Point Comfort 23
Posted by MarkR on
URL: http://riverswest-forums.266.s1.nabble.com/Point-Comfort-23-tp527.html
After much searching for a new boat, it came down to either buying a larger, more complex boat or building the boat that I wanted. Since RiversWest had this nice new shop building, and Russ & Mitch were willing to allow the building of a 23' boat, we got the party started in November of 2022.
The first task was to build the building frame. The plans called for a 2 x 8 ladder frame that was 24' long by 4' wide. Joining the lengths of construction lumber is the primary difficulty in constructing the frame. It's just so hard to keep them dead flat. Then, the inevitable twists in the planks create further issues. Once it is constructed, the whole frame must be faired along its length and side to side to provide a flat, square platform.
I had always been intrigued by manufactured I-Joists as a basis for a ladder frame. Lengths do not have to be joined as they are available up to 40' long. These engineered wood products are dead-flat across their length and incredibly strong - that's an advantage when the whole thing is on wheels as required in the RW shop. In the size needed, they represented an additional cost of less than $100 over 2x8 kiln dried construction lumber. I estimate that 2 - 4 days were saved on construction of the frame because of planing the structure fair.
One thing that I didn't foresee is that the I-Joists, while extremely stiff vertically, are 'noodles' laterally, so cross bracing keeps the frame square. Next we'll make the temporary forms and start mounting them.
URL: http://riverswest-forums.266.s1.nabble.com/Point-Comfort-23-tp527.html
After much searching for a new boat, it came down to either buying a larger, more complex boat or building the boat that I wanted. Since RiversWest had this nice new shop building, and Russ & Mitch were willing to allow the building of a 23' boat, we got the party started in November of 2022.
The first task was to build the building frame. The plans called for a 2 x 8 ladder frame that was 24' long by 4' wide. Joining the lengths of construction lumber is the primary difficulty in constructing the frame. It's just so hard to keep them dead flat. Then, the inevitable twists in the planks create further issues. Once it is constructed, the whole frame must be faired along its length and side to side to provide a flat, square platform.
I had always been intrigued by manufactured I-Joists as a basis for a ladder frame. Lengths do not have to be joined as they are available up to 40' long. These engineered wood products are dead-flat across their length and incredibly strong - that's an advantage when the whole thing is on wheels as required in the RW shop. In the size needed, they represented an additional cost of less than $100 over 2x8 kiln dried construction lumber. I estimate that 2 - 4 days were saved on construction of the frame because of planing the structure fair.
One thing that I didn't foresee is that the I-Joists, while extremely stiff vertically, are 'noodles' laterally, so cross bracing keeps the frame square. Next we'll make the temporary forms and start mounting them.
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