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Boat building advice from a novice


Wvines

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My dad and I are nearing completion of our first boat build, a Devlin 13 Candlefish. I say first because I have already decided there will be a second (a B&B Design) and surely a third. Dad has agreed to come along on the building adventure for hull #2 and this alone is reason enough to dedicate the time, effort and dollars.  

 

Here is my advice for the first time boat builder:

 

1) Keep the project small. You will learn plenty on your first build and yes there will be mistakes. Smaller builds show progress quickly and that helps keep you going.

2) Avoid a kit. My goal was to learn as much as I could and a kit will rob you of the many opportunities to laugh, curse and learn.

3) Read, take notes and try to learn from other people's mistakes. Do not linger to long in this stage....It is the least fun you will have building a boat.

4) Bring along a friend on the adventure. Neighbor, son, daughter or a father will do. I did not overlook wife by accident. I love my wife too much to risk losing her.

5) Do not seek perfection, it is not the goal....A boat is. I hit the wall a few times and my weather worn professional crabber/duck hunting guide neighbor exclaimed "You are building a Strata-Various case, not a Strata-Various"!

6) Show and tell whenever you can. People will marvel that a pile of wood can be made to float, though I am pretty sure it already would. It will also get you some help when it comes time to flip it.

7) Take pictures....Lots and lots of pictures. You will want proof of the build should you discover that wood does not always float. 

8) Seek out others that either build boats professionally or as a hobby. You will get good advice, assistance and discover that you are part of a brotherhood that 99.9% of the population will never know about.

9) Use quality materials. Your biggest cost is your time and sweat. Cattle ranchers never start building their herd with a broken down bull and a sickly cow.

10) "Just do it".

 

I am sure I will think of other things but now it is time to apply another coat of epoxy and then sand it off.

 

 

 

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Wvines:  That's a good list. I agree with all of it except for #2.  When the designs are very intricate, such as B&B's Mark 3 boats, there will be a lot less frustration than building from scratch.  I've never built from a kit, but would not rule it out, if I were building something like that.  You are right, though, starting from a pile of 4x8 sheets of wood is the ultimate high.

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Great advice. But I agree with Thrillsbe on the kit, especially first time around. A small project, like a canoe, kayak, or dinghy, is fine with only plans, and a great way to learn, but for the more involved, a kit is the way to go. Then, if you like all of the laying out and cutting of intricate pieces, forgo the kit for boat 

 

I've built balsa model planes most of my life. In the beginning, I learned from kits, and later went to building from plans because I liked messing with all of the work of drawing and cutting the parts. Now, even though I know how to "do it all", I much prefer kits. I can concentrate on putting it together and finishing it. Same with boats. i started with Grahams canoes and dingies from plans. Then to a couple of his bigger boats from plans. Then my last two were from kits. I'm now a confirmed kit builder. 

 

Another benefit from the kits is the precise fit and alignment of the parts, and the "puzzle" and "zipper" joints.

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 Nine for ten will win most of the time and I probably should stop typing...But I can't. So take this as it is intended....Good natured debate.  Also, know that my father, a career military man, said I needed to remain a civilian because I ask to many questions and like to share my thoughts (I was twelve at the time).  Not qualities that would have endeared me to a CO or Drill Sargent. 

 

I have no problem with boat kits. Time savings and a precise foundation are the hallmarks of kit builds and as the project grows in scale time is the one commodity that we all are guaranteed to run out of.  A from scratch small boat build provided me with experience and the confidence to tackle problems that await me in a large boat build in a kit or from scratch.

 

"Check the depth of the water with one foot....Not two".  

Warren Buffet.

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There are advantages and disadvantages to building with or without a kit. With a kit, you really can't make the types of changes I usually do and you're married to the design. For a novice this might seem a good thing, but once you gain experence, you'll find changing things, maybe applying your touch, features, etc. more desirable. Secondly, kits do away with some of the traditional build processes, such as lining off, which I find invaluable for a sweet looking hull. One tends to trust the kit, without using tried and true fairing and line off methods, to insure it actually is sweet. Also, plans for kits often don't have the basics I've come to expect from them, such as lines, station molds, offsets, etc., from which major changes are often necessary, so you can check your alterations against the original. Lastly, there's a part of me that just can't be forced to do something, which a kit would do. I can't see myself ever building a kit.

