Challenge: The 100$ boat!

Thanks, they look good!

 

This thread is a bit quiet, has everyone gone away or is nothing happening due to the season? I gave up my efforts to write my own software when I downloaded a copy of DelftShip which is what Freeship is calling itself these days. I had a bit of fun mastering it over the winter. It does a good job although it is a little strange, more like stretching a rubber sheet than defining offsets to get the hull you want. I have a couiple of designs waiting for warmer weather. The first will probably be a 12 ft 3.66 m canoe that I hope will be more stable than my previous attempts and the second one will likely be a Wee Lassie (10.5 ft 3.2 m), which I have translated from the lapstrake into a five-plank-a-side ply hull, staying true (I hope) to the original lines. Both should be under 20 lb 9 kg and naturally, they'll both be dirt cheap. Any more news folks?

DelftShip is at http://www.delftship.net/

Wee lassie: http://www.geocities.com/ancientkayaker/WeeLassie/WeeLassie.jpg

 

Sure! 'I'll chum in here . A 100 dollar boat challenge? Guys , this is going to sound absolutely nuts ..but it worked and worked surprisingly well . I may have had 25 dollars in it .. And I built it 12 years or so ago. It consisted of 1 used tractor inter tube. A piece of used 3/4 inch fir ply wood cut into a tear drop about 6-7 feel long and 20 inches wide at the widest point. 4 small ratchet straps , and some bungee cords. One electric drill. Broom stick. A used speedo cable from a motorcycle...and 1 12 volt plug in fan prop. (truckers dash fan)
I cut small slots in the plywood bow and stern and on each side in the middle for the ratchet straps. I stretched the inter tube with one ratchet strap around the tube and through a slot in the ply on one end and ratcheted the other strap until the tube was to the full length of the plywood . Then I used the side ratchet straps to pull the sides . This was a fairly large tube so stretching was minimal . I used the bungees between the straps around the inter tube drilling holes in the plywood ( really didn't' need this ) I inflated the inter tube and released a bit of tension on the straps as it inflated so all would be equal . I attached the speedo cable to the broom stick and slid it under a ratchet strap on the aft end then attached the fan blade using the molded in set collar the prop had ,and chucked the other end in the drill and duct taped it on the handle. A tiller pole
I cut one other piece of ply for a seat across the top of the inter tube and charged all the battery packs I had. Grabbed the PFD, a paddle and the rod then headed to the lake . This little boat did just fine. It felt stable I stood up in it with no problem , it turned , I could go reverse . The battery lasted a long time AND I caught fish! Sorry no pics But I just may try it again !

 

Things are kind of quiet on this thread but here is another $100 boat. this 12 foot canoe took about 40 hours for hull construction and 60 hours total including finishing, metalwork and the seat. Material cost of $100 included a sheet of 3 mm marine ply, 1/4 sheet of marine 4 mm ply and about 6 board feet of cedar plus a little pine. Biggest cost item was epoxy at $30.

 

NICE! That's value for money. It looks like a real and useful boat.

 

100$ Boat

If you put the Dollar Sign wher it Belongs as in $100. You can send me a Certified Bank Cheque or US Postal Money order or a couple of Krugerands.

$100 bucks wont even fill the fuel tank on my pickup truck right now.

You better make your boat Wind Powered!

Here is the winning Idea.
When I was a kid we riped the top off a 275 Gal oil tank that we found. dragged it down to the river and

Poof! We had a boat that was good for one run down the classs III Rapids.

There ya Go!


Capt Walt

http://home.maine.rr.com/newengland/index.html/

 

Now that's what I call a lot of boat for the money! My $100 is already earmarked for the next boat, sorry!

I haven't modified the boat to use wind-power yet so it is still driven by good old-fashioned paddle-power, I expect it to do about 8km to the jam sandwich. However, I have plans for wind power. It'll be like a wedding, something old (lateen sail), something new (Bruce foils), something borrowed (the paddle) and something blue (er... I'll have to repaint the boat). The lateen sail is a lifting sail which should enhance the lifting effect of the Bruce foil; I have tried something like it before using a sail that folds kind of like an umbrella and it worked well on an even smaller boat with only 12 sq ft of sail area. This time I plan to have 25 sq ft. If that isn't exciting enough I have enough aluminum tubing for 50 sq ft ...

Speaking of excitement, how many of you survived the class III rapids run in the recycled oil tank? Reminds me of the Niagara Falls museum, but the survival rate there is discouraging ...

 

I built the boat below for about $35, all wood was salvaged from construction sites and trash. I am building a new spinnaker out of plastic table cloths I got from trash after a wedding. It uses a Tyvek sail, it is 14 ft LOA x 4'8" beam, w/ 16' laminated wood mast. It is skin-on-frame, like a sea kayak, with a heavy plastic skin (also from trash).

 

Looks great, must be light too. I have had success using lightweight tarp material which I can sew on my wife's sewing machine when she isn't looking. I've heard of Tyvek but don't know anything about it. How did you fabricate the mast; it's something I want to try?

 

I think the whole thing weighs about 150 lbs or so (I have not weight it yet). Tyvek is a brand name for a house wrap material (there are other brands too), it is a semipermeable membrane made of some kind of fibrous plastic with polyester filament reinforcement. I bought a 9' wide x 100 foot roll of it for $5 at a garage sale. It can be sewn but I used two sided duct tape on lapped seams, and then double sealed the seams on top with Tyvek tape.

