Frames go in!

Gardner calls for a "baseline" of 28" above the building jig (boat is built upside down).  The middle mold goes 2" below the baseline, the two outer molds 2.5".  So, although I have painstakingly leveled and plumbed the jig itself, I figured why take any chances.  This string is set to be 28" above the jig.  It also happens to be level front to back.  So theoretically, as long as I measure correctly down from this line, everything will be lined up correctly.  Of course, this is all just a double check since I worked for hours leveling the frame too.  But what the heck.

With the string in place, I could then measure off it to set the height of the bottom of each mold.  These little blocks of wood correspond to the amount of offset from baseline to the bottom of the mold.  You can't see it, but they are also lined up on the center of each mold.  So putting them in was just a matter of lining the center line up, leveling with a spirit level across the top, and making sure the block just kissed the string line.  Pretty slick if I do say so myself.

Couple shots of the frames going in.

And one from end on.

 And finally, because I'm paranoid, I cross-braced the bejesus out of the whole thing.  Hey, with this little working space, I'm bound to trip over stuff.  Might as well nail it down good.



Moved the jig up onto some small sawhorses and levelled it up today.  Should put the working height at the keel at about 40 inches or so.  Next up is putting the molds on the frame!!  

Pick a boat, pick a spot, start building

tada.  Riverfront bateau is the winner.  I've wanted to build it for years, so what the heck.  If I don't do it now, I'll just keep wanting to build it next time, and the time after that. 

So I've picked a design.

Now, where do I build it?  I have a garage, and my wife graciously offered to let me work in her parking spot during the project.  But....if I do that, I'm going to want to get done quickly so she can have it back.  I don't want to rush this, I want to take my time and pick away at it.  That's the whole point.  So I've decided to build out under my boat shed.  Problem is, there's already a big ol' glass boat under it.  So today I moved it backwards a bit, and as far over as possible, and I think I have the room cleared.  Gonna be a bit snug at times though.  That's the start of the building jig on the right.  My "double dory" cataraft (little white things) on the left, and the Seafair in the back. 

I have also cut out what Gardner calls the 'molds' for this boat.  I had thought I might just perty them up and leave them as a permanent part of the boat, despite the fact that Gardner specified a different strategy.  Upon further review and advice from others who have more time in grade than I, I think I'll stick to his plan instead.  Maybe a few mods later, but not this one.  Most of the fun for me is tinkering with stuff, I'm not much of a plan-follower.  But I'll find some other tweaks to make.  The bottom one goes in the middle, and the other two are twins that go towards either end.  This boat is dead symetrical fore and aft.

Rather than just double them up as is often done, I figured I might as well make cleaner half-laps.  Of course, now that I've decided these will be temporary and not stay in the fnal boat, there really wasn't any point.  Oh well, kept me busy for a couple hours.  I'll probably hit them with the belt sander to clean them up, just in case I do end up keeping them in....(don't tell John K.)

19' Heavy Bateau, John Gardner "The Dory Book"

18' Riverfront Recapture Bateau, John Gardner "Classic Small Craft You Can Build"

My header

What's up with metal boats?  I live in the land of the aluminum boat.  Oregon is ground zero for the aluminum boat industry, and they can be great boats.  But come on, they're METAL.  Fiberglass is bad enough, and I own one, but mine has wood IN it.  Therefore, it has a soul.  Albeit a small one. 

I like to flick my metal-boat-owning friends crap about their soulless boats.  Just for fun.

Git busy livin....

Background.  I'm a weird guy.  I'm into oddball stuff, always have been.  Not oddball like biting heads off chickens or getting neck tattoos.  More like "shoulda been born 200 years ago" oddball.  I like to make stuff.  Beer, bows, boats, you name it.  If it can be made, especially if it can be made from wood, I'm likely either interested or have already tried it. 

