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V-DORY / Chris Gill / cgill@aaaenergy.com / 6-27-98: Layout of frames, cutting frames
V-DORY / Alex Carlson / doghouse@capecod.net / 4-1-99: Just getting started, constructed building form, layed out frames, stem and transom. Cutting and assembling frames. 5-3-01: It’s been a while but I’m finally back at it. Don’t have any heat in the boat shed so I can’t use epoxy in the winter. Have completed the frames, fastened sides, and double layers of bottom in bow section. Hope to get the rest of bottom on soon, glassed painted and rolled over. 1-7-02: Well, the wheels of progress turn slowly here but I’m still at it. Finished the plywood on the hull, 3/8 on the sides and 3/4 on the bottom. Glassed the hull with two layers of 6 oz. cloth and epoxy, attached white oak bottom battens and mahogany spray rail and guard. I have primed the topsides and and one coat of piant on but winter has set in and this may be as far as I get till spring. I hope to get the boat finished this spring/summer and in the water. 5-9-03: The project is still in progress, it is coming along very well although very slowly. Since I started building the V-Dory I have gotten married, bought a house, and as of last fall adopted a little boy so I’ve had some bigger things that have required my attention. I also have no heat in the “boat shed” where I’m building it so not much can be done in the winter months. Anyway, cockpit sole is in, foredeck and rails are done and fiberglassed, I’m going to start on the wheelhouse soon.
V-DORY / Matt O’Neill / Email address not valid 5-6-03 / 7-14-99: Completed Spring of 1994, fished her hard ever since. Power is a 90hp Force outboard on the transom. Clocked at 25mph in fairly calm water.
V-DORY / Jack Lavallet / Daphne, Alabama / jacklott@bellsouth.net / 8-07-00: Building on the driveway in the back yard. Frames complete except for forming the forward battens. First two attempts at pulling the outer battens down to the forwardmost frame broke them. Am now installing “parallel”, kerfed battens from the third frame forward. Sides and bottom two panels in place. Using Bondo epoxy putty to fill all screw countersinks and random holes. Also, used a construction adhesive for compression-loaded joints. Assume this stuff will work!! Responses and visitors welcome. 9-1-00: Sides complete except for attaching to the stem. Bottom complete except for last two pieces at bow. Trying to bend on these last two pieces with 1/2 inch plywood because the local wood dealer no longer carries 1/4. Found the “pour hot water on towels laid on the plywood” method works great for forming bow plywood to the bottom frames, but watch out for burying the screwheads too deeply in the soft (wet) veneer. Found that in building the form level on a sloping driveway, and building the boat with the bow at the “shallow” end, I had to lower the forms to raise the bow to clear the concrete. That actually made it easier to reach the middle of the bottom with just a step rather than a ladder. Bow pieces of the sides and bottom require a lot of time for fitting. Next boat will definitely go faster. 10-05-00: Hull complete now. Using build-ups of 1/4 inch plywood for the bow bottom turned a headache into a piece of cake. I cut full-size patterns from scrap plywood and got a good fit before cutting the marine plywood. Bottom seems to be rock-solid. Just finished three coats of primer, and will begin the finish coats this weekend. Then face the task of turning the hull upright on a trailer — which I haven’t got figured out yet. 12-21-00: Hull completed, pilot house set in place. Neighbors and (most importantly) wife are impressed. Floor made of longitudinal planks of spruce, single-screwed to floor frames. Forgot to cut limber holes between longitudinal keel and battens, so have to put individual drains in each “compartment”. Used lots of coppertox on raw wood ends / edges before painting, and this may prove to be in error unless it dries so paint will stick. Made my own doug-fir coping for trimming, and