Popular Post h3nry Posted June 21, 2023 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 21, 2023 It's not fine joinery, but it is a kind of woodwork, so I thought I'd share with my online woodwork support group ... It's a plywood boatbuilding technique called "stitch and glue" ... needless to say it involves a lot of glue, I used over a gallon of epoxy on this! It started out by cutting pieces from plans out of 1/4" marine ply ... in total I used a bit less than 3 sheets. There is only one frame piece in this boat, and it was made by laminating four pieces of ply together, reinforces at the coners with another two layers ... glued up with epoxy The frame gets epoxied onto the side pieces (secured with temporary screws) and then the sides of the hull are stitched together with copper wire inserted through small holes drilled in matching positions along the edge of the pieces.. a thin fillet of epoxy is applied to the inside of the seam to hold it together when the stitches are removed. Then the bottom gets stitched on ... because there was a slight bow in the plywood sheet, I had to pull the frame to one side with a piece of rope attached to the table in order to get the hull symmetrical ... a sheet of ply was then laid on top and the bottom traced onto it and cut out with the jigsaw. The stitches are then all removed and a fillet of thickened epoxy is applied to the inside of all the seams to make a nice strong joint. Then because epoxy alone isn't going to be strong enough, all the seams get a layer of fiberglass tape epoxied on top. While I was waiting for the epoxy to cure, a bandsaw quickly turned a fir 2x6 into a pair of oar blanks ready for shaping. The boat then gets turned back over and the edges are sanded to give a gentle roundover and a layer of fiberglass tape is epoxied onto the outside of all the seams too. And then the whole outside of the hull gets coated in epoxy and one layer of fiberglass cloth ... overlapping at the seams, giving an additional 2 layers of glass on the seams. Using 1/8 doorskin a template is carefully made to fit the inside curve of the hull to cut the seat supports. The volume under the seat will form a watertight compartment to provide floatation if the boat should get swamped, so a good fit is important ... these then get glued into the hull with epoxy and a layer of fiberglass tape. The corners get stiffened by adding wooden knees ... these also serve as convenient handles to pick the boat up ... these are screwed and glued in place ... they need compound bevel angles, so took a bit of fine tuning to get fitting well. The gunwales were probably the hardest single part of the project ... these were 1.5" strips that were steam bent and clamped into place. Once they had taken a bit of a set, the clamps were loosened and lots of epoxy stuffed between them and the hull, and the clamps then retightened. Even with the steaming, the bending needed not just wood clear of defects, but very straight grained. The fir that I was using wasn't straight enough and kept splitting where the grain ran out ... fortunately the workshop supervisor dug through his woodpile and found two random pieces that would work ... which is why the starboard gunwale ended up being sapele and the portside gunwale yellow cedar ... and while waiting for everything to cure nice and solid, I had time to make the seat cushion. The bottom of the boat got two keels/skegs to help it track through the water in a straight line. These were cut curved to match the hull shape, in two parts and scarfed in the middle ... and attached with epoxy and fiberglass tape. Finally everything got one coat of protective epoxy, sanded, and a skim of epoxy fairing compound added to the outside to cover up the irregularities adjacent to the fiberglass tape. And she's ready for painting ... lastly there's a bit of hardware that needs adding... And to calm the wrath of the local seamonster ... a carved likeness of it added to the transom. All ready for launching ... Her job is to ferry me between the mothership and shore when there is no dock available ... Job well done! 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Von Posted June 21, 2023 Report Share Posted June 21, 2023 I think I'll go with "wow!" Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted June 21, 2023 Report Share Posted June 21, 2023 That's pretty cool! I would like to build a boat along those lines, but long enough for 2 or 3 occupants. Wooden version of the aluminum 'jon boats' commonly used for small lake fishing around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 This is awesome!! Thanks for sharing. I have a boat build on my bucket list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 I’m kinda liking the “mother ship”! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 At first i thought this was about making a baby stroller/carrier, today i learned that a Pram is also a small boat! Awesome boat and great build. Your explanation and pictures make it seem effortless as always though I'm sure some good time and effort was spent. Rowing a boat i made through those Canadian waters would put a smile on my face. I have a cedar strip canoe on my list to build within the next 10 years. It used to be 5 years but then kids happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted June 22, 2023 Report Share Posted June 22, 2023 I helped my BIL build a tender very similar in the early '80's. He used it for several years before it was stolen. I remember testing it the first voyage on the lake here in the Wintertime. We wore drysuits, but didn't end up getting wet. They kept that cruising sailboat for over four decades, and just sold it last Spring, trading in the floating cabin for an Airstream to travel the country in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer5573 Posted June 25, 2023 Report Share Posted June 25, 2023 I’ve been watching the Sampson Boat build of the Tally-Ho on the YouTube for a number of years and I’m amazed at the cabinetmaking skills of the boat builders. Apparently you are carrying on the tradition. VERY NICE! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted June 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2023 On 6/25/2023 at 1:39 PM, Hammer5573 said: I’ve been watching the Sampson Boat build of the Tally-Ho on the YouTube for a number of years and I’m amazed at the cabinetmaking skills of the boat builders. Apparently you are carrying on the tradition. VERY NICE! Whoa! I've built myself a nice little boat here, but it's not the same league as Tally Ho by a considerable margin ... those guys have been doing some phenomenal woodwork. The real challenge boat building is that so few lines are square plumb or even straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted June 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2023 Thanks for the comments everyone. It was a fun project, and she rows very nicely ... I was lucky to be able to book some time in a wooden-boat workshop just round the corner from where I keep my boat. It took me about one month in total, but there was a lot of time involved waiting for epoxy to cure before moving on to the next step ... I'm not really a big fan of epoxy and fiberglass work ... nasty messy stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted June 27, 2023 Report Share Posted June 27, 2023 You know we need to see a pic of the boat in the water, now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post h3nry Posted June 27, 2023 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted June 27, 2023 On 6/27/2023 at 6:22 AM, Mark J said: You know we need to see a pic of the boat in the water, now. The trouble with that is that if the boat is in the water ... either I am in it and can`t take pics, or it has drifted away and I`ll never get it back. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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