Guiding a Pond Boat Build

[Charlie43]

As I said to him in an email:

John, 

I'm going to start a conversation with you in the Rivers West forum on how to build your "pond boat", so I won't have to be repeating myself if anyone else ever wants to build one.

If you want to frame in cedar, you should buy it now and start the air-drying process. Look for vertical-sawn, tight-grained heartwood, as dark as you can find it, so as to match up well with the merenti. Look in Lowe's fence board piles, or Mr. Plywood's lumber racks, or even Shurway when you buy your plywood there. Stated nominal-thicknesses will vary from 5/8" to 3/4", which doesn't matter, because you'll be planing everything down to 1/2", which is a size that offers enough strength, bends easily enough when it has to be bent, and looks 'right-sized' to the eye.

To rip the material, buy a 24-tooth, thin-kerf, wet-lumber, Diablo-brand blade (hugely cheap, but very good), which leaves a good-enough finish cut for gluing. One 8'-1"x 6" board is enough for the gunnels, but get one more and then also have enough for the seat risers. For the thwart, all frames, the scupper blocks, and the skegs, three or four 6'-1"x 6"s is enough, but buy one extra. For the keel (which you must install to ensure hull rigidity), find a stick of clear, vertical grained 2" x 4" x 8' lumber from which you'll rip a piece 3/8” x 1-1/2" x 8' and your rubbing strips (of whatever dimensions you choose), and then have plenty leftovers for other boats or to fabricate some oarlock blocks. (Cedar dust is deadly. Plan to wear a mask and eye protection when ripping).

And if you plan to build your oars, buy two more 6' cedar boards for that, and here I'd look for heartwood with an interesting figure for the blades, and you might choose that look for the thwart as well. (Tight knots are very tolerable, but not wild flat-grain.)  If you're building oars, choose very dense, very strong woods for the loom and grip. (I'll write up oar-building another time.)

If you're going to add graphite power to the epoxy fillet for UV protection, you'll need to special order it from West Marine though their online process, who normally doesn't have it on their shelves and then bike out there to pick it up in a week or so. (No extra cost for the order.)  You're going to need plenty of 1" and 3" masking tape, more deep-throated clamps than you likely have (but I'll lend you mine when you reach those points in the build).

To loft and to layout, you'll need a drywall framing-square, but I could lend you mine, plus a batten. (Raid your kitchen for splining ducks.) A sharp, low-angle, block plane is crucial to fair the bottom curve which has to offer a near furniture-grade, but open-to-the-interior fit to the sides.  A sharp, fine-toothed jigsaw blade is needed to cut the curved parts of the plywood. You'll need an electric planer to clean up the gunnels. A pullsaw for trim work (not a backsaw). A jack plane to joint boards before ripping, which means you also need a pair of Jorgensen clamps, but I can lend you some.   Plus, the usual files, rasps, sand paper. Think about how much fastening you want to do with boat nails versus SS screws. On the same boat, I'll use both as each makes better sense. You've used epoxy enough to have a favorite brand and can size a gluing job to your pot life. So no comments are needed. (I happen to use West Systems and have trained myself to work fast. But that's just me.)  

To build the transom assemblies, you'll need tapered toothpicks, a micrometer, and a numbered drill set, because fractional drills won't provide the proper-sized holes for a snug fit. (The toothpicks serve as alignment pins that are left in place.)  You'll need a roll of 36” inch wide wrapping or butcher paper (brown or white), because you'll be lofting the boat full-size. (Anyone who doesn't loft what they build is an idiot.) A roll of soft bailing wire (Explained another time). A bevel gauge marked in degrees (to pick up frame angles). Decide whether you will buy your boat-oil, or make your own, and get that now. Decide whether you will oil or varnish the exterior, and get that now, too.  

There's probably a dozen other things you'll need --or discover a need for-- to do a problem-lessened build. But the previous will get you started. The basic ethic of the build is this. Not a piece of wood goes into the boat that cannot be justified structurally. Not a piece goes into the boat that isn't properly proportioned to all others, as well as color/figure coordinated (as best one can without becoming obsessive about it). Looks don't float a boat, but they do matter to one's satisfaction when the job is done and no cringing is required. But --and this is crucial-- the standard we'll be working toward is 'well-executed work boat', not 'high-end floating furniture' of the type seen at boat shows. Plan to keep costs under $150 bucks and a reasonable number of hours.

As your questions arise, post them here for all to see and to add to as they can. "Pond Boats" done dory-style are an easy, forgiving build. When the underlying lines are right, they are fast on the water and sweet to use. So that's where this build --or any build-- has to begin, at the drafting table. As questions arise about that part of boat-building --the drawing part-- also post them here in the forum. But let's use a separate thread for that and confine this thread to the wood-working stuff.  You've got the link to Carlson's Hulls program and watched me do a quick run through its features and some supplementary programs that make drawing boats the simple task it really is. But others might find the links/references useful. So I'll repeat them.

http://carlsondesign.com/projects/hull-designer/
http://www.padowan.dk/ (or an equivalent graphing program. But this one is free, intuitive, and accessible to those with just first-year, high-school algebra.)
A spreadsheet program, such as Libre Office or Excel.
A refresher tutorial on TANGENTS (if you don't remember your high-school trig).

Charlie