V12 Construction
This
is the bottom of the hull, mid-way through sanding for shape. In this
picture, I've began to sand the starboard chine, bow & keel edges.
I'm using a Porter-Cable 5" random oribital sander ($59.00). This
is the best of the affordable sanders because of the 5-hole, hook &
loop sanding discs. I've found that 60 grit is perfect for shaping and
rough sanding.
I've attached the green garden hose to the sander. This hose is then attached
to a 5 gallon spackle bucke which is filled with water. I then have a
small shop vac attached to the spackle bucket. I've seen this set up in
a variety of ways, most notably on Justin Pipkorn's site. I've seen drywallers
doing the same thing. It works nicely for keeping the dust down.
My father-in-law has been wanting to cut a hole in this boat from day one! Here he is cutting the centerboard hole with a jig saw. He began using a rough cut blade, but this quickly dulled. No wonder since he's cutting through 3/8" plywood, sandwiched between layers of 12oz. biaxial fiberglass & epoxy.
A Different
Seat Arrangement
We couldn't simple leave the plans alone... we had to mess
with the interior layout. Since I have 2 small children who will not sit
still, I decided that this would be a safer layout. This way, they can
kind of slide their butts around on the seat opposed to walking in the
boat from seat to seat. The rear cutout is for storage. I'll probably
use this for the waterproof bag with VHF radio, cell phone, wallets, etc.
I'll put a bungee cord on the inside of the lid to hold this in place.
As for the seats themselves, I didn't do anything scientific. I simply
sat in the boat and figured out how much butt room I need. This explains
the rounded bump outs. I've seen this sort of thing on other small dingies,
but do not know the name of them.
Here's the underside of the seats before installing it.