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   Wvines - Your advice to "keep the project small" and "avoid a kit" worked nicely for me.  I started with something similar to a 6-hour canoe but I modified it so it took longer to build and didn't work as well. ;)  I had a great time with this simple, quick project and I moved on to other things.  If I had started with a kit for a much bigger (and more expensive) boat kit I think I would have been intimidated - I'd have worried about messing up the beautiful puzzle-pieces and not being able to finish.

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I would only ever build from plans. Once I bought a kit only because the designer did not sell plans and it was absolutely rubbish. I sold it for about a quarter of what I paid for it. Kits are fine for those that don't have the ability or patience to build from scratch, but if a designer wants to sell world wide he needs to sell plans. I know of a few designers that refuse to even think about selling plans because they think they can make more money selling kits. Unless you have agents all around the world to make up the kits, you are greatly limiting your potential buyers.

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Alex, the B&B kits are really good!!! So are the plans. Choose either and you'll be happy. They put quality and customer's first. It IS along way for you to come get a kit from Australia, though! Shipping's way up there too. Ya better stick with plans. Or maybe Graham will visit his old home soon, and bring a kit to ya...

(I'm grinning as I write this. Action Tiger and I are always getting in trouble with our humor.)

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Somebody call?

I will never be able to say enough about how awesome B&B is. I'm a second-hand, almost-not-even-done, backed-into-it CoreSound owner, and I was welcomed by Graham with open arms. One of the fam, just because I got a boat.

Kits? Sure. Why not?

My first boat was a Greenland style kayak, built by eye, all steamed and mortised and all. I think if you know how to work wood before you build a boat, you'll find it more enjoyable.

Peace,

Robert

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I can offer some thoughts. I built a Spindrift 11N from scratch. It was a fun project and proved I could cut panels to dimensions. Everything had to be laid out from 11x17 inch plans. It was fun and the boat came out really nice. Here it is in action with my boys on a sunfish mixed in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO1Azy0Kw7w

I'm currently building a Core Sound 20 Mark III from a kit. I originally was beating myself up about the kit. There is a certain factor of feeling like you are cheating when a part is perfectly cut and has a number stamped on it. Kind of like a paint by number painting. But truthfully, it's still a big project and the precision of the kit is amazing. I had a bit of a problem fitting my cockpit module to the hull, but it was my mistake, not the kits. And it is still a lot of work, so the time saving of having the parts done is nice. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a kit as a first project, especially if you are new to woodworking and had little experience.

Something that has struck me lately is that if I built from plans I would have had to cut every piece first as my boat takes up so much space in my shop swinging big panels would now be impossible.

Everything else in the original post is right on. The most important thing is to take your time to enjoy it. I put a launch date and ran into some serious life misfortune and hated that pressure. I'm now not working to any schedule and taking my time. That brought the enjoyment back.

Take Care,

Steve

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I'm building my S12 from a kit for reasons mostly explained above.  I have 3 young kids and wanted something quicker to build that took up less space and didn't require a table saw to cut out the solid wood parts.  My woodworking abilities are not great, but improving.  I have never built a boat before and found that even without cutting the plywood and solid wood, there is still a ton to learn and most of the information is scattered hilariously throughout the internet and in various books.  PAR's website is also great.  

I know my limitations and went with a kit.  If I build a bigger boat in the future such as a CS20, I'm going to build from a kit. If I build another boat of the same size, I'll build from plans.  In the meantime, if I feel I need to get better at woodworking, I'll build some furniture.  I'm pretty sure I deserve a hardwood throne.  

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My first boat, an 11' 1" sailing dinghy, from $5 plans from Popular Boating (1963) -- built from scratch.  Learned a lot -- and this was before knowing about epoxy.  I also built from plans a cedar-strip canoe and Arch Davis' Penobscot 14, a plywood lapstrake "Whitehall" type design. Learned more with that one too.  But I now would opt for a kit if available.  Prior to my present CS20.3, I built three from CLC kits (two sailing dinghys and a PocketShip).  I think kits are probably less expensive, and much less time on the road shopping for the special materials that are needed.  You still learn plenty when building from a kit.

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