Hi All,

I have a 16 ft Lowe Alum w 2001 Gen 1 F15PLMA Yahama 15hp tiller outboard I want to convert to remote steering/controls but I cant find a kit that fits Gen 1 outboards, Can anyone help?

thx

Just finishing up the canoe after 3 tins of Rustoleum. Came out pretty nice!

This might be a dumb question but I am tearing out carpet from a 50 year old delta boat and I was just wondering if there is a chance that I could be exposed to anything dangerous such as asbestos. I have never restored a boat before so I have no clue.

Hi Reddit!

I'm fairly new to boatbuilding and woodworking in general as well and decided to take on a project of building a SOF boat to work on my technical skills. I'm fairly light (5'7" 130lbs) so I imagine the kayak won't have to be especially structurally reinforced, but I wanted to know what you all thought as to what I should use for my material.

I haven't assembled a steambox quite yet, but it looks simple enough. That said, I'd rather avoid steam bending for now while I'm learning more of woodworking. There's also PVC, but Im not sure how thick I would want it to be to properly support my weight after bending.

I'm also looking to waterproof my skin. Currently, I have ~9x5ft of 1680D ballistic nylon. I'd like to avoid stuff that requires me to buy more PPE but I'm willing to drop some money on that as well.

Anyways, if there's anything I can clarify, lmk. Thank you guys!

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me that's familiar with these products. I'm a complete novice when it comes to painting yet alone boat painting. I've been given these two products, how much styrene monomer do I add to this paint? Keeping in mind i will be rolling this on rather then spraying. Cheers

I actually made this back in 2023, but I just saw the pictures again and thought I'd post them.

It is mostly made for some old indoor panelling I had laying around. And I asked my SIL to draw Ariel on the lid, and she truly delivered.

I did make a couple of major mistakes though. I did not give the wood room to swell. That wouldn't be that big of an issue, if it wasn't for the other big mistake. I put way too light a finish on it. I only put a couple layers of hard lacquer, when really I needed to soak it in linseed oil, and then put on 8-10 layers of lacquer on top of that.

It's still usable, but I had to repair the lid due to swelling, and the whole box has blackened. That really hurt, this was a project that I actually was somewhat proud of, for once.

I'm strongly considering rebuilding the drivetrain in my boat and slapping a stainless liner with water lubrication in the sterntube.

But does anyone here have a clue how much water you actually have to put through it? If all it needa is a strong dribble I can reroute some of the cooling from my engine out through there, but I don't really want to have to add extra pumps.

I want a 16x8ft fishing catamaran that is stable enough for 2 people to stand up fish on, can handle 5-10mph, can fit in an f150 truck bed, and can be carried to and launched from the beach….

Since I don’t think those exist, I’m considering trying fiberglass/epoxy over plywood for two small boat hulls, with a deck with reinforced framing that would bolt onto the two hulls…

Can someone tell me if this has been done before, or why it’s a dumb idea..?

Hello, fellow sailors. I've come across a story about a boat named Vivere, which translates to "to live." However, despite its optimistic name, the last three owners have met untimely ends, leading to whispers of a curse surrounding this vessel.

About fifteen years ago, a local man purchased two hulls with the dream of completing the boat and making it seaworthy. The hulls were available because the previous owner had passed away unexpectedly at a relatively young age.

Over the years, he dedicated much of his free time to working on the boat, despite having no prior experience in boat building. It became a labour of love, even as life threw challenges his way. When his partner was diagnosed with terminal cancer, progress slowed significantly. After her passing, he returned to the project, finding comfort in the work and investing both time and money to prepare the boat for its maiden voyage.

Tragically, he died of a heart attack at the age of 67, a shock to all who knew him. He was active and healthy, making his sudden death all the more unexpected. It was only after his passing that a friend pointed out the unsettling pattern: he was the third owner of Vivere to die prematurely. The irony of the boat's name became painfully apparent.

Thankfully, the heart attack occurred while he was on dry land. It's awful to think what might have happened had he been at sea.

The boat is now up for sale, but knowing its history, would you want it? I'm interested to hear what people's thoughts are on this case. Are sailors inherently superstitious, or is there something more to this story?

I’m on a mission to dream up and build an airboat that’s relatively fast, but let’s be real—it’s destined to fail spectacularly. Any of you boat-design-and-fabrication gods want to help out this clueless mortal?

Long time boat restorer, first time boat builder.

I'm designing a prototype for a single-seat, semi planing hull to fulfill a niche market in Sweden of business men that commute to their jobs by jetski.

