Starting Construction

The packages with the boat kit was delivered via air freight on January 27, 2011. I launched the boat under sail on May 8th 2011. I spent about 100 days and 150 hours, and the total cost was probably close to $3K, with the oars, jib furller, extra epoxy and added parts.

It looks great and sails very well. I hope to join my yacht club on Thursdays in the dingy class races. I will let you know how it does.

It takes 3-4 weeks from the time you order the kit until it arrives, unless CLC has one already in stock. They are great to work with and take pride in their work. When I opened the box containing the epoxy, hardener, and additives, the many many compressions and de compressions from the 6 flights it took to get from Annapolis to Chicago popped the tops off the wood filler and it was all over the box. No worries, easy to fix, just be careful when you open the box.

CLC is very careful in packing all the small parts so they will not get damaged during shipment. They tape everything with clear packing tape.

Be careful not to pull the tape off too fast.

The top layer of the plywood is very thin and will come off with the tape. Use a heat gun to soften the adhesive on the tape in the delicate areas if it is cold. I managed in my haste to pull off some of the veneer in several areas.

Another important thing to keep in mind is to make sure you can get your PMD out of the basement after you build it. Here is a picture of my workroom which is in the basement of my condo. It has plenty of room, but look at the small door. I carefully measured using the guide CLC provides on the website. I had just enough room. Many of my neighbors bet it would not fit and we would have a boat in the basement forever! In the end it fit, just barely!

I was glad the boat kit arrived before the snow came. We got just a little! Now to settle in and build a boat!

I used a slightly different technique that others when scarfing the panels and rub rails together. I used wax paper in between and did them all at once. I used a scrap piece of 1X2 as a vice and screwed it to the table instead of using clamps. This increases the pressure and allows all of them to be glued at once. Just make sure the edges line up. Epoxy will squeeze out and the alignment will change as you apply pressure with the screws.

First, I aligned everything up and applied the epoxy and tightened the screws. Then I un screwed and cleaned up the excess, made any needed adjustments in the alignment and re tightened the stack and left it over night. it worked perfectly and I got all the panels glued in one operation saving time with a consistent result. 

I use the same tecnique as painting a hull to apply the epoxy to the pannels, bulkheads and seats. I roll and tip the epoxy. I had enough space to lay out all the parts I needed to coat. I used a foam roller from west system with a very low nap and closed cells. I then use a foam brush to pop the bubbles left by the roller. The first coat is rough and needs the most sanding. Coats 2 and 3 need progressivly less sanding.

Sanding can be a lot of work but you can minimize the effort. I used a 5" random orbital sander with 150 grit Norton gold sandpaper. Use the best quality sandpaper. It has consistant grit which helps avoid the squiggles a random sander can cause.

Many people SAND TOO MUCH! I just level the high spots and leave the low spots for the next coat of epoxy to fill. You DO NOT have to sand each coat to a flat smooth surface. Sanding too much results in a thin coat and more layers needed. Each coat will have less bubbles and need less sanding, The last coat looks so good you won't want to sand it!

CLC sent me great wood with beatuful sequantial patterns. The seats almost look like marble. After 3 coats of epoxy and 4 of varnish they looked like a mirror,



Now its time to start to construct the boat.