# 15.5 Guide Skiff Build



## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Well I'm glad you have experienced help
Good luck


----------



## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Nice looking lines. Any idea of the weight?


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

permitchaser said:


> Well I'm glad you have experienced help
> Good luck


It's not their first rodeo. Our first build, the Huckleberry Too, is a 9' micro-tugboat built with the specific purpose of going on ridiculous adventures with the kids. It's powered by a 4hp Tohatsu. Accessories include a functioning water cannon, trumpet horn, and of course the Jolly Roger!












BassFlats said:


> Nice looking lines. Any idea of the weight?


Not sure on the weight. Guessing light enough that it won't matter. At these small sizes, a lot of times the wood core boats can be built just a little lighter than foam. Despite the wood weighing more, it is much stronger so requires less glass and resin.


----------



## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Man is that cool. Bet your kids love it especially the horn and water canon


----------



## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Cool lines on the new project, and I bet the kids have a blast with the little tug. Should be a lot of fun getting them involved.


----------



## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

Huckleberry said:


> It's not their first rodeo. Our first build, the Huckleberry Too, is a 9' micro-tugboat built with the specific purpose of going on ridiculous adventures with the kids. It's powered by a 4hp Tohatsu. Accessories include a functioning water cannon, trumpet horn, and of course the Jolly Roger!
> 
> View attachment 179822
> 
> ...


Found that in THT. That’s cool.


----------



## Joe Capin (Apr 5, 2017)

awesome!


----------



## sotilloa1078 (Mar 27, 2014)

I have. Sweet poling platform for sale, for ya!


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

sotilloa1078 said:


> I have. Sweet poling platform for sale, for ya!


Don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Frames and stringers are all dry fit. Having the plywood parts CNC cut saved a ton of time. Next step is to square everything up and glue it together. I am waiting on some cypress that hopefully will arrive next week. I'll need to mill it into strips (A LOT of them) before I can start planking. Kids go back to school tomorrow, so I should have a lot of time during the days to work on the boat.


----------



## Sam K (Apr 24, 2020)

Looks great! Wish I had my stations CNC’d, definitely worth it


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Sam K said:


> Looks great! Wish I had my stations CNC’d, definitely worth it


It definitely saves a lot of time, and probably only added a few hundred dollars to the build. If they were just simple forms it probably wouldn’t be too bad, but the stringers and bulkheads in this boat have tons of little notches to lock together that made it complicated. I couldn’t see myself doing a decent job cutting them out with a jigsaw.


----------



## Bottlecap (Feb 22, 2020)

I looked at this design a while back. Haven’t seen anything about it being built. Excited to watch the build. I hear Kurt is meticulous in his designs /plans.


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Bottlecap said:


> I looked at this design a while back. Haven’t seen anything about it being built. Excited to watch the build. I hear Kurt is meticulous in his designs /plans.


I believe someone built the smaller version, but I’ve only found one picture of it. If you look at Kurt’s Insta history, it looks like someone is building one in Australia, but I’ve only seen a pic of the hull flip - not a finished boat.

But yes, Kurt is great. His designs are very thorough, including detailed images of all the laminations, and each corner/joint. In some cases he even specs certain hardware and gives part numbers for them. I will admit, his plans are more complicated than some of the typical plywood builds. I am sure more advanced boatbuilders would understand it easily, but I’ve had a number of questions. He’s always available by email or phone, and seems very happy to answer any questions, giving very detailed answers and often drawing out diagrams to help.

I really love his hull designs and think he makes very good looking boats. There is a guy on Instagram names fullcirclewoodworker who is doing a fabulous job on a 20’ hybrid design by Kurt.


----------



## Moscateer (Feb 20, 2019)

Cool Skiff!


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Progress has been slow. I thought I’d have a lot more time once the kids went off to school, but had a bunch of other projects to deal with - big boat getting a makeover, a never ending door install fiasco that serves me right for buying from Lowe’s, a roof leak… etc. Anyway, finally ready to get back at it! Frame is all glued together, and delta pad and spray rails installed. Next, I still need to mill up all those cypress strips.


----------



## JC Designs (Apr 5, 2020)

I have a hook up for your fiber if you haven’t purchased already. Just let me know.


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Cut 180 linear feet of cypress 1x8s into 5/16” strips. Took 2 days. Ended up with 100s of strips and 50 gallons of sawdust. Still need to bevel the edges and scarf the strips together in pairs


----------



## Sparkerdawg (Jan 3, 2021)

Update pleeeaaaaaase!!!!


