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Cotton-(??) is under construction


Kudzu

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I have got to name this boat. I am torn between Cotton Row, my initial idea and Cottonwood. What ever the name I started cutting the frames today. Actually I got them cut out, just need to do a little clean up work on them and sand the edges a little smoother for them to be complete.

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I rough cut them from the plywood with the jig saw and do the final cuts on the bandsaw. It's just the way I prefer. But one thing I hate about the bandsaw is those stupid ball bearing guides! I don't know why anyone thinks they are an improvement. They scream like a banshee and I just put new ones on it. It's so loud I have to wear ear protection or I think I would go mad!

Instead of buying new bearings I should have bought the parts to convert it over to cool blocks. It sure would have been money better spent.

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Here you can see my prototype sliding seat. I have the base built and dry fitted together. I want to get the frame built and put in the boat before I glued it anything. I want to make sure I like this and I see no reason I wont.

One thing I know I have to change is the looks of the footrest. That big slab may bet totally functional, but it sure is ugly. Not sure what I am going to do but it really needs something!

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Actually been thinking about cutting it down in size dramatically. Then cutting shoe/foot shaped boards with heel cups that could be screwed down. That way you someone could alter it very easily to suit their preferences. Add straps or shoes if they wanted. Seems more versatile to me and I could always do the 70 barefoot shape too.

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If it don't look right, it probably isn't! Been stalled on this one doing other things. Had the strongback set up and a few frames and stringers in place. I kept looking at the bow end and thinking "that is not right" But couldn't figure out what was wrong.... or if anything was wrong. Then last night out of the blue it hit me. This morning once I finally got to the shop I checked and I had drawn the bow end stongback spacer 1" to high. That is why it looked wrong, because it was!

Expecting to have some photos and progress to show tonight or in the morning.

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It has taken me a couple of days to get back to work on the boat. I have spent a few minutes here and there over the last couple of days. I caught a couple of mistakes and today I finally got most of the frame dry fitted together.

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As you can see the stringer are way longer than needed. I bought 12 foot lumber and I ripped and scarfed them together. They end up being 23 feet (+/-) long. Other than being in the way being to long isn't a problem. After I am happy with what I have and lash the frames in place I will trim them back. I always save the cutoffs because they can scarfed together to make longer pieces.

I couldn't resist putting the rowing unit in the boat once I got the stringers in place the bungees tight.

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Placing it in the boat helped me see what I had but left me with about as many questions as answers. Still not sure how I am going to mount it to the boat. Looking at it I came up a couple of ideas that might work. Also thinking I need one more partial frame to support the unit.

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From this angle I could see that I could shave an inch off height off of the rowing unit frame. That will lower the center of gravity and making the boat a lot more stable. There is enough space under the foot board that I can slide it downward and my heels could actually be below the rowing unit if I wanted. Plenty of room to make it me properly.

Tomorrow I will lash a few frames in place that will not change. But I am think I am going to be pulling some of them out and making some alterations.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally, I am able to walk with out holding onto a crutch, cane or whatever was in arms reach. Actually this ankle is healing faster than I expected but boredom has a way of making time stand still.

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It is starting to look a lot like a boat. The hull is getting really close to being done. You can get an idea of its shape in this photo.

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Bow is basically finished, just need to trim and lash the gunwales in place.

I worked on the transom today. I wouldn't call it hard but I consider myself a decent woodworker. I suspect it would be challenging if you were not experienced. There was a lot of hand fitting to get everything right.

Put in on the boat, take it off and trim a little. Put in on the boat, take it off and trim a little. Repeat and then repeat it again.

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One my most used tools, my bench! Just so much easier to do jobs like this with the proper tool. The best tools for the job don't always have to be plugged or of charged either.

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Here the transom is In place with the stringers trimmed. I really love the look of this transom but it is so small it's not easy to work on.

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This will be the finished transom. It needs some trimming and detailing. It will be stained and varnished eventually. I am considering laminating a nice wood veneer on it. Of course it is it so small and its will barely show due to the rake, it so I am not sure if it is worth the extra effort.

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Good to see you're up and about Jeff - I suspect that with the season heading into the warmer months you will be better off than if it happened in Autumn. (Be prepared for minor relapse next winter).

This project is great - dare I say "Oarsome" ? :P

I know all will be revealed eventually but I am itching to see how the skin goes on to leave the transom exposed.

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Looking good. I wonder what my wife would say if I told her I needed another boat?

Bow is basically finished, just need to trim and lash the gunwales in place.

