Float skin

Here is a float being made ready for glassing. With the Searunner design, there is some latitude in shaping your chine lines. In the construction manual written by Jim Brown, he suggests a large radius on the float and main hull chines, to increase the strength of the chine and to make it much easier to glass the chine. 

You may notice throughout the site, I have struggled to maintain the sharp, angular look of the chines. I love that severe, Teutonic look of the Searunner and there is no way I was going to spoil that by soften the lines by rounding off the chines. Please Jim, don’t be offended. 

The skin is 3/8-inch fir plywood on the bottom of the float and 3/8 inch fir plywood on the hull sides. Each chine was glassed with an 18 oz. roving on the inside and two layers of 6-oz tape on the outside. The floats are glassed with one layer of 6-oz cloth, cut to overlap the chines. Therefore the chines end up with 4 layers of 6-oz. cloth on the outside. 

As an after thought, I put some glass on the inside of the outboard side of the float, between frames 4 to 8. I figured if I was going to be hit by someone, this would be the place it would happen. This was not called for in the plans and I now think it was a waste of time and material.