I sympathize with you, my brother! We have all been in your shoes. Years ago I went to a seminar called, "How to build the perfect boat". Here is what I learned. How perfect of a boat should you expect on your first attempt? If it were perfect on your first try, then what does that say to 30+ year master boat builders? Our goal for the first boat should be something that floats and is seaworthy. That is a perfect boat for the first attempt. In other words, I define "perfection" as doing it better than you did last time. Try not to compare yourself to life long craftsmen right out of the gate. There is a lot to learn. I am turning 50 and love building boats, but some days are better than others. What you have done is absolutely astonishing for your first boat! Clearly your current level of amazing carpentry skills have given you a much better head start than I had when I began. Don't give up. When you are fishing the river and enjoying God's creation, those blemishes won't bother you a bit! I hope this does not sound patronizing, but encourages you to persevere! God Bless you my boat building friend.
Thanks for showing the fail.. to be honest, I would have never imagined you actually messing up with anything that you build! Gives hope to us new wood workers when we challenge ourselves in what we "feel" we can build but are too scared to try.
There is no substitute for reality. When I was young I did a number of boats with my Dad. Everything from putting new bottoms on cedar strip launches with fiberglass over top to full fiberglass boats after making the plugs and the molds. One thing I can tell you for sure is that "I never learned anything on a good day". The one thing I have learned over the years is that the essence of learning is trial and error and my hats off to those with the courage to try! I am glad it worked out in the end and I commend you for your ability to bounce back and not accept defeat. You don't see that degree of honesty in many videos and watching you my heart went out to you because I know exactly how it feels sometimes. Really enjoying the journey with you on this project. Cheers John
Hey Chris, believe it or not these kind of bumps in the road are what really inspire us. You’re doing a great job and I can promise you, Utz will not care.
If it’s any solace, your mistakes will greatly help anyone who are lucky enough to come across this build. This is a reason I really appreciate this series you have setup. I’ve thought about this type of a build for a long time, but working out the details is a daunting task. Thanks for the time and effort, and know your helping others greatly by showing your mistakes. Takes a brave dude to jump into something like this with little experience.
After this video you have officially became my favorite woodworker. Most guys don’t show their emotion and how disappointed they are when a mistake is made. True craftsmanship comes from the level of caring that you showed. Keep up the great work.
I don't do instagram. Hope you complete the boat build series on RU-vid. I've been contemplating a boat build for a couple years. You make it look doable. I built a canvas on frame canoe ~50 years ago and "friends" helped fiberglass it. It was so bad I never put it in the water. You've rekindled the fire since I'm retired and have the time. This channel is the most comprehensive I've seen for the DIY homeshop builder. Thanks for sharing. Keep on rolling.
Dude, sorry that you had so much trouble with the epoxy. I don't know what research you did beforehand, but in my experience, raising the temperature of the room and the epoxy contributed to the challenge of getting all of the surfaces of the boat wetted out. It's totally doable in a cool room with slow set epoxy to do a boat of that size, making sure to deal with the drips and runs. I've been there and I know the anxiety and frustration but I'm glad you were able to recover. This is an important project and we need more boat tutorials. Thanks so much for making this accessible.
Viscosity is the fluids resistance to flowing. Low viscosity means it will flow easily. Also man, you're taking on an entire boat! You're crazy awesome, dude. I look up to your woodworking skills. Thank you for being honest and being willing to put yourself out there, then sharing it with the world. I'm learning from you. Thank you.
Dont get yourself down to much brother. You said there's not that much info out there. Well, now there is. You will will learn from your mistakes and you will build a better one next time.
Chris, you are doing awesome brother. And as a fellow woodworker who loves to fish as well, the fish that you will be pulling into that boat will quickly make you forget about and minor mistakes. 👍🏻
Thanks for posting this video. I learned some valuable tips on this process. If you can wedge in some time please consider linking a few of the videos you think worthwhile for fiberglassing. Thank you.
We love that you showed your mistake! Not everything goes to plan but we learn and carry on! This boat is looking amazing, can’t wait to see the final thing 😀
I don't think it's a fail. It doesn't look bad. I think the color will blend with time. You have worked to hard to call it a failure. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and work. I think it very good. God bless my friend.
I am glad that you started out by saying that it was August. When I saw the title I thought that wait...I saw him in the water with this. I confusing RU-vid with Instagram. Looks great even with the mistakes. My martial arts instructor always said that it is not how often you get knocked down but how many times you get up. We have all made mistakes and we learn more from them and success.
Wow dude...so sorry for the issues you're facing but glad to see you pressing forward. Can't wait to see the solution you've come up with and to see you launch her. Rock on Third Coast.
