Flipping the hull

Flipping time!

Until now, the boat has been built upside down but now that the hull is finished and painted, it is time to flip it right side up onto the trailer so I can finish the inside and rig it.

This is my current progress:

According to the plans, the approximate weight of the boat is 370 lbs but there still is a lot of stuff to add (deck and framing, seats, floorboards, mast and rigging, etc.) so I’m guessing it weighs under 300 lbs.

The trailer is already waiting in my driveway, so I just have to flip the boat onto the trailer.



The Building Plywood Boats book has instructions on how to flip the boat which I followed to the letter:

I left the boat attached to the building form and added a couple of 2x4 supports from sheer to sheer on frames 2 and 4 for strength and to keep the hull in alignment. 

After a couple of beers to build enthusiasm per the instructions, myself, my daughter, and five friends were able to lift the boat pretty easily:

We carried it to the grass, set it down, and then flipped it on the gunwale:

We then lifted it to rotate 90° to face the driveway, lifted the front and backed the trailer under it:

This worked great and accomplished my goal of getting the boat right side up on the trailer:

With the boat on the trailer, it is very easy to move around by myself so I moved into into the garage and removed the building form and supports:

Now I am ready for the next step of cleaning up any epoxy drips, globs, and smears from when the longitudinals and planking were glued in.

Next Page (Framing the Deck)

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