Narfi's Life after EU: Chapter Four - FS17 a 17ft V-Hull Powerboat

Sorry for lack of updates, I will try to get them copied over.
Bought the motor in may and that big expenditure put the pressure on me from both myself and my family to get the project done so we can enjoy the fruits of the cost (and my labor) That pressure combined with the busy summer schedule and only being able to work an hour or two on it per night has taken the joy out of the project..... I am trying to keep positive and enjoying it (I do enjoy the work, just not the pressure) and will hopefully have it in the water this summer or fall. (I had hoped to have it in the water last summer, then this spring, then by 1st of July.......)

 

Here are a couple pictures of how it looks now till I have time to copy over the updates.






And of course the 'old' canoe is getting some good use,

 

What kind? You should post some pictures :)

 

Well I have been working away at the project, its getting close. Very close :)
Haven't had the time or energy to update here though but you can read all the details on my build thread on the designers website,

https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62609&start=1210

Spent this weekend painting the boat, now I just need to Install the motor, do all the wiring, install all the hardware and....
Finish building the consoles(and paint them), bend the windshields and mount them, finish the hatch covers and paint them, bolt and screw on all the consoles, windshields and hatch covers with hinges and latches. If I work like a crazy man, Maybe one week left and everything goes perfectly, probably 2 weeks realisticly.

 

I would highly recommend building for the hobby of it, it has been a lot of fun.
I would however NOT recommend building for the economics of it if you value your time (or overtime) as money :)
I would do it again in a heartbeat, and already dreaming about my next build and the build after it o.0

 

Sanded down the consoles, used the router to round over all the square corners and hand sanded the odd angled ones to closely match. There were still a few gaps ans places needed filled so I got the last of my wood flour mixed and applied before dinner. Was hoping that at 100+ in the tent it would cure quick enough i could sand it down and tape the corners tonight but by 8.30 it was still slightly rubbery so I chose to wait. Maybe come home at 10am for an hour and do it.

Mounted the seats and swivels. The seat mounting points were about a 1/2 bolt radius too narrow for the swivels so I just slotted the swivel plate and used large area washers.

Set all the bling in place to see how it looks but didn't attach any yet.

 

Haven't built the windshields yet, still need to clean up the wire tangles, but it was close enough to lauch.

Brand new Mercury so didnt take it over 3500rpm but at 3500 we were going 24mph by the GPS, 17mph at 2800rpm. Thats with 3 of us on board and 19 gallons of fuel.

We filled it up with fuel which took a while, the fill hose has too many bends in it so couldn't open the nozzle wide open without it back feeding. Not sure if I will change anything or live with it. Then we hooked a hose up to it and tested it would start and run ok. (It did)

Then we dropped it in the water and Landon and I took it around the bay a couple times. Everything was smooth so we picked up momma and went out on the Lake. Put a total of 50 minutes on it but wind was picking up and we were starting to slam Landon in the front pretty good so we called it a success and headed back in.

The side drains are well above the water line but I didnt take measurements. Will have to play around with that a bit next time we are in the water. I did have Landon and Alison both stand against the motorwell bulkhead and with the full 19gal tank they were still above water(without me in the boat)

 

well..... not completed, just a major milestone :)
I still need to build windshields, and do lots of little things like cleaning up the wire bundles, and replacing the crappy cupholders. (most of the LEDs dont work in these cheap ones :/ )

 

Well, finished the boat a few weeks ago and been out with the family several days a week since.



We went camping a couple of nights last weekend,


We headed out Friday around 3. Bought burgers to go at the food truck and launched by 3.30

Headed up the lake about 45 minutes and pulled off just before the sandbar at the head of the lake and put on the old nasty prop.

Then we braved the channel up into the little lake..... made it part way before running aground and I jumped out and walked it a hundred feet or so through the shallowest part then we carefully motored up the rest of the way into the little lake. (Never did hit the prop I had it up pretty high and shut down the instant the boat hit sand) the channel is about 8-10ft wide right against the cliff, but the glaciel silt makes it impossible to differentiate from the huge sandbar it cuts through. During high water earlier in the summer its deeper but it was about 2ft average and 3-6 inches over the sandbar, barely up to my ankles.


Once in the lake it got back to 100ft deep or deeper though with cliffs straight up all around, the pictures font do it justice on just how massive and awsome it looks.


We camped at the mouth of a river/creek below a huge waterfall we hiked upto on Saturday, about an hour hike up the bear trails to get there. Pretty rough going and had to cross the creek a couple times, huge borders make it a bit scarry. Brutus doesn't know how to swim and wouldn't cross.... i had to drag/throw him across while knee deep in the middle of the rapids


We took landons canoe(that we also built) and every imaginable luxury. Camp chairs, blow up mattresses two tents, though landon and brutus got cold and crawled in with us the second night. And totes and totes of food and spare clothes for landon..... he goes through clothes at an impossible rate. ("OK you are dry now, these are your pj's, dont get them wet....." turn around 30 seconds later he is chest deep in the lake............)


We motored around the lake enjoying the scenery Saturday night just looking up at all of God's beauty in the cliffs and waterfalls, could even see part of a glacier up between a couple of mountain peaks.


The canoe got lots of use, we sent landon out with it to collect firewood multiple times and the creek we were at was silly, so over to a smaller creek to get drinking water as well. I went up the lake a bit with him on Saturday and we went into some of the little hollows/caves at the base of some of the cliffs, one was big enough we could turn the canoe around in, one had a crevice going back up at an angle further than we could see, landon wanted to explore it but we didn't have a flashlight with us.


All in all a great weekend for both of our bateau boats






























































Looking at plane projects now........