Anyone built a kit from Clark Craft?
Dan Julio
This is going to be my first boat building project, and I'm wondering if
anyone has had any experience with kits from Clark Craft in New York. Is the
quality reasonable, or are there better companies to go with?
Don McCall
My first-ever WOOD-working project (much less boatbuilding) is a Clark
Craft 14' Cartopper; if I had to do it over again, I'd probably go with
a Glen-L design, based on positive comments I've heard from over on that
side.
The boat's turning out great (frame is built, side panels are on, now
shaping/fairing/beveling the frame for the bottom panels), but it's
taken much longer than expected, and I'm not really sure how much of
that is do simply to inexperience, and how much to sketchy plans.
For example, I received a "general" set of plans for building boats
with this method, and a "specific" set of plans for this boat in
particular. The plans sometimes contradicted each other, the
sketches and drawings were few and sometimes very hard to make
sense of (especially concerning the "transition" joint in the
hull), and I'm not too sure about some of the dimensions in the
plans. For example, the sketches, drawings, etc, show quite clearly
that the widest part of the boat is at frame #2, but the actual frame
dimensions in the specifications showed frame #2 to be about 1" narrower
than #3. When I assembled the frames according to the patterns then
frame #2 came out about 1" wider than #3, as expected, so I just assumed
there was a mistake in one of the spec sheets and proceeded accordingly.
However, cutting the frame members from the patterns and assembling them
isn't too precise, either, because the patterns had such wide lines
(nearly 1/8" inch in some cases) it wasn't always clear exactly where to
trace and cut. So, lots of unnecessary "rethinking", agonizing, etc.
Maybe ALL plans are like that, and require lots of final eyeballing,
fairing, shaping, etc, but this seems a bit sloppier than I would have
expected. Like I said, turning out great but taking lots more time and
effort than anticipated.
Also... don't get the Clark Craft brand of epoxy glue, it's so viscous
that pouring and measuring are a real pain. Go with System Three....
Good luck!
Regards,
Don McCall
D. Stephen Metz
Something to note about Clark Craft is that the plans they sell are mostly those they've bought
the rights to, whereas some other companies (Glen-L for example) only sell plans they have
developed (and built) themselves.
What this means is that the quality of plans from Clark Craft will vary from one boat to the next
depending on the designer, age of the design, etc. so it may be difficult to judge the quality of
the plans you would get based on the experiences of others.
You could always do what I did and order a set of plans and see what you think of them. (I ended
up not using the ones from Clark Craft but Your Mileage May Vary).
Considering the cost and especially the effort of building even a small boat, it's worth a little
extra time and effort (and money) up front to get a set of plans you feel good about working from.
Hope this helps and remember to have fun with your project! :)
--
D. Stephen Metz
Portland, OR
If God had meant for us to use metrics, he would have
given us 10 fingers...oh...
D. Stephen Metz
D. Stephen Metz
Don McCall wrote:
>
> The boat's turning out great (frame is built, side panels are on, now
> shaping/fairing/beveling the frame for the bottom panels), but it's
> taken much longer than expected, and I'm not really sure how much of
> that is do simply to inexperience, and how much to sketchy plans.
> For example, I received a "general" set of plans for building boats
> with this method, and a "specific" set of plans for this boat in
> particular. The plans sometimes contradicted each other, the
> sketches and drawings were few and sometimes very hard to make
> sense of (especially concerning the "transition" joint in the
> hull), and I'm not too sure about some of the dimensions in the
> plans.
>
> Regards,
> Don McCall
I'm building my first as well (the Glen-L 12 Sailboat), so I'm not exactly an expert myself,
but...
I think boat plans often assume a basic understanding of boat building (frame building, fairing,
planking, etc.) that first-time builders don't necessarily possess. I bought the book "Boat
Building With Plywood" from Glen-L and that helped tremendously as it covers plywood boatbuilding
in much more depth than the few pages one normally gets with their plans.
One of the things I didn't fully realize before I started my project was the huge amount of time
it takes to properly fair (plane, sand, etc.) the frames so the sides and bottom fit well. Of
course, I enjoy this sort of thing or I would not be building my own. By the time I finish
(within a few weeks I think), I estimate I will have spent approximately $2,500 and three months
building her. I went to a used-boat show last weekend where I saw several sailboats of the same
size (with trailers) for significantly less money, but of course saving money isn't really the
point in building your own boat.
