V-Cat - new version

[Tamelesstgr]

Saw you painting a white hatch with rally stripes, anything new in the works?

[TheShaddix]

Been working on a few boats, I'll post something later on. The white hatch was for one of the older boats. Once I paint the hull and do a CF inlay, I'll post that one up for sale.

[kfxguy]

How did I miss this thread? Those are absolutely stunning! Nice work!

[Newboater]

Holy Cow that should never be put in the water. That should be on display only, way to nice to take a chance on damaging. Beautiful.

[TheShaddix]

Thanks guys! I will post some pics of the new one my dad just sent me, it's a bit different from all the other boats. I am just finishing up on the hatch stripes. Don't want to mess with it before it's fully dried

[JohnZ]

Reminds me of the work by VanDam boats up in Boyne City, Mi. They have built some very fine custom boats for people. Modern lines combined with wood craftsmanship.
Excellent work on those hulls.
What wood are you using?

[TheShaddix]

Thanks for your comment! We started off with pine, so 99% of the hulls my dad has built are made of that. We recently tried poplar as it's denser, but we had to optimize the construction to reduce the weight as much as possible by using thinner material where it's overlaid with a carbon inlay. The new hulls are very light now compared to the piggies they used to be. Since this is all custom work, any type of wood could be used. I guess it just depends on the demand.

[JohnZ]

Have you ever thought of using Mahogany? Mot the lightest of woods but very strong and would make for a very beautiful boat.

[T.S.Davis]

Boats made of wood are so satisfying. Just looking at one done this well is almost therapeutic.

[TheShaddix]

Actually never thought of using mahogany, but I will talk to my dad about that. Sounds interesting.

[Tamelesstgr]

Mahogany takes stain beautifully, probably little harder to shape than poplar and pine, much darker wood as well from the pieces I have seen.

[TheShaddix]

Oh, I didn't realize what mahogany wood was called in russian. The previous vcat versions had the back plate (mounting plate for hardware) made of mahogany. We wanted something stronger than pine for that particular part, so it fit the bill for the time being. Frankly, I really didn't find it any better than poplar. As far as the look of it, I guess it does have a special appeal due to being red. What we try to do now is stack poplar planks in different shades randomly along the sides of the hull for a more interesting look.

[TheShaddix]

Here is the latest hull. I am building the one right before this one and will show some progress soon.

[Beaux]

Very nice, love the wood.

[TheShaddix]

Hey guys, just wanted to update this thread with the latest vcat. Just got this from my father. The wood is poplar. The different colored planks are just for styling purposes, selected in such matter, not stained. He buys all wood at home depot. I am working on multiple boats currently, focused more on surfacing and painting them, hence not really posting any builds. Our goal from the start has been to get everything perfect. I started learning about painting in depth, realized that wood is very tricky to get perfect paint on, so I started using epoxy primer to get my base down 100%. It's very effective stuff. I used my paint gun at first, but it's a mess to clean, so I am just going to foam roll it on, sand to smooth, then paint and clear it. I have a few boats fully painted, one of which will soon be for sale as a shell with carbon.