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Building your own boat

17K views 86 replies 33 participants last post by  amwbox 
#1 ·
Recently there was a thread called something like "Is this a folly?" in which a member proposed building a small plywood boat, learn to sail it, and sailing it on a particular voyage. In the course of the discussion there were some who basically said, that makes no sense, and others of us who said, if your goal is to learn to build a boat that might not be a bad idea.

And in hindsight I thought it might be interesting to see what people thought about building their own boats. I have built a few with other folks and have restored a few as well.

As long as I can remember I have the idea of building a small, very simple pocket cruiser. I have had that idea for so long that the design concept has changed many times and as wildly as from something like an Egret style sharpie to something closer to the the Waarschip 700 LD.

So anyone else ever think of doing this kind of thing?

Jeff
 
#3 · (Edited)
As a teenager, together with a buddy we built a couple of runabouts, one from a bit of a kit. Make mistakes and learned some things (like how important a good strongback is)

Later, with another friend we ventured into building a mold with the hope of producing a series of small sailing dinghies - kind of 'reinventing' the Opti in a way. Learned lots about molds, mold release and other challenges (can you say 'Alligation?)

Anyhow in the end we built a wood mold, made one hull, took a female mold off it it and produced two more. Our kids learned to sail on these things and they are sailing still, so the dividend was there. I know where two of them are still.

All very small scale, and no systems or serious structures required so probably not really on point.. but one can take some of those lessons learned and apply them to a grander scheme...






Oh.. almost forgot.. did build a couple of other boats more recently but I'm guessing they don't count at all ;)

Note the radial twin keel design on this 'sleeper' :p





And now, back to the original serious intent of this thread!
 
#4 · (Edited)
I've always dreamed of it. I still have a model catamaran I built with my grandfather when I was about 10, it's a pretty nice model.

I have to wonder if boat building was just a normal part of sailing for early sailors. The farmers and fishermen who sailed Faerings in Scandinavia must have built them themselves, I don't imagine it would have been possible to go to a Viking boat dealership and buy one.

Native Canadians certainly built and maintained their own birch bark canoes. I know east coast fishermen built their own dories, because I've spoken to several who told me so.

Even more recently in the 50's I know my grandfather built his own boat, although he was into power boats with at a minimum a V8.

My Dad was an avid canoeist and I remember helping him when I was a kid, build his cedar strip canoe. She is fast, seaworthy and beautiful to this day.

My feelings are, I would appreciate a boat I built myself more than one I purchased.

The reason I haven't gone ahead with it, so far anyways, is it's a pretty indinmidating under taking.

I have an aquitance who bought plans for a Navigator and a slightly larger boat whose name I can't remember and just deciphering the plans and instructions would be a big job, at least that's how I feel after taking a look at his plans.

Personally, I think I would start with a plywood design under 23' long (the length of my garage).
 
#5 ·
In high school we built a 27' traditional wood planked sloop. Other than the springs in the winches, sails, bronze screws/bolts and the rigging wire, if memory serves we built everything else. Turned the turnbuckles on a lathe, cast the bronze winches, pintles and gudgeons, made the chain plates, in short all that stuff. We (I'm so sorry now, of course) stole the wheel weights off cars (for over two years) for the lead keel. It was a gas and I learned a great deal, foremost for me was that I much preferred sailing to building boats.
However, over the last half century I've met a few guys who are the other way around. They'll spend perhaps 10 years building a first class boat, go sailing once or twice and then sell it and begin again. It's a lucky person that's in the right place at right time to pick up one of these gems!
 
#6 ·
I have thought it would be an interesting project to build a larger boat from a bare hull. Something like the Nor'sea 37 or a Cape George 36+.

I have even thought it would be nice to get a boat in need of restoration and do full rebuilds, much like you see at Lackey Sailing.

Then, there's just getting plans and doing all the lofting and building from scratch.