Hey man, i love the project and love to see all the love u put in this boat. Im doing an aprenticeship in germany for boatbuilders and so its even more interresting to see someone do it from scratch. On the fibreglass part tho: the best thing to do a job this big alone, would have been to go in like 3- 4 hits; one hit per side, one for the bottom and maybe one chilled one for the backside of the boat. To manage that you can put your epoxy (without hatdener) in buckets for each hit and do the same with the hardener so you end up with 2 buckets for each hit you are going for. To avoid the "runners" on the sides ypu can cover the sides. From there its just laminating the bottom, if you want u can stop then, but you wpuld need to sand the overlap area later to go on, or u just go with the next hit. To put the epoxy onto your glas, espacily when using a thin, probably 200g köper, use an roller its way easyer to go with and it is much cleaner to work with and when youre done with the epoxy you can go and check for earbubbles in your laminate to avoid osmose. I wish u the best of luk for the future. Greetings from germany Tom
Yep, been there done that. Not a great feeling and hard to stay calm. Yours turned out better though, I had quite a few air bubbles to deal with and ended up with another layer of glass, all because I couldn't keep up, had the wrong rollers, wet upto an edge rather than holding back a few inches etc. Although mine will be painted, so less an issue, but still a hard lesson.
Welcome to the fiberglass fail club, I used to shape surfboards and it took at least 5 ugly glass jobs to get one I was finally proud of! You boat still looks amazing with a paint job on it, chin up!
All is not lost. Wet sanding can help remove those drip marks. You will now have to sand through the outermost two coats to get at the drips, but it can be done. I had a car accident with my canoe and had to fix to redo about 1/2 of one side. But an auto finisher showed me how to wet sand and blend edges. When it was done I could see the repair, but no one else could lol. You are right that mechanical bonds aren’t as strong or as water proof as chemical. On the other hand, you can do the glass in parts, and do all the finish coats as single coats. Spraying is hellaciously messy, but for big jobs it can produce great results. I think your boat is probably on the edge. Still, you got it done! Huge win. I understand the pissed off though, so frustrating to put in all that effort and do the best you can and still get less than ideal results. Love the boat, it is, at this point, a thing of beauty!
Thanks so much bud. I actually came up with a really nice paint scheme to cover the drip areas and leave a lot of nice wood still. I like it better than all wood actually
Thank you for this video. I'm getting close to this crucial fiber glassing step on my build, and it nice to see what I'm up against. I wouldn't feel too bad about the stain since its usually better to paint the hull anyways. In the end structural integrity to weight ratio is what matters. fair winds!
Hi mate. Great Vid and your honest about your screw ups which speaks volumes of the type of man you are. Mistakes are the building blocks of knowledge. The runs on the side have been absorbed by the wood, so nothing you can do about that. Covering the hull by painting the bare wood with resin would have made them less in your face and the wood less obsorbent. Transom would have been the first to do and if you're running a motor off the back a thick transom board needs to be attached and glued directly to the wood of the boat transom. And I know you seen channels that do it in one go but sense has to step in. Having the hull on a rotating set up would save you a lot of work as you could have finished a run completely. EG: right side could have been done with a staggering the matt Top to bottom is exceptable But you must finish the rest of the boat within twenty-four hours or the chemical bond will be weaker So if you are going to do more of the boat it's ok to have a rest after a section. The resin is designed that if you want to complete the project the new mix of resin will embed on a prefinished setion but remove any build-ups like loose fibres. Assuming the hull has resin painted on top that is your start of the project. After 1 days your in sanding for bond territory. Two layers of Omnidirectional (or one depending how you want it woven matt needs a layer Omnidirectional in front and behind for maximum bond) down first then your roving matt and two more omni matt in one go and rotate the boat and then do your skirt each layers applied or what's hanging down loose at the top of your sides. As it is your going to have to cut it off but could have been used saving money. Repeat on half the bottom and the other side and bottom separate. Weldone and keep up the good work and make mistakes.
I've done a lot of polyester work, where we needed to strengthen it with glasfiber. The way to work the glasfiber was to first spread a "thick" layer of polyester, then place the glasfiber over it and use a special glasfiber roller to squeeze the polyester through the glasfiber, in that way you made sure there were no airbubbles under the glasfiber. And as you learned here, you never prepare more then you can handle. Heating the room was a good call, but it also decreases the setting time, giving you even less time to work. All in all it still is a good looking boat.