I am curious why you didn't round over the bow piece first?

I worked on the transom today. ................................There was a lot of hand fitting to get everything right. Put in on the boat, take it off and trim a little. Put in on the boat, take it off and trim a little. Repeat and then repeat it again.

You just summed up marine carpentry. It isn't like machine trades much at all some times. It is a finesse trade.

I am considering laminating a nice wood veneer on it. Of course it is it so small and its will barely show due to the rake, it so I am not sure if it is worth the extra effort.

It doesn't matter in the slightest that few may ever notice. You will. No need for a transom at all if it is not going to be finished bright. It is worth every bit of effort you can put into it.

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I am curious why you didn't round over the bow piece first?

I am trying something new when I skin it, if is a miserable failure you will never know. ;)

And I want plan to put a brass stem band on it. Figured it would be simpler to attach it with with square face. Hoping that the half oval of the stem band parts the water enough that it does't just squirt up the bow and sound like a little waterfall. I have had that happen with rub strips and promptly rounded the edges. Amazing how annoying that sound can be.

Looks like you have 2 transom pcs. their... one the stringers are notched into and the other an end cap....I'd staple the fabric to the first pc. then screw on the finished cap ....

:huh: No comment.

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I am curious why you didn't round over the bow piece first?

I am trying something new when I skin it, if is a miserable failure you will never know. ;)

And I want plan to put a brass stem band on it. Figured it would be simpler to attach it with with square face. Hoping that the half oval of the stem band parts the water enough that it does't just squirt up the bow and sound like a little waterfall. I have had that happen with rub strips and promptly rounded the edges. Amazing how annoying that sound can be.

Hmm, interesting idea. You have probably already decided to, but I will suggest at least sanding the sharp corners to reduce cutting/chaffing the cloth. If this idea works, it might prove to be a good idea not to round the bottom of the keel stringer as well. I am still contemplating ideas for the chafe strip on my boats. I am considering a full length one made of aluminum as I can get material readily and it is easy to work with. Brass would look better, but harder to get material of suitable size. This is one detail that deserves more consideration. Having a good way to protect the bottom that looks good, weighs little and is a viable procedure for all is worth working on.

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I have been looking at stem bands for a while and I think they are probably the best solution, but as you know brass is never cheap. If what I have in mind works it would eliminate the sewn seam along the front end. A 4 foot piece of stem band would be much longer than needed. With some boats it could be cut in half.

It depends on the water you paddle but all most people need is bow protected so they can beach the boat. 95% of the time it what hits and that is where you will rub a hole. I no longer put any more on my boats. I started out with 3 but quickly realized they were not needed. And occasion bump hurts nothing and rarely are then in the same place, except the bow.

Also a long strip will make the boat harder to turn. A full length strip is supposed to make a pretty dramatic difference from what I have read.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Have not made much progress but I am really close to taking the frame off the strongback. Between the ankle and other things going on I just have not gotten to spend the time on this project I really wanted too. But today I finished lashing everything but the deck beams. I needed to scarf some of the cutoffs together to get the lengths I needed for the deck.

Really anxious to get it off the strongback and flipped over. It’s going to make fitting the transom much easier. Here is a couple of photos. This is a one long boat!

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Frame came off the strong back and I took out in the yard for the obligatory F.R.O.G. photo. (frame on the grass) I still love that raked transom.

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I took it back into the shop and placed it on the trailer just to get it out of way so I can clean up around the stands.

I noticed there was more flex in this frame but there is also more wood, so it is heavier and skinning always stiffens them somewhat so it wasn’t a big deal. Then I was on the other side of the shop, turned around and I could see the frame was hogged. No doubt about it, the bow was lower than the center of the boat. I could not believe it! I took and string and tied it to the boat stretched it along the keel, found that the bow was 1″ lower than the center of the boat.

After a lot of double checking and measuring I still didn’t have an answer, just a couple of ideas. After removing a few lashing, forcing the boat back in shape and studying why it wanted to deform when the pressure was released I have found a couple of reason I suspect are behind this. Of course there is only one way to find out, but that is for the next post.

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When I was lashing my wife's Bumble Bee (if you won't rename the design I will ;) ) I didn't like how the bow section positioned. I wanted it to turn up a little more. So I lashed the keel stringer, then lashed the deck stringers to it and pulled the deck stringer aft and lashed it to the frames under tension. This pulled the bow up a fair bit and I liked how it looked. Then I fitted, cut and lashed the chine and gunwale stringers. Might that help? You would likely have to cut the chine and gunwale lashings first I would think. My guess as to what happend is that the loads on the stringers were such that it could not hold the shape it had while in the brackets. Maybe adjusting the heights of the forward and aft brackets to bend the hull more than you want will create a load that corrects to the desired shape? Kind of like over bending a steaming bend to allow for movement when it relaxes.