it looks great. Am planning engine controls for the well-mounted outboard. Likely I’ll use a bellcrank mounted to the well. Pictures of project will be sent soon. 3-3-01: Attached pictures show the boat right before final painting. Its rained since, so I’ll have to send the “final product” in a day or so. I’m using Jack Tar yacht paint from BLP Paints, and its worked great so far — plus the paint’s no more expensive than good house paint. We’ll see how it holds up. Got the boat on a trailer I picked up used, but it looks new. Searching for an outboard now, and will go with a good used one. I’m building a seat — really a box with a hinged lid — for the “cabin.” I’m ready to start the next one! Maybe I’ll sell this one. Good job, Glen-L. 5-7-03: V-dory has been “wet” for two years now. In that time I’ve modified it twice — once to remove the cabin originally installed (I found I was hot more than I was wet, so opted for more “air” under a bimini cover), and once to cut down the motor well sides to get a different outboard lower in the water (Mercury motors are tall and thin, Yamaha’s are short and fat and it hit the sides of the box). I also fully decked the insides to make shrimp handling easier and added a helm console. One good thing about a wooden boat — you can cut, drill, bore, refill, caulk and do it all over again all you want. This boat is a rock in the water. Only wish is that I’d built in a gas tank under the floor, but that can be the next project. I want to build another V-dory and install a small diesel inboard. Anyway – I’m still here! Keep up the good work!(See Customer Photos)
V-DORY / Stephen Lippincott / LippMarine@aol.com / 11-13-00: I have just finished putting on the sheer clamp and have started the plywood sides and bottom. 5-14-01: Have just completed glassing the hull, used epoxy and 10oz cloth- discovered that it is very important to coat the wood and let it sit 1/2 hour and coat again before laying glass down. Next spend a long time sanding hull for paint. 3-6-03: The boat has worked out wonderfully for me and have enjoyed it. 5-8-03: Email valid. (see Customer Photos)
V-DORY / Ken Sweeney / Kennewick, Wa. / pkdmsweeney@aol.com / 12-29-01: I started sawing and assembling frames in November 2001. Final frames and building form soon to follow. Using Glen L Poxy Shield with thickeners for glue, and will encapsulate final hull. I have a 120 I/O for power, but am a little concerned that it may be underpowered. Have purchased Cabin Plans. Plans and instructions are good, and while the patterns are useful, they would be much better if they were produced as “full frame”, instead of “half frame”. 11-16-02: After almost a year of neglect, the project has been thawed out and is back under way. The building form is erected and all frames are in place. Much time was spent aligning and leveling them before inner battens and chines/sheer clamps were placed and fastened. Two laminations of 5/8″ material were used for chines/sheer because of availability, and they bent easily. Use of the Fastening Kit has been handy. Plywood is soon to follow. Seems that few people have ever seen a boat being built before. Adults and kids take quite an interest in how its done. 9-2-03: The underside of the hull was finished 8-29-03, and turned over the next day. 11 friends and neighbors made it very easy to handle this large boat by hand. Below the waterline was treated with a product called Polyurea. It is similar to the spray on bedliner common on pickups, only it is of higher flexibility and durability. It is applied professionally by the local Line-X dealer, and goes on almost 1/8″ thick. Over this, I sprayed on a high solids polyurethane paint, as the polyurea color will fade if not top-coated. This all added significantly to the cost of the hull, but it seems that it will make the underside many times more durable. The sides were painted with common automotive paint. Interior work will soon be underway.
V-DORY / Marty Rufh / martyrufh@yahoo.com / 8-2-05: Received plans and patterns, buying materials.
