[Yacht And Small Craft Construction: Design Decisions, 2nd Ed Book Pdf

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Gildo Santiago

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Jun 12, 2024, 9:40:50 PM6/12/24

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In 2002, after more then 40 years of paddling canoes and kayaks, nearly 20 years of building and repairing boats and almost as many teaching, I started to design boats. My focus has been on the boats I know best: small craft, kayaks, double paddle canoes and prams.

Yacht And Small Craft Construction: Design Decisions, 2nd Ed Book Pdf

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Currently I offer five boat designs. Three kayaks and one double paddle decked canoe and a pram. Please touch base if you have questions on which boat might be best for your needs. Here is a link to a gallery of photos about my designs and building process.

I've just completed building my first boat, a stitch-and-glue sailing dinghy built from plans. Building it was a lot of fun, and I learned so much in the process. You'd think after reading Messing About in Boats for a few years the actual building of a boat myself would hold few surprises -- WRONG.No, I didn't learn how to get a perfect varnish finish, or how to cast bronze hardware. I learned simpler, more basic stuff. Just things you never encounter outside of building a boat, no matter how many bookcases you build for the den, or how big that garden shed is you built. And this was just an 11-foot dinghyLesson #1 - Full-size Patterns vs. LoftingThe Loonfeather plans come with full-size templates for all the pieces of the boat. In fact, they're all on a single piece of paper! The idea is to use a dressmaker's pattern wheel to cut through the pattern and make indentations on the plywood surface underneath. Heaven only knows how the designer made this up. One imagines he built a boat, then tore it apart to trace it. The pattern wheel trick works splendidly, especially on a smooth luan plywood surface. Now imagine how tricky this first step would be if you had to loft the plans yourself from a set of measurements? Lofting is a two-day class at my local maritime museum. In my opinion, a first time boatbuilder working alone should avoid lofting. A goof here will cost you dearly.Lesson #2 - Thin plywood cuts like butterNow I've done my share of work with plywood, but I was really surprised at how easy it is to work with " plywood. I guess I'm more accustomed to thicker plywood. There's not much call for " bookshelves :-) This stuff cuts like butter. Put a nice hollow-ground blade in your little saber saw and you won't even have to sand it (so I'm not a perfectionist). My saber saw is the cheapest variable-speed saw I could buy, and it's ten years old. Worked perfect. A fancier, heavier saw would not have been as good. The fancy scroll features some have aren't useful here, and light weight is.Lesson #3 - There are no right anglesThere are no right angles. Think about it. There are no right angles. Your square, your framing square, your combination square - put'em away. There are hardly even any straight edges! The most useful tool you can have is a long thin springy bit of wood (known as a "batten") to lay down on your plywood and bend into a smooth ("fair") shape. Something to smoothly connect-the-dots of your pattern-marks. And as someone else once said, if you find a nice batten, hang on to it. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a nice knot-free strip of wood eleven feet long.Lesson #4 - There's nothing to measureYour tape measure has a certain utility, but by and large this is a free-hand project. If it looks right, it is. In most cases there's just no way to measure what you're looking at. See Lesson #3. So put away your tape measure and your yard stick.Lesson #5 - It really is an instant boatThe initial cutting of boat parts from plywood is dramatic and fast-moving. The day you wire it all together and it takes on a "boat" shape is truly exciting. You've built a boat!! Your friends will be amazed. Lesson #6 - It's not really an instant boatHave you ever driven past a home construction site every day for a while? You'll see lots of activity at first, but, no progress - just a foundation. Then suddenly, between when you drove by in the morning and when you pass by that evening, there's a house! The studs are up, the roof trusses are in place, roofers show up in no time. You'll have to meet the new neighbors soon but no you won't. There's a surprisingly long period between the house taking shape and the last carpenter walking out the front door. What happened? It's all those pesky little pieces on the inside that slowed them down. And guess what? It's the same on your boat!I did the first phase of my boat under a tree in the backyard, I figured I'd have it fiberglassed and water-proof in no time. Well, some other stuff intervened, but the last phase of the boat seemed to take forever - it was a good thing I had a house with a basement by then.Lesson #7 - All boat building projects get interruptedIn between the first few weeks of my boat project and the last, there was a three-year hiatus. We moved to a new house, I changed jobs, my wife changed jobs, there was a death in the family, hurricane Fran hit, etc. At first, I thought it was just me; but then I noticed lots of other telling phrases in letters and articles where other folks had the same thing happen. Huge, long time-outs from their boatbuilding. It must be an immutable fact of nautical life.Lesson #8 - Never let your project take too longWhen I began my boat, it was the most ideal boat on earth. It had a novel seating arrangement, it could be car-topped, you could sail it, row it, sleep in it. It was perfect. Well, after three years I realized the most comfortable seats are in kayaks, my back is so bad I'd never be able to car-top it, I no longer wanted to row anything and I'm not going boat-camping. Times had changed. My life has changed. Don't let your project take too long.Lesson #9 - It's not going to be perfectAs the boat nears completion, you begin to realize it won't be perfect. After all, this is your first boat. No one is going look at it and say "Which store did you buy that boat from?". Little imperfections creep into any big project. And even a small boat can be a big project. There are many opportunities to screw up. The big screw-ups you tear apart and fix, but if you try to fix all the little screw-ups you'll never finish the boat. I guarantee you that most unfinished boats stop here, when the builder realizes it won't be as perfect as he dreamed it would be.Lesson #10 - It's going to be good enoughThe Loonfeather's designer made some marvelous design decisions. There are many, many points where a roughly cut free-hand edge is capped by a smoothly curved bit of edging. Or where that hard-to-fit triangular bit in the bow can be installed at any angle that fits the shape you cut. Gradually, you begin to see that your screw-ups won't be so obvious. In fact, you'll forget a lot of them ever happened.The long gunwales on the Loonfeather would be just a raw " plywood edge, an edge you had to cut free-hand. But the plans call for two thin strips of pine that you glue and twist along the edge. Then you can come back and sand the plywood down to meet the smooth pine edging. It really looks great. But now, you realize that you need a special toolLesson #11 - Buy an electric sanderI don't sand my projects much. Just take off the splinters and get a good coat of paint on it. But on a boat, every ripple in a curved edge stands out. So, unless you want to sand by hand for the rest of your life, buy a sander. Not some sissy-little vibrating thing, I mean a belt-sander. We're talking "wood removal" here. The one I bought takes 3" belts, I guess it's the smallest model they make. That's the kind you want: small and light.Lesson #12 - It going to look pretty goodEven with my limited skills, the design of the boat will keep it from looking too bad. In fact, it looks pretty good. At ten-feet you'd look at it and think I'm a master carpenter. Up close, well, you won't get splinters in your hand.My next boatNow that I'm an expert (he-he) I know exactly what the next boat will be. First it'll be small enough not to take over the entire basement in case it takes a long time to finish. Second, I'll try to schedule enough time for it so it doesn't take a long time to finish. There are these skin-on-frame kayak plans from Hobbycrafts. They say it can be built in 10 hours... and it ought to use even fewer tools! I'll let you know how it turns out.- So much for construction -

