Dauntless Received

I received the Dauntless kit a few days ago. Back on 9/22/11 to be more accurate. The kit is basically a box full of die cut wood parts. Just what I expected. The hull size is 49.5 x 14 inches.

I am currently looking for a flat working surface upon which to construct the hull. It needs to be fairly large but somewhat portable. I want to be able to move the large construction out of the way when necessary to work on other projects.

What I will use is a hollow core narrow width door and probably cut down the OAL a bit. They are generally 80 inches tall and I only need about 60 inches. I know how to splice the end back into the cutoff. I have done it before. I only need 15 inches in width but may have to go to a narrow standard door of 24 inch width. Half (one panel) of a 30 inch bifold is the perfect working surface, but hard to find.

For the boat I already have a (probably CNC) project to make several inline motor mounts from aluminum. Sketches are already on my desk. I need to refine it in CAD. More info to come. This is going to be a long project, I think.

This will probably be the last I publish about the general boat construction here. Check out the RoboBoatBlog.net for more about non machine shop construction.

What I will include here are any machining or metal projects that relate to the boat construction. I am thinking of things like making my own brass propellers and other interesting bits and metal pieces.