V-DORY / Captain Carl Jurcin / Luna Pier, Michigan / cjurcin45@yahoo.com / 1-9-08: I bought your V Dory plans a couple of years ago but did not start immediately. Now, the three foot lengthened hull is about done. I do not have an indoor space available so the dory is upside down & covered. I have a heater & lighting in the boat so work can be done through the winter. I live on Lake Erie in Luna Pier, Michigan. I captain fishing boats for a friend of mine. I started with African Mahogany frames, all barrier coated with West Epoxy. Starting from the stern the boat is covered to all but four or five feet on the starboard side. Most all has been epoxied on the outside, starting at the stern. Since I cannot work outside now I have started from the transom, triple coating the interior with epoxy and painting as I go along. Alternating, working on the outside and inside, has given me the time to plan my cabin, wiring, fuel supply, & other things. It has worked well for me. I will mount the engine, 100 hp., on a self constructed “sea drive” platform that will also serve as the fuel tank if the boat will balance properly. I want to keep all the interior open if I can. There will be no bulkhead in the cabin because the motor steering & throttle will be operated by linier actuators & joysticks, all 12v, no hydraulics. The cabin will be very spacious & almost completely open. There will also be two 150# thrust electric motors, one on either side, as far as possible, operated by joysticks. The electrics will be used to duplicate a drift & entering harbor, plus docking. The fuel prices are very high here & this should save considerably. My wiring will be in pvc, with juction boxes in various places, just under the gunnel. There will be absolutely nothing in the bilge. All light wiring will be at least 24″ above the flooring, leading to the cabin roof for navigation lights. I have kept photographic records & will forward when the vessel is turned in the Spring. I built a “Sissy Do” two years ago and use it on Lake Erie up to about seven miles out. I made her a bit longer with more beam & depth, a small forward & rear deck. What pleasure it has given me. The 10 hp. is mounted on a bracket on the reinforced transom. The boat is steered electrically with a joystick. All the interior, complete with GPS, radio, fish & depth sounder, is open for Walleye & Smallmouth fishing. The boat has required navigation lights, folding top, & roller for anchor. The boat is heavier, not fast, but very safe. Both projects have given a lot of pleasure to some of my friends & myself. Yours Truely, Captain Carl Jurcin
V-DORY / Stefan Karakashian / Bellingham, WA / sbkarakashian@comcast.net / 3-17-08: Registering my new construction of the V-Dory. The boat is being built in Bellingham, Washington. I have purchased the plans a couple of weeks ago and have purchased frame lumber. I have some of the frames completed and the building form erected. I would strongly recommend getting the epoxy kit and the fastener kit from Glen-L. I have started and have been fortunate to be able to track down limited quantities of the silicon bronze fasteners, but also at considerably higher prices than Glen-L. I have decided to go with Marine AB BS1088 Meranti plywood in the thicknesses specified in the Bill of Materials. I shopped around on the internet and found that www.edensaw.com located in Seattle, WA had significantly lower prices than the outlets in California and the material is first rate and certified. Shipping is free in the Puget Sound area and reasonable otherwise. The frames are being made out of clear Douglas fir. Lastly for now, I recommend looking at the similar builds that other have done in “Customer Photos” it really gives you a good idea how the project will unfold.
3-23-08: Started the build officially on 2-12-08. Bought framing stock on 2-13-08 and gusset material. I decided to shorten the whole build 18″ by removing a frame and also taking 18″ off the back of the building jig, figured that probably would be a good idea too. The main headache has been the invention of metric plywood instead of good old dimensional plywood. When I laminated three 18 mm pieces for the stem and followed the cut lines on the frames to the letter I realized about 3 frames in, that there was a 3/16″ gap the difference between 54 mm glued and 2 1/4″ glued. So we progress, wiggle room for putty. It took me a solid 4 days to get the transom framed and the angled battens and chines completed. I found that if I built a jig for the miter jig on the table saw at 15 degree angle I could cut the angled dados for the chines and battens.
2-23-08: I have the transom C-clamped and the stem setting in place temporarily. Discovered that one should align frames from the transom not the stem especially if you shorten the boat. So I am discovering all these great tips that I wish I found before or during my reads. To check if your frames are accurate measure the distance from the extreme ends of the sheer angle to each other, then measure the plans and multiply the plans dimension times two, compare to your dimension. I will have to rebuild frame #8 because of some unforeseen movement during glue up. Most of the frames are within a 1/4″ overall of the plans and that will probably come off during fairing. One annoying thing is that if your glue up angle between the bottom and the chine members is off even a fraction it will telescope to the end of the sheer and be out quite a bit. I found it easier to make templates out of hard board and 1/4″ plywood than to oops a good and expensive piece of framing lumber. Then all the templates are available if you screw up, just cut a new one. I’ll close with the line I read in your forum, “you can’t screw something up sitting on the couch”.