While I thought of all these approaches, "life" gets in the way, so not likely to happen. While I enjoy working on my own boat, I'd really like to be out there on the water sailing it along with many of you. :)
 
#15 ·
Paul.. we like that print.. every boat is clearly recognizable, and local/Canadian.
The only thing (as our son reminds me) is that the capshrouds on the Tbird aren't quite right...
Definitely a BC coast vibe, though.
 
#8 ·
we built our own at the family boat build in Reedville, VA with the FIsherman's Museum. We had my wife, her father and mother, and my son as a team. We got it built, but life and college came along and we never got her rigged for sailing, but I still have her, and hope one day to finish her and sail, if even for an hour.

The experience and family time of 3 generations of "Campbells" my wife's clan was worth it, big time
 

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#9 · (Edited)
Building your own boat can be fun. But don't be deluded into thinking it will save you any money. Plus that these projects take a lot of time and the time increases geometrically with every foot of length. If you have never built a boat, the best thing to do is start small and build a dinghy. That gives you an idea of what is involved and teaches you a lot about materials and techniques. Then if you aren't discouraged, build something bigger. But remember, time is the big factor. It will take you a lot longer to build a 20 footer than it did to build a 10 footer, probably 3-4 times as much. That's assuming you have the time. I am fortunate, I'm retired and have plenty of time.

I and my dad and brother built a 13 foot OK dinghy back in the 60's. After I joined the Coast Guard the brother ended up with that boat. In the 70's I restored a Thistle while I was stationed in NY. That was a real challenge. It was one of the original cold molded boats and had some pervasive rot. Trailered it across the country to CA with a 2 year hiatus in UT. Used it for about 6 years. Got transferred from CA to DC so I sold it. Hauling it across the country again would have severely damaged it. After I retired in 2004, I built a 12 foot rowing dinghy, a 7' 11" sailing dinghy, and restored an 18 foot Sea Ray 190. Now that was a challenge. Took the better part of a year. That was in 2013 and I am still working on it bit by bit when I am not sailing or fishing.

These projects can be very satisfying, But if you'd rather be sailing than building, buy a boat. If you get satisfaction out of creating things then have a go. But you will spend far less time sailing.
 
#10 ·
Have also considered building something quick and simple that might perform well. Got catalogues of different designs, read up on Constant Camber and cold-moulding techniques (Chapelle, Ruel Parker AND the Gougeons)and secured a packet of drawings for the Norwalk Islands Sharpie 29 from Bruce Kirby and something a little bigger from Nathan Smith. Built two rowboats, a canoe, two kayaks and repaired a Blue Jay, Opti and 18' outboard skiff while drooling over Dudley Dix's ideas and reading everything that Woodenboat put in my mailbox. Not enough time to build something big enough to stand up in and go places. It's a fun idea, but I already have enough to do with the seven boats we have: J/36, Pointer 18, Great Auk kayak, Caspian Sea kayak, International 505, whitewater canoe, and Dyer Dhow.
 
#11 · (Edited)
When I was a kid, in the late sixties, my dad took me to a warehouse in Brentwood Missouri near St.Louis that he had heard about, where people were building sailboats as part of a club build project.

I remember the overwhelming smell of fiberglass resin. There was a mold, and they had several hulls that were in various stages of being finished.

My father wished that he had the money to join the club and build a boat. The people were very nice and showed us around. We looked in a couple of build jobs that were in progress. I always wondered what those boats were and how many they built in that club.

I imagine that some of those boats are still sailing on Alton Lake in the Mississippi River and on Lake Carlyle in Illinois.
 
