With that glued up I moved over to the boat and started skinning.

On this boat I just staple the skin on the inside of the coaming.

I am trying a new stitch down the bow. I have seen this done before but never knew how it was done and finally just decided to try it. It’s slower but I love the way it looks and I also found that I can pull the skin tight and not get those pesky pull holes either.

The bow is sewn and ready for a little shrinking to pull out some wrinkles. It’s going to be a couple of days before I can get back on it but it will not take long to be ready for paint or whatever finish I decide on.

Any color suggestions? I am stumped.

First order of business was to go back and relash a couple of stringers. This photo is probably a bit confusing but you are looking at the end of the sliding seat unit resting on the frame. The unit is resting on the lashing. Taking it in and out is would eventually wear out the lashings so I needed to fix it…. or rather fix all 6 of them.

The fix was simple enough. Just cut a notch in the frame for the lashing to rest in and that would keep it out-of-the-way.  Then lash the stringer with an H lashing.

With that done the frame is finished and it’s time to apply the oil. This is not one of my favorite jobs but I do love watching the wood change as the oil is applied! I love the look of oiled WRC.

I have finished the outriggers, I am just waiting on the hardware to arrives so I can mount them to the frame. I oiled the outriggers and seat frame.

Once I get everything fitted and I will apply the varnish. I was going to varnish now, but I had second thoughts and decided to wait.

Once the oil has had a couple of days to dry it will be ready to start skinning. Next I need to  building a set of oars. For the first time I feel like I can see the end of this project. There is still a lot left to do but it feels like it is getting close.

It is supposed to be stormy but since the storms are not here, I decided to take some  FROG photos (Frame On Grass).  Looking at it the outriggers look sort of narrow but they are correct for a set of 8 foot long oars. I wanted to start with these and see what I have built. If I don’t have any problems and decide later I want to try some 9′ oars, it’s just a matter of building a new set of outriggers and bolting them on to the frame.

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

Until I put in the boat!

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.

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 #2 (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.

I drew full size patterns. Cut out two pieces of plywood and used short lengths  of 2×4 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 wasn’t necessary but it would have made it easier, but I didn’t have any problems by myself..  I was totally surprised at how fast this went.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

I want to start attending events and displaying my boats. I need a way to display them inside a small space. The obvious answer was a display rack but the problem was finding a good design. I want it to be simple, lightweight, easy to store and haul. And of course it must be cheap. Try as I might I just could not come up with a design that meet all my demands.

So, 2 AM this morning I am tossing and turning and can’t sleep. I get up and go in my office thinking I could proof read the chapter I was working on in the new book since reading almost always makes me sleepy. Instead I got to thinking about the rack and sketching some ideas. I have done this numerous times and I  have never come up with anything good.

But suddenly it just fell in place! It was ugly but simple and it was cheap and lightweight. I could assemble and disassemble it in 2 minutes or less and I didn’t need a cordless drill or any tools at assemble it. This was exactly what I have been looking for! I had been over thinking it all this time.

After that I managed to go back to sleep.  This morning I ate breakfast, ran to the lumber yard and after 2-3 hours in the shop and I had it built.

I settled on 3 boat rack since this would keep the tallest boat at eye level for most adults. As you can see, the rack is barely visible with the boats on it. Even so I will probably spray on some paint or varnish just to make it look a little better.

The ends are 1×4′s glued and screwed together. No fancy joints, just bare bones slapped together, basic construction. The rods are closet poles with a small dowel pin in them to keep the ends properly spaced apart.  Since the joints are a loose fit it’s wobbly. To keep it from flopping around I use polyester line as cross bracing across the back of the rack. Using a truckers hitch I can pull them tight and the suddenly the rack becomes very rigid!

The rope just has a loop on the end and just hooks over the protruding dowel.

Simple, effective and it cost me less than $30.

OK, I am though bragging now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I got in the shop a little bit yesterday and got to work on lashing some of the stringers in place. I built the stands I work on and one of the great things is I can can off the top bar and lower the boat down on one of the cross braces. This allowed me to sit in a chair and work. Was nice to be able do something besides watch TV. Trust me, there is nothing on TV!

I like to lash the center of the boat together leaving the stringers long on the ends.  Once I have the middle lashed I move to the ends and start on them.

As you can see the stringers were very long on this one. Other than being in the way it’s not a problem and I can use the cutoff by scarfing them together into longer pieces for use on the deck or seat stringers in another boat.

The transom is going to be interesting to build! A little harder than I anticipated but I am not surprised either. Once I get the bow down I will start on it.