3-26-08: Finally got all the frames cut to size and mounted to the building form. Still have to screw the cross braces to the frames. Also need to construct a minor form to support frame 11. Sadly this is what happens to the perfectly good work shop when you get obsessed. The transom picture shows a 32″ cut out for a single four stroke with a 20″ length. I would have considered buying a frame kit for this puppy if one was available, but I know its’ not. Soon the exciting part of radiusing the frames for the chines and sheers. I think I will take the advice of a Hunky Dory builder and use a 4 1/2″ angle grinder with a sanding disc. Yeehaw! Lastly, if you’re building an 1100# hull and put 800# of sandbags on the form, it won’t move. The sheer weight alone of 1100# of frames, sand and my lower back says, “no”. Will send pictures when it starts to look more like a boat.
4-6-08: I discovered that bending in the chines was a lot harder than I thought. I tried the solid stock, but Douglas Fir does not bend liberally and had to rethink the solution. I decided to use a trick I remembered from bent wood chairs and laminate the chines in with 7/16″ strips of Douglas fir. The only thing I ran into was that the inner-most butt joint would not be backed at least until I rolled it over. So both chines almost in, have another lamination for the other side then on to sheers. A tip I found by accident, if you do both sides at the same time you reduce the strain on the stem and building form. I discovered that I needed to slow down on this part of the process because I was rushing the fairing and accuracy is more important than speed. The full build will probably take a year, could be done in shorter time, but I really want this puppy to last.
5-19-08: Chine and sheer were a pain, finished. A friend was watching me struggle with the chine and told me I should chop out frame #11 for the time being. I took his advice and it still was pretty tough. I ended up laminating three layers of 1/2″ clear douglas fir with West system epoxy. After the chine and sheer were epoxied and screwed in to the frames I pieced back in frame #11. I started laying on planking earlier this week. I have been using West System for the laminating of planking and the bottom. I decided through a oversight on my part that the whole boat was going to get two layers of 6mm Meranti BS1088, I only ordered 6mm and had started the side planking when I realized it was supposed to be 9mm (3/8″). I also realized in lieu of gluing in butt blocks for the bottom I could straddle some 3/4″plywood between the battens and seam the bottom plywood at this point. I’ve also sent in some pictures of the build thus far.
5-27-08: The outer epoxy encapsulation has been completed. The putty areas are areas that I got a little aggressive with the Festool disc sander. I will “plug” this tool, it captures 99% of all the dust including fiberglass and it commercial quality. I ran this sander for 8 hours at a time. I have to drill the bow eye and start glassing the transom, yippee! The paint and primer are on order from www.jamestowndistributors.com, and will be Interlux Perfection with Interlux high build Primekote. I looked at the SystemThree through Glen-L, although cheaper, best results could only be obtained through spraying. Went with the roll and tip Interlux polyurethane paint.
6-2-08: Fiber-glassed the hull with glass cloth that came with the fiberglass kit and put eight coats of epoxy on the hull. Put a sealing coat, then the wet out cloth coat and three more coats. Wet sanded the hull and wiped it down with alcohol and put three more coats on it. Wet sanded it again and started on the bottom battens and chine guard. Plan to run a round over bit on trim router down the battens to ease the edges. The side fender/ spray guard and rub rail will applied after paint. The boss informed me she wanted those finished clear, will use Cetol to finish the bright work. I will bed the rub rail and spray guard in 3m 5200 adhesive in case they need to be redone in the future.
9-8-08: Have been working on the hard top and cabin interior.
3-22-09: My V-dory was completed last year. (See Customer Photos)
V-DORY / Adam Machala / Pomona Park, Florida / svbeaujolais@hotmail.com / 11-26-09: Started building “Beaujolais” in January 2009 and plan to have her completed December 2009.
