Zip · new build
An example log of a plywood-on-frame runabout, part-built. Shows what an in-progress log looks like when it is kept honestly.
Full-size patterns for the frames. Spent an evening just reading the drawings before cutting anything.
Worth doing: read the whole manual end to end first. There are decisions in step 40 that change what you do in step 4.
All frames cut and assembled, set up on the building form and checked for level and square.
Spent longer levelling the strongback than building the frames. Everything downstream depends on it being true.
Chine logs and sheer battens in. Then faired the frames so the plywood lands flat.
A batten laid across the frames shows every high spot. Plane them down before the ply goes anywhere near.
Bottom plywood on, screwed and glued. A second pair of hands helps here.
Had one panel spring back overnight where I had not used enough screws. Refastened before the epoxy fully cured.
Rolled the hull. Genuinely nerve-wracking and genuinely worth photographing.
Next: fairing, then glass. Slower going now that the evenings are cold — the shop needs an hour of heat before epoxy is workable.
