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To build the 50-foot vessel in his much shorter garage, Jim built the main hull in in 3 parts – one long mid-section and two shorter bow and stern pieces. The process looked like this: (Jim Coward photos).

The bow section. The vertical plywood frames support long strips of softwood to which…

…the skin is attached. The 1/8” thick strips of luan were clamped, glued and screwed to the frame work with screws. When the adhesive dried the screws were removed.

The bow section “planked” with strips of plywood.

To move the long, main central section of hull, Jim drove his Honda inside, lowered the structure on the bumper and drove…

…to the backyard where he joined it up with the bow and stern pieces. For strength, he covered the joints with strips of fiberglass and resin. Then he coated the entire hull with additional layers of heavy fiberglass cloth and more polyester resin.

When the hull was deemed strong enough, with the assistance of friends, he rolled it over.

At this point, the hull was open, like a large dugout canoe. To close it in and add standing headroom he built a cabin house, or as Jim calls it, a “freeboard enhancement”.

Audacity was launched in March 2013.

Jim’s back yard faced Pierce Creek. When the main hull was ready to float, he set up an arrangement of greased skids, cargo straps and a come along to pull the hull in to the water. Come launch day, Audacity’s hull didn’t slip in to the water quite as easily as hoped. For extra power he says, “I gently bumped the transom with my 2002 Acura.”

Audacity, floating behind Jim’s house. With her fresh coat of paint and streamlined hull, she appears more star ship than garage built cruiser.

Jim’s boyhood dream of designing and building an efficient power cruiser was up and floating.

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Posted Friday August 22, 2014 by Bernie Harberts

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