# Anyone ever build a boat? Fun Q&As



## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

Hi all-
Curious on some general thoughts and ideas from the community of boat builders.
I'm currently designing boat plans and ideas (not exact specs yet) and just trying to think about the big picture. I'm curious if anyone has any feedback, experiences, gotchyas, etc.

Plan: Build a wooden power boat - 16' - 20' (depending how the layout goes). Marine plywood interior supports, unknown wood for external planking yet, with glass/resin finishing, and top coats as need.

Questions:
* How to pick engine? Size? inboard or outboard?
* How to calculate how low in water it would sit?
* If using epoxy/glass/resin outer - Is planking species purely personal choice/style?
* Any boat building resources you loved or hated?

Happy Woodworking!


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## woodchux (Jul 6, 2014)

In my young teen years, there was a neighbor who bought a wooden 16 foot boat kit. All the parts were delivered and were put in his basement. That Spring he began his "build", and about a month into that project realized he could never get the boat out of the basement unless he knocked out a cement block wall. He gave up that build and the boat sat in his basement for many years until he decided to sell his house with the incomplete boat inside. He was the "joke" of the area, and when the house sold the new owner had the boat removed for trash. Don't let this happen to you. Be safe.


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

if you plan to design your own, I'm not sure where to start. well, you could probably get the fire started to burn it up ahead of time . . .
how low will it sit in the water? easy. when you're done weigh the boat, motor, fuel and all gear. that's how much water it will displace. you only have to calculate the volume of the hull moving from the keel upwards in increments of quarter inch or so. some calculus required. water weighs roughly 62 pounds per cubic foot; when it sinks to the depth where the water displaced is equal to the weigh of the boat+etc, you'll have your waterline.

now, whether the stern goes under and the boat swamps, or it is so bow heavy it'll not get up on step and plane . . . that's a question of weigh distribution. it's very simple: calculate the center of gravity for the hull, then the center of gravity for the motor, fuel, etc., and incorporated that into the weigh distribution.

what size motor? how fast do you want to go? and what is the hull shape? there are hull shapes adapted to stability, for low resistance, for planning, for rough water . . .

on a good planning hull, you'll need 8x the power to go 2x the speed, approximately.... the propeller size, pitch, blades all make a serious difference.

bottom line: there's a reason "naval architects" exist - and there's even more reasons why long term boat builders are successful. there's theory, then there's reality - and even the best of them mess it up now and then.

purchasing a set of plans would be the smart thing to do. you can modify all kinds of stuff 'that doesn't make a difference' - i.e. the eye candy. but mess with the basics and you could have a very unpleasant experience.

oh, putting fiberglass over wood is really really dicey. it traps moisture and the wood rots.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

woodchux said:


> In my young teen years, there was a neighbor who bought a wooden 16 foot boat kit. All the parts were delivered and were put in his basement. That Spring he began his "build", and about a month into that project realized he could never get the boat out of the basement unless he knocked out a cement block wall. He gave up that build and the boat sat in his basement for many years until he decided to sell his house with the incomplete boat inside. He was the "joke" of the area, and when the house sold the new owner had the boat removed for trash. Don't let this happen to you. Be safe.


The neighbors name wasn't Gibbs, was it?


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Post 3 about sums it up, lots of info out there from the pros.

Take a look at some of the free plans here to get an idea of what you are up against:
http://absolutelyfreeplans.com/Boat Plans/boat_plans.htm


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I bought a old boat one time that didn't have a motor. I got pretty far into the restoration and found out I could buy a boat with a motor cheaper than buying just an outboard motor. I gave up on the project and parked the boat on the back of my property and my neighbor filled it full of bullet holes.


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

You want the Wooden Boat magazine.


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## johnedp34 (Jun 30, 2016)

My father bought a wreck off the beach for $5. It was flat bottomed and the previous owner had forgotten to raise the steel plate centre board. When the tide went out the blade came up through the floor. We used tongue and groove to rebottom it and masonite for the deck. Had a good few holidays on it down the Thames Estuary.
johnep


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## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

Thanks!


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## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

Love the magazine already, first issue has been ordered!

Tom- most likely I will buy plans and modify to needs. Since I'm in the early phases I wanted to explore. Thanks for the info and ideas so far.


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## notskot (Feb 22, 2015)

My middle son and his buddy just finished a wood boat, and launched it for a maiden voyage about 3 weeks ago. They used plans for a "dory" style, used ash for the ribbing, ply wood for the hull, then fiberglassed it. They really don't have much experience woodworking, but they're both smart ambitious kids who worked through the engineering and build complications. 

Building a boat was impressive enough, but what totally blew me away was that they made the ribs from branches of an ash tree that fell in our back yard last winter...they split the branches, cut, and formed them with steam! They made the oars, and as far fetched as this may sound...they made the oar locks from iron ore that they gathered from a river bank, smelted it into iron, and forged the locks! These two guys crack me up....most 21 year olds are building beer pong tables (or playing Pokeman Go)!

The Dory:








Home grown iron:








The ash tree:


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

jaykal001 said:


> Since I'm in the early phases I wanted to explore. Thanks for the info and ideas so far.


this is a very good idea (g) assuming you are fabulously wealthy, the expense is nothing compared to the time and effort. one of those areas where learning from experience is not all it's cracked up to be.... 

ah, discounting the issue of going to sea in something that may leave you with a sinking feeling...

the idea of (marine) plywood for ribs, etc - (larger) planked boats use screws to attach the planks. screwing planks to the edge grain of plywood....? not such a good idea. these are the kinds of things you need to "recognize" - and not change from (a good set of) plans.


