Building the 9 ft HSP Flycaster  
Design by Warren Messer - Seattle, Washington - USA

Part One

Part 2 - Part 3

Due to the e-mailed interest in the design, and the plan sales of the original 10 foot version of the Hudson Springs Pram; I worked out the details and drew up the plans for it's little brother, the 9 foot HSP FlyCaster. This boat was designed for people looking for a smaller and lighter hull to roll, carry, or drag to their favorite fishing hole or stream.

This will be a solo boat. I am not going to add any drawings of extra bulkheads for more traditional styles of bow, center, and stern seats. This will only have the single pyramid tower in the middle of the boat to accept one of the swiveling/removable seats you can get at your local outdoor store, or at Cabelas® and other sports and fishing gear online retailers. If you would like to add other structures to the interior of the hull; I only ask that you balance the weight distribution of any changes you make between the front and back of the hull before you attach the seat pyramid. You don't want to upset the balance of the boat as it is designed. The plan instructions will explain how to compensate for any changes you may make to the basic design.

One of the things I would suggest, is to download and construct both the 9 and 10 foot version's of the PDF model files. That way you can see the physical difference's in the size of the two boats as they are sitting side by side. The FlyCaster will be several pounds lighter, and fit in the back of smaller pickup trucks due to it's smaller footprint. You will also notice comparing the models, that the FlyCaster still has plenty of waterline surface area to carry a lot of weight and not be a tank to row. I think that it could even be made from 4mm plywood with some fiberglass covered polyurethane foam stiffeners added to the corners, sides, and bottom panel; and lower the weight enough to become a "car topper".

I decided to use sheets of 5x10 plywood again, as I am in a hurry to get as many prototype hulls of my newest designs built as possible. My local supplier, EdenSaw Woods still had a good price on 5x10 sheets just a few dollars more than the 4x10's, and I can always use an extra ten square feet of cheap okume 1088. I've added a couple of photos of my work platform to show you what's turned out to be a good solution to the home builder. The platform can be taken apart and stored between projects; or sold to your friends and neighbors when they see you out in your new boat and are struck by one of the seven sins.

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I had a friend who wanted to learn how to make his own FlyCaster come over and watch/help me with this project. It was good for me to explain what I was doing, and to see if I needed to change anything in, or add more information to my written instructions for constructing the hull. I figured that if I could fully explain the lofting and layout process, the rest of the instructions would be easy to follow. I had already cut a 19" x 10 ft strip from one of the plywood sheets and I explained about what may or may not be the good/bad sides. We decided what side was what; lined them up along the "good" edges and clamped them tight. I also explained about checking the "long" edges for straightness by using a tight cord held around the corners. This plywood pair of edges was ok, but I have had plywood sheets (foreign made) that were not even close. Once we were happy with our materials and edge squareness, we continued on.

So we started the lofting by laying out the one foot "station lines" that are shown in the plans. This is as it seems. Just mark down with a pencil, the station lines you have measured, starting from the stern end of the hull. On a hull with a varnished interior, you will want to keep the pencil marks to a minim, so use a little preplanning and practice with bits of masking tape. You can even do all your lofting on masking tape, if the strips are located and centered on the station line marks. Because this hull has a single panel bottom, you will have to layout the station lines on that plywood sheet as well.

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The first locations to mark from the plans on the side panel pair, were the stern corner points. The plans list only one point to mark, as the top corner starts at the edge of the plywood sheet. The plans call out "down and over" measurements. Down from the "top" (long edge) and "over" from the "left" (stern edge). Once that spot if found and rechecked, a brad nail is driven into the plywood as vertical as possible. Being as vertical as possible, is important later when driving the brads for marking the lines for the curves. Any leaning of the many brad nails can make "marking and fairing the curves" harder to do.

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Once the sheer and chine edge lines have been measured, marked, and the brads driven to mark their locations, its time to break out the lofting batten. Mine is made from a strip of 3/8" Philippine mahogany; left over from ripping out rail material for my first boat. If you rip out the rail material for your boat first, you will have the batten you need for this process.

