Step by Step Building a hydroplane / MRC is up and running

[blueskyracer]

I will hopefully have more done tomorrow. I tried to get something done today but froze my A** off with an outside temp of 2 degrees and a shop temp with heater of 31 max. Gave up with frozen fingers and feet.

Isn't it SPRING yet!!! OOPPSS this boat is suppose to be done for the new owner by then!!


Also it is hard to get epoxy to set up when it is below freezing. Expect a foot of snow tomorrow and much warmer temps

[Dave M]

Nice Job

Mike,

Nice sequence of pics. A tip to add to the newbie. Make sure the front of the cockpit sides are centered on the jig fixture. Center this to your cockpit width center. If it is off much more than 1/8" your nosepiece will not be the same on both sides.

A real handy tool you can make cheap is a very long straight edge. One that can run the length of the project. You can check yourself each time you work to make certain nothing shifted while fitting and cutting. Simply measure from center out to each side, assuming the boat is a center cockpit, and not offset. If offset you simply adust your numbers to accomodate.

Hey Mike, put some insulation in that shop ! Pretty close to the same temps here, and the wood pellet stove keeps my shop a toasty 70 degrees.

[blueskyracer]

Mike,

Hey Mike, put some insulation in that shop ! Pretty close to the same temps here, and the wood pellet stove keeps my shop a toasty 70 degrees.

The shop is insulated except the gable ends. I can't use my wood stove this year since we need to store the new bass boat inside with the truck and corvette. I have to use a bullet heater and with the shop being 36'x48x14 feet tall walls it just can't keep up after the temp goes below about 20 outside. I guess we should not have all the toys!

[blueskyracer]

today it got up to 18 and the shop warmed up much better so I spent all the time installing the transom and motor mount. Note the tunnel in the back and the one piece of wood is just there to keep everything strait. I also dremeled notches in the back stingers for water to flow thru. No matter how you seal the boat water does get in from rostertails and just waiting for the three minute gun.

Now we will start making big progress. Next is installing the sponson sides, air trap and stringers.

[BlueskyRacerGirl]

Yet Another Beautiful Build DAD!

WOW! I sure am lucky to have a dad that builds stuff like Hydros!
When your done with this boat, you gonna work on that Christmas Present for next year that I asked so nicely for
Love you, dad you sure do build pretty boats!

[Tom Cronk]

New Boat

Mike
The new boat looks great,nice workmanship.What
are you using for framing wood? This boat looks like
a 125H-175H ??????
Tom

[Composite Specialties]

D-Mod

D-Mod boat, correct Mike?

[blueskyracer]

Mike
The new boat looks great,nice workmanship.What
are you using for framing wood? This boat looks like
a 125H-175H ??????
Tom

Tom- Wood? depends on what it will do and where it is on the boat but I use three different kinds of soft wood.

[B1PRORACER]

Building raceboats...

Just a word of encouragement about your thread. I have built many raceboats throught the years and I enjoy seeing the photos of your progress! I think I am among the "silent majority" who likes to look!

Peter Crowley

[blueskyracer]

Here is the latest installment. All of the stringers, sponson sides and air trap are glued and screwed. Tomorrow I start framing up the sponsons and block sanding the bottom stringers for the bottom install. Oh fun!

[Mini Max]

Nice thread.

A hint on tracing from patterns. I used a dress makers wheel just like your woodpecker for 35 years, then one day I had a 30' hull plug to build with the body plan stations lofted on vellum. I found some nice yellow pine plywood for the stations, but the grain was so hard that my wheel would not make an impression.

I bought a sleeve of carbon typing paper from the office supply and slipped it under the drawing. Then I simply traced the line on the drawing and I transfered a perfect dark blue line on the wood to cut to. I have never gone back to the wheel.

I would suggest that you put a scale in inches or Millimeters on the drawings you provide in a few places in the X and Y dimension from humidity. This allows the builder to check against his tape measure that the drawing printed correctly and if paper, has not changed dimension. In the old days of getting blueprints, the copy would "grow" slightly. to compensate I always got measurements from the nearest station, such if the stations were on 2 foot centers, I would count stations for a measurement 8'-6" such as 4 stations plus the 6" measurement. It reduced the error. I have never had the luxury of full size plans until computer lofting came along.

I made the best CAD guy in the country do the scale thing on every drawing he provided me for an 18 month project. He wined and wined about it until we showed him that the shop guys were catching print and dimension errors on occasion.

[Aussie Steve]

Mike
The new boat looks great,nice workmanship.What
are you using for framing wood? This boat looks like
a 125H-175H ??????
Tom

He is being very tight lipped about it .

Steve A

[Raymond]

What is that you are using for a straight edge? It is stiff enough to not be distorted in service?

This may be a premature question but…I am noticing a lack of lightening holes in the lateral sponson bulkheads. Is this by design in an attempt to maximize post incident buoyancy at a cost of weight? I would have thought that lightening holes would keep weight down but…I can see some opposing air tight compartmental logic.

The pictorial detail you’re providing is real nice. I had a few questions about the purpose of what looked like odd shims or spacers between the sponson lateral bulkhead inboard edge and the longitudinal stringer that defines the inside dimension the sponson. As later pic’s revealed, they were actually spacers used to set up the proper spacing for the inside vertical skin of the sponson that you later show installed; very nice!

[Mini Max]

I had a freezing Michigan shop that a wood stove I built could not warm. Added on, this unit recovered the heat going out the flue pipe and could maintain 70 F in the shop.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...eat-reclaimers

I bought one for our upholstery guy this winter and I now get free cushions whenever its freezing cold out.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

As to the scale and measurements, yes there is a scale and measurements on all our plans, they are in inches. They also come with a detailed handbook for building the project that also contains all the necessary documentation to help you be successful in your build.

You are right there is always a distortion that occurs when you are making "photocopies". Plans are not copies, each set is an original so there is not any shrinkage or expansion that occurs in the printing process.

I haven't been able to find carbon paper at a store for years and the wax tracing paper that comes with a dressmakers tracing wheel just doesn't work well on wood. Where do you buy your carbon paper at?