6-23-10: Launched in January 2010. We live here in Pomona Park, Florida and would love to answer any questions anyone might have on building this boat. We are planning to attend the Gathering of Glen-L Boatbuilders in Tennessee this September. Love the boat & having a good time on the water again too! (See Customer Photos)
VEE GULL (aluminum) / Ron Hounsell / New Zealand / R-F.HOUNSELL@xtra.co.nz / 12-11-03: Vee Gull is just completed. It is all Aluminium with a 202 V6 working through a Volvo Penta leg. The hull is identical to the plans, but I’ve designed a cuddy cabin for it. I also moved the cabin forward 2ft to give more fishing room and more room to lay out our dive gear. I was worried that the motor might be too small, but this proved not to be the case as we can cruise at 35 knots @ 3600 revs with 4 adults with gear aboard. It is extremely economical to run and only draws 2ft at rest. (see Customer Photos) Note: The plans are not detailed for aluminum constructions.
VERA CRUISE / Keith Thom / Ayrshire, West Scotland ( UK )/ kn.thom@talktalk.net/ 4-12-02: Very early collection of materials (plans, ordered Ply Sheets and fasteners delivered). Are there any other Vera Cruise in the UK?? 12-1-02: I now have frames, stem, breasthook, knee and transom complete and ready to frame up on the construction frame. Next to lay the keel and install sheer, chine and battens. Perhaps then I’ll understand more of Mark’s recent comments in the WebLetter on fairing the hull. Thanks for the plans, given time to think, re think and carefully cut I’ve encountered few problems. The problem is that now in Scotland it is only about 8 – 10 deg C in day light and epoxy cure takes ages under a temporary canvas shelter. 4-24-03: April in Scotland brings average temperature to something like 15 degrees and the keel, bottom battens, chine and sheer are all epoxied in place. I had great difficulty bending the chine log into place, and eventually abandoned the plan and instructions. I laminated in place three pieces of half inch by two and a half mahogany, (I actually work in metric so these are approx) It really looks like a boat now, I intend to add an additional longitudinal batten along the mid point of the side planking possibly inch by two, for a little extra stiffness to protect against possible docking damage. Next step will be the physical workout with planes and sander to fair up the hull ready for planking. December 2003: Hull planking now complete and sheathed, final sanding and then ready for paint in the spring when the weather warms up. 10-15-04: Still working… the hull was successfully turned in May and the front deck sheets are epoxied in place and sheathed, the deck hatch has yet to be finally fitted and I’ve started work on the internal joinery for seating and galley etc. When at least the frames for these are in place I’ll get the cabin sides (which are already cut) in place and possibly the cabin roof on (The laminated ply beams are already made ready to drop in place), then that will probably be about it for the winter months.
3-24-08: After a long period of illness and spinal surgery I hope that this email to you will help drive me to complete my Vera Cruise “MOKOIA” The hull was mothballed in sheeting and partly heated inside on a thermostat to keep moisture at bay. It has done well and only shows some small areas of a black mould growth which washes off the inside surfaces. Some internal clean up and I hope to continue with the internal construction of galley, heads and berths. Watch this space for some photos soon. (see Customer Photos)
VERA CRUISE / Thaddeus Dolson / pi_dad@hotmail.com / 5-30-04: I purchased plans for Vera Cruise about three years ago and planed to build it when I retired to the Philippines. Well it’s been a year and a half since I moved here and I just started about two months ago. It’s very hot here so I only work on it in the mornings. I have most of the hull complete and hope to be ready to fibre glass at the end of this month will send pictures after turning.
VERA CRUISE / David Ellingson / Woodstock, IL / lftvsn@netzero.com / 5-10-06: I’ve been working on my Vera Cruise several months, sort of in backwards order. I’ve been working on the electrical/electronics, accumulating hardware, etc. so that when the hull is complete all this other stuff will be complete and ready to install. I bought the frame kit now because Allyn is retiring and it won’t be available in the future. But I won’t be able to start on the hull for a year or two.
7-7-06: Here are some pictures of the electrical panels that I’ve been working on. Helm switches: Will be mount on the helm panel adjacent to the GPS and engine gauges.
