Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
14' Drift Boat
Looking for plans to build a 14' Drift Boat for one person most of the time. Maybe two people 10% of the time.
I don't need a full set of plans, because I already have a full set for a 16' drift boat.
Anyone know where to get just some rib dimensions for a 14' boat?
I'm not looking for a kit.
Thanks for your help.
Views: 1134
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mlwebb on
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Roger Fletcher's book or plans would be the ticket. http://www.riverstouch.com/index.htm
Michael
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Permalink Reply by Bryan Bowers on
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Spira international has some great plans for smaller drift boats. They aren't free, but better priced than most on the net. I built his 14' "canadian" drift boat but it actually measures out at 15' (I stretched it a bit between ribs). The 13' mackinaw sounds more like what you are looking for. www.spirainternational.com
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Permalink Reply by Riverman on
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I have the Spira Canadian plans, but haven't built it yet... thought it might not have enough rocker. Please tell me about it... plenty of rocker? Width ok? Happen to have any pictures? Thanks
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http://picasaweb.google.com/southedisto/DriftBoatBuild?feat=directlink
There you go.
Works well on our eastern rivers and tailwaters. I have had it on flatwater and up to class II rapids and it handled all great. Been on the Watauga in Tenn, the French Broad and the Tuckasegee DH section in NC and a couple of flat rivers in SC. Plenty of rocker and very stable. 8' oars are a perfect fit and you don't have to spend big $$ to get good ones in that length.
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I'll be on the Tuck around the 18th of this month but without my boat. I'll take the drift boat up there just after Christmas if the weather is decent. I'll try to remember to give you a heads up if you want to check it out but you might want to send me a reminder around that time. If you get a chance pick up the November/December issue of American Angler - I just did a story on the Tuck. Another will be out with Eastern Fly Fishing next July.
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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What weight fiberglass are you going to epoxy on to the sides? What are the rapids like in your rivers? What are the chances you will hit rocks? How much rafting or drift boat experience do you have?
I ask these questions because I'm hoping to determine the durability factor you need for your boat. The less experience, the bigger the rapids, the shallower the river, the sharper the rocks, etc, the more durability you will need. Look at the pictures from the Wooden boat Festivals and such. I don't think that you will find a boat with 1/2" sides.
You can combine layers of fiberglass, weights of fiberglass cloth, whether or not you fiberglass both the inside and outside of the plywood or even whether or not you add some Kevlar fabric.
Do a search for fiberglass cloth and you can find some more good information and have a variety of opinions to sort through.
Once again, good luck.
Happy Waves to You!
Rick Newman
Half-inch plywood is pretty heavy and more difficult to bend and shape. Again there are some good discussions on hull materials and weights.
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Yep -
3/8" is what I used on the sides and 1/2" on the bottom and it is plenty durable enough. I epoxied over my sides but only fiberglassed the bottom and seams. If your going to fiberglass everything on the outside you probobly could get away with 1/4" on the sides but I would stick with 1/2" on the bottom covered with at least 2 coats of graphite epoxy over the glass. Rivers like the Tuck are shallow and rocky and the bottom takes a pretty good beating.
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Riverman, do you have your sides, stem and transom built yet? The reason I ask is you can design your own ribs, not real easy but depending on your skill level you can determine the amount of rocker you will have by the amount you tilt the sides out once the sides are connected to the stem and transom. If you look on Montana River Boats site, Sandy's explanation on building and designing a stitch and glue boat can be used to determine the dimensions of the ribs.
Essentially you connect ten ends, then temporarily space the interior bottom edges 48" or whatever width your bottom will be. Sandy suggests just using some chipboard or similar scrap wood.
The next step is to then separate the interior top edges until the ends of the boat pull up the estimated amount you want for rocker. Sandy shows you how to build an adjustable temporary frame piece. this can be moved around until things start to look right.
If you are using Roger's book you should know where your ribs will be placed. So after establishing an initial idea of where you might want the boat's lines to be you continue to add temporary ribs from the center on out alternating front then rear and so on. As you palce and adjust the temporary ribs you can get a better idea of the boats lines. When you are satisfied that the lines are fair, or have pleasant curves and look right to your eye then you can replicate the dimensions of the temporary ribs.
However this is where the fun and woodworking skills really come to play. The temporary ribs will not be in full contact with the boats sides. Now you must think in several dimensions, use your handy dandy bevel tool and thinking chair to achieve the proper angles and fit. Twenty five dollars gives you access to Sandy's plans and detailed construction techniques, it will help you with this process.
I hope that this makes sense. Another way to try out this process is to use a stiff material like a file folder or something stiffer to make a scale model of the boat. Say 1" of model for every 12" of boat. Since you already have some of the basic dimensions you can replicate at least part of this process before cutting any wood.
However it would be difficult to determine the bevel and angle for each frame member, but you should be able to determine the width of the bottom ribs and the length of the side frame members.
Contact me if you want and keep posting your questions, there are lots of folks that can learn from your experiences. If you can build a boat from scratch like this you can be an Southern US knowledge source for others! Maybe even have your own Wooden Boat Festival out there.
Dave Z, another frequent contributor has his own web site where he shows a lot about he builds boats. He is Pennsylvania. His web site is http://thtchronicles.blogspot.com/. Look through some of his older posts for boat building details.
Rick Newman
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