#12 ·
Built Sabots and kayak in school .When I dropped out in '72 found an unfinished Spray in a field. Traded my car for the project and spent the rest of my life making a good living sharing the tall ship adventure with travelers and tourists. While living on the beach in Thailand built 17 'gaff sloop Jai Pai Nai (where will you go) While I seem to have sprung a few seams ,the Thane is still making way at three hour sail and dammned proud of her
 
#13 ·
When I owned my big boat a 33' Newport I always wanted to build a sailing/rowing dinghy, even bought plans for a CLC eastport Pram. But never got around to it, but still had the dream of building a small boat one day. Had to sell my 33' several yrs back (life changes). Two yrs ago was at the Mystic wooden boat show and saw a Arch Davis Penobscot 14 and fell in love. I started looking into the plans and found that he also had a design for a Penobscot 13. Decided that would fit for the build in my garage better. So by Sept. I had bought the plans and researching supplies. I began construction on Nov. 17,2016 and Cshell was christened on July 4, 2017. It took me another month to complete the mast, boom, gaff and sails. The sails I got a kit from Sailrite. Very easy to sew. I am so proud and happy of what I was able to accomplish, although it did help to have yrs of construction and fine wood working background and knowledge. Part of my plan when starting to make her uniquely my own and also to be able to take her back to the wooden boat show and have her in the "I built myself division of the show. That's happening this yr.

Peter
 

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#14 ·
I started looking into the plans and found that he also had a design for a Penobscot 13. Decided that would fit for the build in my garage better. So by Sept. I had bought the plans and researching supplies. I began construction on Nov. 17,2016 and Cshell was christened on July 4, 2017. Part of my plan when starting to make her uniquely my own and also to be able to take her back to the wooden boat show and have her in the "I built myself division of the show. That's happening this yr.

Peter
Truly a beautiful boat and something to be proud of. I would love to take a sail in it.
 
#16 ·
I would love to build a boat, would be a great project but it depends on the end goal.
If it's for the love of building I would say it's a great idea.
If it's to save money think again.
This past winter I seriously looked at building a dingy. By the time I did a cost analysis to build it "right" I figured out I could buy one for less. IF I added in the value of my time it really didn't make any sense at all.
Something like a cedar strip canoe is a different story, I have the plans for a couple, they are such a unique craft hand built by very few people, if you have the skills you can easily build one yourself for cheaper than buying.
Dingies are a mass market item. Plenty of boats like Lazers available used cheap.
 
#18 ·
So anyone else ever think of doing this kind of thing?
I've thought of it. I think the main point is that, if you like building projects, and ending up with a sailboat would be a nice byproduct, then go for it. If what you really want is to sail as soon as possible, for as little as possible, you are almost certainly going to be better off to just buy a boat (maybe one that needs a little bit of work).

That said, I am very seriously considering building myself a small dinghy. I like woodwork projects, and I love boats, so it seems like a good match.
 
#20 · (Edited)
When I first started thinking about building a small boat for myself, I was fascinated with the Egret style sharpies. The design I was toying with was a larger (26 foot), hard chine, more attractive fractional sloop rigged version of the Dovekie. I had planned to use a ballasted centerboard and performance oriented foil shapes for the centerboard and rudder. Above the waterline she had a fairly traditional looking deck plan.

At the time a friend of mine was very interested in the design and wanted to build one for himself. As the design brief continued to expand, at some point we seemed to conclude that we wanted this boat to do an absurd number of things well for a boat this size. We began to think of it as the Swiss army knife of small boats and began to refer to the design as Gizmo. This was only the first of many "Gizmo's" that I drew up but never built over the years. I guess that makes me a 'gunna'.



There were a bunch of unusual details like mesh fabric bunks that were laced to the frames and bulkheads and which had zippers that allowed them to be rolled up out of the way when not in use. I had planned not to have an aux. motor but use the winches for thole pins and row Gizmo the same way that I had rowed my Folkboat. The centerboard pin rotated in a cam shaped slot that allowed the board to drop below the boat when raised so that it allowed the boat to sail in very shallow water and which then rotated downward as the board was lowered to vertical so that the top of the board had more bury in the trunk.

Jeff
 
#38 · (Edited)
I was out on my new boat messing around with things in the driveway when for some reason I remembered this thread and it occurred to me how similar my Bay Hen is to Gizmo. Smaller, slower, Gaff cat instead of Marconi, but quite a bit in common in terms of design philosophy, in my opinion.
 
