BBIII Building progress and questions

David Wheeler

David Wheeler

Member
Well, I have been traveling a good bit for work in the last couple of weeks but Dan and I are making some progress. We did get the bottom hull panels stitched up last night and prepared the sides for stitching. I had a couple of questions for BBIII/Scaup builders. There is really now mention in the plans of how/when to cut out the motorwell notch in the Hull. I have looked thru the posts and seen it done both ways. Is it best to cut out the motorwell before stitching up and fillet or after and why? Also, When stitching in the transom. Would you leave it whole, stitch/fillet it and then cut out the cut out for the motor well or brace it up. I saw that Eric P. went ahead and cut his out and braced it but have seen pictures of other BBIII's where the transom was placed in one piece and the cut out was taken after. Any Opinions please? We are having a great time figuring this out. Dan is getting to apply a lot of Geometry and math and I am trying to remember some things I have not used in a while. The plans seem to leave just enough out to keep you on your toes thinking about it. Sorry for the poor picture quality.
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After, positively. I've done it both ways. Things will be more ridgid if you wait and do it later. Do it early and you have to prop things up and worry about alignment.

Eric
 
Cut the well out later once all your sponson pieces are in and finished on the inside. Makes it really fast and simple. You leave the center joint of the hull bottom wired rather than tabbed with epoxy.

I did not stitch in my 3/4 inch thick bulkheads. I used 1.5 inch and 1.25 inch bronze screws. This way you can do full fillets rather than tabs around the wires. You counter sink the heads and leave them in.

Set your tansom at a steeper angle than what is in the plans. 15 to 17 degrees gives more motor tilt adjustment range.

Dave Clark makes an interesting suggestion about not installing a motor well. It will provide a good storage spot for the gas can. It will also make the use of a mud motor easier if you take your new boat into mucky terrain where an outboard can't operate. You can't run a very big mud motor on these boats, and with their hull shape you will get very poor performance from the mud motor. However, if you build with the well, you cannot run any style of mud motor as an option. You will have to build a new rear transom or use Dave McCann's "well plug" concept.

If you go this way make sure you call Dave and have him talk you through the build changes you will need to make. You can always cut the motor well out later, but you have to build for that plan now or you will make a lot of extra work later.
 
David, Another vote for leaving the cut out till the end,it does make it easier placing the transom,all looks great! Keep up the good work! Brian
 
David,
Great to see you have the kids involved. It definitely adds to the memories!

My vote is for the cut out later, too. If you do not want to cut the full rear bulkead out of "good" wood, you can cut out the sponson ends and hold them in line with a jig until the epoxy cures.

-Bill
 
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