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

About 35 years ago, I lived in Arlington VA and the guy (from New England) across the street was building a cape dory style boat about 12 to 14 feet long. The construction had to be mid 1800"s. He was building it from teak and mahogany which at that time was getting very hard to find, at least the proper stuff. As I recall the screws were all bronze and also very expensive. It had lap strake (?) sides and each piece had to be custom fitted into place. He must have had 2 dozen various chisels and several mallets. Every thing was done by hand. He lived there three years and worked on the boat at least two evenings per week. When he moved he had the ribs done and the sides about 2/3 done. His wife almost left him over the cost to move the boat along to their new location when he was transferred. Seemed like an overly complicated task


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

Anyone can build a boat. But it will be heavy, slow, extremely difficult to steer and completely impossible to handle out of the water. Not to mention that it will take thirty or forty times as much energy to move through the water as it should.

On the other hand, building a boat that is light, fast, easy to steer, seaworthy and simple to handle out of the water is a work of art. 

Wood is an excellent material for such a boat, the lightest strong boats are built from wood.

Mankind has been building wooden boats for more than six thousand years, and while we're getting pretty good at it, there's always room for another design.

Like woodworking, chess, cooking, accounting or bee keeping, one can go out and slam one's head against the wall until one has a headache and has learned one small, insignificant lesson about one's undertaking, or one can pay for an education about it.

If I were going to build a boat, (and I was, and I almost did, I was shopping for a rental in Port Townsend) I would go here:

http://www.nwswb.edu/


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*If I were to build a boat ...*

If I wanted to build my first boat, I would choose a jon boat for it's simplicity. It's a place to start for a beginner who wants to learn some basic techniques. Here's some plans I found on a site that has several types of boats:
http://www.unclejohns.com/jonboat/building%20plans/default.htm










A skiff is another simple design:
http://www.unclejohns.com/bysk14/Default.htm


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## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

I am no fool, and I likely will build a canoe from plans long before I do anything else. Maybe a small person rower, etc. I'm not going to build too much in the way of boats that I can't really see using.

The common theme amongst many seems to be "don't do it". While maybe a suggestion based on personal experiences, I still want to investigate it, as I am find I enjoy the wood working, as well as engineering components of boat building. I may never build one, but it's still an interest too.

The feedback and references are all great, and I love the stories. I just don't want the thread to become an opinion piece on whether or not I "should" build a boat. I probably shouldn't have had that last slice of pizza either, but I still did


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

From following this thread I got that it might not be a good idea to design your own boat, not that you shouldn't build one from plans.


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

jaykal001 said:


> The common theme amongst many seems to be "don't do it".


I hope I didn't leave that impression!

My posts were actually meant to say you go, boy, and here's a couple ideas about how to skip some of the more annoying steps.

And don't forget the Moaning Chair.

"In every amateur boatbuilder’s shop there should be a 'moaning chair'; this should be a comfortable seat from which the boat can be easily seen and in which the builder can sit, smoke, chew, drink, or swear as the moment demands. Here he should rest often and think about his next job. The plans should be at hand and here he can lay out his work. By so doing he will often be able to see mistakes before they are serious and avoid the curse of all amateur boatbuilders: starting a job before figuring out what has to be done to get it right." ~ Howard I. Chapelle, from his introduction to "Boatbuilding: A complete handbook of wooden boat construction."


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## Tree Hugger (Sep 1, 2011)

My neighbors has been trying to talk me into building a boat as he has just built a rowing skiff and is halfway done on a kayak.
http://www.clcboats.com/ is the company he got the kits from.
Another company to look at is http://www.glen-l.com/ .


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

P.S. The Chapelle book is an excellent investment. I read myself to sleep for a month with it, and it's saved me literally months of time.

I prefer the hardback copy, so it makes a nice, satisfying "clunk" when I throw it against the wall.

P.P.S. Don't do that when your wife is home.


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## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

I don't believe my purpose was to say don't do it. Don't do a lapstrake hull. Also known as clinker construction. http://open-sailor.com/boatplans/wooden-clinker-boat-building-plans-pdf-download/

It is individual lengthwise narrow pieces that are cut to overlap each other. An extremely difficult method of hull construction. Plywood or carvel construction from planks is far easier.


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## johnedp34 (Jun 30, 2016)

One of the simple ways is to cut sheets of ply and join by stitching with copper wire. Then cover seams with Fibreglass.
I'll see if I can find some pics.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mirror-dinghy-50-years-old-1736534






johnep


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

Origami boats for the win!


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## jaykal001 (Nov 27, 2013)

The "stitch & glue" style certainly seems like a good fun way to get into a hobbie. 
The glen-l site is pretty helpful too, even just reading through all the different plans to see everything available, different construction plans, etc.

Thanks again for all the feedback, I can see how the rabbit hole keeps getting deeper!
Jay


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

>>I can see how the rabbit hole keeps getting deeper!

heehee. you ain't seen nuttin' yet.
a boat is a hole in the water, into which you pour money....

have fun - the builds are rewarding but it can be tedious - it has to be right . . .


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