Builders Info

This is the half breadths of the body plan; the vertical line in the center is the stem of the boat, and each of the lines next to it are the profiles of the frames, or ribs of the boat, which double as the molds that the planks will be bent around.  I laid these out on half a sheet of masonite with a colored pencil, plotting points from the table of offsets.  These are the lines that I'll use to make the patterns for the frames and transom, and it looks to me like I won't know whether I hosed the job up or not until I'm putting the planks on the boat, which will be much too late. 

Once the lines were down, I laid the masonite on the floor and for each station, put nails on their sides at each plotted point, and then laid a piece of pattern stock on top of it and stepped on it, transferring the points to the pattern stock. 

About a year ago, my girlfriend gave me a book entitled Wooden Boats by Michael Ruhlman (Penguin Books, 2001).  It was written about a boat yard on Martha's Vineyard that builds plank on frame wooden boats using traditional methods and materials.  That book completely captured my imagination.  It's not a how-to, but is mainly about the romance and beauty of wooden boats and the builders' reasons for choosing to build a type of boat that has long been almost completely replaced by fiberglass, aluminum, and modern manufacturing. 

Well, I am anxiously awaiting my plans so that I can get started building. A friend gave me a couple hundred feet of old growth fir That I plan on planing and using where possible. Should have the plans in a few days. Is Baltic Birch a good coice for the hull?

Dogfish

Last year, when the 'itch' to build our sailboat reappeared, I recalled using the internet in high school looking for canoe plans and finding some Cajun boat plans that were easy to make, cheap, and sturdier than canoes. They were vetoed of course by "that mom," the one that tried too hard to make life one big reality check. She was actually awesome, but at the moment I was pretty peeved. 

As I recalled that chapter of my youth, I wondered if you could find more boat plans online in 2010 then you could in 1999 or 2000. And I was inundated with a world I hadn't had access to in the fledgling years of the world wide web's mass access! I was so inundated in fact that I wanted to instantly build at least two dozen boats... there were classic sloops that caught the eye and seared images of romantic windy evenings off the Maine coast (2000 miles from where I live) to the off-eye beauty of some of Bolger and Michalak's boxy boats; not beauties but oddly inspiring for their functionality. 

There was a relatively light fog on a backdrop of dreary skies that made the Pacific appear relatively threatening to a person who had only left the harbor in pristine occasions before. The ship we were on was dwarfed by the container vessels coming in and out of Long Beach Harbor as we approached the breakwater.

Suddenly, the Tole Mour passed the rock structure that marked the edge of the harbor and the calm gave way to large swells. Our school group coordinator for this excursion had warned us to eat only toast and coffee for breakfast; anything more would result in seasickness. I had listened, and though I had been out to sea on a myriad of different sized vessels- all under 80' LOA- got seasick anyway. A great start to a 10 day, open sea cruise on the three masted Tops'l schooner where I was supposed to be a psuedo-counselor. 

I am ready to start building a Mirror dynghy. I do have some burning questions as these are not clear to me as discribed in the instructions. 1st Question: on part number number 6 is a "funny cut', what is the use of this? 2nd Question:drilling of the holes for the lacing of the side panels to the bottom is apparently a differend technique, how should I do this?

Hello fellow boat builders. I am in search of alternative to plywood. I live in a country rich with great hardwoods but poor quality plywood (Costa Rica). I want to start building quality boats that last and are functionally beautiful. I believe it is a must to start from the bottom with basic designs and then work from there. Are there any techniques that I can tap into that may help me from the beginning? I have extensive knowledge of building surfboards with polyester and epoxy resins. If there are any hints to get me going I would greatly appreciate them. Thank you.    

The Mirror Dinghy is a great first-time project. Here's a great web site with step-by-step photos and instructions.

Hello there guys and girls of the blog,

I'm new to the site and to boat building, but will be going to the Lyme regis boat building acadmey to study next year. My name is Sam Williams and I'm 18.

Good any of you fine people define, and possibly provide a picture of kabes.

Cheers  

Well I have just joined the Wooden Boat Blog and just want to let you know what I am up to. In recent months I have purchased Sea Spray which is a 1926 Huon Pine Motor Sailer. The photo below has been taken at the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania in Hobart.