BOATBUILDING - Part 3

Articles In This Section:

· At Water’s Edge

· DIVING

· BOATBUILDING - Part 1

· BOATBUILDING - Part 2

· BOATBUILDING - Part 3

· THE RULES OF THE SEA

· SAILING SHIPS

Building Directions

1. Cut both sideboards and the two endblocks (Diagram lb) to shape. In order to give the boat better navigating qualities, the sideboards have to run together and taper at the bottom. By doing this, you raise the floorboards both fore and aft. Therefore, the endblocks have to be set in at an angle (a slope of about 4") to give the bow and stern racy lines. (The angle formed inside the sidewalls where they meet the endblocks should be a narrow one.) The sides can be screwed down to the endblocks permanently, but because of the flooring take care to let the sidewalls extend about an inch beyond the bottom of the endblocks.

2. Bolt the frames together as shown in Diagram 2 and force them between the sidewalls. Since the boards can still be bowed considerably now, this was the reason for choosing a narrow angle at the ends. Screw the frames tight on one side, but once again have the sidewalls extend beyond the bottoms of the frames by the thickness of the floorboards.

3. The flooring is a little more trouble. Put together the three boards which have been tongued and grooved. Clamp down the sidewall, which has not yet been screwed tight, temporarily with C-clamps. Then place the whole boat on top of the flooring and trace the outline along the inside.

Note: You must set the flooring in with the sidewalls overlapping it. Only in this way will the boat be watertight when the wood swells in the water. Cut the floor boards out along the traced outline and screw the flooring tightly to the frames and the endblocks. Now you can also screw the second sidewall down permanently. For stability, insert an auxiliary frame at the middle of the boat (Diagram 3).

4. To make the boat watertight, before you nail the flooring to the sidewalk, you must calk the crack (pack it with oakum). The cheapest outside protection for the boat is tar, and you can paint the inside with an inexpensive oil-base paint.

5. You also need paddles. Canoe paddles (Diagram 4) work out the best. Make them long enough to reach your waist.