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Nymph was built from the book "Build the New Instant Boats" by Dynamite Payson. We enlarged and photocopied the plans so we could see the itsy bitsy numbers. Then we bought some cheep underlay plywood, epoxy and beer. Work progressed rapidly.
They really are instant. In one weekend she looked like a boat and the beer was all gone. Must have leaked out through those horrible, gaping seams.
She is also a tribute to the gap filling abilities of West System epoxy (and probably others too, I've only used West). I had truly wide seam gaps. I hadn't built anything since a dog house in high school, many years ago.
Those chasms looked hopeless when she was first screwed together with the boat builder's friends, dry-wall screws. I despaired that she would ever float, let alone be safe.
We mixed up a huge batch of epoxy thickened with sawdust and beer. We covered the seams with masking tape from one side and slathered on the goop from the other. Fibreglass tape was pushed into the goop while still wet, then un-thickened epoxy was brushed on to the tape. Then we made sure that none of the cans were leaking and adjourned for the day.
It worked. The next morning all was solid as a rock. We flipped the boat and repeated the process from the other side. The thwart was fitted, a small reinforcement added to the stern and a couple of coats of epoxy added.
We launched her with all the trimmings the next weekend. Truly an instant boat, she gets compliments everywhere, usually from people who know little about boat building. She rows easily, glides well between strokes and tows light and easy.
We painted her with white latex house paint and a bright blue stripe in July '01 when I figured out that epoxy didn't offer any UV protection and was turning all grungy.
Then I named her the "ADA E" and gave it to my wife, Elaine, for a birthday present.
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