I just turned 40, hence the tag line.  Not that I haven't been livin' up to now, but what the heck.  For my birthday, the family all ponied up donations for a "winter project", otherwise known around here as a boat.  I can't claim to be a boatbuilder yet, as I haven't done more than dabble so far.  But I'm working on changing that. 

I got into boats late.  When I was about to graduate college, my uncle picked up an old plywood runabout to fix up.  My dad and I spent months helping him re-do it.  That pretty much hooked me.  Subscriptions to Woodenboat followed and have stuck. 

I built my first "boat" in my mid-20s.  Thankfully there are no surviving pictures of said boat.  It was loosely based on the Six Hour Canoe, but made from left over plywood (3/8 on side and 3/4 on the bottom as I recall), and I put a torpedo stern on it of all things.  Weighed a ton and leaked like a sieve.  But it did float.  Last I saw it was on the burn pile behind the barn I used to rent as I was driving the U-Haul away to a new job. 

About the same time, I picked up an old fiberglass skiff that needed a new floor and restored that to run around in.  When my wife was pregnant with our daughter, I tackled what has probably been my biggest and most successful project, the Baby Tender, from Jordan Wooden Boats.  It's a cute little lap strake cradle boat that now resides in the attic, awaiting (VERY patiently) my future grandchildren. 

Got rid of the first glass boat in the mid-2000s and picked up another glass boat, a '59 Glasspar Sefair Sedan that also needed a floor and transom replaced.  I replaced all that and some of the mahogany trim and have been using that for several years now.  It's a good boat, but it is a product of modern chemistry, which will probably not ever sit "just right" with me, but I can live with it.  Somewhere in here I've also re-done a couple of small plywood skiffs.  One a 10 footer that I never actually put in the water, and the other a 10' drift pram that I used quite a bit, but eventually sold.

And most recently, I built a little rowing catamaran of my own design last winter.  Picture one of those inflatable one-man rowing catamarans, but made of plywood.  It turned out pretty good, a few things I'd change, but not bad.  Not my best finish work, but it is a workable little boat.

So, now what?  Well, I've decided that in addition to the cuddy cabin outboard boat, the family and I need a fairly light rowing boat to dink around local lakes and streams with.  This will be a rowing-only boat, as I have yet to learn to sail.  Someday, but first things first.  Plenty of hobbies for now.  I had dreams originally of making a cartopper or a boat that fits in the pickup, which would negate the need for a second trailer to store at the house.  However, it is pretty apparent that cartop boats that can hold 1 large adult, 1 small adult, 1 kid, and 1 small dog, are pretty much a pipe dream.  And what I've found for pickup bed boats are frankly, well, just too darned ugly. 

So I've settled on a narrow beam, lightly built boat that will live on a trailer, at least during transit.  My last project was full of epoxy "stitch and glue" which someday, I will do again, but not this time.  Just too messy.  I want to be able to put a screw through a glued up piece of wood and go to bed, without having to wonder if the epoxy will kick in this weather or whatever else.  It's great stuff, don't get me wrong, but this time I want something more "traditional".  I don't have a ton of money available either, so it needs to be pretty much on the cheap.  I did score a load of miscellaneous mahogany (meranti allegedly) planks for trim and frames, so that cuts down a lot of costs.  Basically any hardwood needs are covered (frames, etc.).  I want to be able to use plywood for the planking, and I'm not up for cutting lapstrakes this time. 

So with those combinations in effect, the designs that are jumping out at me are:
18' bateau by John Gardner - plywood boat, minimal framing, lighlty built, but looks to have good capacity
19' bateau by same, pretty much the same boat but a tad bigger, downside is that I don't have a detailed plan available for this boat like I do the 18'.
Bolger long dory - this is the upsized Gloucester Gull.  I think it might be just big enough, but I saw one with one guy in it, and it looked pretty well loaded up.  Still might work.

That's my short list.  I've looked at lots of other designs and have crossed them off for one reason or other, some I cant' even remember why. 

Next installment: Picking the design and laying out the building jig.