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 Shawn Baker on
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60: trimmed the bow post. Had a crack in one outwale lamination, so that got a fix. Traced her name on the side panel. Cut the hinge stock to length. Cut the latch landings in the hatch frames. Also cut in the latch holes in the lids...plus drank rum and listened to aloha music. It was a good evening
On the hatch landings the vertical plunge cuts were cut with a 1 1/4" blade in the oscillating tool...no idea how I didn't have one of these on the first build!!! They're crazy useful. I've said before I don't use it for hours on end..I use it for minutes or seconds to save me hours or minutes with other tools.
The horizontal face and back surface were cut with a 3/4" blade. I'm using the cheapest blades I can find from eBay. the 3/4" one is stainless...not quite as sharp as the HSS one, but it's more heat-resistant and stays sharp longer. only used a 3/4" chisel to clean out just a little bit of the upper inside, otherwise, the oscillating tool plunge cuts were easy-peasy.
Here's one of the minor embarassing parts, but sharing the fix in case anyone else needs to do similar.
Had too much stress in the cedar from cold-bending the gunnels and it split up at the bowpost. If I had laminated the cedar and the jatoba, the laminate would have taken the curve, and this probably wouldn't have happened.
So I smooged in some thin epoxy, then some thickened epoxy and re-fastened the screw. This spot will get a bronze through-bolt to handle the stress long-term.
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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I am glad you share the good things and the learning / teaching experiences as well!
Rick
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Yeah, then if I help someone else, it's not "do as I say, not as I do.."
It's "yeah, I've had an oops as well..here's how I fixed it!"
We don't want to admit our mistakes, but we all make them. How do we fix them?
More importantly, how do we fix them so they look nice!?!
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Boy, I could write a thick book on that! Oh, you were talking about building drift boats not life! I could fill up two books! Look back on my page here and see how many times I redid parts of my boat. That's why I tell people I built my boat four times!
Perhaps we need to teach a class on how to turn errors into compliments!
Rick
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63: trimming the outwales when BANG! the left side split..just over from the previous split, the vibration from the multitool let 'er rip. Old dry cedar. Glad it was here and not on the river. Re-sawed it into 3/8” strips and glued it back together. Added some backing glass at the oarlock. Should have cold molded them in the first place. Will definitely through-bolt it.So that stalled my progress.Started a ukulele case...Used 2x4's to space the faces apart. 3.5" inside is just a tad skinny..will add a small rib at the bridge and fiberglass inside and outsides.Then will sand/rout the edges, fiberglass everything visible, and saw the top off once the glass cures.and younger daughter made some tiller extension handles for a friend.
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Permalink Reply by Dave S on
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Too bad that cedar split on you. Sweet looking boat design and work. I love the uke case.
‘Dave
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Fixed the cracked outwale.
Was one piece. Outer seam is the split that was reglued; inner seam was resawn...so was once a 2-piece outwale (1 cedar, 1 jatoba) and now is 4-piece (3 cedar, 1 jatoba).
Will laminate next time.Ukulele case progress:
Yet another concurrent project:
Ripped some beautiful clear tight-grained doug fir for oar shafts
And glued them up.
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Keep up the hard work!
Rick N
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66: through-bolted the gunnels so I could finally trim and seal them, set brass threaded inserts in the gunnels for the oarlock stanchions
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Nearing the end of this active build...launch day is on Sunday 4/17!
67: varnish! Both the unpainted portion of the sides, the gunnels, and two pairs of oars got varnish last night.
These are actually the oars for Lil Bastard...started them last fall before this boat project began.
7.5' long, 7" wide blades since they're only 24" long. Crazy light doug fir shafts a bit under 1.5" dia.Jatoba and curly maple accents...even the shafts...made from all scraps!Set of 9-foot driftboat oars I'm building to consign at the local fly shop. All douglas fir and walnut.
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You continue to do fine work. Good luck on the maiden voyage!
Rick
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68: Hatches, latches, and hinges.
Varnish on the gunnels was still tacky, so no oarlock stanchions or deck hardware (yet). Will do that and gaskets tonight.
Should get a weight on all 3 boats in the morning.
Launch day tomorrow!!Stern hatch is cavernous. will do gaskets tonight.
lower side panels. The spar varnish over epoxy/glass over the stained wood is a bit amber colored, but I like it. May sand it and clear coat it later, but needed to get it ready for the water.
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