#21 ·
Gizmo sounds really cool and not just because that's the name of my favourite Gremlin. When I read your comment about Swiss Army Knife of boats, I remembered I had read that same statement somewhere in my recent and ongoing search for my next boat. I did some googling and figured out where I read it. It was in the literature for the PEI built "Norseboat 21.5". Not surprisingly, she shares some in common with your ideal design.

Going engineless/human powered auxillary is an incredibly attractive option.

Aside from sky rocketing cost of artificial energy, engines come with so many hassles and restrictions. I'm curious if you have designed freeboard and beam with rowing in mind? If so, I'm curious what limitations you put on each?

I'm also curious about design weight. I'm guessing this is a towable boat, my recent research has taught me 26' is about the maximum reasonable towable size. I have also observed that tow vehicles aren't what they used to be. 1/2 tons are towing more all the time, but most SUVs and cars can hardly tow anything.

I like your concept with mesh bunks, very creative.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I'm curious if you have designed freeboard and beam with rowing in mind? If so, I'm curious what limitations you put on each?
I had been aware that if I wanted to row Gizmo, I needed to keep the wetted surface down to make the boat easier to row. With that in mind, I had kept her as light as possible. At the time I had done quite a few lines drawings exploring the relationship of waterline beam to wetted surface and had picked a ratio that worked for that while still maintaining enough form stability to allow her to carry adequate sail area. If I remember right Gizmo had a beam just below 8'-0" but had more flare than most sharpies so that she would have a narrow enough bottom to push her a little deeper in the water to reduce wetted surface.

I also had a number of other ways to reduce wetted surface for rowing. Like the historic sharpies, Gizmo's centerboard pivot was mounted on a movable vertical slide that allowed the centerboard to be completely lifted clear of the bottom, and the pindles were designed to allow the entire rudder to be pulled clear of the water as well.

I'm also curious about design weight. I'm guessing this is a towable boat, my recent research has taught me 26' is about the maximum reasonable towable size. I have also observed that tow vehicles aren't what they used to be. 1/2 tons are towing more all the time, but most SUVs and cars can hardly tow anything.
I really don't recall where I ended up with the dry weight. My recollection is that I was trying hard to hit a dry weight below 2,000 lbs. I am not sure that I actually hit that.

The scantlings were 1/2"(5 ply) plywood for the bottom, cabin sides, and deck, 3/8" (5 ply) for the topsides. There were four 1/4" plywood bulkheads but the bulkheads in the cabin had large openings in them to accommodate movement and keep weight down. The main bulkhead was 1/2" ply. All of the plywood was supposed to be a western red cedar faced marine plywood which was pretty light in weight and which was readily available at the time but which I have not seen for sale in years.

There were 1 x4 spruce chines, and deck carlins and closely spaced 1x2 longitudinals. The centerboard trunk was made from glassed over cedar planks. To the best of my recollection the hull and deck weighed around 1,000 lbs-1,100. The centerboard was a steel weldment with a 450 lb lead tip, and wood fairings which was all intended to be glassed over and which weighed somewhere around 600 lbs.

I planned to seal the plywood inside and out using West System epoxy. The plan was to tape the hull to deck joint, bottom to the CB Trunk, and the length of the chines with epoxy/FG tape. and then apply a layer of epoxy/glass cloth over the bottom to the waterline, and over the cabin top, sides and the decks.

There were almost no interior furnishings. Storage was in mesh hammocks. The head was bucket and chuck it. The water system was a 'water cube' that hung from the boom and had a hose that came down into the cabin. There was a small portable aluminum sink that drained into the bucket. One of the 'gizmo' things was a series of plywood shelves that slid into place on cleats on one side of the cabin and also on similar cleats out in the cockpit. (The ones in the cockpit were meant to be used when the boom tent was rigged, or it was too hot in the cabin) Each shelf either had its own unique hole or no hole. The hole in one shelf held the sink above the bucket, another had a hole that served as a toilet seat, and held the bucket in place when being so used, one served as a galley shelf for the one burner alcohol stove.

