Wooden Boat Plans And Kits | More Cabin Planning

Wooden Boat Plans And Kits

If youve been following the blog, you know that one place that Im diverging from the Glen-L Waterlodge plans is in the cabin.  While I have been true to the plans while building the hull, I am increasingly going off into the wild blue as I design and build the cabin.  The original plans called for a cabin that looks like this:

My modifications look like this:

Here are the details I didnt mention in my last musings about the cabin. It always surprises me that finish details often end up having a bearing on the framing of a structure.

Wall Construction

Cabin wall exterior finish:  Board and baton (with beautiful ancient redwood)

Cabin wall interior finish:  None, boards exposed inside

The cabin is almost two foot lower than the deck. Doors open outward at the top of stairs at deck height -- or maybe they should open inward. I will bring the studs down into the hull to secure them.

I was fretting about the wall design, whether to use 2x2s, 2x3s or 2x4s.  I was worried about the wall being burly and strong enough to hold the cabin together, but thats just because of my history as a home builder and familiarity with standard stud construction.

In standard frame construction, I imagined the 2x4s forming little natural nooks inside the cabin, that with a cabinet door could hold the innumerable things that clutter up a boat. Broom, fishing poles, gaff, a million other things.

Chicken John, always ready with an opinion, opined thusly:

"Im not looking at your design. I didnt read the other comments. Whatever it is you are building its too heavy. After your 5th revision and youve got your weight down to less then 800 pounds, then we can start talking about the simple fact that whatever is on top of the water you need kinda the same thing under the water. Or you will be punished. Get an apple. Bite into it, deliberately  Understand the leverage that your teeth are using. Bite again, even slower. Identify all the physics involved. All the muscles. The sharpness of the tooth, the rigidity. Feel when the apple surrenders to the teeth. Then ask when you boat surrenders to which force? And remember that the kayak is the result of 10,000 years of nautical design."

Chicken poetically argues for lighter construction on the topside. So I guess steel armor is right out. I heard others, including the boats designer Glen L. Witt, similarly expressing concern about weight.

My friend Scott was worried about the weight of the board and baton, but not the sheer strength:

"Boat and batten convey a surprising amount of sheer strength. Im not so worried about diagonal bracing; and a pair of X-crossed cables could provide lightweight sheer if needed. Theres also two feet of stud locked to the hull thats providing sheer, and its locked in a hole in the deck. Its not going to parallelogram no matter what you make it out of."

Bob on the Shantyboat list offered some great suggestions regarding wall width, insulation, and construction technique.

If you are going to use 2-bys I would use 2x3s perpendicular.  You would still have some space for small jars, containers, etc.  I have done that in a Tiny House build, leaving the inside open and gluing in more horizontally for shelves. Works great. I would make any shelving easily removable and live with it that first year with your heat source.  That way should you decide insulation would be better you can remove them easily to make insulating easier.   

I will probably do board and batton secured every two feet to spacers without plywood. This is ancient redwood and having that redwood facing in will feel sweet. Only worried a little about water/weather proofing, but there is always construction adhesive and caulk.

Roof Construction

Roof style:  Gabled
Roof finish:  Corrugated metal

The cabin will have a gabled roof and yes, I know that its totally absurd on a boat for a number of reasons, including height, weight, and wind resistance.  However, I really appreciate the aesthetics  It is this absurd vision, in fact, that inspired me to build a shantyboat.

Impracticabilities aside, a gabled roof is really quite practice in a number of ways. Lots of storage space, an overhead bunk can fit in the gable, easy to hang stuff from the rafters. It feels big and beautiful and homey.

The roof will be gabled fore and aft.  This gives a view forward from the bunk through a small window in the gable.  It also keeps the height lower at the edges most likely to have a brush with overhanging trees.

Ill be skimping as much as possible on the roof to save weight.

• 1x6 roof center beam
• 2x4 rafters on 24 inch centers (to support corrugated metal)
• 2x4 cross ties on 24 or 48 inch centers, to support an overhead bunk

Perhaps that gives you a little better idea how things will likely be constructed, and what kind of self-imposed constraints I am working with.

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Plywood Boat Plans Australia | Fancy Pants New Renderings

Plywood Boat Plans Australia

Since I originally made my 3D sketches of the shantyboat, a few things changed, a few things forgotten about were remembered, and Ive learned a lot about the boats construction. I wanted to reflect those changes in my 3D sketches.

 In these renderings, you can see the addition of the head which bumps out on the aft porch a bit. Also, of course, the motor well and Mr. Johnson have been added.

Less evident is that I positioned the floor correctly 21 inches below the deck. I also resized and repositioned the windows.

Here are colored and textured versions of same.

What you cant see from the outside is the bucket shitter in the head.

There you go. 3D rendering doesnt make anything more real, but it does help me understand some of the challenges Ill face when I start constructing the cabin.

Also, please note that I was unable to find a Queensland heeler 3D model for Hazel, so for now, the border collie continues to be a stand-in.

This is a rendering of you trying futilely to get on the boat while my 3D models callously look on unwilling to raise a finger to help.

UPDATE: I spent a ridiculous amount of time learning how to create 3D components from illustrator files.  New rendering, now with more Hazel dog!

