GA 28 built by Kachemak Skiffs Wasilla, AK

[Dan Boccia]

In late November, after considerable research and examining my desires, I decided on building a GA 28 Newport. Lacking shop space and not wanting to sink money into renting space in Anchorage and spending a year or so building the boat, plus having just sold a vacant property and thus having enough funds to cover the labor, I decided to have Anthony Lyndacker of Kachemak Skiffs build the boat. In early December, Anthony and I bantered back and forth about materials. On Dec 9 he ordered materials and they were in his shop on the 19th, when he began building the scarf jig for this build. So start of the build is officially December 19. He took a 2-week break over the holidays. Today it's February 1 and he basically has the entire hull built.

My goal for this build is to go as light as possible - I'm very comfortable with the strength of the design and see no need to overbuild. In addition, since Anthony has built and repaired a bunch of Tolmans, he will be better able than many to minimize materials while still keeping the build plenty strong. Here is the status today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frjP4kgaYQI&feature=youtu.be

[Brian.Dixon]

Great overview by Anthony of Kachemak Skiffs!  In case you don't know, Anthony Lyndaker will put together a kit for you OR will build the boat for you, working with you to finish the boat to whatever level you prefer, e.g. just build the hull, or hull and decks, or go all the way and build the cabin/cuddy and finish it up for you.  Love the video... !!

Brian

[Dan Boccia]

Anthony has faired and sanded the bare hull twice. Note the minimal fairing compound, testament to careful and skillful carpentry, and key to keeping weight down. Next step is to glass the hull.

[Brian.Dixon]

Looking Sweet!  What kind of wood is he using?  Looks like good smooth wood ... that helps a lot with the fairing too, plus of course, Anthony knows how to fast and good work at the same time.  It's going to be a nice boat

Brian

[Dan Boccia]

I decided on okoume for its light weight, which is a primary design criteria for this build. Any argument about strength seems far less important as most of the strength comes from the shape and the glass and the design details, all of which I'm very comfortable with. I'm looking forward to weighing this boat when it's fully outfitted!

[Brian.Dixon]

I decided on okoume for its light weight, which is a primary design criteria for this build. Any argument about strength seems far less important as most of the strength comes from the shape and the glass and the design details, all of which I'm very comfortable with. I'm looking forward to weighing this boat when it's fully outfitted!

Yes, I love Okoume!  It makes finishing easy too since it is so smooth - the extra cost, compared to fir, is worth in when you consider the time savings in maintenance and the value of a nice looking boat.

As for those curves that Anthony mentions, they were originally drawn on paper with ships curves - Ships curves were developed over time as being curves that work well with water:

  https://www.amazon.com/Westcott-Ship-Curve-Set-SC-66/dp/B000HEOHVC?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B000HEOHVC


Just a little trivia I guess...

Brian

[Dan Boccia]

Entire outside of hull is now glassed, sides have been faired/sanded twice, bottom faired once. One layer of Kevlar installed on transom engine mount area for extra toughness. Just saw the boat in person for the first time today (have been out of town since the build started) and found out this is Anthony's 17th boat build! Of interest he mixes all his epoxy by hand having found the big metering pumps too fussy to keep clean, spreads his epoxy with the small yellow squeegees for the most part, and obviously he has a system and moves steadily. 

[Brian.Dixon]

I gave up on pumps too.  What I do instead is the 'cup in a cup' method:

- Drop one (typ. SOLO brand) plastic cup into another, and look through the side of the cups, eyeballing how much hardener you want inside the inside cup - make a Sharpie line at that level and put an 'H' (hardener) next to it.

- Pour water into the inside cup - carefully to the line that you made.  Dump this water into another plastic cup.  Do this again so that the other plastic cup has twice the water in it than the 'hardener' cup.

- Put a new plastic up inside the marked up, fill to the 'H' mark, then pour the contents of the other cup (the one with a double charge of water in it) into it ... Now make a mark at the water level and label it 'H+R' (1 measure of hardener, 2 measures of resin).

To mix a batch of epoxy, drop a clean cup into the marked cup, pour hardener into it up to the 'H' line, then add resin until it's full to the 'H+R' line.  You now have a 2:1 resin/hardener ratio in your clean cup.  Stir it up and use it.  The marked cup is ready for another batch ... never mucked up with epoxy and ready to be re-used.  I actually built a little stand for my bench top so that the cups would be pretty close to eye-level as I poured hardener/resin into the clean (inner) cup.

The above is NOT my invention or trick ... but I don't remember where I first saw it either

Brian

[Cannon]

I use a method relayed to me by Oyster on the Fishy Fish forum. He does a lot of boat work and as such has some pretty good tips when it comes to epoxy.
I use the large yogurt containers and initially, I mark one them on the outside with a black felt pen. I fill first with water using a measuring cup to the two part level and mark. The amount of epoxy you feel comfortable using determines how much of each, the faster I got at applying it, the larger the mix. Then I add the one part level and mark by adding the appropriate amount of water. Once this is done, I cut a bunch of lath into six or eight in pieces. I have lots of hardwood scrap that I used for this purpose, cut about an eighth of an inch thick and about 3/4 wide. I stick one into the cup less the water and make a mark at both levels using a black felt pen.
Next I use the initial measure stick and a tri-square to transfer that mark onto five or six other measure sticks at a time. I make up around twenty or more at a time.
I use laundry detergent jugs for both my resin and for my hardener marked appropriately. Place one of the measure sticks in the yogurt container, dump in the resin to the first mark, then dump in the hardener to the second mark on the measure stick. Fast, efficient and accurate. If you wipe of the measure stick in between uses, you can use them over and over again.
The yogurt containers work great, and you can use them over and over until they finally crack. By slightly crushing the container the next day, you dislodge the set up epoxy and can easily pull it from the container.

