Scarfing plywood

It's been a busy summer with my daughter's high school graduation and getting ready for college. I'm finally getting around to boat building. First step is to make three 4' x 16' plywood panels for the sides and bottom. I made some practice bevels on scrap plywood with my belt sander. Once I got up the courage, I started on the marine plywood.

It was not as difficult as I feared. After scarfing, I dry fitted the panels together to check the fit. Not bad!

I'm finished with beveling the 2 side panels; I'll bevel the 3/8 bottom ply next.

The 2 gallons of epoxy I ordered, has arrived. I know I'll need another 6 or 8 gallons, but this will get me started. I've bought a roll of wax paper to put under my panels when I epoxy them together and I have some plastic cups for mixing epoxy. I've been reading up on mixing and applying epoxy as well.

I picked up this handy tool to help me move the plywood panels around. I just put in under the middle of the panel and then lift.

Marine plywood arrives!

Medway Lumber called me on Friday and told me my plywood had come in. I drove over Saturday morning and they helped me load it on top of my Jeep with their forklift. The plywood was nicely packaged with scab plywood on each side to protect the marine plywood. Once I got it home, I removed the plastic wrap and unloaded it one piece at a time.

Below are the sheets on my work surface. I have 2 sheets of 3/8" and 5 sheets of 1/4" to start with. The 7 sheets cost $350. Now I have to order my epoxy and make some practice scarfs with my belt sander on some scrap plywood. My plan is to make my 3 scarfs first and make good use of the flat working surface.

Ordering plywood and work area

I ordered 7 sheets of marine plywood yesterday from my local lumberyard. 2 sheets are 3/8" thick for the bottom of the hull and the remaining sheets are 1/4" thick for the sides and interior bulkheads. The plywood should arrive in about a week.

For the past few months, I have been cleaning out half of my garage as a work area, so now I have a place to build. Two weeks ago, I put together a low table to build the boat on. My first tasks will be to make 3 scarfs: the bottom panels and the panels for the sides of the hull, resulting in three 16 foot long pieces of marine plywood. I'll use the flat table for lining up and securing the plywood for those scarfs. I may have to rig up a 'heat tent' with a tarp and light bulbs to maintain the wood at a temperature the epoxy will cure at, since my garage is cold in the winter.

The beginning and what is an Enigma?

The Enigma is a self-righting, flat bottomed and beachable mini-cruising sailboat. Enigma is referred to as a small, long distance coastal cruiser and is propelled by a single sail, or with an oar. It uses chine runners instead of a centerboard to reduce draft and complexity. It has room for 2 people for day sailing and 1 or possibly 2 people for sleeping aboard. Matt Layden designed and built the original Enigma 360 in 2005, and sailed it around Florida in the Florida Ultimate Challenge, coming in 3rd place. Matt also designed a larger 460 version with a hard cabin top. The plans for both boats are not yet available from Matt. Two other Enigma 360 clones have been built; one is currently sailing and the other is in the final stages of completion. I plan to build a 450 version (4.5 meters) based on information available on the internet. I will document my build on this blog.

More information on Enigma is available at the Enigma Yahoo Group
Some advantages of the Enigma design can be seen here.

These are the current drawings for my boat. They were done with a public domain boat design program called Free!ship. Some members on the Enigma group have been helping me learn to use it. I basically took the Enigma 360 lines, increased the measurements by 10% and added about 14" of length to the middle of the hull. This should give me extra room inside. I plan to have a hard top cabin, which I haven't drawn on the plans yet.

This is Matt's original Enigma 360 with a canvas dodger.

This is the Enigma 460 with a hard top cabin.