Ken,

Sorry about the loss of pictures - My Picasa files and images were somehow deleted.

Here is a photo that shows the frame, sawhorses, and building table I used to assemble my Peeler. As you can see, the sawhorses are homemade - door hinges in the middle and light duty chain preventing the legs from splaying apart. The table is made from 2 X 4's spliced to about 13ft in length with cross pieces about every 30" and a top made from 1/4 or 3/8 inch material. It was carefully leveled with winding sticks and bubble level until it was nice and flat.

The turning frame is just 2x6's and 1x4s which support the eyebolts and nylon ratchet tiedowns under the boat when ready to turn.

After the boat was turned the table top was removed and the boat rested on horses set under the seats.

As far as routing the conduit you will run into the problem of routing the PVC pipe under the seats and then your exit will still be under the seats - and you will need the cables up higher than the seat tops to attach to the motor. I'm not sure if the open space in the back of the seat (where the gas and electrical lines come up) would give you enough room for a steering cable to operate. I wouldn't drill any holes into the top of the seats to bring a cable up and out due to water entering the seats and messing up your foam flotation. Think this one out carefully before doing it. It may be better to run the pvc pipe along where the seat backs and hull meet atop the seats so that the cable is level with the engine. Now - your electric motor may steer differently than a gas outboard. You might want to post some photos of how it will operate.

Thanks for your helpful tips. Do the steering cables get secured to the boat before the attachment to the motor or isn't that an issue? Minnkota says the Edrive adapts to existing outboard steering so I'm assuming it attaches in the same vicinity as an outboard. How high off the floor was your work table and how wide?  Thanks so much, Ken.

My build table was 42" wide and sat 33" high

I'm not sure about the cable fastening - I believe the steering cable just fastens to the motor - you really need to go to a boat retailer in your area  and see one in person.

Thanks for all of your help. I love your boat turning rig! I'm thinking of putting lockable casters on my work base so I can push the Peeler outside for sanding. Maybe using a vac on the sander like clc does would take care of most of it,, and I wouldn't need the wheels, not sure.

Have a wonderful holiday season. I'm looking forward to seeing a photo of your Peeler when its all finished and I'll keep you updated on my project as well.   Ken.

Hi,  I am starting my Peeler kit this week.  I am curious as to why you need such a large building table.  I was planning on just gluing up my puzzlejoints on the floor, supporting the joints with a nice large scrap piece of 3/4 ply and supporting the ends with same.  then just use horses to support eveything to build.  I dont mind gluing up the joints down low. 

What are the benefits of having such a nice temporary flat building platform?

Thank you!

Bill

Glad to hear of your upcoming project. I won't be building my Peeler until spring. I ordered the building manual and have read it a few times. I've been thinking also of what I will need to build on. I'm 71 and my back just won't handle doing the gluing on the floor so I will use the work base and saw horses after. See what the many other builders on this site say on the subject. Good luck with your build and please share it with us all.

Bill,

Your plan will result in a fine boat. I had two reasons for building the platform/table to assemble my Peeler.

The main reason is that I am of an age where my back positively will not put up with stooping over while working on the panels and boat. Having a waist high table to work from saved me untold back misery.

The second reason is that a long flat level surface prevents me getting a twist into the Peeler hull while stitching her. I can more easily tweek a panel that wants to pull out of symmetry. I can clamp an errant panel to the table top to make sure everything is level before tabbing the hull into its permanent form. I cannot stress enough the use of winding sticks to make sure your hull is perfectly level before applying epoxy - It will make a mighty expensive planter if unusable due to warping set in epoxy and glass.The table also better supported my weight while working inside the hull - filleting, etc.

Geoff Kerr. the builder of the Peeler prototype, seems to have just used sawhorses after gluing up his panels to assemble his hull and didn't have any problems. Careful leveling of the horses should go without saying.

My table cost about $60 to construct (I already had the three matching sawhorses its placed on). I used lag bolts to assemble it so I could take it apart easily to be reused when constructing my next boat.

Good luck with your Peeler. I have really enjoyed the process of building mine. Sanding, painting, varnishing and installing the hardware have taken me very much longer than I expected - probably about half of the total work hours on her.

Hi Robert,

thanks for getting back so soon!  Okay, I think I will build a table tomorrow.  I built a strong back to build a 9 foot wooden Grain Surfboard last year so I know how important it is to start off with a perfectly level platform. 

Question on the winding sticks.  I just used my four foot level and a large T Square to check for twist in the surfboard and also when I built a Koholo stand up paddle board.  Can you elaborate on the winding sticks and their usage?

Thank you so much!

Bill