Plywood canoe

We need to see some action shots!

 

ditto

 

It is unlikely to be on the water for some time.
I have made some progress and shall bring the thread up to date in the next few days.

 

In hindsight my title "Plywood canoe" was misleading. "Lightish multi-purpose plywood boat" would be more accurate.
In the supermarket car park recently there was a fibreglass canoe on a car roof. I was surprised to see the bottom of the canoe so marked, it looked like someone had attacked it with an angle grinder. It made me understand all the advice to sheath my hull at the beginning of the thread, however this is not the sort of usage I intend.

Canoes generally have a uniform shell with thwarts and seats to stiffen/strengthen them and rely on curvature of the hull to assist. The motor canoe on which my boat is based has an area about 8ft by 3ft that is from a structural point of view flat. My plan was to use 4mm plywood and add frames etc as necessary, some of which would be removable so would not get in the way of different uses. The designer is recommending 6mm for the motor canoe which I agree with. 4 mm on its own is very flexible and would oil can or trampoline.

The central frame halves the flat area, it also gives a fairly rigid support to the gunwales. The plans show a frame 4ft 2in from the middle. I intend to buy a Bermudan rig from a local firm http://www.solwaydory.co.uk/products/canoe-sailing-rigs/the-bermudan-rig/
who suggest placing the mast 4ft from the middle so I have made a plywood frame doubled up glued and filleted in that position which also hides the join in the butt strap. I drilled 4 oversized holes and filled them with thickened epoxy so that they can be drilled smaller for bolts without leaving exposed timber. My idea is to bolt a full frame to it and the gunwales to support the mast. Some just use a thwart but this can lead to distortion of the hull and the mast leaning to leeward.

At the beginning I was against using glass cloth however I have done some crude experiments on different cloths and using peel ply. I settled on a layer of 81gm/m^2 on the flat areas, it meant smaller areas to work on separately and provide improvement for a modest weight. My decision coincided with what was described here as a heat wave but is probably normal for a lot of you, so I delayed it until the weather changed. Peel ply is marvellous stuff as I have problems wetting out without forming pools of resin on top. The pools come off with the peel ply. Even so it is a bit lumpy in places. If asked I shall claim it is a non-slip surface. The cloth was applied to the frames both sides.

In the third photo is a rowlock which can be clamped anywhere along the gunwale so I can experiment with seating and rowing positions. All parts of the bracket in contact with the gunwales are lined with 1mm neoprene for protection.

To support the ply decks on the compartments at each end, I glued on pieces of wood. To get them to the right profile I clamped them on with the ends 4mm above the gunwale then used a spokeshave to get it to be horizontal and match the sheer, a piece of 4mm ply to check the height. The clamps were shuffled about to get at the whole length.

As autumn is here I have decided to temporarily stop work and have hoisted the boat up to the ceiling as I need the space to work on other interests and de-clutter so when I restart there will be more elbow room.

 

Fibreglass canoes often look banged about partly because they are so heavy they get dropped and dragged a lot, partly because their owners know that they can take it and partly because a lot of them are quite old. Things are looking good. I like the adjustable rowlock - I had a small row-sailboat that had a similar feature, although in practice the rowlock mostly stayed in one place as I found I mostly did solo rowing. You have evidently discovered what all boatbuilders find out; there are never enough clamps.

 

It looks great! Looking at yours has got me thinking about changing my design to a 6 piece plank design instead of a complete flat bottom.

 

Looks great!

Don, that looks like a great idea.

 

Since October I have been preparing 2 motorbikes and an old car for sale and managed to dispose of them which has released more space. The car had been stored outside under a tarpaulin while the boat was being built. I took it apart in the 1980s but did not have the time or facilities to restore it then and kept it as a retirement project but I have neither the energy or interest to do it now, fortunately it has gone to an enthusiast who should make a good job of it.

I wanted to make a strong point to attach to at each end.
The V cuts in the Ash blocks are to get a good grip for the filled epoxy and a short cross piece to hook under the inwales.

To finish off the ends of the gunwales, I epoxied on a laminated cork bumper which I trimmed with a pull saw then sanded to shape.

In the poorly lit garage the large area of dark plywood was getting depressing so I decided to part paint the inside with green on the starboard side and red on port. This resolved which end was the bow. Luckily the paint has hidden nearly all of the blemishes in the ply.

The decks have still to be fitted. They will be screwed on in case I need access to the inside. There are some very attractive canoe decks made of different coloured wood which I might attempt once everything is sorted (does that ever happen on a boat project?)

The hull is close to being useable, the outside is fair but not as smooth as it should be and needs rubbing down and more paint later on.

I picked up a trailer last weekend which needs upgrading and adapting to support the hull.

 

Sorry to hijack, very nice wood choice can I ask what you used?

 

You are very welcome, this thread wanders about a bit.
txriverrat has not logged on since last August, you could try sending him a private message.

 

Well after a lot of delay I eventually got the trailer into roadworthy condition and launched the boat for a brief row.
It does feel reasonably stable but having not rowed anything for 40 years am not sure how well it goes. The rowing was only intended for when the battery is flat or the wind drops.
The seat was made from an unidentified sheet of ply that was acting as the pallet for the marine ply I bought. It may well turn to mush if water gets to it however this was just an experiment using 'free' wood which if found suitable could be made in marine ply.
It makes the floor extremely stiff and there should be savings in weight to be made by cutting away unnecessary parts of the structure. I shall not be doing anything to it in the meantime as I am focussing on fitting it out for sailing. It may take some time due to other commitments.
I have put it on the roof of the car with assistance but it was a struggle.

 

Nice to see the boat on the water. Good work.

Where were those shots taken? One of the Lakes? Had to smile when I saw the life jacket though, were you unsure of the flotation?....

 

It was at Ullswater Yacht Club, the Open Canoe Sailing Group were holding a meeting.

I was confident of the boat's flotation but not of myself. The jacket was a panic buy as I tried the zip on the old one but the teeth were so brittle they snapped off.

I am not a confident swimmer and on anything smaller than a car ferry would probably wear a PFD.