Boatbuilding

The stems of most boats are designed to take the abuse of collision, accidental of course, and are often made of hardwood, oak, ash, or something similar. The ends of these stitch-n-glue boats are not hardwood, but simply the join of two 3/16″ thick pieces of plywood. They are made stronger by the addition of fiberglass cloth and by an “end pour” of epoxy resin. The “end pour” can be done by standing boat on end and pouring a puddle of epoxy resin about an inch deep into the end of the boat. While I know that hundreds of these boats have been built that way, it does not appeal to me. I would rather reinforce that area with the traditional material, wood. Well fitted, it will be just as durable, maybe more shock absorbent, and certainly much lighter.

My wooden stem fillers are made from spruce retrieved from the (good lumber) cutoffs pile. Shaping them now before the hull is glued closed makes it easy to get them right. They’ll be glued in place after initial hull glue-up.

As always, click on the photo for a larger version.

The aft bulkhead doesn’t fit as well as I would like, probably a consequence of the lofting error that kept the garboard plank from joining the bottom well. When the bulkhead’s bottom edge is flat against the bottom, the top does not rise high enough. When lifted up, the top section fits very well but leaves gaps below. Some builders of stitch-n-glue boats would suggest using it anyway. Just wire it so the top meets the sheers and fill the bottom gaps with thickened epoxy. It will be reinforced with fiberglass tape anyway. I figure that structural members ought to fit well, so I’m not happy with the gap filling suggestion. I remade the part.

Of course, there was not enough left over plywood for the complete part, only enough for the bottom half. OK, lets cut and butt join. How should that spliced on piece be laid out accurately? The corners are the critical point and there are only four. The other lines can be constructed if they are accurately marked. Ah-ha, a quickly made pointing stick will do the job. I’ve seen some complex shapes defined with pointing sticks. I inked the lines on the back (never seen) side of the bulkhead to show you the technique. The builder’s triangle on the stick was not for the usual up / down, but to show which surface is visible, eliminating any error due to the point not being precisely centered. (See, precision is not essential in all layout tools.) The rest is a matter of waiting for epoxy to cure, cutting to the new lines and trimming to fit more snugly than the original part.

Jamestown Distributors provided a ship date well off into the future when I ordered the hatches and some other things from them. Then, they beat that estimate by well over a week. Exceeding expectations is always a good way to keep customers happy.

The bulkheads close off the ends of the boat, forming watertight flotation chambers. Many people also use these areas for storage of the things they take along on their canoeing adventures. Access can be by hatches cut into the deck, or by hatches cut into the bulkheads. The true voyager likes the deck hatches for frequent and easy use. We won’t be using our canoes for voyaging, so the much simpler bulkhead hatches will do just fine. Round “deck plates” are the solution of choice for bulkhead hatches.

My turning saw, a bird’s mouth bench accessory, and a rasp made the work easy.

It’s a shame I don’t do videos. You would have enjoyed watching me reassemble the turning saw after inserting its blade through a pilot hole in the bulkhead. With tension loosened, a turning saw is an extremely loose collection of parts, and a human does not have enough hands to keep the parts together while reassembling it “in space.” Hint: use a little piece of masking tape to hold one end of the blade in its socket, and a short piece of string tied loosely around the toggle to keep it were it belongs.

Did you know that this is National Procrastination Week? Probably not. Formal announcements are planned for next week. (maybe)

The stitching is not done yet. A few more parts need to be wired into place. A fore and an aft bulkhead go in next. Two deck support knees also get wired into place. The building guide suggests trimming these parts to fit and after they are fitted start tightening all those ties. I found that the planks were not pulled well enough together (with the loose ties) to allow good fitting of the bulkheads. So, I did the tie tightening first. The boat gradually transformed from a flimsy shaky floppy uninspiring collection of parts to a pretty firm hull. It was a lot easier to know where to trim the bulkheads with the planks better aligned.

The bulkheads form watertight flotation compartments. Each bulkhead will receive a round hatch, and the holes for the hatches need to be cut before wiring the bulkheads into the boat. Some time ago, I procrastinated about ordering the hatches, and now I wait while they are on backorder.