Building a fiberglass boat- maybe.

[jladdsmith]

I'm thinking about making a boat out of lightweight composites for small creek/river fishing.

I'll be using an existing boat hull as the plug, altering it, and hopefully making a nice lightweight 'copy'. 

This is for personal use only- a one off, not for resale, and I will contact the owner of the design prior to the build for permission.  Worst case is I have to pay a small royalty for using the design. 

Has anyone on the board ever built an all glass or composite boat?  Or anyone just have a lot of experience with fiberglass?  I'm reading up all I can, but a build buddy with experience would be priceless.

Thanks!

-Jonathan

[Travis C.]

I have done patch work hear and there plus a couple custom decks for the front of my river boats in the past. Never tried a whole boat.  

Personally, I think would be like the wooden boat kits too much work to save money but will be a real sense of accomplishment once it hits the water.

Fiberglass is something I try to stay away from these days like the plague. Spent too much time over the years pulling it out of my fingers, hands and arms.

If my granddad were still around he'd be in your garage tomorrow ready to start. He was a boat designer and builder with Bomber for years. That man loved to play with fiberglass.....I believe he liked smelling the resin a little too much. 
 
You should post your build on here as you go through your different stages. It would be fun to look at.

[David L. Darnell]

I've been wanting to do it for years, I was going to build a wooden mold, build boat off it, but I came across a Gheenoe priced right, cut the front two seats out of it, got put on 8:30pm to 7am shift for a month, now am waiting for this super hot weather to go away and my little one to start school and I'll be a tad ahead of you.