There were a couple of seats that were made of canvas slings that were stitched around a piece of closet pole at each end of the fabric. When used these dropped into curved wooden sockets that supported the top and bottom and when so placed became sling back chairs that could be used when cooking or reading. There were similar sockets in the cockpit and cabin. The sockets were arrayed so you could sit up straight at the galley or recline either fore and aft or athwartships. There was an ice chest that stowed under the cockpit and served as a cooking surface when making dinner. There were milk bins also stored under the cockpit or the 'vee berth' area that held the ground tackle, plates, pots and pans and spare gear. The long sweeps (oars) were made from glued up spruce with curved plywood blades and they stowed along the length of the cabin, passing through holes in the bulkheads to keep them out of the way.

The rig was very simple. The mast was intended to be a simple sitka spruce box spar and the boom a sitka spruce glued up tee section. The fractional rig was similar to a Folkboat except with slightly raked aft spreaders and no genoa. The intention was that both the jib and mainsail had reef points (1 in the jib and two in the mainsail) Instead of a furling jib, the intent was that the hank on slightly overlapping jib would have a downhaul that pulled it to the deck. The jibsheets were 2:1 with the hope that I would not need to use winch handles. The halyards were wire with nicropress and thimble end fittings that could be tensioned by small tackles that would hook into the thimbles to avoid needing winches. (That was how I had rigged my folkboat.)

If I remember right, back when really expensive clear western red cedar marine ply was something like $25-$30.00 per sheet I expected to be able to build the boat for something like $2,000 (without sails) or roughly what a trailerable boat of that day cost. I think the sails were expected to cost around $400. Of course, in reality if I had actually built Gizmo, the boat could easily have cost twice that, and I have no idea what she would cost to build today. But at the time this was all about building something that I had designed, that was cheap to build, pretty to look at, shallow enough to get back into the marshes and which could sail out in the Atlantic, be pretty fast and which was easy to handle single-hand.

I left Savannah around the time that I was contemplating this so Gizmo 1 remains a 'gunna'.

Jeff
 
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#23 · (Edited)
This is the boat that I think about building once I retire. The idea for me is to have I boat that I built, not to save money or get sailing quickly; my "plan" (such as it is), is to keep my current boat and keep sailing while I progress the build. At the end of the project, I would keep whichever boat I like best.

One of the things I really like about this particular project is the help that is available. They offer not just plans, but a step by step how-to DVD. For those of us whose biggest woodworking projects have been bookshelves, that's a very attractive offer. But after reading some of the advice in this thread, it may make sense to start smaller.

Stevenson Projects

Not sure why, but I just saw that the link doesn't go directly to the boat I like. I am referring to the "Weekender" project boat. From the home page, go to "Projects" at the top, then to "Boat Projects", then to "Pocket Yachts", then to the Weekender.
 
#24 ·
I've played around with the idea of building a small skiff as a first boat building project for a while now.

But when I look at the time, money and effort involved I come to the conclusion that I can pick up a 13 foot Whaler, fix it up and be noodling around the bay with a lot less effort...

As for big boats, well I have no illusions how much work is required to build and finish out a boat north of 30 feet. No thanks.
 
#25 ·
I built an 18' stitch and glue kayak. I love it and still have it. I think if your really picky about what you want you should do it. I know I am. I like project boats because I can alter the design to my exact specs. Plus I will know that boat inside and out. I think there is an advantage to that. Especially when you know where all the seacocks might be and if something is leaking. Plus you can really take care of that boat because you know everything about it. I love that.
 
