steel canoe plans

Steel Boats

Hacklebellyfin

Hi I'm with you on this one. I have designed and built several small steel sailing boats 10' and 12'. These were built using monocoque hulls with 16 gauge plate and 10mm chine bars. They weigh much less than and equivalent ply boat and cos a lot less to build. Takes about a day to cut out another day to set up and tack and one final day to weld.

 

I looked up 'monocoque'. Cute word - I bet my tin canoe mates would think I was a smart-arse if I tried it on them. Skiff builders must have a reason for not building in steel. After building steel (corrugated iron) and plywood boats experience tells me that plywood is lighter. I'd be interested to learn more about how to build lighter cheaper sailboats. Do you have pics or specs? I'm not sure how thick 16 guage steel is, the corrugated iron we're using is about 0.5mm thick.

 

16 gauge steel is about 1.2mm. Will try to post some more info later.

 

Hey Multi600,
I am very interested in the small steel boats you constructed. I'd love to see some photos as well as some info about the technique you used. I’ve been thinking about building a smaller boat from steel for some time now, given the fact that I am a proficient welder and that I am much more comfortable working with steel than wood, but I have not been able to find a lot of info about it. I was hoping someone would have already attempted it. I was planning on basically taking a stitch and glue plan and using steel sheet instead of wood ply, as was mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

Hobo hut ,

Would you please take a look on this boat and tell me what you think of it if build with steel sheets etc..

http://www.montanaboatbuilders.com/driftboats_freestoneskiff.htm

Thank you

 

Hi
I have been struggling to find any decent pictures of the boats ( I built them almost 20 years ago). I am currently looking at producing CAD models of the boats with a view to selling plans or kits for for home build. I will look again over the weekend for some better photos.
The one attached is a scan from an old computer print so sorry about the quality.