The 4 p's Which Are The Key To Success
By Chris Oosthuizen #606 "Duck'nDive" (2ar)
Hello Shorty
I trust you had a blessed Christmas. We were blessed with rain that broke the dry spell of two months.
I have completed the boat and I am very satisfied with the outcome. I have had quite a few compliments from friends who could not picture the completed project unill now.
In boat building I learnt the four P's which are key to success
Planning
I have several vehicles in the garage and it was a planning nightmare to move and re-arrange everything to keep every one kind of happy. Leaving cars outside overnight was not an option. The mornings were spent shaping, gluing, screwing hull bottom and bits together. Once done the epoxy or paint was applied and the project stowed so the cars could come back in. Space for storage is still an issue but I will dry sore the boat in the back yard under a tarp
Patience
Waiting for glue, poxy and paint to dry tests the resolve to the limit. I did my best to use this time to fabricate smaller parts, shape the daggerboard and rudder foils and make cleats etc. Finding a reliable source for epoxy in South Africa was a challenge and I had to wait two weeks for a delivery from Cape Town via snail mail The whole project took me three and a half months to complete, working on Saturdays only. I spent excessive time (procrastination?) trying to figure out what type of paint to cover the boat with. It is impossible to compare brand names of South African products versus those available in the US or Oz. Here I setlled on a paint, called "Wall and All" which is a water based latex. It took about three coats to properly seal the epoxy undercoat
Perseverence
The project took up a lot of my time but the one objective of my first boat sustained me despite a destroyed jigsaw and belt sander which were replaced as funds became available. When I got stuck with problems, I could go and mumble on the woodworkers forum and the members rose to the occasion and gave sound advice.
Precision
Measure thrice and cut once is definitely true, but with epoxy, filler and copious amounts of fairing I could fix the 1-2mm mistakes. I trust the pics reflects the final product.
I have a couple of people to thank for their advice, Roy McBride from CKD Boats in Cape Town, Manie from Compax Boats in Centurion, Dries Laas and lastly my daughter Bronwyn for her assistance with the painting.
Lastly thanks to you for a brilliant boating concept which puts affordable sail boating back into public domain