Wooden Boat People

At 4:16pm on July 20, 2009, lhedrick said…: I think the forum at montana-riverboats.com will get you more information since it is more of a frameless S&G set of builders.

Forgot to mention fiberglass what will be the inside face of the side pieces and sand them before putting them on the frames.

As for the process. The fillets will come later. What you need to do is get the sides on to the temporary frames. Before glueing on the bottom take a long look at the hull from a lot of angles. Follow the lines, you wand it to be straight and symmetrical. Use clamps and straps to pull it to where you want it before you glue on the bottom. The bottom will hold it in place.

Next trace and cut out the bottom. Fiber glass what will become the inside of the bottom and another coat of epoxy to fill the weave. After the bottom is cut out and glassed paint epoxy on the bottom edge of the sides, the chine edge, the end grain of the plywood. Paint epoxy on the matching face of the bottom panel. Mix more epoxy and thicken up this batch with ground glass fiber or wood flour about the consistency of peanut butter. Trowel the thickened epoxy on the the bottom edge of the sides. Lift the bottom and put it in place. A few other hands will make this easier. You can now wire it up or just set weights on the edge. Whatever it takes to make contact is all you need.

The next day when the epoxy has cured, remove all the weights, cut the wires, remove the clamps etc. The bottom will now be secure. Get a rasp or grinder and round over the chine edge. Round over to something like the curve on a nickel coin. You can't glass over a hard edge.

Now proceed with the fiberglass cloth.

1 layer of cloth on the bottom lapped 2 inches over the chine
1 layer of cloth on the sides lapped 2 inches over the chine
1 more layer of cloth on the bottom lapped 2 inches over the chine again.

1 layer of 10 Oz 6 inch glass tape stem to stern.
1 layer of 12 Oz 6 inch bi-axial tape starting 3 foot from the stern up 3 foot from the stem.

For the bottom you can use kevlar on the outside for the first layer if you want to spend the extra money.

When all this is done roll the boat over and go to work on the inside. Fillet the inside of the chine. I use a 1 inch putty knife. Another layer of 10 Oz Cloth on the inside bottom. I layer of glass tape stem to stern. Cover with another layer of bi-axial tape along the center of the boat again this time on the inside.

You want the chine to be tough.

All this is easy, it just takes some time. To learn more about epoxy and fiberglass checkout the information at raka.com

At 2:00pm on July 20, 2009, lhedrick said…: Rogers book shows the Rapid Robert has 5 frames.

Just make the frames out of something like 1X5 pine. Don't bother to bevel the sides. You can put 2X4 legs on frames 2 and 4, attach the sides to those and then start bending it to shape by inserting additional frames and screwing them in place. Make and attach the stem by pulling it together with straps and clamps. Attach the stem to one side panel then after the epoxy has cured together pull it together. After the transom has been installed then just set the bottom panel on top, trace it out, cut then glue it down.

The build should be the same process and then after you flip it over remove the frames. ------

I have a friend who built a Rapid Robert and this year he took it down Westwater Canyon on the Colorado River above Moab Utah. Westwater is a Class IV run. Although I wouldn't recommend taking an open boat down Westwater he did fine. It's a great design and I plan on building one in the next year of so. Just completing a new 16 footer. Should be ready for the water next week.