I have jumped off the fence and am plowing straight ahead on this project. I have been curious about this boat ever since I first heard of it and if half of the very positive reviews are true, it will be a great boat to have. It will be much faster to put together than even a Cooper which is a very fast assembly.
19 lbs???
So:
Aluminum tubing is here. Strongback is built and ready. Folbot air chambers are ordered and PVC Coverene (18 oz) as well as two quarts of vinyl cement will be here by Monday or Tuesday. I should ( no I will!) have the forms cut and the frame up by then.
build process the build process seems straightforward enough. I got the 18 oz coverene pvc for the skin and deck mainly because there would be wasted material if I got additional 10 oz for the deck only as the rolls are 61 inches wide. I also got it all in black as I suspect that the first one at least will be a mass of patches!
As the build progresses, I may order 5 yards of 10 oz for the deck in a different color (be nice to have a red or green deck)
Hey GK Only way you will even come close to me is if you get your torso rotation down so that you can use both barrels (your mouth and your ass) to provide some propulsion with all that gas and hot air. Otherwise I am not too worried.
Well Tom Yost said… He assured me that the 16 would be plenty for my weight (205 today)plus camping gear (about 35 lbs all told). There is the 17.5 which is a larger volume boat but it requires home made sponsons instead of the folbot ones for greater capacity. I think the homemade sponsons woudl be a PITA to make!
A couple of thoughts:
There is a deck ridge that you could put in the boat to increase the height a bit giving you a bit more volume for storage.
Looking through the site, this boat could very easily be a great rolling boat just due to its weight and inherent flotation. for some lightweight people in a tuiliq it may actually be more work to get it to roll over without trying to stop you on the way over! but a balance brace should be effortless just because the side of the boat is holding your hip up without you having to arch? dunno but it sounds right.
Sonnet progress Thanks for the link Paul. I’m also too big and fat for a Sonnet but I’m really interested in them. Feel free to keep posting as your progress continues!
The link doesn’t work I would like to know where did you buy the materials for the build. I live in Brasil and if you also live here I would appreciate it if you could give me some building tips.
I already built a sea tour 15 and a sea ranger but I would like to build the sonnet because of its simplicity.