I know you'll come up with something amazing to remedy your problem, but in all honesty it looks incredible and for a first time doing this, I think you've done amazingly well and bless your wife for helping lol. If this was me it would have looked like a ship wreck. Seriously love your work , I've taken a lot of inspiration from you and waiting for my time to take this full time over here in the UK. So thank you!!
i feel ya, been there! I use to build fiber glass boats earlier in my career, the best way with fiber glass, anyway for this size of build is to spray it with pressure gun and roll it back with dry roll, the only way to keep up with fast and semi fast hardeners, its a trade on its own so dont feel bad if you didnt nail it on the first try!! the space around the boat to work with is also critical as you dont want to step over shit and squeeze around, especially with pressure gun, distance, speed, consistency. Still an amazing result for your first drift boat
Thank you for the video. What little glassing I have don was done in 90F weather and I had the same problems. What I learned was that using a slow hardener in the high heat gives you a little more time for saturating the glass. Once the glasswork is down you can go with a medium hardener or a fast if the weather is cooler. Still a really nice job. Consider the drip a "hamon" like a Japanese blade. It is your personal touch.
We all know you’re a perfectionist, it would be nice to go through life and have everything go perfectly, but unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. You can watch all the videos and read as much as you like on a subject but until you actually try it for yourself you don’t know what is going to happen. We hopefully learn from our mistakes, I’m very much like you and like to do as much as I can myself, sometimes it doesn’t go to plan but after the initial disappointment we go again! Keep up the good work and enjoy your new boat.
Exact same thing happened to my daughter and I when we built our canoe. When we finished that thing I was sure I would never do another. 2 years later I'm over here watching videos because I am convinced I need a jon boat to enhance my hunting. The canoe is awesome, but in an attempt to have one stout enough to carry me, my gear, and hopefully big ass bucks, and make it short enough to fit in my garage, it handles like a pig. Paddles slow and wind blows her around. I want something an electric motor can push me around now. Awesome build though, very impressive.
Dude! I’m pretty new to your channel but , I actually built a 7.5’ plywood row boat over the summer using a lot of the same materials and techniques. I did it all by myself as well. I am so glad for your video because the epoxy STRESSED me out! It was an experience that I cherish, but I had several epoxy moments where everything was going wrong and the epoxy was going off and I called my girlfriend up like “please come over quick I don’t have enough hands!” Anyway, you’re the man, and if you’re anything like me, being on the water makes it all worth it and I can’t see my epoxy runs and fiberglass ripples when I’m sitting inside it!
Here's how good your content is... I'm not even a real wood worker... I mean... I've repurposed pallets into stuff here and there but nowhere near your mastery. Anyway. I'm not a wood worker but still hooked on your channel. So well shot, lit and edited. Music choices are very enjoyable and fitting to the vibe. Well done, man. You deserve great success and prosperity. Keep going.
I can tell you a blind man would be happy to see that at 50 mph, Lol! It still looks great & you should be very proud at the build. The fishing memories is what will count.
Its like Bob says, happy accidents. So glad you are sharing this Chris. Keep up the awesome work. I am ordering my materials this weekend to get started on a boatbuildercentral GF16 jon boat. (thanks for the promo code)
I am currently building a drift boat using Coosa board 40% lighter than marine plywood and stronger then laminating kevlar fabric on the bottom and carbon fiber on the sides.
Looks good. Done a few big boats by my lonesome. Penetrating epoxy first, let dry, and do the extra sand and clean work. It’s epoxy, don’t overthink it, it’ll all adhere just fine. Further, your far less likely to use too much resin during cloth work and you’ll avoid drips and floating. Break cloth job into 5 parts-starboard and port side of bottom, starboard and port sides, then transom. Never mix more than 24 oz at a time. Weigh the epoxy before hand in gallon cups, add hardener on the scale. Have electric drill mixer ready for mixing. Use foam roller. Remember 6oz of epoxy should be enough for 6 oz cloth or 1 sq yd of cloth (never really is, but closer the better), hence you have enough mixed for a good 8-12 ft of any one of the 5 sections. Takes 3 minutes to mix up a new batch and nothing on a section ever gets a chance to dry. Start at stern in each section, roll on 2’ across whole section, finish the 2’ and then move forward. You’ll find the time to address issues and don’t worry about overlaps being a bit ugly-grinder fixes that later. Please wear a mask with epoxy, stuff will hurt your lungs.
Sometimes our quest for perfection elevates our work and sometimes it just gets in the way. If it was mine I'd paint the sides and leave some wood for trim.
Thanks for sharing your boat build. Am learning from your mistakes as you mentioned. I have a question. When you applied the resin to the fiberglass cloth, did air pockets form under the cloth due to outgassing from the wood? Have read that outgassing can occur due to rising temperature. Did you fiberglass during the evening to prevent outgassing from the wood? Thanks.
I'm sorry you went through the frustration of the epoxy running, but agree with your statement about the boat looking even better with your solution (seen on Instagram). I love it! Keep up the amazing craftsmanship and videos.
hey i used to work for a refinishing company and they would stain, clear coat, and the spray a light coat of stain again to make everything uniform. not sure if you are wanting to stain it but it could cover up the color inconsistencies.
