Boat Forum / Building / February 2006

I have to build a cardboard boat using only cardboard and duct tape.
What kind of shape/design should I use to make it go faster and go
through the water faster?  Any building tips would be helpful too.  The
paddles must be amde out of cardbaot and duct tape also.

Hi-  I recently came into a 81 Mercury 7.5 outboard, minus owner's
manual.does anyone know what the proper fuel/oil ratio is required for
this motor?

I have a question about stitch and glue.
I have been reading about it for some time now but I don´t understand  one
thing.
After you have stiched  the panels.

I am an electronics engineer but my passion has always been the design
and building of sailboats. Does anyone know if there are universities
(in the UK, Germany, France,... ) offering distance learning courses
(kind of post-graduation or Masters) on this subject (English) ?

I friend of mine is bringing over his boat so we can drill 1 1/8inch holes
in his boat for pole holders.
This is a boring ol' fiberglass boat, but I figured I'd post a question to
you experts for some suggestions to make sure it goes well.

Hi, I am pretty sure this question has been covered before, but I
thinking now about casting my lead fin keel.
The architects drawings show the keelbolts bent over inside the keel
to lock them in, but I have always been told to draw a keel bolt every

New Found Metals makes the best ports for the best price anywhere.
(period)

Hi , I have a little problem in finding a good place to fit my water
heater; although it's only small (20l) I'm finding it hard to fit it
in without most of it being above the engine level.
So filling the coolant in the engine and heating pipes is going to be

I have stripped the varnish from my spars to replace with Sikkens
Marine. In one or two areas where the varnish was damaged the surface
of the wood appears a bit damp and soft; not sufficiently so to believe
that it is rot. When I sand it it tends to "tear".

My old ysb8 yanmar on my light weight 26' British built Trapper 300 finally
bit the dust last fall and I managed to find a used 1gm10. The old yanmar's
output rotation is opposite of the new one. The old propeller was a LH 11X10
two bladed bronze type. The engines are nearly the ...

I have a requirement for both 12V DC system and a 24V DC system.
Is it possible to charge both from a single alternator? Or should I use a
Voltage Reducer to power my 12V load from my 24V batteries?
Thanks for your inputs!

Do you spend more than 15 minuets using the internet per day? Would you
like the opportunity to earn some cash or be included in product testing?
Then you should take a look at on-line surveys.
http://parentnet.ywgc.com/free/surveys.html

Seeing the dual output alternator posts has just made me wonder if anybody
here might be able to help me. I'm restoring a dutch barge on which the
majority of the systems will be 24v, but, I've been given a Victron 2kVA
uninterruptable power supply which needs extra batteries ...

My name is Travis Sippel.  I am a senior University of Kansas (USA)
Mechanical Engineering student and am on a team that is designing a new
piece of rowing/sculling training equipment designed to make the sport
and training more competitive by allowing a slight amount of control

I have been searching the web for months and settled on a 20ft dory
caled "big jake" as my first ever build.  I like the lines and the
constructions looks (I suspect I will live to regret this) doable. You
can see a copy of the plans at