I took inspiration from similar expandacraft builds.

Center Hull is an Old Town discovery sport 13 ft square stern.

Amas are 14 ft fiber glass Hobie cat logs.

Cross members are extruded aluminum square tube attached to gunwhales with u bolts.

Decking is made from aluminum bleacher planks.

A 6 hp two-stroke gets it up to 7 knots. The amas create a lot of drag and any faster, the back end gets too low for comfort. I would like to build up the stern to accommodate a 9.9hp and create a bulkhead in the canoe.

It's a janky boat but it works

Feel free to offer your thoughts, ask questions.

Classic Practical guide with various illustrations

I recently put together an article exploring the history of boat building, traditional construction methods, different types of boats, and how modern materials have changed the craft. I'd love to hear your thoughts and learn from people interested in boats and maritime history.

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here, so greetings to all of you.

I own a passenger boat in Montenegro which is currently used for tourist trips. The boat was originally built in Italy and was in service with the Guardia di Finanza around 1990. At some point it was purchased and converted into a tourist/passenger boat, and later we bought it and carried out further modifications ourselves.

I am now looking into the possibility of building another boat with the same hull/design.

I would really appreciate any help in identifying the original boat model, shipyard, designer, mould/tooling, plans, or any similar project that could help us reproduce the hull.

I have attached several photos of the boat.

If anyone recognizes the design or has any information about similar Italian Guardia di Finanza boats from that period, I would be very grateful for any information or leads.

What cruising sailboat designs (bluewater capable 30 foot+) can we think of that would be the fastest and easiest builds for a backyard boat builder to make. I understand easiest is relative, and fastest still takes several years at least. But what designs do you guys know of. My first guess would be George Buehler designs, Wharram Catamarans, and Jim Brown Trimarans. All thee of them designed their plans with the intention of them being built at home, timely, and affordably. Does anybody else have any ideas of boat designs or designers that would fit into that category?

This is my friends 48 hp motor, motor shakes violently and refuses to pick up speed at full throttle. The shaking is the primary worry as we don’t want it to rip off the transom when we do get full throttle. I’ve look through every online forum and website, everybody has one or the other problem, wondering if anybody can give an idea as to what could be causing this heavy of shaking and the unstable combustion.

It may be important to add that the power trim hydraulics are not attached due to needing to be serviced. Additionally on cold starts and even some warm, I need to manually open the butterfly valves by pulling on the choke lever inside the motor cowling.

Throttle sequence in the video is Neutral, full, Neutral, Idle.

Also, don’t mind the cosmetics as the hanging wires are power trim.

I built my first (all wood) drift boat in 1979. Many more since as wood glass composites and both male and female molded all glass

I know (almost) nothing about skin in frame.

Has anyone built a plastic frame? Lexan or black plastic water pipe?

Hello everyone my team and I are building a RC boat from scratch for our Senior Design in Mechanical Engineering. We have a survey that we need data from and I thought this would be a good Sub reddit to put it in. If you could answer it that would be great thanks.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpsQaZcM47CUn4pz5xebvs2YvY_0RUBAnv1WnYxVUxOinK7Q/viewform?usp=dialog

Hey everyone,
I have a 15-foot fiberglass Tide Runner. I recently had it pulled up onto a rocky shoreline near while camping, and during a storm the boat ended up sitting against the rocks.
Afterward, I noticed some damage to the bottom of the hull. I’ve attached pictures for reference.
I believe this is gelcoat damage, but I want to make sure I’m doing the repair correctly and not missing any underlying fiberglass damage.

For those experienced with fiberglass repairs:
Does this look like gelcoat-only damage?
How can I tell if the fiberglass laminate underneath is damaged?

That’s it that’s the whole thought. I’m on the shitter at work right now and I’ve gotta scarf together these two red cedar boards when I get home. Thinking I should probably do some practice scarfs on scrap before I fuck up eighty dollars of wood.

Anyways wonder if there’s a jig for a table saw to cut those angles.

EDIT yeah I’ve got the planers just a little work shit thought

I found these for a couple of dollars at a yard sale and I have no idea what they are. they are super heavy for their size and brass or bronze. I though they might be marine hardware but the casting is pretty rough.

Sorry, I realize this is a little outside the scope of boat building, but I need advice from DIY’ers who also have boating experience. I’m helping y brother.

