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MY Boat A Labour Of Love
How To Build A Boat
My wife and I had been thinking of building our own boat for many years before my wife finally motivated me by showing me a set of plans.
I had spent years looking at plans and was spending far too much time looking at plans and designs.I became obsessed with new tools and ideas and would buy the latest books and magazines
We finally decided to build our 40 foot hard chined boat Dreamcatcher.However,we were both novice boat builders and we wanted to understand the pros and cons involved with the different methods and designs before we finally commited to a set of plans.
Fibreglass was the most obvious material.It is a fantastic material that can be molded to any shape.The downfall is that for a one-off design,the mols are very expensive.This is suitable for a production run but not for a single project and a low budget.
We then considered a metel hull of either steel or aluminium.This would offer us the strength to protect against the constant raages of the ocean and ice.But even steel has its problems with rust and aluminium with galvanic corrosion.
We then considered wood.The age old material that has been a favourite for boat builders for thousands of years.And it was something we could work with.The other advantage was that I had already got most of the tools required and others could be obatained easily and inexpensively.
There are many differnt designs and methods of making a boat of wood.These include stich and glue and tape.This method is very quick and easy as well as being cheap.The use of plywood is however more suitable to building dingies small day boats and kayaks.
Larger boats are often built using thick planks around a solid frame.A filler compound caulking is placed in between the planks to make the hull watertight.Craftsman building larger boats use this method.However it is quite labor intensive and special skill and tecniques are required.Reproduction boats are often made like this.But over the years its popularity has declined due to a lack of old-growth timber and the costs of labour.
To be continued by habby dhillon
More Labor With Love
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