Interior and Finishing

With the bare hull complete, work now focused on the interior and decking.

A series of additional frames were cut from 2x6 boards to support the flooring. Forward deck beams were added at existing frame locations, and then the dashboard was installed. Stringers could then be added across the top of the deck beams to support the forward deck. After cutting and shaping, all parts had to be removed to be sealed with at least 2 coats of sealant. Anything that was structural or in the bottom of the boat was sealed with epoxy. On the upper deck parts, however, I gave in to the temptation of using shellac to seal the parts. Not only much less expensive, it also dries MUCH faster, allowing significantly speedier progress.

DETAILS count!!

In the pictures, notice that the bow eye was installed BEFORE the forward decking. Also notice that the hole for the steering wheel was cut into the dash before the dash was installed. In some of the pictures, you can see the large holes in the frame members that were drilled before the frames were ever installed on the strongback. The holes were to accommodate wiring, steering, and throttle cables. Those holes would have been much more challenging to cut after the sides were attached and other misc. members were in the way. In the pictures after the decking is attached, notice the wiring that was pulled for the bow running light, while it was still easy to get to the holes in the frames left for wiring.

The decking is 3/8 marine grade plywood. VERY expensive, but plenty strong enough to support someone sitting on the deck, and pretty when varnished.

To speed construction, for flexibility, and for professional finish (I haven't attempted many vinyl upholstery projects...), I decided to go with back to back drop in seats. The nice thing is that the seats can recline to provide a lounger. The unfortunate thing with THIS boat is that the interior is so small that there really isn't space to fold the seats out.

Now comes the varnishing...

By this point, the boat was ready to put on the trailer. We were into the home stretch. The rubrail is one of those necessary evils. It hides the edge seam and any imperfections where varnish meets paint. But DANG! After all the epoxy, marine grade plywood, mahogany for the dash, and steering system, I was amazed at how much a silly plastic rubrail cost - and how little selection I had! To add insult to injury, the rubrail I ordered didn't have an insert. After looking around, I was able to locate a length of nylon rope that would fit snugly. This was secured with silicon adhesive for about the last foot on either side of the boat. (The rubrail starts on one side of the boat at the back corner, wraps around the bow, and ends on the other side.) I only used adhesive for the final part of the rubrail so that IF (??) I should ever need to remove the rubrail or work on the edge of the boat (close encounters with docks often happen in my area due to other boat-inflicted waves near the docks...).

More details - and a LOT more spending at Academy Sporting Goods, and other places. A board was cut and finished that would be the wiring panel for mounting the fuses and bus bars for all the wiring. A battery switch was installed. The wiring for the lights was run. The lights were installed. Final installation of the steering system was completed. Framing and a board was added to mount the throttle box. And the engine was installed. LOTS of little details...

Now came the moment of truth: The INSPECTION:

When you build a homemade boat in Texas, part of the rite of passage is getting it titled and registered with Texas Parks and Wildlife. You go down to the office, fill out lots of paper work, show them your stack of receipts (You DID keep all those receipts, right??!!), and then schedule to have the boat "inspected".

Now, being an engineer, and having read about REAL boat companies having to do submersion tests to PROVE that their designs would still float when completely swamped - I was a bit concerned. The boat wasn't that big, and the motor was a pretty heavy chunk of iron. I actually went to the extent of making crude measurements of the wooden components of the boat, added it all up on a spreadsheet, and derived an estimate of the wood volume of the boat. According to my buoyancy estimates, the mass of the wood in the boat should just about support the metal in the motor, battery, and fittings. To ensure a little extra margin, I cut up and placed 2 sheets of 3/4" foam in the bottom of the boat, under the floorboards and between the floor beams and frames. By my calculations, I should now have enough flotation to support 400 pounds of weight, against a total of about 225 pounds for the motor, battery, and fittings.

In spite of my worry, it turned out that Texas Parks and Wildlife didn't seem all that interested at all in the design, construction, or whether it would FLOAT. Rather, the bureaucracy was MUCH more interested in whether I had paid sales tax on all the components that went into making the boat, and whether the boat appeared, in fact, to be homemade and not stolen. The stack of papers on the deck of the boat in front of the Game Warden in the picture above was the photocopy set of receipts. The nice thing about Travis County (I hear this isn't true in other counties) is that the Game Warden makes house calls! Perhaps they want to see the garage too, and see if it's credible that this person has the tools to make a boat?? And to her credit, when asked, the Game Warden did say that there had been one or two "boats" that they had declined to title in the past due to gross questions of seaworthiness...

With a huge sigh of relief at passing the "inspection" phase, the registration numbers could now be applied. For this, I again called on my less-than-enthusiastic, but much more artistically skilled daughter.

And then, after lots more little details (bilge pumps, fire extinguishers, a horn, secure the seats, inside panels, etc, etc...

LAUNCH DAY!!