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| Lisa B. Good, more construction notes.... even fit a little water tight well in her, and drag her onto the ice with a tractor for ice fishing. The mast is of course optional. But a fellow needs a way to fly the right flags; otherwise he’s got no couth. Image Let’s face it, Lisa B. isn’t going to win any races. And if you try to dress her in aluminum siding and such like a houseboat, she’ll just look amateurish. “Lisa B. Good” is a shantyboat, and she gets her charm from looking old-fashioned. So let her look the part. Use wood for the siding. Fit the mast and boom. Stow the anchor rode in a wooden barrel. Add a bit of gingerbread trim in the corners if you like it. Forget the varnished teak trim; paint it. Hang your coiled dock lines on the exterior cabin walls. Fit her with kerosene lanterns and a wood stove. If you want to doll her up, pay a talented local artist to paint a suitable scene on MDO plywood for you, maybe lumberjacks on a river drive. Hang that on an exterior cabin side. I guarantee folks will like the boat, and so will you. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but I think Lisa B’s got the looks! Materials Wood Well-dried construction grade softwood will do nicely for the framing. Exterior grade plywood should do for the hull. T1-11 textured plywood would be a natural for the cabin sides, but it’s criminal how easily the stuff rots. If you use it, better brush on epoxy or polyester both sides before painting. Fasteners Robertson (square drive) screws are now stocked in many building supply stores. They make them coated or stainless for building patio decks. With battery operated drills and these fasteners, nails are now obsolete. You can use the coated screws on the cabin framing and under the fiberglassed hull if you want to save a buck, but use the stainless to fasten the siding in place. I think I’d use the stainless everywhere. They’re not that expensive. Caulking and bedding Compound Use “Poly Seam-Seal” caulking (comes in a tube) for bedding and caulking everywhere above the waterline. It adheres well. It lasts, and you can paint over it. Silicone is useless. 5200 marine sealant is overkill. Glue Use “Tite Bond III” exterior glue for joinery. It works very well and it’s friendly. It’s wonderfully waterproof too. You can use epoxy of course, but it’s miserable stuff. So are the urethane adhesives, like PL Premium, that come in a caulking tube. Filler Putty Use epoxy thickened with microsphere filler for crack and hole putty on exterior wood surfaces, and to fill in the weave on fiberglassed surfaces. Takes three days of warm weather to cure enough for sanding, but then it sands easily. Get the consistency right, sort of like peanut butter. Add enough microspheres so that the mixture doesn’t sag. If it sags before it sets, you need more filler. For interior work that’s to be painted, try waterproof sandable spackling compound. It’s great stuff. Fiberglassing I like 10 ounce glass cloth in epoxy to waterproof plywood. A thin mat will work too, but it won’t go around the corners easily. Epoxy takes a few days to cure enough to be sanded. And it needs to be sanded before anything goes on top of it. Some fellows use polyester instead of epoxy, because it’s friendlier, cheaper and it cures much quicker. But polyester doesn’t stick if the wood it’s on gets wet. You might be successful with it on the hull, however, since it’s completely encapsulated. But I’d use epoxy. The top brands like WEST are the best, but they’re too expensive. You can get by quite nicely with a $40 per gallon epoxy. Shop around. Once you’ve applied the fiberglass, you’ll likely want to fill the weave in and sand the surface smooth. Use epoxy/microspheres for this. Bondo won’t stay put on underwater surfaces. You can spend a month of Sundays doing this, filling and sanding, filling and sanding. Don’t get carried away. You should be rolling your paint on afterwards, and that will leave a slight stipple finish anyway. She’s a shantyboat, not a gold plated yacht. Paint Use a two-part epoxy or two-part urethane paint for the decks, cabin sides, and roof. Sprinkle budgie gravel onto the wet paint for non-slip walking surfaces. Put it into a bottle with a plastic lid. Drill the top. Experiment with the hole size until it works well as a shaker. Don’t pre-mix the gravel into the paint. Urethane paint won’t chalk. Epoxy paint eventually will. Ship or industrial suppliers sell urethane paints for a lot less than retail boating supply stores. You don't want $400 per gallon Awlgrip here. You want On to page 7 for more construction notes...... |
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