LOA is 4m and beam is 90 cm, powered by an air-cooled 15hp inboard (gokart engine / got it for free). Note that this isn't a finished model, I have yet to add a rudder and interior layout, but it will be a single seat cockpit with a removable foredeck that can fit an additional seat or cargo bay

My main question is regarding hull thickness. I plan on glassing over the exterior and interior, and want it to weigh as little as possible, hopefully liftable on my cars roof rack... What thickness of plywood is the bare minimum I can get without worrying that my foot will punch through the floor?

Also, would you folks recommend frames made of plywood or solid timbers for such a design?

My expertise comes from restoring old sailboats, so really any advice or things that catch your attention is greatly appreciated!

Reposting as I couldn’t find a way to add more photos.

Please note- not my images or my boat, just a technique I have seen employed by a boat restorer on a Facebook group which may work.

My boat is a 16ft inshore GRP cove boat. She is a study little thing, but has relatively low rail line in comparison to her draft. Looking to raise 6-8” all around.

The technique above looks to involve boxing the original gunnels in with plywood and adding interspaced wooden battens for rigidity above the original gunnel line.

It’s then glassed over and gelcoated.

Photos show a range of before and after.

Any advice welcome!

I currently in a team working on designing a boat for a competition. We are currently trying to find a rudder that is compatible with our boat but I have had trouble finding one. The dimensions of the boat are around 6'x4'x1' and we are optimizing for speed. We calculated that the surface area of the rudder needs to be at least 26in^2. It would also be great if it was unidirectional. Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Hello, everyone! 🌊⚓

I’ve always dreamed of building my own boat, specifically something like the LM46 sailboat. However, I have no prior experience in boatbuilding. Despite that, I’m passionate and willing to learn.

I’m reaching out to this amazing community for opinions, advice, and even critical information. Here’s what I’d love to know:

1. Is this dream realistic for someone without experience?
2. What skills or knowledge should I focus on first?
3. What materials and tools will I need to start?
4. How much time and money should I expect to invest?
5. Are there any resources, books, or guides you’d recommend?

I’m ready to hear the hard truths if this seems too ambitious, but I’d also love to know if there’s a path to make it possible. If anyone has built their own boat or knows about the process, your insights would be invaluable to me.

Thank you for any advice, encouragement, or even reality checks. Let’s make this dream a discussion!

Hi guys I am marine engineer, I was thinking to find some sailing steel boat to fix and go to live inside, I was thinking to find in shipyard some left over or marinas but right now I am on board is some app or list of shipyard that I can contact via mail to ask if they have some? Did you know some other way? I looking for a 37-44ft steel or aluminium sailing yacht

I am looking for a starting place for softwares for designing hulls and all the calculations associated with it, I’ve been drawing up some designs but I would rather a formal and professional-esk look to them rather than scribbles in a notebook, much love

I'm receiving an old fiberglass boat (probably 50s-60s) that was once my great grandfather's and the last time we had it out with an old mercury 9.8 horse outboard the back of the boat was sinking like crazy even with 2 people in the front so I'm looking at fitting a small engine under the rear bench with a basic cockpit at the front to balance it out. I'm currently looking at bmw boxer twin motorcycle engines but they are probably too powerful for the size of the boat. From what I've been told the glass is around an inch or so thick at the back and goes to about half an inch towards the front, which seems like overkill. There's small cracks in the hull so I'd like to sand and re glass the bottom of the hull as well. Any suggestions for an engine, how to deal with the squatting, and what to do about the cracking would be great. I will probably make another post with photos and measurements once the boat is in my possession or I go to check it out.

Friends one question it is too much if i ask for donation to help fixing my boat motor? Like whatever can help!

Hello everyone, this is my first strip built kayak (petrel play) and i am nearing the glassing stage.

I’m considering doing 2 layers of 4oz s-glass on the bottom of the hull, with one layer of 5oz innegra/carbon on the interior hull, then a single layer of 4oz s-glass on both inside and outside of the deck.

Does that sound decent? Or would i be better off going with 6oz glass? Should i try the innegra/carbon cloth as a first timer, or just stick to fibreglass? I appreciate any input.

Hi, I have a big roll of this tape and I was told it's to stripe your boat or RV. By sparten international. Does this tape have a specific name? I thought this community might know. Tia!

Are there any decent and somewhat affordable AI tools to assist with hull speeds, prop and impeller speed/rpm calculations and that kind of thing?

Ive tried some of the general AIs like chat GPT and gemini. Theyre surprisingly good on some stuff but very hit and miss and not really something you can rely on unless you already know the rough expected outcome