Previous Page -- INDEX -- Next Page

Mini Vee Race Boat Plans
Page Twelve
Drain Hole, Trim

Drain Hole

At the base of the transom, you will want a drain hole and plug. There are different ways to do this. Here's one.

For a 5/8" plug, I first drilled a 7/8" hole, which I then filled solid with thickened epoxy. Then I drilled a 5/8" hole through this, as close to the center as I could. There you go, a neat hole with all the surrounding wood sealed and protected. If you use a larger plug, drill the intitial hole at least 1/4" oversize.

Trim

Trim the edges of the boat with a hand plane, power plane, or belt sander.

Make the gunwale 1/2" thick and wide enough to cover the edges of the bottom and deck plywood. You can round it off before or after installation.

A hardwood like oak gives the best protection. A softwood like pine can also be used, but protection from bumps and abrasions will be far less. I used yellow-poplar, which is a relatively soft hardwood.

To install, you could simply drive screws every six or eight inches. What I did was screw it in at the transom end, then bend it around and put screws only in those places where it did not want to come up tight against the hull.

If you have installed your sheer clamps over-lapping fashion (see Page 4 of these notes) then you will want to install the trim the same way.

Otherwise, you will need to install a nose piece as described below.

Nose Piece

Again, I used yellow-poplar for this job, which involves a bit of carving. Pine will also work, and will be easier to carve, but will also be more vulneralbe to damage. A wide and very sharp chisel will be a very useful tool here. Planes, perhaps a power plane, and maybe even a belt sander could also be used. (In the pictures, the boat is once again upside down.)

Step one: glue on the block. The block must be wide enough and thick enough to cover the blunt end of the boat. Make it about 3" long. Note that the grain is running fore and aft. I used one long screw which was removed once the epoxy had cured.

Step two: draw the shape. Draw two lines which represent extensions of the gunwale. Then join them with a curve traced around a jar lid, paint can, large washer, or other precision drafting tool.

Step three: saw out the curve.

Step four: carve it to match the angles of the plywood.

The finished bow, with the boat right side up again.

The coaming trim serves to straighten and strenthen the edge of the coaming, and is not vulneralbe to bumps and scuffs like the gunwale. I used pine here. A bunch of clamps are all that is needed to glue it on.

Previous Page -- INDEX -- Next Page