One sheet of plywood boat.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

One of the reasons I have been crazy busy was this little project.

 

As usual my Christmas is spent at work away from family. We are no longer allowed to drink and the last few have been dire affairs.

 

The three usual suspects onboard (Me, Captain Ian and Ivan the third mate) decided that this year we would entertain the troops.

 

The format decided upon was a boat race in Lerwick Harbour on Christmas day. We agreed that to keep costs down the boat would be made out of a sheet of plywood. The engine budget was to be £50.

 

Lots of discussion and debate ensued and then eventually we brought wood and got on with it.

 

I started with a bottle of rum and some cardboard one evening and made a model to check my ideas worked.

 

To be continued.....

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

The next stage was a scale model, which I used to build the boat from.

 

This also allowed me to play with concepts for artwork on the finished boat.

 

It's also available to make if anyone wants the file

[Pullstart 59,571]

I see on the cover page that your boat was the winner!     from ashore!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Just now, Pullstart said:

I see on the cover page that your boat was the winner!     from ashore!

Annoyingly I lost - will get to that later!

 

But I am a firm believer in mind games, this was all part of the buildup - beat them before we even start. I also had custom made coffee mugs for the fanclub.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

The scale model was built and then there were no more excuses - let's build this thing!

 

Weapon of choice was a little Japanese pull saw - this project was almost entirely done by hand.

[Pullstart 59,571]

What’s your wood thickness?  I wood (pun) guess 8-10mm?  @formariz would enjoy your works!  I have an uncle who began building a 20 something foot canoe out of strips of wood.  It’s nearly finished, then he lost interest and became ill.  Lots of clamps, glue, and patience!

Edited January 31, 2023 by Pullstart

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

What’s your wood thickness?  I wood (pun) guess 8-10mm?  @formariz would enjoy your works!  I have an uncle who began building a 20 something foot canoe out of strips of wood.  It’s nearly finished, then he lost interest and became ill.  Lots of clamps, glue, and patience!

I opted for 5.5mm plywood, and could have used 3mm for the deck but didn't bother as the weight was within allowances.

 

Completed boat only weighed 27kg which was quite good.

 

You can see the calculations on my boat building computer - we worked out that the hull could in theory hold 350kg.

 

I built another model and using scale weights tested it in the ships galley at 3am. The depth the model sat in the water was incredibly accurate when later compared to the real boat.

 

This was done due to boredom as the actual boat was at home and I couldn't work on it.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

@formariz   Lots of clamps, glue, and patience!

 

I didn't have many clamps so used screws to hold the awkward  bits - rough, but this was a budget build!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

After cutting out, the hull was joined together with cable ties at 20cm intervals along it's length.

 

There was a bit of trimming required to make the middle join how I wanted, but no big deal.

 

The shape wasn't quite right with the bow rising too sharply like a banana, whereas I wanted it flat. This was simply a case of marking where I wanted it and then cutting. You can see the progression in the photographs. 

 

At this point I didn't have any epoxy resin so the whole boat was built then dismantled a few weeks later when the resin arrived.

 

The transom (stern) was made of scraps and hollow except for reinforcing for the outboard motor.

 

At this point the boat is just one sheet of ply - but I wanted style and safety so decided to add a deck to prevent water coming in.

 

The outboard is a Volvo Penta Archimedes - a cracking little 2 stroke 4hp that cost exactly £50.

[Sailman 1,125]

Very nice! Puts me in mind of the original Optimist Sailboat. All my kids learned to sail on one.

From Wikipedia;

The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15. The Optimist was designed in 1947 by American Clark Mills at the request of the Clearwater Florida Optimist service club following a proposal by Major Clifford McKay to offer low-cost sailing for young people. He designed a simple pram that could be built from two 4' x 8' sheets of plywood, and donated the plan to the Optimists.

The Optimist is the biggest youth racing class in the world. As well as the annual world championship the class also has six continental championships, attended by a total of over 850 sailors a year.

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Sailman

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

5 hours ago, Sailman said:

Very nice! Puts me in mind of the original Optimist Sailboat. All my kids learned to sail on one.

From Wikipedia;

The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15. The Optimist was designed in 1947 by American Clark Mills at the request of the Clearwater Florida Optimist service club following a proposal by Major Clifford McKay to offer low-cost sailing for young people. He designed a simple pram that could be built from two 4' x 8' sheets of plywood, and donated the plan to the Optimists.

The Optimist is the biggest youth racing class in the world. As well as the annual world championship the class also has six continental championships, attended by a total of over 850 sailors a year.

 

I used to sail them when we were kids, great tool for learning the trade.

 

We were lucky enough to grow up with the yacht designer John Spencer in my home town. He designed a little yacht called the "firebug" which was similar to an optimist but far superior at sailing. I briefly had the original one as a teenager. The class never quite took off which is such a shame.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

At this point I decided that style and safety dictated another sheet of ply should be used.

 

A nice deck to stop water getting in at extreme lean angles  (it saved me from a swim) and then a bit of style with a coaming/wind deflector.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Finally found a use for the iron - decided on a rounded wind deflector to make my life as awkward as possible!

 

That was just over two days work, then it was time to head back to work for two weeks - my baby would have to sit idle until then.

