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Diablo, was a much bigger proposition. But I was seduced by the photo of her turning away at speed in Payson's book. Plus we all wanted to go fishing.
Plans were once again enlarged directly from the book. Modifications were made to enclose the bow to the first frame, creating a dry storage space & air compartment, leaving the frames high to reinforce the sides and provide oar storage and the transom was cut 3 inches lower to permit my short shaft 1976 7.5 hp Honda to drive her.
Construction was started on the same weekend as Nymph. Materials were cheap 1/4" underlay plywood, 1/2" construction grade ply for frames, seats, transom and stem, and gobs of epoxy. She too was boat shaped by Saturday afternoon. Amazing.
Then the real work began. Same gaping seams, only lots longer. All needed filling with tons of the thickened epoxy mix.
After all the seams were taped and epoxied we removed the drywall screws and covered her with fibre-glass cloth wet out with cheap polyester resin from the hardware store. Big mistake. It all peeled off in sheets the next day. What a waste of cloth. We re-clad her using epoxy to wet out the cloth. Much better and more expensive to boot.
We launched her, unpainted, named "Diabla" (Spanish for she-devil) in October 2000. It immediately became apparent why Phil rated her for a 25 hp. She was way under-powered with the 7.5. Also she wouldn't turn at slow speed. Oh she'd point in a new direction but continue in the old like a crab on a beach. A small skeg was added.
In June 2001, I had a painting frenzy and gave her current 3 tone paint scheme.
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