BUILD YOUR OWN FD IN PLASTIC
by Paul Hemker

"Say, I've never seen a Dutchman like that before. Who built it?"

For the past few years I've heard that question any number of times. It is a good lead in to a discussion on home-built boats. It took about two years of Dutchman sailing to convince me that my old boat just wasn't very good. It had been through a good number of modifications and most of them showed. The do-it-yourself craze hit me so I borrowed an old glass hull, cleaned it up and made a female mold from the hull. After checking measurements as closely as possible, I framed the mold and was ready for business. The question of a deck had been presenting its ugly head for a good while and then out of the clear blue sky a solution came walking back to the shop in the form of Bill Bursk. He also wanted a deck and we decided to pool resources and see what we could do. We decided on a double bottom arrangement and Bill started working up a mock-up from wood and masonite. We learned a few hard lessons. It is difficult to make a true curve with masonite when pieces are joined together, and the fuzzy type of masonite we used warps very badly from moisture. It is possible to use it, but fast work is necessary to prevent warpage. We made a light mold from the mock-up and framed it to keep it in shape.

The actual boat building only took a few weeks. We spent a full day laying up the hull using fiber-glass cloth and mat and polyester resin. The first layer of the boat was a gel coat for color, wear, and water barrier. The cloth and mat layers were then laid into the mold with resin. After curing, a prefab strongback-centerboard well assembly was set into the hull with the skin still in the mold. The strongback looked like a skeleton with backbone and ribs along its length (something like Andy Green's "Creature"). The first strong-back was made of plywood and then completely covered with fiberglass. Although wood wasn't desirable, it provided stiffness without making elaborate molds. On the second model I made all stiffeners from glass with styrofoam as core. The foam must either be protected, or else epoxy resin used in the first layer, since styrene in polyester resin attacks it. Measuring-in actually presents a worse problem than building. The close tolerances hardly allow any variation from the plan. Very close attention must be paid to setting up the mold or building cradle to the exact dimensions. Some of the measuring rules are complicated enough that it pays to be right on the nose rather than vary. One hull shape can produce enough variation from the plans to cause a radical change in speed. I figure that even trailer support, heat, cold, and water might change the hull shape enough to throw it out of measurement, so I tried for the safe middle ground.

The first boat taught me plenty. It's hard to make a good bond between wood and glass unless screws are used. A built-in centerboard well reduces the possibility of leaks to almost nothing. Water has a nasty habit of finding the smallest passage. All the stiffening possible should be put into the boat. Even a wood Dutchman needs help to keep its shape. I think the space between the cockpit floor and hull of a double-bottom should be filled as much as possible with stiffeners and foam. I spent a full day just packing foam into every void possible. It helps in two ways -provides a firmer footing for the cockpit floor and provides sealed-in, unsinkable buoyancy. This year I'm going to try my hand at a single-bottom boat. Here the stiffening will probably be noticeable, but who likes a boat that undulates like a sea serpent.

PHOTO CAPTIONS: Photos show plastic shell with stiffeners, the underforedeck with stiffness and - at last -it's completed: More beautiful than any stock boat, because it's all my own work.

Some pointers: Read the rules and understand them before starting. Try to find someone you can hash them over with. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, try a kit first; then go the whole route. Both glass and wood shells are easy to obtain -just write any builder. The cockpit presents the best possible outlet for ingenuity. There are plenty of ideas available in issues of  "THE TRAPEZE" and "Bulletin". Don't forget about production boats though. Most of the bugs are worked out of them. Don't raise the double bottom any more than absolutely necessary. Rolly Tasker showed the extreme in one of his last models and it was hard to sail in. Try to avoid sharp corners and junk in the cockpit. Simplicity makes sailing a lot easier and trouble free.

Even though I'm a hard-nose and started from scratch, here are some thoughts on quality, talent required, and cost that should apply as well to kits. Final quality depends on the person who completes the kit. Most slip-shod work is evident within the first year. I would say the skill increases with experience, so don't be afraid to try. I hate to think how much my time was worth, considering the difference between the cost of a finished boat and the money in my homebuilts. Fittings add up in a hurry. Even if you make your own, there are some that just can't be whittled with a pocket knife.

Tools are a necessity for any do-it-yourself project and boat building is no exception. I've worked at both extremes -too few and too many tools. A reasonable supply of hand tools are a tremendous asset. Power tools lighten the load in some cases but at other times you just can't decide which of three sanders to use. In other words, don't rush out and buy a complete shop. Since there are so few straight lines in a boat, most power tools just make the work more difficult.

Be encouraged, not discouraged by the above. The satisfaction of finishing a boat yourself is worth a lot, especially when someone asks, "Who built it?"

Midland, Michigan
April 1965