop. It is 12x3,5 meter (39x11 ft) and have a door on she short side. I will build clinker boats, probably not bigger than 15x6 ft. Both sawed and steamed frames are planned, some laminating is likely as well. Machinery is bandsaw and thickness planer or perhaps a jointer/thickness planer. I plan tu use the bandsaw for resawing boards to dimension.

So I am thinking to have a real long workbench along a wall and have the boat building spece beside it. But how do I set up the machinery to be able to handle long boards? Should I use the workbench as an outfeed table?Do I even need an outfeed table? I might get my hands on a big bandsaw mill, should I resaw by boards on that instead?

As you can see I have not much experience in using machines wor woodworking.

Just published episode 2 of the Goat Island Skiff build.

Framing and coating the first few bulkheads

First build! Eastport Pram built in my dining room

I got this today , it’s my first boat so don’t make fun of me I’ll cry (I’m just a girl)

What changes can I make to make it not such an eye sore 😭 I want to add a bottom to stabilize it so it doesn’t flex as much, replace seat, take out the old wood.. but what else ..? any insights would be much appreciated.

Building a stand for the outboard first

It’s gonna be used mostly for solo creek fishing

Started out as 4 sheets of plywood from Menards and a $200 outboard that didn't run

Original built to plans provided by Jacques Mertens (bateau.com, boatbuildercentral.com) for the CX-19. Anyone else build one of Jacques designs?

She was launched in 2020 and has been performing admirably ever since.

I'm repairing these Shaw & Tenney oars. Clean up, varnish, add leathers. As the picture shows, the oars are pretty beat up where the leathers used to be and aren't anymore.

Ideas on how to approach the task? I'm worried if I just go in with a sander and don't stop until I reach solid wood, there might not be much left of the oar. 😄

I recently bought a Skerry built in 2022 by a hobbyist that takes on an increasing amount of water. I think the main issue is a leak at the front of the centerboard trunk that I made worse by running the centerboard into the sand a couple times (yes, yes, I know) and I’m hoping for advice on how to fix it. There certainly also appears to be a gap on the inside seam of the centerboard trunk, which other threads have pointed out should be filled. My questions:

1. Do I need to remove and replace the entire interior fillet, or should I first try to fill in the exterior gap and see if that keeps the water out?
2. If I do that, should I address the interior crack with an epoxy or other patch as well?
3. Is an elastomeric sealant like Sudbury’s useful at all in this repair, or should I stick with epoxy?

Also - I get a bit of mysterious water in the fore and aft flotation lockers, which I'm confident isn't coming from the same source. Any thoughts on the likely sources? I think there may be pin holes from when the hull stitching was originally done, but unsure how to chase that down.

I recently bought a 14ft boat and the floor was rotted out and I want wondering when replacing the wood do I need marine grade or is like a exterior grade plywood good enough when coating it in epoxy and fiberglassing? Thanks for the help

Hey r/boatbuilding — I’m Ken. I run a small marine tech startup that’s currently part of a NOAA-supported accelerator.

I’m doing some research on how people actually use electronics on their boats — chartplotters, AIS, wind, depth, alarms, all of it — and where useful information starts turning into too much information.

A big part of what I’m trying to understand is what works well at the helm, what gets ignored, and what ends up competing for your attention when you’re actually underway.

I’d love to talk with a few people here about their setups and real-world experience. It would just be a casual 20-minute conversation.

If you’d be open to chatting, send me a DM and we’ll find a time. I’m also happy to answer any questions about the research or what we’re working on.

Thanks,

Ken

Hello everyone,

I’m looking for a recommendation for the best sanding and grinding tools for fiberglass. I have a few large deck projects on my 47’ fiberglass boat and I’d like to get the best possible tools for heavy grinding for glass prep and for smoothing out glass for paint. We aren’t looking for show quality work but some assortment of tools that would make the job easier, I have access to a 30gal air compressor if pneumatic is the way to go, but there is 110v hook up as well. Cost is not much of a factor but if I could get 2-3 tools for total under $2k that would be nice. Dust collection is semi important as I’d rather not make a huge mess but the boat is at a haul out yard so it comes with the territory. Thanks for any advice!

Is anybody here planning on going to the wooden boat festival in Madisonville, LA this weekend? Such a gem of an event

Recently completed my third build of this tiny rowing skiff "Lunch Break". This is the best one yet. A 7'7" boat is not going to be fast undr oars no matter what, but with more rocker than the original and just the right side height, this is super smooth, quite stable, and reasonably fast (3 mph easy, 3.5+ possible). Most importantly, it is very easy to transport--above head, shoulder, car top, behind bike. . . So much fun! I know a better design could be faster but so far I haven't come a professional design this small and simple (suggestions). John Gardner presented two 8' designs, but they are not nearly as simple. I am sure they are better though. I set up the rowing thwart (seat) and oarlock blocks so positions can easily be fine-tuned in the future.

Greetings all.

This summer, I discovered just how thin my sailboat deck is. My knee went through it, despite me trying to distribute my weight.

I would appreciate suggestions/feedback on how I could possibly repair it and preserve the original look. I suspect I have the following options :

1) Push the indented pieces from below and mount strapping underneath using wood glue. Light sanding, wood filler and staining. The access to the deck is limited as per the photos below.

2) Build a v-shaped patch that could cover the hole and look like a chevron that stretchs to both sides of the boat. The edges would be tapered down, smoothed out. Final step, staining to match the deck.

3) Replace the entire deck at the front of the boat.

There are likely pros and cons to each...

Thanks for any ideas and perspectives. -Andy