I was quite happy with my plywood boat once it was finished. However, I also came across some problems and surprises during the construction.

So what are the changes I would make on my next boat from plywood?

First of all I would build a smaller boat. I noticed it already when I put the panels together that this one was just one size too big. It was too heavy and too long so I always needed a few other people to help to turn it around or to bring it in the water.

A smaller boat boat, maybe 12' instead of 15' (3,5 m instead of almost 5 meter) would be much easier to handel and I could probably carry it alone.

Next, I would not change the bow again. As you can notice on the pictures, I changed the bow from a small transom to a pointing bow. I thought it would be better because a pointing bow would "cut" the water and has less resistance to the water.

It came out however, that my bow never even touched the water and so it would be with the transom in the front. There is no need to change from the original plans.

I would also think twice before I would use Epoxy Paint again for the final painting of the boat. Epoxy doesn't like the ultraviolet rays from the sun and I guess it also doesn't like the heat.

I stored the boat for a few days upside down beside the house and it was exposed to the tropical sunlight for a few hours. That caused the bottom plate to heat up dramatically and so I basically boiled the paint on the bottom.

The white paint inside the boat (also epoxy paint) never had a problem but the blue (dark) on the bottom had.