A first time builder completes the Annapolis Wherry. The builder has no previous experience in boat building, but has done a significant amount of general carpentry and home improvement in the past. He has high mechanical aptitude and has been fooling around with boats for a long time.
The Annapolis Wherry is a kit boat manufactured by Chesapeake Light Craft.
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The wherry kit is a superbly crafted kit that works. All parts were present and fit well. Only minor adjustments were needed to give the best possible fit and finish. Examples of this would be filing called for in the plans to smooth dados at the bow and filing of the thwarts to achieve the best possible fit and to remove a minor defect that was probably the result of a minor defect in the CNC programming. I have been very impressed with the ease with which this kit was assembled.
The first step was to complete two scarfs in each plank. I live in Alameda California and in February it gets cold in the garage. The buckets are clamping the joints together. I filled the buckets with hot water to encourage curing in this cold environment. The surface temperature of the garage floor was in the high 40's minimal for the MAS slow cure epoxy.
Two days later the epoxy around the joint was firm although the epoxy would still deflect under focussed pressure from hard object.
Next came wiring the planks. The dark metal strip above and slightly right of the drill is a metal strip with a notch filed in the edge. This simple template allowed me to locate each hole exactly 6 inches apart and 1/2" above the edge of the plank. I think that the forces pulling each board into its dado would have been a little better if I had been a liitle farther from the edge of the plank perhaps 5/8"? This might have helped prevent glue from leaking through each joint. More on leaking glue below.
Wiring the planks together was very cool. As each row was wired in you could feel the hull "trying" to take its final form. I was able to completely wire the hull in a short day.
I wish I had twisted the wires a little tighter. I had problems with the resin oozing through the joints. The instructions ask you to use masking tape to stop any leaks through the dado at the bottom edge of each plank but I couldn't get it to stick to wet epoxy.If I had it to do over, I would twist tighter, perhaps till each hole just started to deform. I would also consider taping the joints inside the boat in advance of injecting epoxy into the joint. It was pretty messy and creating extra sanding.
Clamping the Bow. I used bicycle inner tubes to help with preliminary shaping of the hull.
The bar is the top of my saw horse. The boat is upside down. the stern is held in with a fillet of epoxy and wood flour. I had no concept of how strong this joint was. If I had to do it over, I would make it much thinner. I also learned in the literature that came with the epoxy that a good application technique was to use a spoon to shape the fillet. This worked very well.
Here I'm clamping the rubrails. I had about 35 clamps that I got at home Depot for less than $1.00 ea. I used a router with roundover bit to shape the rail.
Glassing the bottom of the boat. I had never worked with fiberglass before and was amazed by the transparency after applying resin.
Fillets hold in the thwarts.
Glassing the bottom and bow of the Wherry. It was easier than I thought it would be, to get a smooth transition from the stem onto each plank.
Sanding is the dominant activity of boat building. I am wearing a 3-M organic vapor respirator. There is a high incidence of sensitivity to epoxy resin and epoxy dust. This is cheap insurance.
The sander is a Milwaukee 1/4 sheet sander which felt more useful inside the boat. On the outside a Porter Cable 5: random orbital was the primary weapon. A Porter Cable profile sander was useful for shaping the epoxy between each plank. A belt sander was used to shape the bow and trim the ends of the planks at the transom.
Three coats of varnish. there are a few sags. but when you step back it looks great. I couldn't decide if it was better with a good brush or foam. The trick is getting exactly the right amount. I still don't have it figured out.
The fully epoxied hull. The white stuff at the edges of the planks is epoxy with microballoons. I had a hard time get a smooth even fill at the edge of the plank. Again partly because of the early leak through problems. As you can see this is not clear and so would be unacceptable for a bright hull.
I used the Interlux high fill primer. I felt that this was beneficial in hiding minor surface defects. After priming I used some marine surfacing putty to fill previously unnoticed pinholes and the like which became obvious against the matte surface of the primer.
Polyurethane going on over sanded primer. The polyurethane was easier than varnish in my book. The trick was roll it, brush it immediately going into the previously painted portion. and then don't ever return. this product seemed to flow very well filling in brush marks. My wife compared it to nail polish. I did about 1-1/2 feet of hull at one time. I got two coats on before I couldn't stand it any more and had to go rowing.
Launch Day.
It floats.
A very easily driven hull. Not much freeboard. Its a little spooky turning in high winds. I was out in 20+ knots flat water. I haven't tried it with both sets of oars yet.
What a great project. Each step was just long enough to hold my interest. By the time I was getting bored, it was onto something else. Each step left a noticeable improvement. I fell in love with the appearance of this boat. It's just as good in real life as it is in photos. And what a pleasure to row, it must absolutely fly with a sliding seat.
Problems I had were related more to inexperience than to kit design. I felt the documentation was great.
Doing it again I would consider.
My finished weight is very close to 70lbs.
Here are some pictures of a boat built by Rick in Greenville N.C. also a trailer using our favorite MAS 90 epoxy .