 

The kids call me "Dazzle" because I'm a bit of a showman  - couldn't resist getting in with my motorcycle helmet on

[Sailman 1,125]

13 hours ago, Dan.gerous said:

I used to sail them when we were kids, great tool for learning the trade.

 

We were lucky enough to grow up with the yacht designer John Spencer in my home town. He designed a little yacht called the "firebug" which was similar to an optimist but far superior at sailing. I briefly had the original one as a teenager. The class never quite took off which is such a shame.

Very interesting. Wouldn't take a lot to sail better than the Opti....

Are you using any of the West System epoxy? I have a wooden charter boat that was built "cold molded". The west System is amazing stuff and easier to work with than fiberglass resins. I use it extensively for repairs on wood and fiberglass boats. You might consider a fiberglass / epoxy coating over the hull.

[SylvanLakeWH 24,093]

 

West system is great stuff! Easy to work with both as a coating on wood and as a resin for fiberglass...

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

4 hours ago, Sailman said:

Very interesting. Wouldn't take a lot to sail better than the Opti....

Are you using any of the West System epoxy? I have a wooden charter boat that was built "cold molded". The west System is amazing stuff and easier to work with than fiberglass resins. I use it extensively for repairs on wood and fiberglass boats. You might consider a fiberglass / epoxy coating over the hull.

 

3 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

 

West system is great stuff! Easy to work with both as a coating on wood and as a resin for fiberglass...

I didn't use West System, but more or less the same product. It was my first experience of using epoxy, it's fantastic stuff!

 

Hull is glassed as you will see soon 👍

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

After getting home from my two weeks bouncing around the North Sea it was time to kick thus project into gear.....

 

Except we had a two week holiday in France first! It isn't often we have a break so this was a welcome chance to be forced into inactivity.

 

That said, I brought a saw and spent a few pleasant hours chopping firewood - being a tourist doesn't suit me!

 

Anyway, we got back to a Scotland and project "SeaBestia" went into top gear.

 

Temperatures had plummeted into the minuses and I needed at least +5 for the epoxy. After a few trials I eventually sourced and installed a wood burner into the workshop.

 

The little boat then needed dismantling and rebuilding with epoxy resin and epoxy fillets holding her together instead of cable ties. The process reminded me a lot of welding metal together.

 

The epoxy fillets were then taped and more epoxy applied for an incredibly strong joint.

 

Epoxy filler (I used Talcum Powder mixed with the resin, for the filler and the fillets - very nice smell) was applied to fair the hull and cover any holes.

 

The hull was then flipped over and prepared for a sheet of glass cloth to be applied over the entire surface.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

This bit was terrifying - laying cloth and then applying resin.

 

I put it off as long as I could, but eventually it had to be done.

 

The cloth was laid on the hull then cut to shape. A layer of resin was then applied to the wood and the cloth put onto that, smoothed out and then another layer of resin was forced into the weave with a roller.

 

You hear lots of horror stories about bubbles etc, but it actually went very well with a perfect finish. It was almost enjoyable and gave the little boat a tough waterproof shell.

[SylvanLakeWH 24,093]

Nice job! 

 

Thats not easy to do well!!!

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

2 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Nice job! 

 

Thats not easy to do well!!!

Thanks, it was incredibly nerve wracking, but just taking care with laying out seemed to work. I also used the slow hardener which gives more time to work the material.

 

Despite all that I read, foam rollers were a bust, they just melted so I ended up using fluffy ones which were excellent!

 

Very pleased with the results, and the skills learnt in this silly project are invaluable.

 

Oh, I also found out that if you mix up too much resin it generates so much heat that it goes off in minutes....lesson learnt, and it's expensive stuff (see photo).

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Now that I had a waterproof hull curiosity got the better of me. 

 

We carried her up into one of the fields and a frozen water trough. After a few minutes work with an axe SeaBestia tasted water for the first time!

 

Enjoy the video 

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/rTfnsI2ZRvo?feature=share

Edited February 2, 2023 by Dan.gerous

[Handy Don 10,567]

On 2/1/2023 at 1:38 PM, Dan.gerous said:

Ingenious using the zip ties and PVC stubs to hold the hull pieces together. My boat builder friend used twists of copper wire on his plywood kayaks--tedious.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

4 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Ingenious using the zip ties and PVC stubs to hold the hull pieces together. My boat builder friend used twists of copper wire on his plywood kayaks--tedious.

The pvc stubs made an incredible difference, pulled everything into line whereas before I put them in the centreline was quite "wavy".

 

I think the only advantage to wire would be smaller holes, but you have to fill them anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

After sea trials and thawing ourselves out it was time to get the last of the fabrication  and resin work out the way.

 

The windshield, side decks etc all needed epoxying, filling and taping in preparation for the painting and artwork.

 

The curved front was a complete nightmare - I should have used thinner plywood but time was getting short so couldn't start again.

 

All the joints were taped, but again in hindsight I should only have taped the insides and left the outside smooth with epoxy filler.

 

It was starting to look like a real boat now - quite exciting to see my baby taking shape.

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

Next up is sanding and painting.

 

I only had two days left before needing to take the boat to work for the Xmas race. This meant the next part was a bit rushed!

 

Cheap spray paint was the order of the day, not the best but it would do for now.

 

I had problems masking up as the paint was a bit soft  - really not the time to be rushing!