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#26 ·
Got started in sailing with a Mirror Dinghy kit (came with two books - one on how to build and the other on how to sail). Since then I have built a cedar and epoxy canoe and last year a Chameleon nesting dinghy. Amazing how much time (and money) you can put into a little boat. Always thought if you did one of these things a second time how much more quickly it would go.
 
#31 ·
Fwiw the industry assumes a skilled builder will average about 10lbs of boat per hour (fiberglass/polyester). The estimates I have seen for home builds are about half that.

For a stitch and glue I would think it's faster, but I can't remember any estimates.


Personally I am really close to building a Richard Woods Zeta (14' trimaran lie a weta). I just need a better shop to do it in.
 
#39 ·
I did not realize that you had bought a Bay Hen. Gizmo derived from an earlier design of mine called 'Marsh Hen' (said quickly as Martian) that predates Bay Hen and Mud Hen by a couple decades. She was a simple small double ender with a sprit leg-of-mutton cat rig.

I have not sailed a Bay Hen but the shoal draft was always appealing.

Jeff
 
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#40 · (Edited)
I did not realize that you had bought a Bay Hen. Gizmo derived from an earlier design of mine called 'Marsh Hen' (said quickly as Martian) that predates Bay Hen and Mud Hen by a couple decades. She was a simple small double ender with a sprit leg-of-mutton cat rig.

I have not sailed a Bay Hen but the shoal draft was always appealing.

Jeff
That's pretty cool Jeff, really cool.

I have gotten the impression that you enjoy boats that sail very well. I've only had her out sailing a couple of times. One thing I don't like. There is a motor well, that is basically square. I have observed that with any kind of chop, the waves slap the vertical portion at the after end of the motor well that slows the boat significantly when sailing to windward.

Do you think it would be crazy to build up and glass over the motor well to improve speed? I could turn the void into a beer cooler or a live well for fishing.
 
#41 ·
I personally tend to buy boats that are performance oriented, easy to handle and which have nice interiors for cruising. But I enjoy sailing boats that sail well across a broad range of wind conditions. And while my own boats may not reflect this, I also have always been interested in traditional working watercraft, and traditional rigs. I enjoy sailing on boats with traditional rigs whenever​ I get the opportunity, and have had a lot of opportunities within my sailing life to do so.

In terms of outboard motor wells, I have never liked them. Certainly drag is one reason, but I have also experienced a range of other issues with them such as having the cockpit filled in a following sea and having the engine drowned out in really rough conditions.

When outboard motor wells were popular the boat builders typically sold the boat with a plug that would fill the well. This was typically a lidless f.g. box, which had a bottom that continued the shape of the hull. These plugs typically had some way to temporarily hold them in place. I think that I would probably make​ something like that before I would glass over the opening in a permanent manner.

Jeff
 
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#48 ·
I personally tend to buy boats that are performance oriented, easy to handle and which have nice interiors for cruising. But I enjoy sailing boats that sail well across a broad range of wind conditions. And while my own boats may not reflect this, I also have always been interested in traditional working watercraft, and traditional rigs. I enjoy sailing on boats with traditional rigs whenever I get the opportunity, and have had a lot of opportunities within my sailing life to do so.

In terms of outboard motor wells, I have never liked them. Certainly drag is one reason, but I have also experienced a range of other issues with them such as having the cockpit filled in a following sea and having the engine drowned out in really rough conditions.

When outboard motor wells were popular the boat builders typically sold the boat with a plug that would fill the well. This was typically a lidless f.g. box, which had a bottom that continued the shape of the hull. These plugs typically had some way to temporarily hold them in place. I think that I would probably make something like that before I would glass over the opening in a permanent manner.

Jeff
I had an 18' Herreshoff America catboat for many years that had an inboard well for an outboard. If I were racing, I would remove the OB and place a handmade plug to fair the hull shape. It was held in place by clamping it to a cross piece that laid on top of the well. That still left the cutout in the keel, which promoted turbulent flow and increased weather helm (compared having no cutout like the 18' Marshall Sanderling catboats.)
 
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