Boat building

[hanser]

Re ratios ,,,,,,

I think there will be enough 'challenge' in building your first boat without having to design it as well! Decide what you want your boat to be capable of doing and choose a proven design and buy/get the plans. From recollection the Selway Fisher site mentioned in a previous post has a good range of designs.

 

[Inoffthered]

Re ratios ,,,,,,

I think there will be enough 'challenge' in building your first boat without having to design it as well! Decide what you want your boat to be capable of doing and choose a proven design and buy/get the plans. From recollection the Selway Fisher site mentioned in a previous post has a good range of designs.

Sensible advice, if you do a bit of research on sailing boat stability curves you will see that it is a complex issue with many variables. Boat design is a complex area and the consequences of getting it wrong could be fatal.

 

[Sailormantom]

Ian Oughtred is a well respected designer for home built boats. Hear is a link to Classic Marine who sell his and other designers plans https://classicmarine.co.uk/boatlists/planindex.htm

Good luck with the build - it is something I have always wanted to do and maybe will some day although more likely to start with a pram dinghy!

Cheers, tom

 

[Froggy]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'm still sifting through them and the links. Some great stuff here guys, I appreciate it.

 

[disco_monkey79]

I take your warning on board

Pun intended? ;-)

Good luck with the build, please keep us posted

 

[Froggy]

I take your warning on board

Pun intended? ;-)

Good luck with the build, please keep us posted

Glad someone spotted it Disco :roll: :roll:

 

[Froggy]

Ian Oughtred is a well respected designer for home built boats. Hear is a link to Classic Marine who sell his and other designers plans https://classicmarine.co.uk/boatlists/planindex.htm

Good luck with the build - it is something I have always wanted to do and maybe will some day although more likely to start with a pram dinghy!

Cheers, tom

That's a great site Tom, thanks.

 

[Keith 66]

I started out in the boatbuilding trade back in 79 when i left college. I never got rich but learnt a lot & have enjoyed most of it!
There is absolutely nothing like building & launching a wooden boat & feeling it come alive for the first time.
It is also said that the best way to turn a large fortune into a small one is to become a boatbuilder!
A good place to start would be to build a small boat. Personally the designs of Paul Gartside are stunning & he has designs for every level of ability.
A good book to read is Skiffs & Schooners by Pete Culler, written a long time ago by a master shipwright. I always remember his words.
"Experience starts when you begin" also "If you think you can build a boat you probably can, if the first one turns out a bit lumpy the second one will be better".

 

[heimlaga]

I have a little experience from repairing and rebuilding traditional clinker built boats.
The way I learned it everything starts out in the woods. Looking for good plank trees and suitable grown crooks and a keel and some gunwales. A few hardboard patterns help the beginner a lot when looking for suitable crooks.

If I was to build a boat from scratch I would look around for an old rotten boat with a good hull shape. Such boats can be had for free. I would patch it up temporarily and test it on the water together with a person who has experience wuith traditional boats. If it performs okay I would haul it home and use it as pattern for a new boat. Build the new boat besides it.
For me with my lack of boatbuilding skill it would be totally impossible to get a hull shape right when taking it from a flat piece of paper. However I found it rather easy to duplicate an existing shape which I could touch and feel and doublecheck through three dimensional measurements. That was what the repairs were all about.
Clinker building is quite the opposite of other boat building methods. Because you build the skin first more or less freehand though sometimes with some help from a few moulds. Creating the shape in three dimensions. It is a lot easier than people say but you are forced to learn a whole new way of thinking.

Traditional clinker building is a very cheap boat building method when it comes to materials. I think I could build and finish a very nice 22 foot hull for less than 600 euros in materials. The culprit is the great time consumption.
A very traditional way of reducing time consumption is to hardly use any sandpaper. A boat will inevitably be dinged and dented so really there is no need to aim for perfect surfaces.
Make sure you have time enough to build the boat before you start. Far too many good boats become awful botchjobs because the builder is in a hurry. Almost as many are never finished.

