Testing the mini boat

A few days ago we took out the Mini Boat to float it. 

Quite a simple plan, put a person in it, if it doesn't sink and they can paddle it about then everything is good. 

So on a late but still sunny evening we floated the boat. A boat that we still haven't named. 

We were able to steer it, keep it reasonably straight when paddling, and didn't fall in. 

These are all great things when paddling a boat. 

Launching

Paddling

After getting used to paddling it, and before it went dark on us, we tried a small electric outboard. 

The battery helped as ballast for the front. 

Motoring

Couple of short videos too:

The next plans are:

•  to try and get it to sail with a simple rig. 
• to make another version of this kit with the changes we made as we went along
• to build the other kit we have cut out in the meantime
• to finish the other boat that has been a long project. 

Mini Boat 11th post

The seat is in.

It still needs a couple of coats of varnish.

We think it is set to the right height, but until it is in the water who knows?

Next is to make the oar locks, a set of oars and to start thinking about a sail...

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Mini boat - Ninth Post

The mini boat is coming along nicely.

After faring the hull, it is now ready for the undercoat primer  

We are planning to pick out some of the Sapele afterwards.

Then after leaving the undercoat to dry for more than a day we are ready for the first coat of green.

The first coat is done and is now being left to harden,

Blue/grey undercoat and the top coat of white.

The inside finished with the sapele ready for a protective coat.

The seats and floors are all cut, waiting to go in after the painting is all done.

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Mini Boat - Eight Post

Both gunwales are now attached.

The next step is to fair the hull.

Hull fairing is a game of patience. Filling and sanding and then filling some more if a smooth finish isn't achieved.

There are many epoxy products available that are all suitable for this process. Fillers of different grades, colours and mixes.

Below are a few pictures of the boat almost ready for painting. 

The gunwales will be masked off and will be picked out with varnish or stain.

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Mini Boat - Seventh Post

More progress on the mini boat, 

The first Sapele gunwale is being glued in place and two buoyancy tanks have been fitted at the bow and stern. These are filled with expanding foam for added buoyancy in case the boat capsizes.

The gunwale helps give the boat rigidity and structure.

Also added breast hooks (the reinforcing triangles) at the bow and stern to help keep the shape of the boat.

Another sunny day.

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Why be building two boats when you can start three mini-canoe

For the last couple of  weeks we have also been working on another plywood build a bit at a time,

A plywood canoe.

The main bulk of this boat is again made from a single sheet of 4mm plywood, and was cut out on the CNC machine.

Plywood laid out on the CNC machine bed.

Starts to cut out the pieces

all pieces of the Canoe

The next step is to clean up the edges of the pieces and then epoxy and tape the panels together.

The masking tape helps to make a neater job of the epoxy.

Nearly done

These longer joined pieces are necessary to be able to make a canoe longer than 8ft.

The epoxy was left to go hard over night and then the tape was removed, then more tape was added as below

This is to make taping the seems when the canoe is all together a much easier and less messy job. In theory anyway. The masking tape is stepped in to accommodate for the epoxy and cloth tape that will be used on the seems.

The design of this canoe is from:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

And is the Little Guide. 

Mini boat - sixth post

Both the outer and inner faces of the hull has now been epoxied. Woven fibreglass cloth has been used on the plywood hull inside and out to add strength to the boat and to completely waterproof the plywood. 

The floors and other pieces are being shaped for the boat and we have a feeling that we will be able to get it to row, sail and motor. That is the plan anyway.

This will involve some more pieces than those shown. 

All the hardwood pieces are sapele, 

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

The mini boat - the fifth post

Decided to add some plywood stem and stern shrouds to the mini boat.

These serve two very important purposes, firstly they reinforce and strengthen the stem and stern, and secondly they make the stem and stern look tidy. Improving the lines and general appearance of the boat.

Then, further removing this build from the original plan, a keel has been added. Keels improve the stability of a boat and also make it easier for the boat to be kept in a forwards direction.

And finally, the outer hull of the boat receives its first coat of epoxy.

The next step is to turn the boat over. 

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Another boat post

The boat is looking a lot more like it will float,

Between this and the last post on the boat there have been a few changes.
We removed a slither of plywood from each of the lower deck panels to take some of the stresses out of the plywood, and changed the shape slightly from the original plan.

As it was there was more chance of the boat cracking and causing more issues than becoming a successful build.

So things were changed after first replacing the cable ties with copper wire to see if that would help, we then had a beer, looked at the boat hard and decided altering it slightly was the better option than the box of matches.

The seems have been sealed and taped with epoxy, gluing the pieces together with epoxy tape and epoxy filler.

As the pieces are glued up the stitches are removed.

The plywood will then also pasted with epoxy to make it water tight. This is the next step.

Plans for this boat are from:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Even more on plywood boats

Cable ties, we failed to recall, have a habit of stretching out when not being watched. Thus we resorted to copper wire for the stitching part of stitch and glue. 

The beauty of copper is that once it is tight it stays that way. 

replacing cable ties with copper wire

Between the tape, the cable ties and the copper wire the boat started to behave as it should. However it was under a lot of stresses and the plywood has threatened to crack in a few places. This is down to using 4mm plywood on a design meant for 3mm.

We had 4mm, we couldn't get hold of the thinner plywood due to the lock down situation.

Plans for this boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

More on the plywood boat

In the previous post we were talking about the plywood kits, and to get us back into the building of this kind of boat we selected a single sheet design which relied on a tape and glue method of putting it together.

This is basically using a load of parcel tape, or duct tape, and then once the boat is boat shaped epoxy is used to stick the boat into shape.

It is a method of construction which is meant to leave less filling todo once the boat is made, however it is quite frustrating to watch as the tape peels away and the boat shifts back to being just pieces of plywood again.

So we resorted to a different method, the method that we originally intended to use. Stitch and glue.

For this you need a drill, and cable ties or copper wire.

The below is the boat now that we are using a method of construction that doesn't shift around as much, and is easier to walk away from when things go askew.

The above boat will not be the kit that we offer, this is purely to work out the best way to produce the kit.

Plans for this boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Thinking about Boats again

A long while ago, before we were building shepherds huts, Dave built a few small wooden sailing and rowing boats. These boats were built mainly for the fun of it. However they were mostly quite good little boats and in the main quite successful and satisfying builds.

Late in 2019 Dave got the boat building bug again and started a strip planked boat, the frames for which were done on the CNC machine while the rest of the planks would be hand machined. This boat is slowly coming together.

This strip planked boat is from a set of purchased plans that we've had for a while.
The frames were cut out on the CNC machine, the cedar strips were then processed on site.

Which brings us to this year, and we've got an idea to offer plywood boat kits for sale. The great thing about plywood boats is that they look like boats faster than strip planking. The hard part is marking out the plywood and cutting all the parts just right so that the stitch and glue construction works.

Our idea is to take the hard part away from the build.

We supply all the plywood parts already cut out using our CNC machine and a set of instructions.

The customer can then have all the fun and satisfaction of building their boat, without the worse bit.

A good project for kids and parents to do together?

That's the plan. We are working on a couple of prototypes at the moment and as soon as we are happy with the concept we'll get them out there.

The prototypes are being put together in the new shed, a new project suits a new shed, which keeps them out of our way while we work on other things.

Pieces being cut out

The pieces for this test build

Gluing and taping the first pieces together

Starting to look a bit boat shaped.

Plans for this mini one sheet boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html