Another reader question

Heres another question/comment from Squid.

---Begin Original Comment---
Looking good guys, did you order the pre cut kit for this boat? Do yo think it saved you a bunch of time? I dont think I could afford to get the kit for one of these big boats I would probably get enough wood at a time to do the hull and then buy more for the rest. keep up the great work guys you inspire me. cant wait till I build my next boat. It will either be this one or the HB-20, possibly stretched to a 22 (feet). You can strech by 10 percent.
Squid
---End Original Comment

Yessir, we did order the precut kit, and theres no doubt in my mind that its saved us a boatload of time. (I hope youll forgive the irresistable pun.) It saved us the hassle of measuring the dimensions of each piece -- and remeasuring, because were picky. It saved us the time of cutting each piece by hand, because they pre-routed everything, leaving us just small tabs to cut, and the kit may have even saved Greg some money, because he likely would have wasted more wood than the makers of the kit did. Okay, it didnt save any money, but it definitely saved us a lot of time. The big benefit of buying the kit is saving time. The biggest benefit of cutting the pieces yourself, as you alluded to, is that you can spread the cost out over a longer period of time by buying stuff as you need it.

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A Well Deserved Vacation

Its All About Friendship
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

As I mentioned in last weeks post, we took the week off so we could attend our annual guys week vacation. Click here to view the pictures. You can also see a short video of Dave surfing Gilmores Mistake on the Wolf River, or a video of kids rafting the Wolf River.

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Question Comment from a reader

The following is a comment from Squid, a member of the forum at www.bateau.com

The picture Squids referring to is shown earlier in the blog, but you can click here for a direct link to the picture.

---Begin original comment---
[S]hure looks like a flat bottomed boat at the transome end. How do you think it will handle in the chop and wind. I know they have wind in Iowa. I am interested in building this boat but will wait till you have yours done and can tell me how it handles. Squid.
---End original comment---

This is a valid point, and one that I honestly hadnt considered. But even if I had, this boat actually belongs to my friend Greg, so I didnt have much input on which plans were actually purchased. Im just the first mate. (Call me Gilligan.) Now that the point is brought up though, heres my take.

Youre absolutely correct, this is a flat-bottomed boat. The result is that it will probably rock-n-roll a little more in choppy water, but I wouldnt worry about that a whole lot. Its going to be a big, heavy boat, so I suspect that itll take quite a bit to make the boat roll excessively. As far as the wind goes, I dont think itll be a huge factor. The rear transom isnt much different from your standard power boat, so I suspect the amount of surface area that the wind could catch is probably comparable to a standard displacement hull. The front transom is relatively small, so I dont see wind as a factor here either, and the same goes for the sides. Besides, its not like were rowing this big-ass boat. Gregs going to put in a couple of big motors to do the work for us.

In short, the only way I see wind being a factor is when the wind causes waves on the water, in which case the boat will probably rock a bit more than a displacement hulled boat.

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