After thorough consultation, I made the decision to proceed with the project. Matt provided a formal quotation for the supply of pre-cut pieces in 6mm ply, recommending the use of WEST SYSTEM Epoxy products for adhesives and fillers as necessary. Moreover, he extended the option of including a dedicated boat trailer to serve as the build platform. The entire set of components was scheduled to be available for delivery within a six-week timeframe.

Although initially contemplating building the boat in the garage, its integration with the house and limited space led me to reconsider. Anticipating potential dust-related domestic issues, I explored alternative options. Fortunately, a local farmer offered the use of a somewhat dilapidated and considerably dirty cowshed for a six-month rental period. Determined to make it work, I undertook the task of cleaning, repairing the sliding door, and establishing a functional workspace. I ensured all-around protection with cost-effective tarpaulins. Additionally, I secured a second-hand woodburning stove, chimney, and an apparently endless supply of broken pallets to maintain a reasonably warm environment.

I incorporated small drilled holes at intervals through the laminations. These holes served the purpose of allowing me to monitor the epoxy flow between the laminations as they were clamped together. Commencing with the rudder, which proved successful, I proceeded to the centreboard. The inner laminations of the centreboard had a rectangular hole cut near the tip, designed to accommodate lead sheets. This strategic addition served to bias the board down when installed in the boat.