Jolla, first boat, a learning experience. This is what I do when I'm not working on the business.  Email me with comments or suggestions.  This boat was designed by Pekka in Finland who says: "To put things straight, the design is the result of leisure 3-D-thinking and finally the need to get a decent dinghy to replace my brother's old plastic horror-thing." Jolla is the Finnish word for a dinghy. I chose the Jolla because it was one of the most stable high load small boats included with Gregg Carlson's design software, at least according to the software. The boat is quite a bit heavier than I would have liked, but I blame myself and not the design.  

Lessons learned:  
1) Pre-wetting the fiberglass wastes quite a bit, wet the surface, put the glass on, then wet the glass out.  
2) Wasted epoxy runs down into the bottom of the boat, and adds weight.  
3) Foam roller disintegrates in epoxy, and puts on to thin of a coat, use a brush instead.  
4) ½ inch BC interior pine and ¾ inch cabinet grade oak veneer are not substitutes exterior grade plywood. They add weight, and have to be epoxy coated to be kept dry.  
5) Use tongue depressors to make epoxy fillets. Large radius fillets waste epoxy and add weight  

Layout for cuts. I put two sheets of lauan together and cut both sides at the same time. Note the "batten" (1/4 x 3/4 pine strip), held down and curved with drywall screws in the lauan. The dimensions are just a tad off, the layout is in tenths of an inch and I used eighths instead because I didn't have a tape with tenths on it. After all the cutting was done, of course, I discovered "handplot.txt" which is in eighths...

 

Sewing plywood. Comment from helper: "I've never seen a boat with so many holes in it..."

Blending sifted sawdust for filler.

After stitching hull together. Helper has since joined the Navy to work on bigger boats...

Inserting bulkheads. I had to cut a couple of them to fit. I've since learned that in Hulls I can tell it exactly where I want frames and it will give me a layout.

Jolla on it's "trailer". Note longitudinal thwart (board down the center). This is a really, really, neat idea I stole from other designers. It allows you to trim the boat, keeps passengers in the center, and lets you store things under it.

 

 

 

 

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