About that "transition joint"; The reason there needs to be a transition joint is because on most
boats the side and bottom are nearly perpendicular at the stern, but become nearly parallel at the
stem. In order to have enough material to fair at the intersection of the sides and bottom, and
so that there is a wide enough contact point to make a good glue joint, the bottom overlaps the
side all the way from the stern to about midway between the forward-most frame and the stem, where
it becomes a butt-fit with the side. In order to accomplish this, you cut the bottom so that it
fits well with the side near the stem and at some point suddenly becomes several inches wider and
starts overlapping the side instead of butting up to it. Where this point occurs depends on the
thickness of your plywood and the severity of the curve from the stem aft. There should be a
point where it is difficult to butt-fit the bottom and side together because the angle between
them has become too acute. That is where the transition joint occurs.
Hope this helps!
Jacques Mertens
"D. Stephen Metz" <dsm...@europa.com> wrote:
>Don McCall wrote:
>>
>> The boat's turning out great (frame is built, side panels are on, now
>> shaping/fairing/beveling the frame for the bottom panels), but it's
>> taken much longer than expected, and I'm not really sure how much of
>> that is do simply to inexperience, and how much to sketchy plans.
snip
>I think boat plans often assume a basic understanding of boat building (frame building, fairing,
>planking, etc.) that first-time builders don't necessarily possess. I bought the book "Boat
>Building With Plywood" from Glen-L and that helped tremendously as it covers plywood boatbuilding
>in much more depth than the few pages one normally gets with their plans.
Good point: plans for amateurs are usually much more detailled than
plans for boat yards but still, the plans are not supposed to be a
boat building course for complete neophytes. The Glen-L book is great
for plywood boat building.
>One of the things I didn't fully realize before I started my project was the huge amount of time
>it takes to properly fair (plane, sand, etc.) the frames so the sides and bottom fit well. Of
>course, I enjoy this sort of thing or I would not be building my own. By the time I finish
>(within a few weeks I think), I estimate I will have spent approximately $2,500 and three months
>building her.
The same size and type boat can be built in stitch and glue in a
couple of week-ends, look just as good and be much stronger . . .
>If God had meant for us to use metrics, he would have
>given us 10 fingers...oh...
I second that tag line . . .
Jacques Mertens / Mertens-Goossens NA Boat Plans Online!
http://www.bateau.com/
jm...@aol.com
Donald E. Chambers
I built a little 12 ft sailboat from Clark, well, maybe ten years ago. I
don't know how relevant my experience is because of the size of the boat
and the distance from present. It is the same company as far as I know.
The plans weren't expensive, they were good enough so I didn't have to
call them for explanations (a good test I think), and they were on target re
thier estimates of materials required. This was only the second boat I'd
ever built and I didn't have very good tools but it still worked out ok.
I really enjoyed building this little thing for my kid; it was easy and
satisfying. But I also have to tell you that it wasn't a very competent
boat. All the same, everybody liked to mess around in it. I'd seek the
names and phone numbers or addresses from Clark Craft of folks who had
built exactly the kind of boat I was ordering before I built from
Clark Craft plans again.
I built a couple of Phil Bolgers sailing dinghys, the plans for which I got
from good old Dynamite Payson. The plans need a little explanation but
Dynamite is always entertaining to talk to and he'll answer the phone
with laconic but quite expert advice.... and he'll calm your fears.
The boats were very good on the water and a great pleasure to sail.
You'll find his ad's in Wooden Boat. Send me an email for his address and
phone number if you can't locate it otherwise.
Don Chambers
"Sophia"
AHaffke
Dan Julio wrote:
>
> This is going to be my first boat building project, and I'm wondering if
> anyone has had any experience with kits from Clark Craft in New York. Is the
> quality reasonable, or are there better companies to go with?
I built a small tunnel hull from Clark and had good luck with the plans.
I don't know how any of their other plans are in comparison but I would
have to agree in principle with some of the other responses about mixed
quality when they buy the rights to other plans.
I also thought most of the plans (including the one I built) were a
little outdated. This may be true with all of the plan suppliers. I am
trying to find more current designs for offshore boats. Let me know if
you know of any suppliers.
Good luck!