Expensive Little Boat Expletive Little Boat (You get the idea...) Multihull Dreams The ELB (Extremely Light Boat) project began as many great ideas do: with a couple of guys messing about with a boat. In this case, my friend Don and his buddy … [Read more...]
Archives for 2012
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 11
Ready to Repair October 16, 2011 Repairing Port Side of Pec We started the day disassembling the repair that we dry fit the night before, then Gene went to work vacuuming the pieces of wood and solvent wiping the repair area while I gathered … [Read more...]
West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron Pelican Bay Gathering March 2012
The West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron is a group of Florida sailors who like to gather in different locations to camp out on small boats. I have been aware of the group for several years, but have never made it to one of their cruises. At the … [Read more...]
WaterTribe Everglades Challenge 2012 Start
Kayak and sailing fleets depart from Fort Desoto Park beach Beach at Daybreak Daybreak at Fort Desoto Park looked rather ominous for adventurous racers setting off on the 2012 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge and concurrent events. Low … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 10
Gusset Deck Underside October 7, 2011 More Lamination and Sanding on Pec To take the picture at right, I stuck my camera up underneath the deck pointing aft toward the new gusset. You can see the different layers of fiberglass underneath the core … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 9
Crack Evaluation September 29, 2011 Removing Side Deck on Pec Today began a series of days on which honest evaluations of different parts of the boats resulted in their removal. Gene is looking at a little crack in the deck, but it is really not a … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 8
Chopped Glass Filling September 25, 2011 Rebuilding Side Deck of Fluke The morning began with final preparations to install the scab board underneath the side deck and replace the deck core and gusset that we removed earlier. In the picture at … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 7
Grinding Deck on Fluke September 20, 2011 More Sanding and Grinding If you want to build or rebuild fiberglass boats, you had better not mind sanding and grinding. We spent many hours doing both. On this day, Gene mostly finished grinding out the … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Whale Watching Tenders Part 6
Peeling Wax Paper August 31, 2011 More Test Laminations, Removing Gussets, More Deck Skin Removal We decided today was the day to find out more about using wax paper as a release layer under fiberglass laminations. As noted back on page 4, the … [Read more...]
