Hi everybody, here are several pictures and clips of a just launched Crispy 520 ; the boat is a “plastic” version of the boat, made by CNC cut high thickness plastic sheets welded together , but the hull is 99% identical to the one drawn in the plans to be made in plywood and epoxy , and the two boats shares also the same total weight and the same weight distribution, which is the most important thing for me as a designer. As you can see the boat features a perfect smooth ride in this first test and I personally love the taste of “no frills” utility boat of this construction, it is exactly th ..read more

In this post I will suggest you a boatyard procedure to level your boat and keep her leveled for the whole building process. Why am I writing this post ? Because in complex boat construction (apart from kayak and small dinghies) your only reference lines on board to place correctly all the structures and furniture are the DWL (design waterline, that is to say the horizontal floating plane) and the centerline of the boat (CL); if you build the boat not perfectly leveled there is a high chance first to make a crooked boat, and second to place all the structural elements and the furniture in the ..read more

in this part we will deal with big areas lamination works , this is going to be a quite long chapter ! In modern wood & epoxy constructions there is sometimes the need to laminate a whole big area with glass fabric , normally hull or deck/cockpit surfaces or both; the reasons for doing this go from serious structural reasons in strip planked construction , to chafe protection in radius planked and stitch and glue boats , or protection of the working areas like decks and cockpits; the working sequence is more or less the same in any case, although in the first one (strip planked boats) we w ..read more

This is the fourth part of the tips and tricks selection to manage easily your epoxy works ; in this chapter we will focus on glass taping works glass fabric strengthening works : here we will talk about all that glass fabric works which aims to strengthen the structural joints, we will not talk here about areal lamination works like laminating the whole hull surface (this aspect will be the subject of the next chapter) work ALWAYS “wet on wet” : that is to say, wet the joint area with liquid resin, make the required thickened resin radius and then laminate the glass fabric over it, in a sin ..read more

This is the third part of the tips and tricks selection to manage easily your epoxy works , here we will talk about using thickened resin to make bondings and the so called “liquid joinery” that is to say make thickened resin radiuses to strengthen joints Bonding with thickened resin : it is a quite straightforward work: you mix the resin, add the thickening powder , mix , put the bonding compound on the area with a spatula or a trussel , put the parts in position and clamp them or fasten them with screws until the resin sets; just few tips: remove the resin flowing out of the parts immediat ..read more

One of the most common fear of newbie boatbuilders involved in our projects is related to the use of epoxy resins and glass fabrics. Since this is a very important part of our projects to achieve a strong, light and long lasting boat, we will give some tick and trips on the subject; the following tips are mostly based on my experience as a boatbuilder, so they are not the bible, but at least every single tip has been personally tested. Let us start form our main protagonist : the epoxy resin ! learn your resin system: each resin system has pro and cons but the most important thing is to “lear ..read more

Good news from Brazil : the first Hirundo 750 has been launched ! As you can see form the pictures, this boat pushed the project in the direction of a small but capable cruiser, with a sheltered cockpit, transom beach platform , very rational and roomy interiors , keeping the boat trailerable ! A very good quality construction with several modifications that has now been integrated in the last version of plans; you can see the Hirundo 750 features here . A great thank to Jonas the builder-skipper for the huge commitment to this project . Now we wait fot the first sailing pictures and impressio ..read more

Hi everybody, I just got back form Germany, where Milos is building his own Idea 21, cruise version;   first thing,  I have to super thank him for inviting me to take a look at the boat during the hull rotation. The construction is going really fine, neat and clean, hull is sturdy and light , Milos is doing an excellent work blending different kind of wood with superb results even in merely aesthetic terms.  Okume plywood, mahogany plywood, larch, meranti, oak (for the keel) . Milos is currentlu speeding up the construction process, so we can expect upgrades soon. Hull rotation ..read more

Petrel 33: widen your horizons     I just published a new page in the project section of the website; the page dedicated to my new project: Petrel 33. Basically Petrel 33 is a sturdy comfortable fast paced 33 footer cruising sailboat suited to be built in a very smart way from home builders or small boatyards; most of rthe building is made in marine grade plywood panels , all the structural bondings are made with epoxy resin and stiffened with glass fabrics layers where required. This projects fits perfectly those sailors who want to commit themselves in a high level construction tha ..read more

Hi everybody !!! We have currently a lot of boats in the building stage all around the world ; here are the links if you want to follow the progresses of some of them on the social media, and several pictures —Idea21 built in Sweden : https://www.instagram.com/mycklekajakvarv/?hl=it —Hirundo 750 built in Australia https://www.instagram.com/kenfhoare/?hl=it –-Hirundo 750 next to the launch in Brazil : https://www.instagram.com/veludopelomundo/?hl=it   and we have others idea 21 being built in Asia and south america , a crispy 660 cabin in Eastern Europe , a small Crispy 520 in Australia, a ..read more