We made some great progress with the boat today. Besides doing a dry fit up of the outboard motor mount on the transom and thereby determining we need the long shaft 4 hp Yamaha, we also taped all of the exterior joints with a 12 oz. special bi-axial fiberglass cloth. Miky, one of the boy scouts, helped me tape them. You cannot see the joints because the glass becomes very clear once the epoxy resin wets it out. We are using an epoxy from a company called MAS as it is reputed to have the best barrier properties against water permeation. We will mix up some epoxy body putty tomorrow and 'fair' all of the joints we taped. Then on Weds we will cover the entire exterior hull with a synthetic glass material called Dynel. It is also woven and tougher against abrasion than fiberglass.
The outboard motor mount is stainless and raises and lowers, spring loaded. I think we can get 12-14 inches of water above the cavitation plate on the motor and that is good. We will have plenty of power to get off the lake if a storm comes up. I think a bit of a deck area, or thwart up front, would be good too if waves are high and we are pushing through them, so the water just doesn't come spilling over the bow into the boat. It means some protected storage underneath and built in flotation as well.
The plans for the 22' arrived today and it is a much bigger endeavor but very doable. We will start that after hunting season in the fall/winter. It is the Surf Scoter 22'. You can see it on an earlier post. I will be making the pilot house about 3 or 4' longer to accommodate more interior room for a sit down head and a better galley. Extending the roof back a bit so you can duck out of the rain or sun in the cockpit will be helpful.
