Tag: wooden boat

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Lumber for the Palm Beach 22

Many different kinds of lumber will be used in building the Palm Beach 22.

Of course, once you decide to build a boat, you’ve got to have materials.  In our case, the main material is wood–all different kinds.  We’re using Sipo, a kind of African Mahogany for the frames, planking, and cockpit woodwork.  Fir will be used for longitudinal members like the.  We’ll also use fir to laminate the curved pieces like the stem, keel, and chines.  Deck framing will be of Sitka Spruce.  And Alaskan Yellow Cedar will be used to build the cold-molded hull. Continue reading “Lumber for the Palm Beach 22”

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Repairing the Yoke

The ends of the yoke are rotted, but the main part is still perfectly serviceable.
The ends of the yoke are rotted, but the main part is still perfectly serviceable.

The yoke is a thwart (cross piece) at the balance point of the canoe that you can rest on your shoulders when you’re portaging (carrying) the canoe.  This canoe’s yoke is made of Ash, a good hard, but rot-prone wood.  Baseball bats are made of Ash too.  At any rate,  since the main part of this beautifully carved yoke is still perfectly serviceable, an easy fix is to scarf on new ends.  Check out my previous article here more about scarf joints. Continue reading “Repairing the Yoke”

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Breasthooks Part 2–Fit and Finish

New breasthook of African Mahogany provides a nice contrast to the Fir gunwales.
New breasthook of African Mahogany provides a nice contrast to the Fir gunwales.

When we left off, we had fabricated new breasthook pieces, but they didn’t quite fit as well as I’d like.  Check out the previous post if you’ve forgotten.

Rub chalk on the inside faces of the gunwales you're trying to fit to.
Rub chalk on the inside faces of the gunwales you’re trying to fit to.

The trick is to chalk the inside edge of the inwales, fit the breasthook in place, and then see where the chalk transfers to the high spots on the breasthook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chalk transfers to the high spots on your workpiece.
The chalk transfers to the high spots on your workpiece.

Shave the high spots off with your favorite block plane, and repeat until you get a fit you’re happy with the fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final fitted breasthook with registration marks ready to be screwed and glued in.
Final fitted breasthook with registration marks ready to be screwed and glued in.

You can really dial in a fine fit this way.   Not too hard if you know the trick!  The last step was to glue it in and coat it with special clear epoxy to seal against water.  Then several coats of spar varnish will provide necessary UV protection.

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Breasthooks Part 1–Fabrication

New breasthook pieces glued up and rough cut, ready for fine fitting.
New breasthook pieces glued up and rough cut, ready for fine fitting.

A breasthook is a sturdy piece of wood that marries the sides of the boat together at the stem.  It’s a structurally important piece, and can be tricky to fit.  So I did what I usually do when I have a tricky piece to fit, I made a pattern. Continue reading “Breasthooks Part 1–Fabrication”

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New Gunwales

The graceful sweeping curves of the new inwales clearly show the need for steam to bend them into place.
The graceful sweeping curves of the new inwales clearly show the need for steam to bend them into place.

Gunwale is an old nautical term.  A wale is a plank on the side of a ship or boat.  The top wale on a sailing warship was called the gun wale and was reinforced to carry the stresses imposed by heavy cannon.  Typical of nautical terms, it is not pronounced like it is spelled.  “Gunnel” is the correct pronunciation.  In canoes, it has come to mean the reinforcing strips along the top edge of the boat.  Specifically, there are usually two strips, an inwale and an outwale. Continue reading “New Gunwales”

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Restoring a Canoe–Step 1–Assess the Work

A thorough cleaning with Dawn dish washing detergent and water is the first step.
A thorough cleaning with Dawn dish washing detergent and water is the first step.

The first step in any restoration project is assessing and agreeing on the work to be done.  In this case, we agreed that Ashley River Boatworks would perform repairs needed to the boat, but that re-finishing would be the owner’s responsibility.  Often and owner has special talents and can save money by performing some of the work themselves.   Continue reading “Restoring a Canoe–Step 1–Assess the Work”

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Restoring a Strip Planked Canoe

An old strip planked canoe is a good restoration project
An old strip planked canoe is a good restoration project

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about a recent project–restoring a strip planked canoe.  These canoes are built by nailing thin wooden strips to a set of forms, and glueing the edges of the strips together.  Once all the strips are in place, a layer of fiberglass is glued to the outside of the built up canoe.  Then the forms are removed and fiberglass is glued to the inside of the boat.  This creates a rigid, light structure that one person can easily carry by themselves.  And they’re beautiful too! Continue reading “Restoring a Strip Planked Canoe”

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Building a Half Hull Model

Finished half hull model of the Palm Beach 22
Finished half hull model of the Palm Beach 22

In days of old boatbuilders would carve out a half hull model and show it to the client.  Once everyone agreed on the shape, the builder would take the lines off the model, loft it (see discussion of lofting here), and build the boat.  The half hull model was the starting point.  Nowadays, we have the lines already on paper, and we can use that to build a half hull model to represent the design of the boat in 3D.  Actually, we can model it in 3D on computers now, but sometimes one wants to do things the old-fashioned way. Continue reading “Building a Half Hull Model”

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Lofting the Palm Beach 22

Mack Brown helps with lofting the lines of the Palm Beach 22
Mack Brown helps with lofting the lines of the Palm Beach 22.  Look closely and you can see the curves of the boat!

So, we’ve decided on boat plans and purchased them.  We’ve detailed the lumber we’ll need and ordered it.  Now it’s time to draw the boat’s lines full scale.  That means we’ll end up with a 22 foot long drawing of the boat, since the boat will in fact be 22 feet long.  As a friend of mine in the construction industry used to say, we’re going to draw it at a scale of 12 inches to the foot.  The process is called lofting, because the only place big enough to do this in boat shops of old was the sail loft. Continue reading “Lofting the Palm Beach 22”

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Sea trials of the 1949 Chris Craft Deluxe Runabout

1949 Chris Craft Deluxe Runabout floats level and true
Dereck helped with driving the boat. He was the fastest, reaching 31 mph.

Finally! Sea trials are here!

Click here to see a short video of the sea trial.

Eventually, a boat ends up in the water.  There are lots of things to check when that happens.  Does it float?  Does it float level?  Does it float anywhere near the design waterline?  Does the engine run?  Does it steer properly? etc. etc. Continue reading “Sea trials of the 1949 Chris Craft Deluxe Runabout”