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Pontoon Boat Plans Aluminum | A Big Flippin Deal

Pontoon Boat Plans Aluminum

For months Ive been wanting to flip the boat hull so I can start working on the topside. This is no easy feat as the thing is 8 foot wide by 20 foot long. It will take at least 12 people to flip it safely and lift it onto the trailer. I originally planned it for late last year but the scheduling didnt really work for people, and honestly there was a lot of stuff, particularly with the trailer, that could be done before the boat was flipped.

So here we are in early spring, and its time to flip the boat.  I sent out an invite to a few friends who I love working with or who had been dying to come see/work on the boat.

"There will be good beer (and rootbeer) and BBQ sausages and veggie burgers. It will be fun and harrowing and crazy. We will all feel like Superpeople at the end of it. Id like to find the weekend day that you can make it. If it doesnt sound like something you are into or are too busy, feel free to pass with no guilt."

I found a weekend that most everyone could make. I made arrangements with the nearby fire station for parking so we wouldnt be overrun by cars on Lawrences farm. Jen offered to run a shuttle back and forth.

This is the Final Details email that went out to the dozen friends who were planning to come:

"The Plan: We will be flipping the boat shortly after noon.  So maybe we will have a quick snack, a beer to calm our nerves, and discuss The Plan.  We will stand the boat on its side, then lower it down on its hull, then after we catch our breath, lift and carry the boat to the boat trailer. By the way, Ive seen video of a dozen people flipping the hull of this boat, so Im reasonably confident that this is possible."

It was important to me that this be a social and rewarding experience. The farm where the boat is being built is one of the most beautiful places in the world to hang out on a sunny day and I wanted to share that with my friends in style.

"BBQ and celebration: After the boat is flipped and safely on the trailer, we can celebrate with a BBQ!  Ill make sure there are sausages and veggie burgers and some beer at the BBQ. If you want, you are welcome to bring other BBQ/picnic style items.  Suggestions: hot dogs, chips, your grandmas potato salad, fancy homebrew, fruit salad, pie/cobbler, corn-on-the-cob, coleslaw, and sauerkraut."

Id checked in with the land owner and indeed they had some (gentle) reservations. I prudently added this to the communication with the Boat Flippers:

"Fine Print: The land owner may have concerns that someone will be crushed on his property (though I think it is unlikely), so I might ask you to sign something to release my generous boat-landlord from liability. Hope that works for you. I really want to work hard to respect any concerns that Lawrence and his family might have."

The day was bright and sunny, a perfect spring day. Jen shuttled people from the parking site. People arrived promptly, signed a release, and had a snack and a beer.


We took a while going over The Plan.  We talked about safety and how we wanted to protect our precious soft little bodies. We even demonstrated with our hands as a visual aid, precisely where everyone would stand as we flipped the boat.

At the end of our discussion about The Plan, just before we sprung into action, I asked the most important question:

"If any of you are thinking something right now, that later, after everything goes horribly wrong, you might say Yeah, I was wondering about that, or I thought that might be a problem, I urge you to share it with us now."

There were no strong concerns or reservations and so we sprung.

We fiddled with the trailer to make lifting the boat onto it easier and safer. We brought the tongue down and put a tire over the hitch mechanism to protect the hull.

We got into places with some butterflies in our tummy.

We went over The Plan one more time.

Jen had an important role.  She was responsible for making sure the hull landed on the tires that we had laid out to receive the boat.

Okay, wait, one more time. Just making sure we got The Plan.

With a count of ONE-TWO-THREE-LIFT! we lifted the hull to a vertical position.

At the ends, we needed people responsible for keeping the hull upright while everyone else transitioned to the other side.

 Alex and Myriam were at one end.  Kai and Frank were on the other.

Meanwhile, everyone else went around to the other side and prepared to lower the boat. James, Mikey, Charlie, Jason, Jeremiah, Baerie, and I.

Another countdown and we were slowly slowly lowering this crazy heavy object from a vertical position (which somehow seemed gnarlier than lifting it).

There was some concern that the bottom would kick out as we lowered it, but it didnt.

High-fives all around.

Now we took a deep breath and prepared ourselves for lifting the boat onto the trailer.

 How heavy will it be? Who knows?

Will we even be able to lift it? Hopefully, but we dont really know.

Someone suggested a test lift. Good idea! Lets see how heavy it is by just lifting it a little bit. We will lift it and then put it right back down.  Okay, ready, lift!

And up it goes! Its not a million pounds! This is do-able! Someone suggested (probably me), Fuck it, lets just do it. So we do it.

We lift and carry it to the trailer.

And on the trailer it goes.

Later, several people tell me that there werent really enough people at the front. So they werent up there thinking, "Oh, how light! How nimble!"  They were up there thinking, "Arrrggghhh! What happened to the Test Lift?"

Again, I am reminded -- as if I should need another reminder -- about the importance of sticking with The Plan.

A round of celebratory Boat Boarding! Kids, dogs, everyone!  Hadasa, Nitzi, and Ziva were the little ones who joined us on Boat Flip day.

And now its time for barbecue!

Kai and Hazel warmed up the BBQ.

After a few beers, it seems imperative that the boat building form must be removed from the boat right now.

More high-fives!

And we hang around for another several hours stuffing ourselves with sausages, cobbler, Baeries homemade cider, and beer.

Thanks to awesome friends who made this not only possible, but tremendously fun, my favorite boat work day so far. And thanks to Madrone who was official photographer for the day.


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