SpudFiles

Me and my friend are making a sailboat this summer and I just wondered if any of you guys have made one before. I want it to fit in the back of a pickup and be pretty sturdy. We are planning to make the frame out of 2x4's and then the outside out of plywood. And then fiberglass the outside. I have never fiberglassed before, is it hard? It seemed pretty easy. I'm just worried about making the front of it. We plan on it being a rectangle basically that forms a point in the front and I'm not sure how we are going to make the frame and bend the plywood but I was just wondering if anyone has made one before and has suggestions

i have made like 2 successful model sailboats. u if you want ill PM you and we can discuss designs because all you have to do is scale up the models.

to bend plywood, you have to soak it in water, that takes around 2 weeks or it did for me, or i have heard you can steam it, but i once just put a heap of weight on plywood and it bent itself. if you leave it out in the sun it will also bend but not how you would want it to bend, you could just buy an old sail boat that needs some TLC and rebuild it?

buying a beat-up sail boat isnt a good idea for 2 reasons. 1) most older sail boats (between 50s-07) are usually coated in fiberglass. fiberglass is hard and expensive to fix. 2) if you do buy a decent one and dont get a title then what? if a big northern pike decides to eat your boat then what? thats why you build your own.

i have seen them small sailboats like the ones they put in lakes for sale, that need a bit of work, and it isnt that hard to fiberglass you just have to read up on it, i bought a really beat up surfboard and repaired it as good as new with fiberglassing and i had never used it before! i make skimboards and fiberglass them and it really isnt that hard, go into a marine store and they will tell you exactly how to do it!

us 3/8 plywood you dont have to soak it to bend it. thats what i used on my halfpipe. my advice is keep it simple if you get all technical it will probably leak all over. maby make two pontoons like a catamaran and seal every crevice with fiberglass and maby caulking. use a large canvas tarp for a sail its very heavy duty. when you go out on the water its probably a goo idea to have a few paddles or a trolling motor just incase, man i should make one to ive got a carpenter for a dad so i have the tools... and a carpenter lol

I have been restoring an older sailboat this summer. I was able to get several good ideas by looking at websites of folks who build their own, mostly from plywood. If you want something simple, which fits in the back of a truck, then I've got a link for you...
http://www.pdracer.com/

how is the ol' sail boat comming along anyway? or have you given up/ delayed build time?