Denali,

Sounds like you're following the normal pattern here; lurk for a while, get the kit, start posting, epoxy your shorts to the hull, find the cat glued to the coaming ring.... Just the usual stuff. Nothing the builders here haven't done before. There will always be somebody here who has done whatever you might be able to come up with and probably worse.

The blog is nice, I'm sure the boat will be as well. You need to know right up front this will not be your last boat. You might think it's the only one you'll build right now but after it's done you'll be lusting for another. And another. I was going to build 2 kayaks. Just finished boat # 10 and am getting ready to start another. This stuff is addictive. I already have plans for the next two boats as well.

So enjoy the build, keep us posted, ask anything you want and have confidence it won't take 1000 years to find you epoxied to the shop floor.

George K

p.s. And welcome to the Forum!

Denali,

Glad to see you join in the festivities!  Don't sweat the lack of woodworking skills, unless you're adding a carved hood ornament or something similar, most of the "wood work" is done with a circular saw, hand plane and sander.  And the tasks are easy, albeit tedious at times.

I'm building my first (Chese 17) and have enjoyed every bit of it (even the shortness of breath before beginning something like glassing the hull... yikes!).  After two and a half months I'm putting the remainder of the deck on this weekend and anticipate glassing that mid week next.  It'll go fast if you let it (just ask my wife).

Enjoy and good luck, looking forward to your pics.

Larry

I too will be a first time boat builder, I will get my dory kit after thanksgiving.  One thing I did do was to order extra epoxy, fillers and fiberglass, so that I can pratice gluing, fiberglassing, sanding, on some pratice boards I have lying around.  This way every time I do something on my boat, it will be the second time, I have tried it, not the first.   I find I always do better the second time around.

It just so happens that the next boat is already in the planning. The plan is for a 2 person next year for our daughter to be able to go with us. We are a boating family with a raft and canoe as well, so the fleet is getting bigger all the time!

 Just put the side pieces together tonight and setup a bench for beveling the panels.   Tomorrow we plan to start the stitching of the hull if all goes smoothly.

Back in the game again.  We purchased a new house over Thanksgiving and that really put a stop to the boat building.  But we updated the build log again at: 

http://web.me.com/chrisromine/The_Romines/Building_a_Boat/Building_a_Boat.html