Here are a few youtube videos showing clinker boatbuilding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o4Ilg2LICM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_GHq4tgskA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yCU9fp9kj0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbaCdbDkkcs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZQAJyWF6MM

The English way of doing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0yFnF5Dx0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiZavgG20qA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiWvhIbB7JU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKr_uljrhdM

Good luck!.....I look forward to seeing the Froggy Boat come to life!

 

[Rhyolith]

I did a course in wooden boatbuilding here years ago, thats how I got into all this in the first place Great place and I highly recommend a visit! http://ibtc.co.uk

 

[Froggy]

Keith - thanks for input. I don't intend to get rich either, it's a one off that I'm taking on for the challenge really. I'll look into Paul Gartside.

Hiemlaga - I've been watching some Scandinavian videos about boat building on Youtube. They were really old videos and traditional methods. I was riveted to them.
When you went out into the woods for the wood for the keel etc., what tree species did you prefer?
Getting the shape of the right is a worry to me to. I'm used to measuring everything for furniture making but it seems a lot of boat building is done by eye! Time is not an issue as we have no client and no timescale and we are not in a rush! Thanks for the video links I'll try to watch some tonight, but at the moment I'm exhausted trying to the winter wood ready and catching up with all my outstanding jobs before the boat building starts.

Rhyolith - thanks for the link, I'll take a look tonight.

 

[Froggy]

Heimlaga - I've just clicked on your first video and it's one of the one's I've already watched and spoken about, fabulous.
By the way your English is commendable, far better than my French!

 

[heimlaga]

Up here spruce is the traditional wood for almost everything in boatbuilding. Choosing the correct spruce tree for it's purpose is very important.
Further south spruce trees grow too rapidly and aren't good enough.

Down where you live oak heartwood would be the material of choice for keel and stem and sternpost and frames. Some use ash for steam bent frames but I have been told that ash is less durable. I really don't know what they use for planking and gunwales down there.

One thing to keep in mind is that clinker built boats crack if they dry out too much too rapidly. I don't know what your climate is like...... if the summers aren't moist enough carvel planking might be a better choice.

If you have more questions after watching the videos feel free to ask. I may or may not be able to answer.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Hi, I work in a dry dock repairing and maintaining boats, mostly steel canal boats but we do get some wooden boats in. I would second the advice of following an established design rather than trying to design one yourself, also do not underestimate the amount of hours it will take, as Custard says the boat world is full of unfinished projects.
I have worked on hundreds of boats but have never built one from scratch and am quite jealous. I have the room and the tools to make one but not the time, one day. Looking forward to your WIP
Paddy

 

[Froggy]

Paddy it's 5 days since we decided to build the boat and the only firm decision we have made so far is that we are not going to design it ourselves, we will be copying something. The build will be hard enough for two novices without making it harder.
Out of interest would you rather see the WIP at regular intervals or in one go when it's (hopefully!) finished? And that question is open to everyone.

 

[Inoffthered]

Paddy it's 5 days since we decided to build the boat and the only firm decision we have made so far is that we are not going to design it ourselves, we will be copying something. The build will be hard enough for two novices without making it harder.
Out of interest would you rather see the WIP at regular intervals or in one go when it's (hopefully!) finished? And that question is open to everyone.

Ooooh regular intervals please.

 

[hanser]

Froggy

Regular updates would be good.

Presumably you and your friend like sailing?

 

[Froggy]

Froggy

Regular updates would be good.

Presumably you and your friend like sailing?

Actually Hanser I don't!! The last time I went on a fishing boat I was sick as a dog. I'm doing it for the woodworking challenge. My friend however is interested in sailing and his son is even more of sailor and we are hoping that he will get involved as a consultant.

 

[Walney Col]

Can you even do a WIP after something's finished? ;-)

 

[hanser]

I'd keep an open mind on whether or not sailing suits. There's a big difference between ploughing into heavy seas on a fishing boat and say lake sailing in relatively calm conditions with a bit of a breeze on the beam.

Looking forward to the WIP when you've mobilised resources etc. Good luck.