Hi everyone, this will be a log of me building a Tippecanoe T37 kit, the first build I have ever done. I'm already pretty far into the build by now, but I figured it would be nice to start a log in case anyone else wants some pictures of the build process.

My first impressions with this kit are very impressive. The folks over at Tippecanoe look like they've done a great job of including everything you need to build a nice RC sailboat. I purchased the racing upgrade version and also got the mahogany veneer deck kit.

June 6, 2025

Getting started I first sanded down all of the wood and got rid of any tabs leftover from the cutting process. The hull pieces got a little warped in shipping, but once the hull went together this wasn't a problem at all. This was also my first chance to read through the very thorough instructions that came with this kit.

I went a little bit out of sequence and started by assembling the keel and rudder halves that would later be shaped to the nice airfoil shape they need. I started this by spreading epoxy to saturate the grain, then spreading thickened epoxy to glue them together. Some clamps and weights held the halves together while the epoxy cured overnight.

June 8, 2025

Next I decided to go ahead and plank the deck with their veneer deck kit, they make this surprisingly easy if you have some patience to do it. You start by tracing the outline of the deck onto a sheet of paper, then you draw parallel lines along the length of the deck to act as guides when laying up the strips. Then I laid a sheet of transfer paper over the outline and stuck the center kingplank down. From there I just carefully stuck down the planks out from the center until the whole deck shape had planks tightly stuck down.

When all of the planks were stuck to the transfer paper, I covered them in epoxy and flipped the deck hull piece over on top. I wrapped it in cling wrap and put lots of books and weights went on top to make sure there was even contact with the epoxy on the whole deck then I left it to sit overnight.

June 9, 2025

I took all of the weights off of the deck the next morning and was pleased to see that the warp in the wood was completely gone and I had a nicely planked deck. A little bit of the epoxy seeped through the cracks between the planks, but this sanded down and was barely noticeable later on.

June 12, 2025

I cleaned up the edges of the planks that were hanging off with a sanding block and went ahead and put a coat of varnish on. The varnish will get sanded down for the final finish later, it's only there right now to help protect the wood some from epoxy fingerprints in later steps and to keep excess epoxy off when I put the hull together later. It also gave me a good idea of what the deck will look like on the finished product.

June 13, 2025

Today I sanded the rudder down into shape. You can see the rudder post is epoxied into the "J" shaped cut at the top already from day 1. I also took a picture of the deck outside to see how it looked in the sun. So far, I'm very pleased with how it looks.

June 14, 2025

Today was a big day, putting the hull together. I started by taking a combination square and drawing a line on the inside of the side pieces about 1/8" for where the bottom hull piece will sit inside. Then I CA glued some small balsa wood tabs along this line so when the hull is setting up the pieces will rest on these tabs and won't shift too far inwards. I did the same for the small transom piece at the stern.

First, I taped the two side pieces together at the bow so they would be perfectly lined up. Then I went down the sides and added more tape until the sides were secured to the bottom. I did the same for the transom as well. When everything was taped up, I clear coated the inside with a thin layer of clear epoxy with a paper towel to soak into the grain except where the keel, rudder and mast step will be glued in later. Then I mixed a large batch of clear epoxy and added fillets all along the inside edges.

I placed some weights on top and used a bevel tool to make sure both sides had the same angle and the hull wouldn't end up with a twist. I had to use a clamp to add a small torque towards the stern to straighten things out. Then everything set overnight.

June 15, 2025

I didn't have too much time to work on this boat today. The hull came out nice and strong and all of the warping in the wood went away after being epoxied. I guess it helped that I kept meticulously checking the angles with a bevel tool while it set up.

I went through and added the balsa wood tabs to the top edge of the side pieces for the deck to sit on when I epoxy it later. I shaved these tabs down later so they were only big enough to hold the deck in place and the epoxy could be spread over them later.

This is my first time ever using epoxy so the fillets didn't come out the cleanest, but I'm still overall very happy with how it's going.

June 30, 2025

I got the deck epoxied into place today. I did this by making some extra thick epoxy and spreading it all along the top inside edge of the side pieces, the sliding the deck into place. I started with the hull upside down in case the epoxy sagged a little, then I flipped it over to weigh down the deck directly. This formed a decent fillet all along the inside edge for the deck. I also had some leftover clear epoxy so I went ahead and clear coated the rudder.

Shortly after taking these pictures I dropped one of the weights and broke my toe, so maybe shoes are a good idea moving forward...

July 4, 2025

The doctor said it takes 4-6 weeks for a broken toe to heal so I'll be limping for a while, but minor injuries can't stand in the way of me getting this kit put together!

The epoxy for the deck set up just fine and now I have a fully assembled hull! (sort of) I sanded down the edges so the side pieces and deck would be flush. The joint will be covered by veneer strips later to make it look nice. It was sad to see the beautiful varnish get scuffed up, but this will all be sanded and made pretty again later.

I forgot to take pictures, but I used a belt sander to shape the keel piece similar to the rudder. Then I attached the ballast castings with epoxy and two bolts. First I wet sanded some clear epoxy into the zinc to get rid of the oxidation layer, then I spread thickened epoxy on the halves and glued them to the keel. Two bolts tighten everything together and the holes are covered with some leftover thickened epoxy to fill them. This will all get sanded down nice and smooth later.