I found a steal of a deal on a trashed out Banana River a while back. Due to a job promotion and family stuff this project languished for quite a while after I knocked out the demo fairly quickly. Then I got in touch with the original designer and builder of these skiffs and he put this beginner through a graduate level course in design and glass work.
My goal is to build this sucker very bare bones and very lightweight. I'm planning on a 30hp tiller, 9-gallon portable tank, open bulkheads, open cockpit (will mount a cooler rack/grab bar), and potentially no hatches. I sketched out the attached layout but am also looking at trying to recreate the attached Andros Edition of the old Whiprays.
Right now I've just done the demo, put down a layer of 10oz glass to provide a clean working surface (patching the holes in the sponsons tonight), and just ordered foam. Based on the original designers recs and lessons I'm going to put down a layer of 1" divinycel on the floor, top that with one layer of woven roving, and then a layer of 10oz. The transom will be 1.5" thick- a 3/4" piece of Penske running complete from side to side and then a second piece of 3/4" doubled up in the middle where the motor will be mounted.
After that we'll figure out the bulkheads and bracing for the forward deck.
When I picked it up:
Some demo had been done but a lot of work had to go into getting the interior gutted from this:
I just completed putting down a layer of 10oz glass to provide a fresh, clean surface to build on. I just patched the holes in the sponsons and am waiting on the foam core to be delivered to really get to the good stuff:
These are the two layouts I'm waffling between.
My own sketched plans:
An old school Hells Bay Whipray Andros Edition*:
A Whipray Andros going in for restoration:
*I screen-capped that from Chris Morejohn's IG. For those unfamiliar, Morejohn is a legend in the skiff community as he was the real brains behind Hells Bay designs when it first got off the ground with Hal Chittum and Flip Pallott. Morejohn was largely responsible for taking Flip's concepts and refining them into an actual skiff design.
My goal is to build this sucker very bare bones and very lightweight. I'm planning on a 30hp tiller, 9-gallon portable tank, open bulkheads, open cockpit (will mount a cooler rack/grab bar), and potentially no hatches. I sketched out the attached layout but am also looking at trying to recreate the attached Andros Edition of the old Whiprays.
Right now I've just done the demo, put down a layer of 10oz glass to provide a clean working surface (patching the holes in the sponsons tonight), and just ordered foam. Based on the original designers recs and lessons I'm going to put down a layer of 1" divinycel on the floor, top that with one layer of woven roving, and then a layer of 10oz. The transom will be 1.5" thick- a 3/4" piece of Penske running complete from side to side and then a second piece of 3/4" doubled up in the middle where the motor will be mounted.
After that we'll figure out the bulkheads and bracing for the forward deck.
When I picked it up:
Some demo had been done but a lot of work had to go into getting the interior gutted from this:
I just completed putting down a layer of 10oz glass to provide a fresh, clean surface to build on. I just patched the holes in the sponsons and am waiting on the foam core to be delivered to really get to the good stuff:
These are the two layouts I'm waffling between.
My own sketched plans:
An old school Hells Bay Whipray Andros Edition*:
A Whipray Andros going in for restoration:
*I screen-capped that from Chris Morejohn's IG. For those unfamiliar, Morejohn is a legend in the skiff community as he was the real brains behind Hells Bay designs when it first got off the ground with Hal Chittum and Flip Pallott. Morejohn was largely responsible for taking Flip's concepts and refining them into an actual skiff design.