Be careful that you pre-plan the widths you will rip out and the width of the material you start with. The 1x6x12's that I get from my local supplier can vary in width from 5 ¼" to 5 ½". The other "standard" widths vary between boards in the same stack too. Do some test cuts with your saw and the blade you will use, to determine the kerf (saw cut width) of that setup and the total number of rail strips you can get with each successive pass. Have a friend help you guide the material though the saw if you can. BE CAREFULL!

Now lay the batten along the "chine" row of brad nails. Put the batten on the "top" side of the brads so the batten has to bend "down" at the ends and presses tight against the row of nails. Add a few small spring clamps at various locations along the curve to hold the batten to the nails. How does it look? Add or remove clamps along the length of the batten to see if it lays tight or if it wants to stand away from a few brads. Look again along the full length. Make sure to add a brad nail beyond the "bow end" of the batten to maintain the curve past the end of the boat. This aids in maintaining the "curve of the arc" at the forward end of the lofted line. Take a good look at the curve from both ends and from various points in between. Does it still look good? Does a nail need to be moved a hair? Measure from the edge again to recheck the location of the brad nail. Still looks good?

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Take a pencil (red, blue, green) and lightly mark on the "lower" side of the batten, the curve of the arc. Remove the batten and look at the line. Is it fair? If you are happy after a couple of look sees and adjustments, use a lead pencil and mark in the final arc of the curve. Do this again on the sheerline curve; then use a straight edge to mark the cut lines for the bow and stern ends of the side panels.

One thing you need to remember to do; is to measure the "edge length" of your lofted panel edge. Take your measuring tape and hook it over one of the end nails and run it back on the "outside" of the brads to the other end. Check it a couple of times and mark the length down on the edge of the panel itself. Do this before you pull the nails. After you have lofted up the mating edge on the next panels; measure the "edge length" again to see it they are within ¼" of each other. The side panels are measured and cut together as a matched pair. So if the bottom panels side edges (both should be the same) are a little longer; add that fraction of extra length to the lower bow brad nail. The change in bow angle rake will not be noticed.

We repeated the above steps to layout the bottom panel. The bow and stern panels measurements were lofted onto some of the leftover plywood. They were checked for parallel top and bottom lines and the correct angles for the side cuts. Next it was time to cut out the individual bottom panel, the end panels, and the side panel pairs. I had taken my handsaw in to have the teeth reset and sharpened; and was quite surprised when I made the first stroke. I knew it was different when I got it back and ran my fingers down the side of the teeth and could feel the increase in the "set" of the teeth. But I really knew it was different when the saw made a 4" cut through one half inch of marine plywood with one stroke. WOW! It never took me that long to cut out a boat before, but now I spent more time moving the sheets around on the platform, to keep from cutting it in half, than I did in the actual sawing of the wood. I think I had the whole boat cutout in less than thirty minutes.

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While the side panels were still clamped together, I took my hacksaw and made small cuts at the “station marks” along the sheerline, and deep enough to survive the shaping of the rails. That way I always have an exact reference on both sides of the hull to measure from, when I install any of the interior parts. Such as the oarlock socket mounting blocks.

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I took my big hand rasp and beveled all the the mating edges on the inside of the panels and then marked the stitch wire set back lines, plus the two inch and three inch glass tape edge lines. This was the first time I tried using pencil lines to help align the glass tape as I placed and wetted them out. If you are going to just epoxy and varnish the interior, I would use a "marking scribe" as opposed to a pencil. If you paint the interior, the pencil works fine. Either way, they really help to keep you aware of where the tape edges should go when you place them, and whether or not they shift positions as you wet them out.

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Next was the drilling of the wire tie holes. I only pre-drill around the edges of the bottom panel. I drill the holes for the side and end panels as I fit them. That way I have more control over the side to side movement of the panels as I wire them together.