Ignition: Start, stop, ventilation, hourmeters, and stuff.
Battery switch.
DC panel: The DC distribution panel.
AC panel: The AC distribution panel.
Front Panel Express did the anodizing, machining, and engraving to my specs. They do a really good job at a very reasonable price, all 5 panels were about $350 delivered to my door. You should add their link to your “Supplier” page. http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
Next I start on the supporting circuit boards. They perform the signal conditioning for the panel meters, drive the indicator lamps on on the panels, and a bunch of other stuff. Once all this is complete I build the helm box. My plan is to mount all this stuff in/on the helm box then, when the hull is complete, I just mount the completed helm assembly and finish routing the wiring around the hull.
9-29-08: I have sent in some pictures of my Vera Cruise project. The first 3 photos are the helm consoles. I finished them this winter, they’re all ready to bolt onto the hull. The last 3 are of the hull. I started the hull in early May. Right now I am fairing the keel, chine, and sheer.
2-20-09: Sent some more pictures of my Vera Cruise. Holy cow! I thought I would never finish fairing the keel, chine, and sheer! The white oak I used is really dense. After destroying a couple hand plane blades, I bought two high quality Hock blades. They hold a sharp edge considerably longer and cut with less effort. Well, I am almost done fairing the battens, that part is going pretty quickly. Next I cut the limbers then start planking.
6-10-09: I finished planking the hull this weekend, its starting to look like a real boat! The planking went on in big sheets, scarfed together to span the entire length of the boat. I couldn’t see how butt joints would finish fair. The big panels handled like giant cooked lasagna noodles, not heavy, just unwieldy. A few neighbors helped me set them down on the applied epoxy. The temperature was cool (about 50F) so I had plenty of time to fasten the panel before the epoxy started to cure. To glue the planking onto the framework I used System Three GelMagic (slow cure). That stuff is great. You just mix it up, spread it on, and there it stays, no dripping or sagging even on vertical surfaces. I used System Three T-88 to glue the scarf joints which worked just fine. I included a picture of a finished joint. Scarfing was pretty easy using the technique described in the “Boatbuilding with Plywood” book. The strength of the finished scarf was amazing. I destroyed a few sample pieces to check joint integrity. In all cases the plywood failed before the scarf joint. I used BS1088 9 mm Okume for the planking.
9-19-09: All went well. It took only about a week to apply the fiberglass and fill the weave…many late nights. To avoid sanding between coats of laminating resin, I applied the coats within 72 hours of each other. After filling the weave I sanded the entire hull, then applied a very thin coat of resin. I’ll lightly sand this thin coat then prime and paint. I used blush free SilverTip laminating resin. It worked well. I was mostly working at night when the dew was settling outside but no blush developed. I can’t stress enough the importance of applying resin in a thin uniform coat. Runs and sags are VERY difficult to sand out. While filling the weave I wasn’t careful enough and ended up with a lot of stipple, runs, sags, and drips. I spent about a week sanding the hull smooth, ugh! So how do you apply a thin uniform coat? The “tipping off” technique shown in the “How to Fiberglass a Boat” video works very well. For my last coat of resin (after I sanded the entire hull), I rolled on a thin coat and worked it in all directions with the roller. I could cover about 3’x3′ with a single roller load. Then I used a clean roller, cut in half lengthwise, to tip off the resin. I held the roller with a Visegrip. I found that just letting the half-roller glide over the resin, like you would do to tip off paint, didn’t really smooth it out. I had to apply considerable pressure to smooth it out and usually had to go over it a few times. The result is a mirror like finish. Also, use ONLY 1/8″ nap foam rollers. For one coat I used 3/16″ nap foam rollers which applied the resin far too thick. That’s when most of my stipple and sags developed.
10-3-09: I just finished priming. I used System Three Yacht Primer. It went on great, like latex wall paint. I used the 1/8″ nap foam rollers and appled four thin coats (about 2.5 gallons). It only needs a light sanding, then I can paint the bottom. Planning to turn over the hull on November 8th, we’re planning a big roller over party.
