Challenge: The 100$ boat!

Hehe, well, I like the sailplan and the hull. But those leeboards? It's a mish mash of styles (Hope I'm not offending someone too much). It's dutch, with a bit of Olde english style, and a tad of american sandbagger, with a complexity (topsail) of a herresshoff.

Maybe I'm a bit too harsh, but it seems that the boat would only be good for someone that would either like the challenge of that thing, or making it as a sorts of prototype for a bigger one, with the same complexity.

(edit: I just realised that the drawing of the sailboat says it is to be used for sailtraining for a rescue vessel. Now I understand why such a small boat is that complex!)

However, the drift boat is great. I really like drift boats - I wish we had rivers in this country! Put some flotation tanks in it, and go white water rafting

 

DanishBagger,

I don't want to Hijack this thread, but as a quick aside, here are a couple of free programs the read, write, and edit DWG.

http://www.a9tech.com/
http://www.progecad.com/

Eric

 

Out of interest did this thread die? Or are people all beavering away building?

 

On summer vacation would be the truth.

 

100 dollar boat ehh.. any limit on materal and dimensions?...style?

 

Nop, from the previous post I have read it seem anything goes, including begging.

Student

 

I think it's not interesting if you beg, find, or use materials you allready have.
Then you could build a boat for free!
In Norway, a small pram of traditional wood and galvanised fastenings can be built for 100USD, but it would be far better to spend 300

 

$25/$50/$100 boats

Everybody has their own idea about what the rules should be but I agree with R_thor, the cost should be for bought materials at regular prices or no fair. Maybe minor scrap allowed. I believe a fair challenge includes doing the design oneself. While it is better to use proper materials and safer to use an established design we are having fun here.

Being of the paddling fraternity, for my first homebuilt boat I set out to design and build an attractive canoe as cheap and light as possible. I used one standard (4 x 8 feet) sheet of 3mm ply sold in Canada as "door skin" and an unplaned 16 foot plank of red cedar, 4 feet of hardwood dowelling for thwarts, a few zinc plated screws and construction grade "waterproof" glue, and finished it with acrylic latex paint.

The boat is 12.5 foot long, pretty and less than 20 lb in weight all up. As first built it was unstable as hell; design problem - I used some free SW to predict the stability and either it lied or I did not know how to interpret the results. I guess less than 1.5 foot beam at the waterline was a bit narrow.

The great thing about a wooden boat is you can change things. I ripped off the vee bottom, forced out the sides until all the rocker disappeared to increase the waterline beam and put in a flat bottom. Got 1.5 foot beam at the waterline: better but no cigar, so I then cut 1.5 foot from one end and put in a transom to increase the draft and lower the CoG. it can at least be paddled now, tracks well and is fast through the water but still twitchy.

Initial cost was less than cdn$50, time about 40 hours not counting subsequent changes, power tools used included jig and circular saws, drill, belt sander, router and power plane (I did not really need both of the last two). Current plans for the further tormenting of this piece of wood include installing short decks so I can remove the thwarts, and cutting it in half to make it into a sectional before I dispose of it. Local laws prohibit having a ceremonial beerfest around a bonfire which is a pity. I had fun.

Currently I am writing my own damned design SW and actually intend to build another single sheeter before progressing to more serious boats. Some people never learn. Cheap boats may not win races or last forever, but it is possible to achieve a respectable result that will last for a few years, I think.

 

Congratulation

Congratulation. You have done it..! Some enjoy the construction, some others enjoy the boat it self..some enjoy the outing/journey..if you had enjoy all..thats is near perfect..!

 

I don't mind the idea od people sourcing scrap materials at all, after all it's good recycling, but I figure of they beg boat-specific items (powerplants, sails etc) then there should be some accounting for market value. But to be handed a pile of scrap timber and to be able to see the boat in it to me is excellent, even better than buying the right stuff.

 

That's a very good, common sense, middle ground.

 

This thread is kind of quiet! Is anyone building out there?

Just to bring you folk up to date on my own activities, I have built another low cost canoe. Like my first attempt this was made from a single ply sheet $11, a short plank of cedar $7, a tube of construction grade adhesive $8, a few brass screws $5 and paint costs were about $8 totalling less than cdn$40 say US$35.

This one is short enough to fit inside my minivan 9.3 ft or 2.8m. Despite its small size it looks good & paddles well. It is stable enough to sit upright but rather tippy so I am replacing the bottom to increase the beam 10%. As far as an appreciation of design issues is concerned, I am getting there.

Interesting points: I omitted the thwart usually needed on undecked boats, the gunnels are made from three laminations, light but still stiff enough to support my entire weight. The gunnels extend beyond the transom and attach to a transverse stiffener behind the transom, and the breatshook is small. As a result the interior is uncluttered so I can stack one boat inside another if I make another one. At 22 lb/10kg each I should be able to cartop several like this, on the theory that several one person canoes is more fun than a single big one for a family.

Construction was really simple, 16 hours excluding painting. Once I have got this obsession with single sheet boats out of my mind I can get on with something a bit bigger using marine ply, but I will always have a place in my heart for the el cheapo boat.

 

That's great!
Any pictures?

 

Ancient Kayaker,
myslef, I bowed out and bought an old tinny for $180 (US$135)

My $100 boat was to be tender to winch up under a jetty.

It will annoy me if someone steals this tinny, but it would have annoyed me A LOT MORE if someone stole the tender that I had built myself AND spent money on
When I finish working on my big boat, and have some time to burn (will this ever happen ever again???) I may take up the challenge again.

I have wanted to build a kayak or open canoe to take down to Tasmania and with freinds to explore and camp upon Lake St Clair (and maybe some other lakes)- a very beautifull place.

early artists impression



Sorry for ramble...
Hans.

 

As requested here are photos of my first efforts to build boats. there are two shown, the first one went through several modifications to improve stability, the Vee bottom became flat and I chopped one end and installed a transom so length reduced from 12 ft 3.7m to 10.5 ft 3.2m, beam at gunnels stayed unchanged at 26 in 0.66m; it is scheduled for ritual demolition. The seat back is thin ply and bends to fit my back. Weight came in at 19 lb 8.6 kg. The second one is much more stable although it is only 9.3 ft 2.8m long, beam at gunnels 26 in 0.66m, I plan to increase its bottom width which is 18 in 0.46m by 10%. It was a bit heavier at 22 lb 10 kg even without a seat, due to thicker (laminated) gunnels which allowed me to eliminate thwarts; it is designed so several such boats can be nested for transportation. Those gunnels are stiff enough to support my entire weight 190 lb 86 kg with hardly any flexing. Each boat came out of a single ply sheet 4 x 8 ft 1.22 x 2.44m. Thanks for your interest.