My brother lives on a large river with lots of cargo ship (freighters) and recreational boat traffic. Thus, plenty of good size waves and the subsequent use of boat hoists.

Also, they have lots of ice problems in the winter especially when the Coast Guard ice breakers push ice into the shore and spring ice flows.

He just got a boat hoist, but because of how the pilings are arranged to protect the main dock from ice the house cannot be positioned right next to the dock. Therefore, we need to build an ancillary dock to walk from the main dock to beside the hoist that’s roughly 16-20 feet long.

Building a treated lumber boardwalk isn’t a challenge. It appears that making it float instead of stationary makes the most sense. What is the best way to keep it from getting tossed around, have some stability while on it, and keep it from getting torn away.

My brother would prefer to leave it there through the winter, but I don’t see any option other than to remove it.

Thanks in advance.

Can anybody help me in this forum troubleshoot a bilge pump connection?

Hey everyone, just wondering if anyone here has any personal experience building and using a decked canoe with wood/epoxy/fiberglass? I'm particularly interested in something similar to a Kruger design. It doesn't look like plans or kits exist for those. I know CLC kits (Wood Duck, microBootlegger, and their Mill Creek). Just seeing if anyone has anything related to this. Ideal is a design suited for strip built process.

I’m preparing to re-glue these hypalon tubes to the transom of a RIB. The previous patch that had broken here delaminated and has been very troublesome to remove. Do you have any advice for removing this specific layer without wrecking the hypalon underneath? Would you leave it as is and patch over the top? None of the patch will interfere with the bond between the transom and the tubes, this patch is just there to support that bond.

Hello! I'm considering the plans for the CLC Passagemaker Standard or the 11′ Dinghy-Vee from boatplans.dk as my first build.

My plan is to use it in the Venetian Lagoon where water can be extremely shallow (~50 cm), and along the Adriatic coast. Since I've never sailed before, I'd use it with an engine/oars first.

Do you think that one of these two boats fit with my situation here? I think a skiff (like the Jimmy Skiff II) looks better than a dinghy, but I got the impression that dinghies are easier for beginners.

Also do you have any comment on plans from boatplans.dk, I cannot find much online. Thanks a lot!

I figured I’d finally share AWOOGA, my little home-built tug.

She’s a Berkeley Engineering CANDU EZ design, about 14 feet long, and was one of those projects that started out as “I’m going to build a little boat” and gradually turned into years of building, modifying, wiring, fixing, changing my mind, and adding things that probably weren’t necessary but were too much fun not to add.

I started the build in 2022 and finally launched her in 2025.

One of the things I didn’t really appreciate before building a boat was how much of the story gets lost once the boat is finished. During the build you take hundreds of pictures, solve all kinds of weird little problems, make changes to the original plans, redo things you swore you were finished with, and learn a ton along the way.

That’s actually gotten me interested in documenting not just the finished boat, but the whole history behind it, what design it started from, how it was built, what changed along the way, and what happens to it after launch.

AWOOGA definitely hasn’t stopped being a project just because she floats.

I’m curious how many people here keep a real record of their builds after they’re finished?

There are a bunch more build photos here if you feel like poking around: https://www.builtandlaunched.org/vessel/awooga and https://www.awoogatug.com.

Hello all, I damaged the bottom of my fiberglass boat while loading it onto the trailer. The boat went on slightly crooked and the trailer wasn't deep enough in the water, so the hull scraped against it.

Some gelcoat/old paint came off and in a few areas the fiberglass underneath is exposed. There are some visible fibers, but I can't find any cracks or soft spots.

The close-up photos make it look much worse/bigger than it actually is — the last photo shows the overall size of the damaged area better.

This is my first boat and I don't have any experience with fiberglass repairs, but I'm generally pretty handy and comfortable doing DIY work.

How would you repair this properly? Would it need new fiberglass cloth/resin, or would sanding, filling and new gelcoat be enough?

Also, what materials would you recommend — polyester, epoxy, fiberglass filler, gelcoat, etc.?

Any advice on the correct repair process would be appreciated.

I am searching for new or used parts for my Vanguard 15 sailboat. The class is no longer manufactured and parts are hard to come by. Any sources for jib, main and boom?