Boat Plans Choices Made and Not Made

12.14 in america, and, boat, Boat Plans, boating, choices, creation, destruction, dryest, errand, flattest, in, made, north, not, plans, spot, the

So it looks like were building a boat.

Not merely throwing a bunch of shit on the deck of a couple pontoons, or strapping a bunch of barrels together, but making a boat.

You know, one of those things that floats in the water and has things like a hull and a deck, not to mention nautical terms Im still learning like bilge, stringers, chines, skegs, and bulwarks.

I checked out a half dozen plans seriously.  I ordered study plans, an abbreviated form of the full plans for study purposes, from a couple of boatbuilders, and looked at reviews of many more.

Retreat Designed by William Atkin, c. 1947 Length: 18 Beam: 7 Atkins Retreat is a sweet boat.  We liked the simple barge styling and how the cabin was positioned.  We ordered the study plans and particularly enjoyed dealing with Pat Atkin, Williams daughter-in-law who now manages Atkin Boat Plans in Noroton, Connecticut.  However this is an old design that suggests cedar planking rather than plywood. We thought William Atkin would be assuming we knew stuff that our generation had long ago forgotten.  More here.
Minnie Hill 20 Designed by Sam Devlin, 2008 Length: 20 Beam: 8 2" We took a look at this boat as well.  It seemed like a fine boat with a simple design inspired by the Retreat.  The scant study plans and coarse lines of the plan did not inspire a ton of confidence.  More info here.
Aqua Casa 20 Designed by Berkeley Eastman, 1990 Length: 20 Beam: 7 3" We liked the look of the Aqua Casa but thought the curved hull would confound us.  We also wanted a covered deck rather than an open deck that could be swamped.  More info here.
Waterlodge Designed by Glen L. Witt, c. 1990 Length: 20 2" Beam: 8 2" We liked a lot of the things about the Waterlodge.  The simple design and construction.  We did wish the cabin was pushed back toward the stern which it is in the 24 version.   More info here.

There were lots and lots of boat plans we looked at,  but these are the ones for which study plans were readily available.  Its worth mentioning that we also looked at the classic Coolwater, but knew that the plans that appeared in Modern Mechanix in the 1940s were sketchy at best and no competent boat designer had made a crack at developing complete plans.

In the end it came down to confidence that the boat designer could adequately communicate to us what we needed to know to build a boat.  Our choice came down to small details.  There were designs that had a centered cabin or one pushed a bit back toward the stern -- we leaned toward the latter.  There were designs that had covered decks versus open decks -- we went with covered decks.  There were designs that called for twin rakes fore and aft, and designs that had very little rake in back -- we were drawn to the latter.  We understood that all these things could be modified in the plans, but were not confident in our ability to freestyle from the designers intentions.

A few boat designers and builders suggested Glen L. Witts Boat Building With Plywood as a great guide to understanding plywood boats.  I picked it up first through inter-library loan at the local university library, read it, and, when it seemed like such an indispensable volume, bought it online.  Step-by-step, every aspect considered.  Sober and serious and refreshingly frank, the tone was perfect for what and how I wanted to learn.  I was impressed by Glen L. Witts ability to describe the nitty-gritty of boat building.

When it came time to shell out money for boat building plans, I was confident that the Glen-L plans would not only feature a great barge-style houseboat, but that the devil in the details would be on our side. 

I ordered the Glen-L Waterlodge plans for just over a hundred bucks.  They arrived promptly.  I opened them with excitement and was not disappointed.  These are beautiful large detailed blueprints.  Gorgeous.

Even if I dont build a boat, I now have beautiful nautical art I can hang.

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Organization How To Make Boatbuilding Not Suck

07.08 in and, boat, Boat Plans, boatbuilding, build, building, choices, day, first, form, how, made, make, not, organization, plans, suck, to

Boats are made of lots and lots of funny precision parts that all look more or less the same but are subtle different.  A bow skeg stringer end accidentally exchanged for a stern skeg stringer end and its all over.

The previous build day, in my excitement I threw together the dead simple building form, and assembled it wrong.  The building form is just made of 2x4s nailed together, but the boat members will be screwed and epoxied.  Theres no going back on wood parts epoxied together.  A serious error could mean having to start completely over on that member. 

 

So the previous build day was a lesson in the need for precision.  Before going further, I created labels for every piece of every member of the hull.  As I ripped pieces and then cut them to length, I stapled my sturdy cardboard labels directly on to the boards.

This way, when it came time to assemble, say, the starboard skeg stringer, I would only have to gather up all the pieces that said SKEG STRGR 1 (top, bottom, fore post, aft post, fore end, aft end) and bring them into the barn for assembly.

I also got a quad-ruled comp book and started taking detailed notes.  All the things youd normally scribble down on scratch paper as you were calculating angles and measurements and offsets went into the notebook.  All my little sketches of what pieces should look like before I cut them, lists of procedures, materials I needed to get, and a detailed journal of each day of work went into the comp book.

Along with a place in the barnyard to build the boat, Lawrence let us use an unused horse stall in the barn.  This made a perfect build office, a place to layout the plans, organize all our tools, and most importantly keep snacks and beer.

Having the right tool at hand when you need it, is not only convenient but can be critical during the stressful build process, especially when you are dealing with epoxy.  We spent time making sure that every tool had its own place.  This also had the benefit of making daily clean up more fun.  It felt good to do a lot of hard work and then have everything all neat and tidy at the end of the day.

Here Kai, one of my co-builders, in a goofy moment, models the first photo for our Little Shantyboat Pinup Calendar.  This also helps make boatbuilding not suck.

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