The mast was pretty easy, I started with a single 1x12 VG fir plank 16 ft long I savaged from an old church building remodel. I cut two 4 in strips and routed a small half round groove along the back edges, I also routed radius in the outside corners to round it off. I then cut a 1/4 x 3 inch strip and glued it in between the two grooved halfs. So I end up with a rounded off rectangular mast about 1.75 in thick by 4 in deep, with a 1/4 in slot up the back that the sail slides up inside. the LE of the sail has a 3/8 rope in it that slides up the routed grooves, giving the sail a smooth and continuous attachment to the trailing edge of the mast.

 

Oh, ha ha, that's rich coming from someone who types his nick with all capitals and begins every other word with a capital as well

Good solution. Unfortunately, 100 dollars were a hell of a lot more worth back then.

Man, I like that one! It looks very much like those Greenlandic kayaks. Only, of course, with a rig and everything.
At 35 bucks, methinks I should have set 50 bucks as the top dollar to be used.

 

Just an afterthought, the boat (Dora) in my April 20 posting has turned out to be a great boat on the water. Knocked 15 minutes off my previous 105 minute around-the-pond record. So good that it's the only one of my canoes and kayaks that I use now. She runs dead straight, less than 20 lb so I can tuck her under my arm across the 200 yds wide beach. Kind of hard work to turn though, almost zero rocker, lots of sharp edged chines a keel and a skeg to boot; I overdid the directionality.

I got a lot of help from the forum on the design of that rather pretty seat, which is actually intended for a later boat, a Wee Lassie, scheduled for Fall (don't think there's any Oz's on this thread but that's Spring, fellas, if your listening). * Ooops, they're in there ...

I have another similar but smaller canoe just finishing up, will post pics when done. Should come in around $55 ...

 

Using traditional skin-on-frame construction you can build a much nicer sea kayak than using plywood. The sea kayak below I built for my wife for about $60. The stringers and gunwales are red cedar (all salvaged) and it uses Alaskan yellow cedar for the steam bent ribs (only because red cedar does not steam bend very well). I have also used white oak for steam bending, salvaged from oak floor boards.

The most expensive part was the fabric, 9 oz nylon from George Dyson and Company in Bellingham WA. The fabric was about $40. The frame is held together with all wood pegs and lashing done with polyester lacing cord. It is strong, fast to do, will not corrode and light, and it uses no metal fasteners at all. Nylon btw is not good for lashing boat frames because it relaxes when wet and the knots fall out. The skin, after sewing on by hand, is sealed with polyurethane floor finish (I added pigment), tough and cheap. But any oil based paint will work, more durable than tar too (and not as smelly). I can get leftover paint and finish for free or next to free at a local county run paint recycling program.

The kayak is 15' 8" long, 22 inch beam and weighs about 19 lbs. It is tough, light and paddles nicely. My wife loves it better than any factory "hard shell" kayaks (that weigh 60-70 pounds!).



below is another picture of my sailboat so you can see how the frame is built (without the floor boards). I eventually intend to replace the plastic skin with 12 oz nylon and polyurethane sealant like the sea kayaks, this would add about $40-50 to my $35 budget, still well under $100. But it will make a very tough and durable skin (unlike the plastic which I am always patching with packing tape). The skin is held in by the coaming, so very little hand sewing is required with this design. BTW, my sail boat uses a dagger board that goes through a dagger board box behind the mast step.

 

Tyvek sails and salvaged materials?

Hey Petros, I like your ideas a lot. I've got a friend that used the Tyvek idea too- wouldn't have thought others would be that thrifty too, it's awesome. I live on an Island near you, so we're kinda close. I've been gathering scraps and planning with intention of building a small skiff of sorts from recycled wood/materials. Do you have any ideas for a 8' to 10' boat. I want something that can tie down to my truck without a trailer. Any tips or books or websites or things you've found work better? Things I should stay away from?

I thought this was interesting and reminded me of yours:
http://www.blueanarchy.org/sealouse/index.html
Feel free to email me direct: merdoc_@hotmail

 

You can take any small boat design you like that uses flat panels (hard chines) and covert it to skin-on-frame construction. I just took the dimensions of a high performance sailing dingy and scaled them for my hull shape and built it just like a skin-on-frame sea kayak. For a boat under 10 ft you can get by with gunwales and a keel of about 3/4" x 3" and stringers of about 3/4" square. You can use plywood to make frames, or do like I did and steam bend ribs with plywood frames about every 2 feet to help hold the shape.

It is a very light weight way to build, this 14' sailboat goes on the roof of my Toyota Tercel for transport on a normal roof rack (I have had it on the roof of our van but it is more trouble to load because it is so high off the ground). I do not have a boat trailer, all the boats I have get around on the roof of our cars. The kayaks are so light they do not even need a rack, just a blanket or pad on the roof.

There are a lot of good hobby web sites about building skin-on-frame kayaks, one of the best books is Chris Cunningham's book on building Greenland sea kayaks. But you can likely get the information you need to know from the internet, there are even several forums for kayak builders.

Do not fear, just get started and it will all come together. It goes fairly fast compared to other construction methods. Use 9-12 oz nylon and polyurethane floor finish for a sealant (or any oil based paint). If the hull shape you choose behaves well, so it will as a skin-on-frame construction but it will be lighter (and much less costly) to build. You can fiberglass the hull but that is more costly and not as good as nylon or polyester skin with paint sealant.

Good luck.

What island do you live on? my work sometimes takes me to the islands in Puget Sound.