Re: West River 18

Posted by George K on Jan 10, 2005

Paul,

The sheer clamps will be a little too long if you did them exactly as the instructions say. Merely take a good, sharp chisel and take enough material off both sheers until you get a fair curve.

I know it seems there's not enough space between some of the panels for thickened epoxy to get in for a good glue joint but trust me, there is! What really holds the boat together besides for tabbing the seams is the fillet you put in bow and stern and those around the bulkheads. The boat will not fly apart when you remove the wires. This was a concern of mine, too.

You will probably have to trim the bulkheads. I trimmed bulkhead 2 slightly in the side and bilge panels. Use a good block plane. Bulkhead 4, the stern ring bulkhead, would have required quite a bit of trimming if I had placed it where the plans called for. Instead I just moved it forward about an inch. Perfect fit.

The extra beam won't be a problem. Mine is actually .25 inches wider than plans call for but the curve is fair and who's gonna know!

Happy building.

George

In Response to: Re: West River 18 by LeeG on Jan 10, 2005

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