Sailing at last!

because of the british weather we had this year we only had one chance to use the sail and i did it first!
Ready to travel.













My first sail!!













dad went solo (escaping from the kids!)













we all had a go with the "egg beater"













even my little cousin

painting and into the water!

First we painted the boat white

then we painted the inside blue

















and the outside red














and fitted all the metal bits














the boat on the trailer ready to go















to the estuary for her maiden voyage















then with the out board














RNLI raft race the next day and we came third.

The rear seats

First we built the rear seats which will also be storage compartments

then we sealed around them with filler











before making catches with bungee cord












We put the front into the back to nest it (it fits!)











we then glass clothed the bottom

























before putting everything together on our upturned workmates to see how it looks.

the front half

We cut a hole in the bottom!















then fitted a daggerboard trunk

and fitted a brace











then built a seat

then we made a bresthook/mast holder

Today we attached the boat together

First we attached the brackets with machine screws.

Then we attached the clasps onto v shaped cutouts and dad did not manage to cut this straight.

It is not finished but look how big it is.

Nesting in the corner of the garage.

So Far...

On Monday 26th may 08
Before we attached the bottom with stitch and glue we cheked that the boat was true

the glue was fibreglass and resin and we used metal wire for the stitching we also fibre glassed the front

On Tuesday and Wednesday and we filled and fibre glassed the seams.

The 2 mixes were: resin, hardener and cut strands the other one is fillite, resin, hardener and cut strands.

So far...

and nesting!

Present day...

As you can see it is only a little boat so we have decided we need something a little bit bigger, possibly with a sail, that is not to big to store, can fit the whole family and can earn Daniel cub scout badges and his little brother Ryan beaver scout badges (maybe for swimming?). So a quick trip to B&Q for some plywood down to south shields to East Coast Fibreglass Supplies for you gussed it (the lads there are very helpful and polite) then to premier healthcare for gloves tongue depressors polythene measuring beakers ect before locking Ourselves up in the garage to play with bits of wood!

Daniel writes…
On Saturday the 24th of may 2008
We made the stem

and fitted the sides which we had already screwed together

Sunday 25th
We did several things such as fitting the transom

making the bottom, fitting the gunwales and fitting bulk heads

How it all started!

How it all started!
By Daniels Dad

Last year I was off work for six weeks after a hernia operation, for a lot of people this would be great sitting around watching daytime TV not me! I get bored and start looking for things to do… the doctors said no lifting, my wife said no lifting and my guts said NO lifting.
So my 8 year old son and I built a balsa wood and paper aeroplane as we where nearing the end of this project Daniel said to me what shall we make next daddy? I suggested a boat meaning a balsa wood model as we started talking I realised we where talking about different scales!
The result…