Building the Squirt

Encapsulating the Frames My next task was to encapsulate the frames using epoxy. This helps protect the wood from moisture and rot. Everything I've read says 2-3 coats, with 3 coats being ideal. I'm using the MAS epoxy resin and Low-Tox hardener sold on the Glen-L website. I've read great things about that epoxy so ordered the MAS instead of Glen-L's poxy-shield. I thought encapsulating the frames before I mount them to the building form would be a fairly simple task...I was wrong. The First coat went on without any problems. There was quite a bit of bubbling but this is normal and a good sign that the epoxy has seeped into the wood pours and the air has surfaced to the top. I applied the first coat at night to some of the frames and the next morning it was still quite tacky. My plan was to allow each coat to cure then sand it and apply another coat, but with the cure time of this mixture that would take forever. So, I set up some heat lamps and that really spe...

I've always thought it would be fun to build a small speedboat. Something simple for a solo rider. After talking to a friend about a website that offers boat plans it didn't take much to convince me that I was actually going to commit to building a small boat. After going back and forth between different designs I finally decided on the Glen-L Squirt. I've found other boat building blogs to be helpful so I figured I'd attempt to do my own as long as it doesn't take away from too much of my building time! I received my plans in March and got started as soon as I could. I started with the building form first and had it completed the beginning of April. Also, like everyone else, I highly recommend the book "Boatbuilding With Plywood" by Glen L. Especially for first time boat builders and considering there are hardly any instructions on the details of how to build it. Building Form The building form must be perfectly level in all directions because it is ...