[Brian.Dixon]

I like the measuring sticks solution - It lets you re-use any container you want, even if it is not clear.  Thanks Kent....

Brian

[Dan Boccia]

Anthony finished the hull and got the graphite with barrier coat on the bottom late last week. We flipped Saturday, then took measurements for fuel tanks and bulkhead layout, and other details for the floor system. There's a little more room that I realized so along with the aft cuddy bulkhead at 118", we stretched the aft cabin bulkhead to 226" for a full 9-ft cabin, still leaving about 7 1/2-ft of open deck between the cabin and drywell. The extra space in the cabin will be welcome plenty of times I'm sure. I like that there is a bit less dory flair than in a Tolman, so there's quite a bit more floor width on the back deck to work with. We're planning on 14" gunwales with storage lockers for skis and other long gear along the sides. Anthony is building a 24-ft jumbo right next to mine so it's fun to compare.

With final measurements, I drew up the two fuel tanks and it looks like I'll have about 115 gallons nominal, so I figure I'll get around 95-100 gallons of useful fuel storage, good enough for a 300-350 mile range...perfect for Seward to Homer with plenty of poking around on the way. We're going to build a large part of the cuddy, cabin, and cabinets with foam-core and we're sticking pretty close to Brian's glass schedule without feeling any need to overbuild, so this should be a relatively light boat, which is a primary goal. I want to be able to pull it with my 4.7L V8 2004 4Runner, and I want the best fuel efficiency I can get on the water. Lots of talk about how fast the boat will go, but my primary interest is how fuel efficient it will be going around 25 knots plus or minus a bit.

We're planning to raise the back deck 3" above the top of the stringers, leaving just enough room for scupper tubes out the back. I have seen a few recommendations to raise the floor 4", but this means the scupper tubes will really bit into the transom/engine mount support which we don't like. I'm also curious what diameter people are using for scuppers? Anthony was recommending 1" but seems to me like they should be 2". He likes to plug them most of the time, I'm tempted to keep them open. Suggestions?

[Brian.Dixon]

Looks awesome!  The graphite really went on well!  Did you have an "OMG!" moment when you saw how big the boat was when it was upright?

Scuppers:  1" too small ... I prefer 3" test-plugs (pipe testing), but use the biggest that'll fit and is 3-1/2" diameter or smaller.   Maybe I'll crack open the CAD model and see what I think will fit.... we'll see.

Brian

[Dan Boccia]

I just realized that Anthony still has to install the lower motor mount LVL, the double 3/4 plywood stiffener below that, and the upper 3/4" plywood stiffeners. With all this in place, if we raise the deck 3", it's not that big of a deal if, say, a 3" scupper tube hole bites into the upper LVL motor mount, is it?

To that end, any feedback from others who have built to 28-ft on whether they would/would not raise the back deck and if so how much? I know Dave in Homer raised his 2 1/2" on his 26-ft, and wishes he had raised it 4" because with 2 guys in one corner on a fish water comes in the scuppers. I figured I'd raise mine 3" and the fact that my build is a bit longer and I only weigh 175, it will probably be good.

Love to hear from any others reading along......

[Brian.Dixon]

I just realized that Anthony still has to install the lower motor mount LVL, the double 3/4 plywood stiffener below that, and the upper 3/4" plywood stiffeners. With all this in place, if we raise the deck 3", it's not that big of a deal if, say, a 3" scupper tube hole bites into the upper LVL motor mount, is it?

To that end, any feedback from others who have built to 28-ft on whether they would/would not raise the back deck and if so how much? I know Dave in Homer raised his 2 1/2" on his 26-ft, and wishes he had raised it 4" because with 2 guys in one corner on a fish water comes in the scuppers. I figured I'd raise mine 3" and the fact that my build is a bit longer and I only weigh 175, it will probably be good.

Love to hear from any others reading along......

If you look at Sheet 021a (Drywell), you'll see that there is room for raising your deck as high as you want and still have 3" scuppers.  Get those pipe plugs and make some fiberglass tubes for them before you go too far here.  Personally, I think a 4" lift on those decks is a little high since it reduces the interior freeboard a bit much ... I think dropping it to around 24" (I have to double check that.)  I might go for a 3" raising of the deck, then put in 3" scuppers with custom fiberglass tubing (that you make) cut to fit the transom.  As for biting into the upper LVL - no worries.  The scuppers should be installed in the outer corners near the sides of the boat, and nearly flush with the top of the decking.  At that point, the scupper holes will have NO impact on transom strength .... no problem. 

My feelings on the "water on the deck when 2 guys...." is so?  Boats in this size range cannot have decks high enough to prevent water trying to come back into the scuppers.  The reason for scuppers is to let water out fast when you've taken on water (big wave + too many people in the stern).  As for the water getting back in goes, I would suggest just accepting that as-is and do what Anthony says - leave the plugs in until you need them.  Water collecting in the back of the boat from fishing and rain?  Pull the plugs when underway and put them back when you stop at the next fishing hole.  OR ... use scupper stoppers that mount outside the boat that use flappers or a ball-type check valve gizmo ... these are not perfect, but they do help.  Ideally, you'd have scuppers 10 to 12 inches above the waterline, but these boats just aren't big enough to allow that ... If you're not wet, you're not boating! 

Just my 2-bits....

Brian

[Dan Boccia]

Perfect Brian, thanks. I'm on board with all of what you said. Anthony and I got the transom, deck, and scuppers ironed out on the phone earlier today so he's off and running working on glassing the stringers and all the rest of the bilge work while I'm working with a local fab shop on the fuel tanks.