11-10-09: I turned over my hull on Saturday, 17 months after starting construction. All went fine, just a few minor scrapes and gouges to fix. I should have better padded to ropes that I used to lift and rotate the hull. This boat is big! Upside down in the garage, you can’t tell how big it really is. But on the trailer in the driveway, my Olds Bravada SUV looks like a toy beside it. I hope it stays big while my daughters and I are on weekend trips around the Great Lakes. It’s a little longer than the recommended 10% stretch because I goofed when setting up. The overall length is 23′-8″ versus the recommended 23′-1″ stretched length. A little update on materials a techniques. I applied three coats of System Three Yacht primer over the fiberglass/epoxy. That went on very nicely with an 1/8″ nap roller. It is pretty hard when cured, so sanding was a bit of a chore. For bottom paint I used Pettit Old Salem Hard Racing copper bronze. As I understand it, this is basically Tung oil based varnish with copper powder mixed in. This was quite difficult to apply. There are a lot of lap marks, and if the wet film is at all nonuniform the dry film will orange peel. I had a big orange peel area near the bow that I sanded off and re-painted. The copper oxidizes to a tan color in about a year so the lap marks should be less obvious. I spoke with a few people who have used this bottom paint. They all said it is a very tough paint. I hope so because I really don’t want to repaint the bottom anytime soon. The copper color looks very retro which is the look I am going for. (see Customer Photos)
VIGILANT / Haji Kamal / Terengganu, Malaysia / hajikamalharun@msn.com / 2-10-03:
7-30-02: Received Videos, Books (Boatbuilding with Plywood, How To Fiberglass Boats and Inboard motor Installations), Transfer Papers and Vigilant (Plywood) Plans & Patterns. 8-7-02: Sent e-Mails and making telephone calls to local Lumber Yards to negotiate the price and to establish Estimated Time of Arrival at my worksite. 8-12-02: Pay a visit at one of Lumber Yard, confirm order. Purchased a Log with 56″ overall diameter, cut to sizes and quantities as required (given extra allowance of 1/8″ for Widths and Thickness). 8-15-02: Arranging Checklist & Work Schedule. Built up 60′ L x 30′ W x 28′ Height Work Shelter & AC connections. 9-15-02: Constructed building form for Vigilant using 2″ x 6″ lumber. Made a first pre-cut for sixteen Frames, Stem (4″ x 16″ lumber laminated with 3/4″ Marine Plywood= 5 1/2″) and Transom. Joining 2″ x 5″ Chine logs and 1″ x 3″ x 3 layers of Sheer Clamp. Hung all Chine Logs, Sheer Clamps together with 2″ x 12″ x 2 layers of Keel lumber on the top of scaffolding. Clamped longitudinals to scaffolding with C-Clamps hung a basket at the other end. Every week putting an extra weight into the hanging basket, the purpose is to curve the Chine Logs, Shear Clamps and Keel in the slow and steady manner.
10-3-02: Pre-saturated all the Frames to avoid extreme Tropical weather. Monsoon Season will be arrive soon. Glued Frame Gussets and Fillers with Poxy-Grip and screwed and bolted in place. 1-21-03: All Sixteen Frames with 3″ thick Floor Timber, Stem and Transom located on the Set Up as per GLEN-L Blueprint. Precaution given to the Frame # 7 to 12 which located the CB of the boat. Keel, Chine Logs and Sheer Clamps installed on the Frames without any problems encountered. 2-9-03: Installation of Bottom and Side Battens is on progress, hopefully by end of March 2003 the first Marine Plywood for Bottom Planking will be put in place after Fairing process is over. 4-27-03: Just completed 2 layers on Bottom and Side Planking. The third layer for Bottom planking held up for the while, waiting a Marine Plywood from Robbins UK. 11-5-03: Several updates are included with the photos. The hull has been completed, painted, and is ready to roll over. (see Customer Photos)
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