Now that I can see the hull shape much better I have come to the conclusion that the transom does absolutely nothing practical at all. But then, sometimes just looking good is more than sufficient reason to create a detail.

Now how do I convince my wife I need one of these too?

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SIMPLE FIX FOR A BIG PROBLEM

As the title implies the fix was simple. Finding it. not so much.

If you look at the end of the keel stringer (boat is upside down in the photo) you will see I added a small block of plywood to the frame. Believe it or not, that made the boat assume a proper shape. Not exactly as I had designed it but it has some rocker in it now. I did find something else that was working against me, but it wasn’t worth the effort it would take to fix it. Bottom line is I know what I did wrong and how to fix it.

So the frame is done as far as I can tell. It’s stiffer and while not exactly the way I designed it. I am happy with it. Now it’s time to finish the outriggers for the sliding seat.

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If you have been following along you know that the sliding seat design was done. The only thing missing was the outriggers for it. I have had several ideas on how to build these and had drawn several versions, but there is nothing like taking it from the computer screen to wood. It doesn't always work the way you had in mind!

One my goals in nearly all my designs is to keep is simple so that most anyone can build it. At the same time I don't want it to look like a backyard project that was thrown together. I want something that looks really good when your done.

VERSION #1 (Too ugly)

I started with a simple and old design for a boomerang shaped wing with two simple supports that would attach to the frame near the feet. On paper it looked OK, not especially attractive but sometimes form just needs to follow function. So I built it, clamped it together it looked promising

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Until I put in the boat!

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HOLY UGLY DUCKLING, BAT MAN!! That thing looks like it is trying to grow wings and fly!

VERSION #2 (Too hard)

As the old saying goes,"Life it to short to spend it in an ugly boat." So this had to go. Another idea I had played around with was cutting the outriggers into three pieces and joining it together at angles. It would look like a Gull wing and shouldn't be too hard to build .... so I thought!

I did some quick layouts, recut the pieces from the first version and started to put it together.

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It didn't take long to realize assembling this was not going to be easy for anyone. By the time all the braces were added to make it strong enough it was going to be a big job to build. Bottom line was there simply was not advantage to this version.

There was really only one good way to build this and I had been trying to get around it.

VERSION #3 (THIS ONE IS JUST RIGHT)

Time to build a form and laminate the outriggers from strips. I was trying to avoid this because I was afraid it was to complicated for inexperienced builders. I have built a lot of laminated coamings for my kayaks and while they are not particularly hard, they are very aggravating.

To my total surprise this was nowhere near as hard as I had expected. Anyone with any skill could do this. And to think of all the time I wasted trying to get around laminating them.

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I drew full size patterns. Cut out two pieces of plywood and used short lengths of 2x4 as spacers and clamping points. These were simply held in place with drywall screws.

For the lamination's I used 3mm Okoume plywood ripped into strips. I thought about ordering maple veneer used for making skateboards but I had the plywood in shop and no use for it. So if it failed I wasn't out anything. I applied glue on each piece and clamped 6 strips on the jig and started bending and clamping them around the form. I was surprised at how easy it was to bend 6 layers and clamp it in place. A second set of hands would necessary but it would have made it easier though. I was totally surprised at how fast this went.

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First piece straight off the mold and on to the sliding seat. I had to see what it would look like.

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Here it is in the boat. You can see that is it very close to the seat. I have to add a spacer behind it but that was part of the plan all along. I wanted to make sure that I had the clearance that I expected and that there were no surprises before I did anything else.

I had planned on laminating it to a full inch of thickness but I was surprised at how rigid it was at this thickness. There is going to be some give under a hard pull but since this is a recreational boat and not for competition I don't think a little flex will be a problem. If I were racing I would want all my energy gong to moving the boat, not bending wood. The good thing is, if this does present a problem, I will build some stronger one and replace them.

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Version #2 might work with gussets reinforcing the joint and using wood instead of ply, but too ugly for me. Version #3 looks like you are on the right track. Some kind of shaping would go a long way, but you will need to experiment to see how much material can be removed, and from where to improve the look and not sacrifice needed strength. If this goes to plans maybe you need to include full size patterns of the outriggers to aid in building the jig and shaping it after. But you probably have to make a good one and test it first ;)

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