Boat Plans Aluminum | Opinions are like assholes

Boat Plans Aluminum

Everyones got one.

Every now and then Ill ask a boat-related question on a public forum or email list.  It sure isnt a problem getting people to weigh in with their opinion, thats for sure.  The challenge, actually, is picking through the dross of misunderstanding, inaccurate information, speculation, and completely made-up answers to find the grains of expertise and knowledge.

This is precisely why I picked the boat designer I did, because they has already provided me with a wealth of trustworthy and well-respected information about boatbuilding before I ever bought my plans (read Boat Plans: Choices Made and Not Made).

For the most part, during my build, Ive hewed pretty close to the plans and the recommendations of the boats designer.  Im all for experimentation, but Im also deeply respectful of the experience and expertise of those who came before me.

In the planning stages, there were boats I liked that came close to what I wanted, but differed in some way from my vision of our little shantyboat.  I definitely flirted with the idea of taking those plans and making significant modifications.

I resisted that urge, for the most part, and picked a boat design that met my needs, at least in terms of hull design.  

For the changes I did plan to make, I had the good fortune to be able to talk to my boats naval architect and get his advice on these modifications (read Questions for the Old Man).

The opinion in boatbuilding forums is often to take this design and lengthen it, or add one of those or one of these.  And Im sure for those experienced boatbuilders, such modifications would be a breeze.  But what about the first-time boatbuilder, the person just starting out?

I think people get excited sometimes about sharing what they know, but forget that there is a bigger picture.  Too often, I think that picture holds the very real possibility of a half-built boat collecting rainwater in the backyard of a frustrated amateur boatbuilder.

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Boat Plans Wood | Correcting Mistakes II The Usefulness of Square Corners

Boat Plans Wood

When we went to put sheets of plywood on the top, er, bottom of the boat hull, they didnt really line up.  WTF?  It seemed unlikely that four sheets of plywood were manufactured not quite square, so we had to look elsewhere.

When we assembled the stringers with the cross beams, we had squared the pieces more or less, but little errors at the quarter inch level really add up over a 20 foot boat.  We hadnt thought to square the boat up as a whole unit.

So now we measured corner-to-corner to find that there was a difference of about and inch and a half.  Not giant, but enough to make the plywood fit funny on top, er, bottom.  We hadnt made a rectangular boat hull, wed made a parallelogram.

That night I had a dream:  We were using a come-along to square up the boat.  Brilliant!  Thanks, subconscious!  So that morning, we grabbed my come-along and screwed big-ass eye bolts into the opposite (long) corners.

My come-along didnt go the distance, so we borrowed a hooked chain from the boat trailer and doubled it up.

We worked for a while to find the route for the chain and the come-along that when tightened wouldnt tear the building form apart.

We then started working my rusty come-along to square the boat.  Kai was working the come-along originally until she realized with horror that one of the two stops that keep the ratchet from violently unratcheting broke off and fell out.  She didnt want to have to explain to people for the rest of her life about that gnarly scar across her forehead so she passed on that job.

So I got to work the come-along.

After a half dozen clicks under tension the boat was approaching square.  Oh wait, too far.  Back off.  Whoops, too little.  More tension.  We played that game back and forth for a while.

Until finally the two corners were within a quarter inch of each other. Once we got the sheeting on the bottom screwed and epoxied down, the boat would stay square.

Next we sheet the bottom of the hull.


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Boat Plans Building | Those Troublesome Skegs Finishing Touches

Boat Plans Building

So the skegs are mounted, but the carriage bolt countersinks are still there.  Lets fix that.

I bought a hardwood dowel of the same diameter as my countersink holes.  Happily, the grain ran crossways the length of the dowel, making sweet little plugs when I cut little coins off the end.

A story in pictures.

So glad to be done with the skegs. Heres how the process left me feeling...

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Boat Plans Nz | Roof Rafters The cabin takes shape

Boat Plans Nz

When we disassembled the Hollister chicken coop, we got a bunch of beautiful old 1x12 redwood siding, a shitton of corrugated metal, a handful of old dimensional redwood 2x4s, and finally, a dozen or so roof rafters, complete with birdsmouths.

True they were old and some were a little worse for wear, rotted at the ends or showing signs of termites, but most were quite usable.

This is an awesome diagram with much of what you need to know about roofs in general. Terms youll need for our shantyboat roof are common rafter, ridgeboard, birdsmouth, eave, gable end and gable end stud, ladder, collar tie, and rafter tie (also called a ceiling joist).

I sorted the good rafters from the marginal. The usable but marginal ones I treated with CopperGreen Clear and cut off the bad parts.

Since our shantyboat is smaller than the original chicken coop, I cut the rafters down to size, decreasing the overall length as well as the length of the eaves. I carefully cut the angle where they met in the center and re-cut the angle of the birdsmouth.

I laid them out on the floor of the barn, and used a temporary plywood collar tie (leaving a slot at the top for the ridgeboard) to keep everything from going wonky while I struggled to secure them into place.

With some ridiculously awkward effort, I got the two end rafters up supporting the ridgeboard.

Then one by one, I installed each of the rafter pairs.

Finally, I added a permanent collar tie to each of the inside rafter.  I suppose soon I will have to add a ladder to support the gable overhang and a fly rafter.

At the end of the day, for the first time, I was able to see the shape and size and height of this crazy boat.

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Boat Plans And Patterns | Hull Ends

Boat Plans And Patterns

Oh god, at the end of every work day when we are high-fiving each other, we are always marveling at just how much more boatlike the boat looks. But today, for reals, at the end of the work day, the boat doesnt just look boatlike -- technically if you dropped it in the water, it would actually float for several minutes. Today, we attach the hull ends. 

We start by beveling the edge of the bottom sheeting. 

And since we are cutting up two perfectly good pieces of plywood with complicated angles, we draw a picture to help us.

We cut our first cut along the edge and our second cut after we snap a chalk line.  After that, we check for fit and, magic!  It fits. 

We had already put on a first coat of thin epoxy.  Now I needed to thick coat and screw the ends.  I think I did this epoxy work alone, which might have been a first.  So I was a little busy and didnt take a hundred intermediate photos.

However, when done, I took celebratory photos from almost every angle.

Again, screws every 3 inches on the edges and 6 inches in the field.  Thats a couple hundred screws. 

So at the end of this day, if the boat were flipped over and plopped in a pond, it would float for several minutes before slowly settling to the bottom.  Exciting.

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Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Correcting Mistakes I

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

Today, the chickens come home to roost.  Remember that pesky three degree error?  As we assembled each of the stringers, we could see that the pieces didnt come together quite right.  It would have been laborious but simple enough to cut new ones, but oh no. 

I figured I could just cheat the difference on either side.  But that left an irritating overhang on the ends of the stringers.  We knew that when we put sheeting on the ends, that little overhang was going to be a problem.

So I attacked the overhang with a handsaw. 

And then a sander.

It came out looking pretty sweet. 

Three degree error erased.  Like it never occurred.  Maybe we can just forget it ever happened.  (Well, except for the blog, I guess.)

So now we put the first thin coat of epoxy on all the frames.

This prepares the way for us to start sheeting the bottom and the ends.


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