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Alright everyone. I apologize as I've been really slacking on the skiff. We've been busy with other projects on the house, refitting the big boat, traveling, but mostly life with a 3 and 5 year old is exhausting. 

A few months back, I built a router table and processed all the wood. Put a bevel on each piece, so when stacked up there will be a 1/8" V shaped groove that will get filled with thickened epoxy. 



















Then I got a but burnt out after milling all that wood, and took some time off. I just got back at it last week. I build a jig to scarf a 12:1 angle on the each of each piece, so they can be joined in pairs. I did some testing and the joints are really strong. They break across the wood, and not along the joint. Here are some pics of testing out a few scarf joints. Its the first time I've ever worked with them, but the jig really makes cutting them easy.







































I am hoping to cut the shear this week and get it on the boat. Then, I will probably start scarfing strips in sets of 10 or so, and attaching them to the boat. That way I can work in more manageable numbers compared to processing hundreds at a time, and also not have so many 18' long strips taking up space in the garage. My hope is to get the boat planked over the next few months.


----------



## Copahee Hound (Dec 21, 2017)

Necessity creates inventions! I just recently built a complicated router table to do the same but with foam. However, mine sucks AND I should have made it longer, like yours. Your fence setup is top notch, sir!


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Copahee Hound said:


> Necessity creates inventions! I just recently built a complicated router table to do the same but with foam. However, mine sucks AND I should have made it longer, like yours. Your fence setup is top notch, sir!


I've spent a lot of time building jigs, and setting up things like the router table with feather boards and thin cut gauges. Normally, I would just make due, but with this project I have to process hundreds of pieces that having guides to hold the wood really secure allow me to process them at a much quicker pace. 

The router table is 4' X 2' and only about 26" off the ground so it can double as a kid's workbench/ craft table. I jsut set it on blocks when I need to use it.


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Sheer cut, fit, and glued up. So many clamps... and I could have really used a few more!


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Here are the first 10 strips dry fit to the hull. I spent a good part of the day trying to figure out the best line to lay them along. Eventually this is what I chose. Not sure if it’s a good line, but it’s going to be my line. Still figuring out how to tie the strips in at the bow as there isn’t a full length stem running it’s length, so will have to work out a way ti pull the 2 sides together.


----------



## N8Marsh (11 mo ago)

I saw that tug and immediately jumped on Insta to look for more! Really fun little boat, where's that build thread huh!?


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

N8Marsh said:


> I saw that tug and immediately jumped on Insta to look for more! Really fun little boat, where's that build thread huh!?


Here is the build of the tiny tug...





Yacht Huckleberry


Adventures in building a 9ft micro-tugboat "Huckleberry" for my kids, Finn & Sawyer.




yachthuckleberry.blogspot.com





You can probably see some of our adventures in it on my main Insta @denniskdixon


----------



## skinny_fishing (Aug 30, 2021)

You are a cool dad. Cool project too!


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

OK, back to the skiff…

Glued up some more strips yesterday and attached them to the boat. Figuring out how to cut the angle where the bow pieces tie together has been giving me some issues, but I think I have it figured out. Tomorrow I’d like to trim all the bow pieces for the strips that are currently on the boat, then as long as I don’t break any, I’ll caulk all the seams with epoxy.


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Been busy this week…


----------



## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Beautiful lines! Really starting to take shape now, great work.


----------



## Huckleberry (Jul 12, 2021)

Worked on filling in some of the space under the spray rails. The oscillating multitool came in handy for cutting the angles while holding the strips in a somewhat awkward position. Rough cut with the multitool, then use a rasp to shave each piece to fit. It’s a fairly tedious process.


----------



## lowcountryreds (Oct 23, 2017)

Great work!


----------



## CJ Peppe (9 mo ago)

Huckleberry said:


> This will serve as a dedicated build page for my Cerny Guide Skiff. The boat is designed for a beveled strip construction, and will be planked with Florida sourced cypress then covered in basalt fiber/epoxy. I am planning to keep the boat very light with just a 20hp tiller, small poling platform, and cooler seat. Eventually we will use the boat to fish the no motor zone behind Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands near my house. I will post regularly here, but for more frequent updates you can check out my Instagram @yacht_huckleberry.
> 
> Specs:
> LOA - 15' 6"
> ...


Good luck!


----------



## Tarpon2023 (8 mo ago)

great work!


----------



## GoGataGo52__20 (Jun 26, 2016)

Any progress on this brother?


----------

