any wooded boat builders out there??

[mikewhite]

Hi there i am looking to build a wooded boat for the first time, to teach myself to sail in.
The boat needs to be car topable, yet big enough to carry approx 500lb bulk with some free board left! ... oh ... and cheap!

I have been scouring the free plans on the web and many of the plans (circa 1940) look quite difficult to say the least. I did find some small single sheet skiffs (7'8'' LOA) (http://www.simplicityboats.com/minisharpie.html)which look easy to build, but this looks unlikely to carry me + 1 comfortably. Is it OK to simply scale up? say build out of 3/8" ply and scale up to fit on a 10'x5' sheet?? how would i calculate the maximum load / displacement on this??

Failing this does anyone know where to find (or even have) easy to build plans for a simple beginners sailing skiff cheaply.

Any advice/comments would be welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

Hey Mike, that Summer's Breeze you see on that link is an award winning 'simple boat'. With further digging there are a few yahoo chat forums dedicated to those boats and boat building.

I have built the ultimate simple boat called a geodesic boat. http://www.gaboats.com/ There is a sail boat design also.

I have some pics, but there on a different hard drive.....will dig some up.

There are some very active yahoo forums of people building these boats. Again, everything is on another computer....I'll try to dig that up.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

Building a boat would be fun, and great satisfaction when (if!) it floats, but do you want to devote the time and expense of building one before you learn to sail (to see if you like it) and commit to a certain size? a car-topper will be very limited as to what you can do, so think abuot your (and your crew's) boating objectives first: racing, cruising, etc.
Wooden boats take a lot of care, too.
So maybe start with a cheap used fiberglass boat--or rent one--to see what suits you?

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/

This site, is the guru to wooden boat building that iboats is to motor boats. You will find more than enough information there. The forum is very active, lots of great helpful guys.

Here are some pics of my two wooden boats I'm working on....

Cut down, milled, jointed and planned my own stringers and ribs.

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I bought this one when my son was born. I'm taking it apart and rebuilding to give it to him as a learner.

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[klrbruce]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

I've built many wood strip canoes, have one now that I need to finish up final details on. I'm a cabinet and furniture maker so wood is easy for me. Beware: when you add up costs of materals and labor these are some of the most expensive canoes I've seen. I average $250-$500 in materals per canoe. They are beautiful boats and I enjoy making them. If you are just looking for an inexpensive alternitive to get a small boat to learn to sail in, I suggest that when you get plans you like, calculate up your materals. It may be cheaper, easier and a lot quicker to just pick up a small used sailboat..If it is something you want to do research it well, especially your glues and resins.

 

[Sean-Nos]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

I built mine from GLEN-L plans, I know its a power boat but they do have a lot of sail boats worth a look,The plans are full size so no lofting and they can supply everything you need.

 

[mikewhite]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

Thankyou for the relpys everyone.

As to learning to sail, i already have (and love) a 16'4" motor cruiser have sailed (toppers) rowed and generally played on boats as a kid. So there is not a concern there.
I have been looking at a simple skiffs to buy, but (i) i dont really know what i need from a skiff in terms of length, model, rig etc (ii) the cheapest i have been able to find are upwards of ?300 and look quite tatty besides.
In terms of materials i was not intending any boat that i need to completely sheath in glass/epoxy and this seems to be the most expensive components.

...oh and duckworths is great thanks!

 

[wa_ssv197]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

I second Duckworks! Great plans, some FREE even.

 

[Dave Barnett]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

My son and I built our own little pond popper. It was a great project and some of the most fun I've ever had. We looked all over the web but never found a plan that suited us so in the end we just looked over a lot of plans to get the mechanics right then designed it ourselves. You tube has a lot of videos that really can help. There are a lot of free boat plans on the web that would be fairly easy to re-design.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: any wooded boat builders out there??

Have you seen these.

http://absolutelyfreeplans.com/Boat Plans/boat_plans.htm