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With all the panels prepped and ready, it was time to wire up the hull. I started at the stern corner and worked my way forward. I didn't put any ¼" bolts in yet, as I wanted to see how the corners at the bow would match up. They didn't. I knew I had an offset when I measured the edge lengths after I lofted them; but with a prototype hull I didn't know which direction the error would be in. With this hull I had to trim off a bit of the forward edge of the bottom panel to make it fit (creating the gap you see in the photo). I have since changed the plans and added some extra length at the lower bow corner of the two side panels. This will not happen to your boat, and is really not a problem with this one. The EZ-Fillet and glass tape spans the gap and will never be noticed.

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I showed Bob what I was doing with the drilling, wiring, and bolting and let him do the last 80% of the boat as I busied myself getting the epoxy ready for the "jump stitching".

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After the hull was wired up, I checked the hull for bow and stern racking (corner to corner measurement check), and the ends being level with the bottom panel, using the 4ft level. The photos were taken after the fact to show what I mean, but the hull was level and square before I brought out the epoxy.

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Be sure to check the “side to bottom panel angle” on both sides so the boat doesn't have a permanent lean to it. Tie a cord at the top of the wide angle side and to a tie wire on the bottom of the narrow angle side. Tighten the cord until they are equal and check the rest of the hull again for level and square. Maybe a couple of times before you wet the seams and apply the jump stitch.

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I had forgotten to place the epoxy containers in a warmer room and had to live with their lower viscosity. Tough love. I mixed up some straight SilverTip epoxy to coat the cut edges of the wired together plywood panels. You don't want the plywood's end grain to suck out all the juices of the "jump stitch" fillets and starve the joint, and thus weaken it. Make sure you cover the bolt heads with some tape so you don't ruin them.

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I also tried out something new for doing the "jump stitch" on this hull. I had used GelMagic before as a super bonding agent, but I had never used it as my jump stitch material. I had always used bagged EZ-Fillet, and squeezed out a small bead and pressed it into the gap with a popsicle stick. This time I used GelMagic in System Three's new uTAH tube, with the mix in the nozzle tip, for my jump stitch material. I was done with all the jump stitches before I could have finished mixing and bagging up the first batch of EZ-Fillet! And I barely made a dent in the amount of material in the tube! I gave the used tip a fitting burial. So young, so little time. I wished I had already cut out the side bulwarks and the seat pyramid ahead of time, so I could have used that tip on them too. If they can't fine you handsome, at least they can find you thrifty. The uTAH tubes also come standard, with a nifty little two hole tip that fits on the end instead of the extra mixing nozzle. You can squeeze out as little or as much as you want, in a correct 2:1 ratio with that end fitting. Because the holes are separated, they never cure and plug up.

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I could have removed the wires and bolts the next day, but with the lowered temperature in my shop, I waited an extra day to make sure the jump stitches were fully cured.

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Bob came back for the seam filleting step of the construction, and I gave him a demo of the mixing and bagging of the EZ-Fillet. But first we had to mix up and presoak the plywood along the seams and out to the outer widths of the 3" glass tape for a better stick and the "starved joint" thing again. A quick fillet application 101, and I let him have at it with the rest of the hull. I find that people have more capabilities than they think they have, and I enjoy helping them on that discovery. Other than trying to shave with a chainsaw, not too many things are going to jump out and bite you the first time you try them. It's just that first move that's the hardest to make. As a Forester in the rugged Northwest, mine was getting out of the truck and walking into the woods by myself for the first time. (pre-cell phone days)

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After the filleting was done, it was time to lay down the first layer of 2" glass tape. I like to apply the tape after the fillet material has gone a little "green". Firming up, but still sticky. With the 2" tape, I like to make 45 degree cuts on both sides of the tape's end to make a point. The points let the ends of the three tapes blend into the corners and keep from piling up. This is followed by a complete wet out of the 2" tape. While the 2" tape was still wet, I started rolling out the 3" tape. I found it very easy to place the 2 and 3" tape with the guide lines I had made earlier. Everything was neat and tidy. A nice tape end trim in the corners and a full wet out of the 3" tape completed the hull and this portion of the story.

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Thanks again for reading my stories and the comments you make. More photos of the construction of the 9.0 FlyCaster can be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/flycaster I will be adding a lot more photos than are inserted here, so visit the site often as I construct the hull over the next several weeks.

Warren Messer
Red Barn Boats

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