FIRST PROBLEM - BACK IN ACTION

[preacher]

Saturday Hambone and I slipped away to Joe Pool lake to reduce the Bass population and I experienced my first problem with the Bumble Bee. I'm still testing the boat much the same as I did my yaks when I got them, just to see what the limits are under controlled circumstances and not waiting for something to happen during a storm or adverse conditions. At the end of the day when we were loading the BB we noticed that 2 of the bolts holding the right side foot brace had pulled through the hull.
When I was mounting the foot braces I worried about that beause of the way the thin Luan plywood dented in when tightening the nuts. Washers, I think, would pose another problem - sealing the hull breach - by adding another layer to seal. So I am shopping for bolts with larger heads, something like fender bolts on the smaller scale and in stainless. I am also wondering if I should use Gorilla glue or resin to seal the breach instead of the marine Goop I am currently using.

BTW this boat is still amazing me with speed and versatility. I actually sat side saddle in it for a while to cool my tootsies in the water. Managed to get onto some stumps but the graphite hull worked great in just paddling off the stump. The trolley and stake out pole combo worked great in a moderate wind. I have install the larger seat mount base at the bottom of the pedestal and that removed the bottom flex I was experiencing with the narrower bottom. I am still using industrial velcro to secure the seat unit to the boat.

One other thing, I haven't noticed any hull slap in this boat. The Big Game plastic boat always had a fair amount of hull slap even in mild wind.

[TexaRican]

Don,
I laminated 2 layers of 6mm ply so I'd have something to mount the foot braces into. Just used a 1/2" stainless wood screw with a big pan head. Mine mount in 3 locations so I think it came out pretty sturdy. Certainly not a pretty solution but it will do for a pirogue. I figure if that wears out I can come back and drill out the hole, fill with epoxy and re-drill. Originally I wanted to sink T-nuts in so I could mount with machine screws but I could not find stainless T-nuts locally.

[gerald]

Any hole I drill in a boat for bolts or mounting is drilled oversize and filled with goopie. I then redrill for the correct size. This serves two purposes. It seals the bare wood in the hole and provides a non-compressible substrate for the truss head bolts and washers. For boats that will be seeing extreme use, such as my marathon boats and the Brazos River Fishing Boats, I add a fender washer inside and out. All bolts, screws, nuts, and washers that I use are stainless steel. I will use studs or other methods depending upon the intended use of the boat.

Oh yeah...to seal the hole with bolt through it you can add a dab of silicone. I rarely do this because I never get water leaking through any bolt hole anyway.

Hull slap occurs when you have parts of the boat overhanging water but not IN the water. Wood composite design is generally such that you don't have this happening. If you move your seat back too far and have the bow too high you will get some slap off the bottom of the hull--but your too far back then anyway.

[4x4kayak2112]

gerald AKA Yoda.....man i wish i knew half about boat building as him.....but what he was talking about.....its a good idea, i see alot of that on other fourms too

[preacher]

Followed Gerald's instructions, amazingly simple work. Came out strong and solid.



Also, mounted a depth finder with transducer inside the front hatch.


I am now ready to do 8 days of serious salt water excursion and fish catching at Corpus starting next Friday.

[Dogpaddlin]

Will the transducer work through the hull?

[preacher]

Will the transducer work through the hull?

Yep, works good, same as in my plastic boats.

[CelticKid]

Nice boat I bet it could haul a bunch of CAMPING gear.

[preacher]

Nice boat I bet it could haul a bunch of CAMPING gear.

That is one thing I had in mind when designing it. Those overnight trips that Strider and the others take look awesome.

[Dogpaddlin]

Preacher,

How about giving us a peak at how you mounted your transducer. The last one I did in my plastic boat did not work out so well.

[preacher]

Preacher,

How about giving us a peak at how you mounted your transducer. The last one I did in my plastic boat did not work out so well.

Sure, it will be a week or so, got it on the top rung of the trailer for Friday's trip. I can say I did it the same way I did my plastic boats. I used GOOP and mounted it on a flat spot inside the front hatch. The fiberglass resin seems to hold the GOOP a lot better than the PVC boats. I used GOOP because I worried about using epoxy and doing a permanent mount. Once I do this for a while and see how good/bad it works I will make that decision. Right now it works pretty good except that its an el cheapo Cuda 160.