Three years ago I bought first boat plans and build a 15ft skiff. I was looking to build this boat in my back yard / garage. This is the kind of leisure which many men have or should have for themselves and which gives much satisfaction. It's great to say "look at this, I built it myself, isn't it wonderful?” This is a creative attitude.

After building the first one with plywood, my next one was to be made from other material such as FRP (fibreglass reinforced polyester) for  boat building with FRP are better known to be sound stronger and safer than when you say "this boat is made from plywood". The next boat I built was from FRP in a mold I build from the 15ft skiff plans just the same way as before be this time I built the plug from plywood planked on frames, the topsides are lapestrakes glued with epoxy glue. The model was faired with polyester putty and coated with acrylic primer sprayed on in layers. The primer was sanded with 180 and 360 sandpaper and then with 600 and 1000 finally. Once the plug was ready, the mold lamination could start. The master model was waxed and then a release agent applied to help demoulding. I used a gel coat for molds pigmented in red, a first layer of 225g/sq.m of mat and another 4 layers of 450g/sq.m until I reach the thickness of almost 6 mm. When the mold has been demoulded from the plug you I waited two weeks for complete cure of the FRP. I didn't, and my first boat has light red stains from the mold gel coat....

When the first 15 ft skiff came from the mold I had a huge satisfaction to see the surfaces I designed. You can imagine that I lost my patience waiting to see it on the water. And I still had to work on the seats and sheer which must be joined together in a superstructure mold. It's a great feeling to see your work, working. It planes very easily thanks to the bottom shape. It is a flat bottom but with some strakes which help to get on a plane.

I have used a Suzuki 15 HP long shaft and with 4 persons it planed very well. For those who want more speed a 25 HP will be optimum, and those who want to fly over the water a 30 HP will do it with success. I need to test it with 25 and 30 HP in the coming weeks. The capacity is 6 persons but it could bear 8 persons with no problem. The length is 5, 00 m, width is 1, 70 m, and depth is 0, 70 m. The weight is around 130 kg. Instead of plywood, the bulkheads are made with Nidaplast core coated in fibreglass-polyester resin to reduce weight.