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Guest Post - Folding Companionway Closure
Submitted by bob on Wed, 2010-05-12 20:10In what I hope is a continuing trend, I would like to bring you a guest post from Windborne in Puget Sound. Some great work and good details of a project many of us have or will need to tackle at some point. read more »
Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat
Submitted by cac on Thu, 2009-02-05 10:28This is a home build after my own heart... non-traditional materials, a non-traditional design, and electric to boot.
He's using plastic soda bottles to fill the hull spaces. Let's you not worry about sealing the pontoons, just let the bottles do the flotation.
Electric power from MinnKota trolling motors, and even a carved dragon's head that turns with the helm.
Click on the window below and you can look through the steps, etc.
Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat - More DIY How To Projects read more »
Vinyl Seats
Submitted by cac on Mon, 2011-07-04 22:31If you have a boat, you often have vinyl seats. If you have vinyl seats, you probably will be repairing or replacing them at some point. Seats and any exterior feature on a boat lives a very hard life. read more »
One Sheet Boat
Submitted by cac on Sun, 2011-03-27 22:08Another pass as a one-sheet boat (a boat built from one standard 4x8' piece of plywood. Nice looking little boat.
Is the Planking Attached to the Frames?
Submitted by cac on Wed, 2011-02-16 22:44Glen-L always has some interesting info. This article directly addresses a question that seems to come up a lot, but is hard to find a straight answer to.
Shrinkwrap your boat - yourself
Submitted by cac on Sat, 2010-10-30 21:20I commonly see boats (new and otherwise) being transported and stored with the white shrinkwrap on them. Given I have spent time fighting tarps and the like covering mine, I have wished I could wrap mine.
Oars from 2x4's
Submitted by cac on Sun, 2010-08-08 20:52
Some nice tips if you need to whip out a quick set of oars from standard lumber.
Sailboat in a Closet
Submitted by cac on Sun, 2010-04-18 09:56This is a nicely designed, break down/nesting sailboat. The man lives in a small apartment and had to have something he could store.
I especially appreciated a couple of points in his story: 1) It doesn't look great in places - forgive yourself for it, and 2) He had a serious medical issue during construction that served as a wake-up call to "get out there and use it".
Make Life Better with a Sailboat-in-a-Closet - More DIY How To Projects read more »
Home Made Marine LED Lighting fixtures
Submitted by cac on Tue, 2007-05-01 22:40The entire use of LED lighting is something I've had on my plate to cover more in depth on these pages... good light output, low power draw, long life, vibration resistance, low heat production, easy to run from DC... all good things on a boat. The only other real competition in power draw are compact fluorescents and they require more space and AC power (at least all I'm aware of).
Anyway, the ladies over at The Big Sailboat Project have created their own affordable design for LED lighting onboard. Check out this link for details. They are using LED's sourced from HB Electronic Components from China which they had apparently good luck with and got a great price. Might be worth checking out if you are shopping for those types of components.
Note that they have recently changed the domain name of their main page... I've updated the links from this site, but if you have it in your bookmarks, you might want to double check.
