JRTA Guam questions answered
Your JRTA GUAM was one of the inspirations for my River Rat mockup (see photo
section). A few questions if you would be so kind:
Am I correct that you used glue & screw construction, or was there epoxy
involved?
------ it is all glue and screw, mostly PL Premium, but some epoxy. Stainless square drive screws, no pilot holes, just Screw till deep enough to fill the top of the screw hole.
What type and thickness of plywood did you use for the sides and bottom?
------- ACX totally. Bottom is 5/8. And sides 3/8. My local lumber yard used to get this great ACX from Chili ( I think) that had no voids then 2 years ago the mill burned down and the stuff they get now ain't tht great. The head and old roof was 1/4'. All bulkheads were 3/8. Posts and framing were Home Depot 2x3 s. Chine's and gunnels and skeg were from 1 2x12 Doug fir 24' long. External chine rails are easy and work great.
Any fiberglass/epoxy coating on the hull?
------- payson joint for sides, then coated with 2 oz cloth and epoxy in the flat position before assembly. The 2 oz is great and has held up to all the abuse my kids and teenage friends can dish out. Bottom was payson joint and 6 oz cloth with epoxy., built piece by piece, in place while boat was upside down. Cloth and epoxy on outside only.
Seems you trimmed away the rear enclosure (head?) at some point, can you explain
why?
------ started with enclosed head and ply roof, then I decide I wanted a collapsable roof for trailering. Sawed off the old structure and spent an entire winter and about 3 different version of 'easy' up/down roof. I failed with each version of easily raised roof I tried so I made a mostly cloth top that has the posts bolted on so If I have to trailer a long way I can pull the posts and undo roof in about and hour. Same to raise. I trailer boat an hour of more one way with roof up at 60 mph and have no issues. Would only lower it if I was going hundreds and hundreds of miles.
The roof seems transparent in some of the photos. Can you describe it's
construction?
------- Roof is cheap 2x3 posts, with 2 layers of 3/8 ply strips laminated to make a curved 1x4 . I like to weld so I welded up an aluminum frame work for the roof. Put 1/8 in ply on top of that with zip ties and over that is a recycled McDonalds vinyl billboard, white side out. Sewed a blue sunbrella valance and sheet metal screwed the 2 fabrics to the Al frame. Al frame is zip tied to the laminated ply strips. Later I made side curtains from the vinyl billboard . You can see them tied up in the most recent photos.
Hope that helps, glad to ehlp more if needed.
John
section). A few questions if you would be so kind:
Am I correct that you used glue & screw construction, or was there epoxy
involved?
------ it is all glue and screw, mostly PL Premium, but some epoxy. Stainless square drive screws, no pilot holes, just Screw till deep enough to fill the top of the screw hole.
What type and thickness of plywood did you use for the sides and bottom?
------- ACX totally. Bottom is 5/8. And sides 3/8. My local lumber yard used to get this great ACX from Chili ( I think) that had no voids then 2 years ago the mill burned down and the stuff they get now ain't tht great. The head and old roof was 1/4'. All bulkheads were 3/8. Posts and framing were Home Depot 2x3 s. Chine's and gunnels and skeg were from 1 2x12 Doug fir 24' long. External chine rails are easy and work great.
Any fiberglass/epoxy coating on the hull?
------- payson joint for sides, then coated with 2 oz cloth and epoxy in the flat position before assembly. The 2 oz is great and has held up to all the abuse my kids and teenage friends can dish out. Bottom was payson joint and 6 oz cloth with epoxy., built piece by piece, in place while boat was upside down. Cloth and epoxy on outside only.
Seems you trimmed away the rear enclosure (head?) at some point, can you explain
why?
------ started with enclosed head and ply roof, then I decide I wanted a collapsable roof for trailering. Sawed off the old structure and spent an entire winter and about 3 different version of 'easy' up/down roof. I failed with each version of easily raised roof I tried so I made a mostly cloth top that has the posts bolted on so If I have to trailer a long way I can pull the posts and undo roof in about and hour. Same to raise. I trailer boat an hour of more one way with roof up at 60 mph and have no issues. Would only lower it if I was going hundreds and hundreds of miles.
The roof seems transparent in some of the photos. Can you describe it's
construction?
------- Roof is cheap 2x3 posts, with 2 layers of 3/8 ply strips laminated to make a curved 1x4 . I like to weld so I welded up an aluminum frame work for the roof. Put 1/8 in ply on top of that with zip ties and over that is a recycled McDonalds vinyl billboard, white side out. Sewed a blue sunbrella valance and sheet metal screwed the 2 fabrics to the Al frame. Al frame is zip tied to the laminated ply strips. Later I made side curtains from the vinyl billboard . You can see them tied up in the most recent photos.
Hope that helps, glad to ehlp more if needed.
John