Dude! I felt so bad watching your reaction...You looked so defeated. What’s the saying, “Turn a lemon into lemonade?” Regardless, the boat build has been phenomenal! Thank you for the great content and looking forward to seeing the adjustments in the next video.
Aaaa it's not all bad buddy, still a really good looking project! We're all human and learn from our mistakes and near all great inventions had to start with a fail or issue! keep up the great work still loving the videos your posting can't wait to see it floating!
Yep, as soon as the part with bringing on the fiberglass comes into it and using epoxy its typical a job for 3 persons to are able to keep up and prevent these issues. But great respect the way you tried to do this on your own. I mean one doesn't kmow everything upfront.
Boat builders don't stop building after 1 boat. There are lessons learned after everyone that follows. It would be a boring life if there was noting left to learn. Hope you will build many more.
Thanks for the videos! You helped me understand a lot on my boat plans I have the plans for the Spiral 19' Albion and the Yukon Drift boat. I think I'm going to attempt the Albion first and hopefully be able to pick your brain a time or two, I'm here in Saginaw, MI
To be honest it actually is reassuring to see that other people make mistakes. I built an Othello board that I loved the construction of, then the epoxy ended up being a complete mess and ruining the project. But I learned my lesson and was able to make the right adjustments in the future. Thanks for sharing! Side note: are you still posting content on your Patreon page?
It's your first boat build. Cant beat yourself up for messing up. This was just a learning curve. No ones perfect. We need to mess up once in a while to get things right. If you ever do this again I'm sure you'll figure out better ways to do things. Great job thought. Still came out pretty nice!!👍
Slow hardener at minimum temp probably would have given you enough time, idk if you have AC in your shop or sometimes watching the weather and doing it at night can do the trick
I'm Fernando from Chile. I built my McKenzie drift boat and I had problems while fiberglassing as well :-(. On the other hand, I also felt terrible when that happened to me. Anyway, I'm sure that you will forget this the first time you put your boat in the river. Enjoy the fishing !
Your choice to achieve a chemical bond is a far superior option to the mechanical bond and achieving a chemical bond is not only structurally superior but far faster. To achieve a sanded mechanical bond you have to let it dry, wash off the amine blush then sand (possible errors, not removing all the blush, sanding into fibers, wet wood from amine wash). Good job. It is a boat that will be used and you’re the only one who will see the errors. If you make structural errors that is a problem.
Damn dude, I feel for you on this. I watched a video by a channel called tech ingredients, they have a good video on epoxy and fiberglass and tricks to getting that good good application.
Keep your head up! It’s a beautiful build, and I’ve loved this boat series. I got into woodworking because of you, and I can’t wait to see the finished product!
Thanks for sharing the good and the bad. Cant wait to see what you did to fix it. Cause it's too far along to throw in the towel, lol. See you in the next one. 👍
Low viscosity. Also be aware that temperature often changes reaction times for things like two part epoxy. Higher temperature means it sets faster. Or rather, temperature always affects reaction speed but the effect may not be noticeable depending on what you are working with.
Hi Chris, I will be attempting to fiberglass my 12 foot boat, and with hundreds of dollars of material and the time I spent on my boat at risk, I am researching the proper technique. The plan I am following calls for doing two layers at a time. in your opinion, what would be the one thing I must be careful about while doing two layers in one go ? Please feel free to provide any more pointers that can help me do this correctly the first time. Thanks -
Yes! Finally! Love your content, man. Amazing project. Keep it up. Also, new woodworker here. Very new. Do you recommend learning with hand tools or more on the power tools side?
You can sand those areas back to bare wood and scarf in some more glass just make sure your scarf joints and 50/50 thickness and no one will be able to tell the difference
I work on fiberglass boats and use polyresin, so im not sure I steps are different, when working with wood, I roll on resin onto the bare wood because wood will soak it up then while it's still wet put fiberglass over more resin on top then use a fin roller to roll the air out, if you don't the wood can draw the resin out of the glass creating voids. I feel you that feeling of not being able to keep up with resin is terrible.
I'll never build a boat but, man did I feel your pain! All those hours to get where you were and have that happen. I've experienced that on a much smaller scale and have had to basically hit the lights and walk out! I'll be watching for the result. Take care.
Hey Chris, I'm glad that you didn't beat yourself up to badly as you are doing a tremendous job on that boat build. It's a learning experience just like anything else. Keep up the great work. Where's UTZ?? 👍👍
How long is this boat, I ask because i don't see any joins in the hull plates. Good tip on the slit in the cup, i've built a kayak and I'm building a 14 foot dinghy and I'm only at stage of the hull being put together, like you are in this clip
