Building...

[khiemtran]

So, amongst other general busyness, I've also started building a plywood canoe...




Although I've had some experience with wooden boat repairs for Shearwater, this is the first time I've tried building a boat from scratch.

If you haven't tried boatbuilding before, one of the important things to understand is that it's a bit like a marathon. It's composed of a great many steps, none of which is particularly daunting on their own, but each is essential and, my, aren't there a lot of them! I started the process long before there was anything even remotely boat-like that was visible, with a long checklist of skills I had to learn and practice, then tools I had to buy or borrow, then space that needed to be made to work in, and then, at last, the raw materials to be sourced and brought in.

Along the way, I've had all sorts of small adventures, and learned a huge amount. Until a week ago, I had never bought timber from an actual lumber yard for example (as opposed to a big box hardware store), and there was a whole lot just there I had to learn about how to order, how things were priced, and how to get the long timbers home safely (luckily I did have some experience on that last one from carrying Sea Lion's mast on my roof rack).

One of the new skills I got to use last weekend is the process of "lofting". This is where the patterns from the plans are converted to a full size outline that can be used to build the actual boat. Traditionally, this would be done in a loft above the boatbuilder's workshop, as a lot of clear space would be needed.

Since boats typically have a lot of curves, a special process known as "fairing" is used to copy each curve from the plans. Here you can see I am using a thin piece of wood, known as a "fairing batten" to trace the curve. I have driven nails in the wood at specific distances from the centreline in accordance with the plans, and then bent the batten around it, to make a "fair curve".



These blocks of wood (borrowed from a friend) help to hold the batten in place while I trace the lines.



Bit by bit, the canoe's shape begins to appear. It's important to check by eye to make sure that no measurements are wrong. I did find one that was out when the batten couldn't touch all the nails within bending the wrong way. There was one other point where the batten didn't quite reach all the nails, but the measurements still seemed correct, so I went by eye instead.



Once happy with the lofting, it's time to start cutting the shapes out of the plywood. To be safe, I'm cutting well outside the lines, so I can plane the pieces down later.



Starting to look a bit more boat-like now...



Next up, it's time to start the planing process, then I need to sand, then cut out two additional side panels to match the ones I already have, then plane and sand those to match the first two exactly, then I'm ready to start the first step of sticking them all together. Some of those steps, I've practised already, others will be completely new. And, it's a fairly safe bet that somewhere in all of that, I'll discover a few more steps I haven't considered yet (like constructing a way to hold the wood still enough for planing for example). But that's all part of the game. It's not just the boat I'm building, you see, but also the skills I need to build a boat...

Comments

[asakiyume]

This reminds me of sewing, which also involves curves, thinking three dimensionally, and takes up space (though not as much space). With sewing, though, if something goes wrong (which it almost always does at least once for me because I stink at thinking three dimensionally and at understanding directions), you're only out a piece of cloth (though even that can be very frustrating. In your case, if something goes wrong, you might have to go back to the lumber yard!

I'm very glad you're not as daunted by the possible things going wrong as I would be. It's looking beautiful so far, and it will be fun to see it as an actual canoe when it's done.

[khiemtran]

Yes, it's also similar to sewing in that you can sometimes buy recut patterns to place on the wood to skip the lofting phase. But it was a very worthwhile experience to do it by hand. It's a very intimate process as you eye each curve and the lines slowly reveal themselves, and it's given me a whole new perspective of the lines of boats.

I haven't made any gross errors yet (that I know of), but I have made countless small ones. At least I have enough paddling experience to know that even if I could achieve perfection in construction, it won't last very long once it gets out amongst the rocks and oystershells...

[asakiyume]

Do you mean this canoe, when it's finished, won't last long? ... Somehow I find that a distressing thought, though I'm glad it's a pleasure to make.

[khiemtran]

No, with the right maintenance, the canoe could last for decades. What I meant was that even if the canoe was perfect, that perfection wouldn't last very long, as it would soon get scratched and gouged and repaired. One of the advantages of wooden boats is that they're actually easier to repair than plastic or fibreglass, and also easier to modify. I've got a long term plan to use this one as a testbed for a number of modifications and techniques, so it's likely to be a continually evolving thing, even after it's on the water.

[asakiyume]

Oh well that's much, much better then. I'm glad to hear it.

[amaebi]

Wow, cool!

A dear and strange of mine built a boat several years ago, planning to sail it from Virginia to the Ohio River to the Mississippi to New Orleans. She built it without a rudder.

[khiemtran]

That sounds very cool! Sailing and boatbuilding is a world full of interesting characters. I guess it's just not something that anyone does by default these days, so it tends to be biased towards the more interesting ones...