Building the F-22

(last updated 04-07-08)

These are some things we’ve found helped us along the way. Maybe they’ll work for you, maybe they won’t. Don’t blame me if it ruins your boat or your cat runs away, I’m just sharing what’s helped us along the way

Tools:

• The jury is still out on this. What we decided to do was to get something good enough to do the job (we tried a few of the REAL cheap tools, but they end up breaking or working so poorly it just wasn’t worth the frustration) – but not so good (expensive) that you will be upset when it’s always covered in fiberglass, dried epoxy and maybe dies sooner than you’d like.
• Model-making planer.  Dad found a very small planer that’s targeted at people building models (airplanes, etc) — although the build quality isn’t up to par for “heavy” use, it works great for tapering edges and rebating foam.

Floats :

• Ian suggests a possibility of doing the keel taping while the floats are upright. I *highly* recommend this if it’s possible for you. The first float we joined I taped while it was on its side, only to need to revisit the join a month later, grind it out, smooth and re-tape in the upright position due to excessive air bubbles under the tape. We learned our lesson on the second float and taped in the bulkheads and then taped the keel once upright.
• Attaching a 1″ wide paint brush to the end of a 1×1 batten helps saturating the keel tape. It also allows you to reach the bow bulkhead taping. (see pictures in tool gallery)
• We found it easier to plank the foam without the deck-flange mold or the keel foam in place. Once everything is planked, just cut the foam away and place the mold plate and the keel foam in place. We also decided to lay everything out dry first, dremel a V shaped groove and bog between afterwards. This proved to be quick, and best of all, not very messy at all.

Main Hull:

• Tape the forward beam bulkhead in place BEFORE placing the forward bunk aft bulkhead – once you put this bulkhead in place you have very limited working space to the aft section of the beam bulkhead which requires extra tape.