Boat Forum / Building / January 2008

How about we make a lightweight copper hull shell, them resin the
inside with glass, etc. to make a boat that never requires antifoul?
If it was copper welded, it might need only very thin copper foil and
the cost played against other maintenance and advantages could be a

Hi,
I have just been given an older mohawk 16' canoe. It's in great shape apart
from some scratches and several large patches where the gel coat has come
off and the fiberglass has been exposed. Its chopped mat layup so i think

does the height of a jib off the deck on a beach cat make much
difference?  Obviously the jib track needs to be moved to be in the
right spot for trimming as you put the sail higher or lower off the
deck, but are there any benfits to higher/lower?

New U.S. trade restrictions were put in place last week to prohibit the
importation of teak into the U.S..
If you already have teak decks.......you had better make them last.
                                                                    regards...Ken

I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question. But I've noticed
what appears to be small cracks in my rudder on my 28 ft sloop. It's a
fiberglass spade rudder. The rudder is approximately four feet in
height. The bottom of the rudder on one side ( no more than a foot and

If I were to wax the outside of a piece of 2 1/2 inch pvc pipe about 6 feet
long, and then lay up several layers of fiberglass and epoxy, would the
resulting tube slide off the pvc easily enough after curing ? Or would I
need to first wrap the pipe with sheet plastic or similar ?

As most of you know, the Beta marine engines are Kubota.  The Universal
engines are Kubota, as well.
After a visit to the boat show, and looking at the Beta small diesel for a
sailboat, I was flabbergasted

I also posted this question in rec.crafts.metalworking,  but perhaps
there are here also people who can advise me.
I recently removed the teak dek from my steel boat. Although most of
the steel of my 4 mm mild steel deck is fortunately still there, but

The last day of the boating season on the river my boat broke free from
the dock and was pushed up the boat ramp.  Before I could get to it, the
bottom of the boat under the transom was scraped down through the gel coat.
It seem the damage is just past the gel coat and not on a ...

Hello all and Merry Christmas. I'm a newbie to the site and thought I'd
throw a topic into the ring. I had finally received my plans for the Hartley
21. Was going to begin construction until my leg was placed in a very
strange position it didn't like and now I have a broken tib ...

In about 1958 my dad built the first personal watercraft in the state of
Wisconsin (I think). He got the plans, as he remembers it, from Popular
Mechanics. This craft was built out of two 4'x8' pieces of plywood
sandwiched together on a 8" thick frame. There was a motor notch at ...

I provide teak decking for the DIY folks and have received several inquiries
regarding laying thin (1/4") teak strips over an existing failed teak deck.
Traditionally laid teak decks primarily fail because caulking separates or
the bungs loosen and water corrodes the fasteners ...

Does anyone know if they're still in operation??  I sent an email six
weeks ago and got no response.  The website is still active, but the
phone numbers are all crossed through.
Stuart Nottingham

I posted this on another bulletin where a contributor had bonded all
his underwater metal with 1" copper straps and needed to test.  Copied
here for anyone having electrolysis problems.
An ohm meter is a poor way to check bonding connections.  I use a 12

For Sale: Raw design (Lines and offsets table only) of probably the
fastest boat in the world.
Can be used for the design and building, all high speed leisure,
pursuit boats, yachts, jet-skis and other high speed boats.