Welcome to the club! I have just started a NE Dory! Good Luck and have fun.    

   Thanks Mikeflys.

OK, three days in and here are my observations:

-Heat Gun rocks!!! I've never used one before and didn't really understand the advantage.  I used it to easily scrape away all the extra epoxy I apparently slopped all over the place. 

-Puzzle joints, not as easy as they seem.  I got mixed results with my puzzle joints.  Not sure if I thickened the epoxy too much, or didn't use a mallet, but mine are anywhere from square to a half a milimeter out of pocket.  I hade to do a lot of sanding to get them fair.  I'll also have to try and work some extra resin into the spaces where gaps remain.  Structurally, the side planks seem strong, just not as seamless as I would like.

-Tomorrow, I'll be starting the stiching part of the assembly.  Expecting a couple of bloody pokes. 

A Mallet?....not hammer mechanic work.....Sometimes light persuasion is necessary, but sand paper sanding of the joint edges to lower high spots should be all that is necessary. Then  regular hand pressure fit is all that is needed. Epoxy will fill the gaps. You can use thickened epoxy to fair out the low spots, but be gentle.     

   I love that boat! I expect to hear you have sailed it to the Bahamas someday. Webb Chile's would have done it.

BocaGene,

When we built my Peeler Skiff, most of the puzzle joints fit well, a few didn't. We learned the hard way to sand the cut edges of the puzzle joints so they took no more than a light tap with a rubber mallet to fully seat. I'd recommend that you do that before gluing the joints.

If you end up having to sand them flat because they didn't fully join when you glued them, that means you'll nedd to fill them on the other side and that the resulting parts will be slightly out of alignment. Not the end of the world, but better to be avoided.

Patience is key. You'll ultimately take less time properly fitting the joints than you would fixing misaligned joints afterwards. Also, make sure you have a flat surface, covered with plastic sheet, to glue on. We used cheap 3/4" exterior plywood sheets upon which to glue and clamped the joints down with 1"x4" over plastic sheets.

Cheers,

Dick

Thanks for all the support! 

Birch2: The Bahamas are not on my imeadiate Itinerary, but who knows.  I will, however, be bombing up and down the FL Keys! 

Dick: I had not problem fitting the puzzle joints, they seemed snug and I could get them seated nicely with just my hands.  I placed plastic and wood over the joints and weighted them down with ceramic roofing tiles.  I think I would have done something more along the lines that you mentioned; 3/4 plywood and clamps.  As you said, it's a lot of work to clean them up.  They're all smooth now, with no real visible narrowing at the joint.  Time to stitch!

I'll post pictures today if I can figure that out. 

Welcome to the forum...I am in the Stuart area and working, albeit very slowly on building NE Dory.  Currently, have her flipped, bottom up needing to sand a bit  and then glass the lower portion of the hull. 

I had a small manufacturing glitch with a missing mortise in the aft piece of the bottom.  The guys at CLC were very responsive and came up with a quick work around, so I only lost about 45 mins of build time.  I also got to help them find an error in the CAD files, so someone is not going to have the same problem *pats own shoulder*.  

I’ve got the first plank stitched in with the three frames and the bottom piece.  It’s look pretty good, but I had two different people ask me if I was building a cardboard boat.  The only issue I’m having at this point is that the planks have a bit of space between them and the bottom.  I expect that I’ll work those closer as I tighten the stitches later in the process.  Overall, great experience so far, and it’s nice to be making something real.  

   Good luck on the build.  I built my NE Dory at a class in Annapolis and finished it in Maryland. I now have it in Stuart on Hutchinson Island and sail it when I get down there.  Don't rush the build, enjoy the journey.  

   Glad to see you started Gene.  I just finished gluing the planks on my SW Dory kit last night; hope to start stitching assembly this weekend.  I am building mine in Plantation, FL in my living room.  I would love to go sailing sometime when one of us finishes or if anybody already has a finished Dory.  I will start my own thread with pics once I have some assembly done so we can compare notes.