Hi all,
I've been documenting a boatbuilding project on another forum. I thought it might be helpful here also. I'm not an expert, in fact, I'm far from it. While this is my second boat, the first one was a kit, so this one is quite a challenge. I've often seen boat building projects documented on the web, but most are done by pros and they have a different perspective. I thought the perspective from a "challenged" boat builder might be instructive, as well as amusing at times.
First, in boatbuilding you have to build some kind of strongback. I cut out the parts from 2x6x10's. Everything has to be square, straight and level. The cross pieces are called "spalls" and are what the moulds will be attached to. They are a square 1 1/2 x 1 1/2. A centerline is draw on all sides of all pieces.
Strongback Parts.jpgFinished Strongback.jpg
There isn't much I would do different with this part of the project. It's 15' long and 2 1/2' wide. It's probably overkill for this size boat, but I've had to climb all over it to use handplanes, and at my size, it was best built strong.
The next was to cut out the moulds and attach them to the strongback. The moulds were easy to cut out because I was using full sizes plans. By the way, this is a Whilly Boat designed by Ian Oughtred. The moulds are made of 1/2" ply. They are marked with the centerline, the sheer line and where all the planks will "land," thereby being called "lands." Next time I'll use 1x stock. You end up nailing and screwing patterns and planks to the moulds and the ply just doesn't hold up. Once you get the moulds up, you have to align and shim them so they are exactly in line and level. You see how I've clamped sticks to the centerline so I can sight down the moulds, which are at different heights. After you get everything all set, you nail braces on a few of the moulds so they stay square and level, then nail battens to the mould edges to keep everything stiff.
Stations 1&2.jpg Moulds Straight on.jpg
And when it's all done, hopefull it'll look something like this.
whillyboat6.jpg
John