Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Black Eagle mini dory (was: baby Briggs build)
I love my big 17' Jerry Briggs-inspired Grand Canyon dory from Andy Hutchinson's plans, but she's way too big for day runs. Time to build a little boat.
10'-6" LOA
60" beam
36" floor width
~23" deep at the oarlocks
I made three paper mockups, and two smaller 1:12 tagboard mockups. One final 1:6 cardboard mockup before committing to plywood:
Cut the plywood. One piece ripped diagonally lengthwise, the bow panels out of the width of another sheet. Side panels 11'-10"
I was having a hard time getting straight scarfs with my saw jig, so I cleaned them up from here with a ROS and 60-grit. You want the ramps to all touch the previous sheet and the glue lines parallel. The top piece was really ugly and got re-cut entirely. This isn't fancy AA marine ply, just $30 AC ply from the box store. Not worried about knots; I'll be glassing the entire boat inside and out.
I like woodgrain. Used a latex exterior stain. Oil based stains can interfere with the epoxy joint.
Epoxy on the joint faces and clamped/screwed for the night.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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Really looking good, but I wouldn't expect anything less! I think it looks good to have a contrast of bright finished wood against paint. Do what feels good to you!
Rick
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Permalink Reply by Shawn Baker on
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I appreciate the feedback. I sometimes have a great vision of what I want to do, but other times second-guess myself and need to know how it looks to someone else's eyes!
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Day 50: one final touchup on the fairing coats
51: more sanding, more primer, and a coat of paint around the gunnel blocks
Can just make out the difference in paint color. White primer in the middle, and gloss around the perimeter 6-8" and gunnel blocks so I don't have to carefully paint around them behind the inwale.
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52: Inwales
Dropped the lids in place, just because.
used all the clamps again.
had some cracking in the cedar on the outside of the bend. It was DRY. Has been in my lumber rack probably 18 years.
So I slathered it with epoxy and clamped it.
this is a prototype boat, and it's also intended to be USED. Besides, if I whacked a wall, I'd fix it the same way. Going for a great job, but not perfection. Yes, I could replace with a perfect new piece, but I also want to launch it in 2 weeks. Full send!
Learn from our mistakes--and share our mistakes so others can learn from them.
Will sand and post more pics after it's varnished.
Pulled the clamps this morning.
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53: Routed, sanded, and epoxied the gunnels
Routed with a 1/8" roundover. Had to touch the corners slightly with a rasp.
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54: top coated the white paint. Ready for the accent and center colors.
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55: real paint!
Masking the "football"
Used tabs of 1" tape to space out the inner mask
I use the bandsaw to make my own 1/4 inch white masking tape, then clean up the cut edge with the disc sander.
Then we start painting! This is Rustoleum Smoke Gray enamel. Also available in rattle cans (easy touchup!!)
Very close in tone to the gray stain on the sides.
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Permalink Reply by Guy Fredrickson on
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Wow. That’s looking good.
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Thanks Guy!
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Day 56: Sanded the hull and hull top stripe
My lovely assistant helping me turn the hull
The tedium of sanding
The top stripe:
And pics of the footbrace in progress
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Looking great, I respect the hard work it took to get here!
Rick
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57: No paint, and invisible progress.The white paint wasn’t fully dry, so not quite ready for the accent stripe.This is a step I really dislike doing, but it makes for a much stronger deck to side panel joint. I save the little 45° bevel strips from other steps and glue them into the seam, then will put fiberglass tape over them, which makes for a stiff but lightweight seam.More wood strips and clamps are used to press the bevel strips into the curved joint.
A view of the stern hatch from below...let's look above
I use scrap wood strips and clamps to press the fillet strips into the deck/side panel joint.
This is more easily done with the boat inverted so gravity helps somewhat. It still requires crawling under the boat on my knees, but is easier than hanging down from the deck with my head upside down and all the parts trying to fall down to the floor of the boat.More clamps and strips. I mix epoxy and cabosil to a mayonnaise consistency, smear that into the joint, press the strip into the goo, and then smear the thickened epoxy smooth.
More clamps..and strips
A view of the bow hatch from below.
Many builders glue rectangular frames to the side panels and lay the decks on the frames.
I like to have all bare wood encapsulated in glass; it's really hard to lay glass over a rectangular part (note most of my deck frames/hatch lips had 45° bevels) so these beveled strips are easier to glass over...but it's really hard to clamp a 45° triangle to a flat side panel in that early step, so I do it at this time and make them fit the deck, rather than making the deck fit the frame.This strip had quite a bit of curvature...I actually 'cracked' it so it had less stress. It doesn't need strength longitudinally...but does help a lot in shear.
The tools of the trade: kneepads and a headlamp.
Here's a cross section view of what the completed joint will look like.
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