Australian Boatbuilding Materials

Rick,
Thanks for the help, don't think I'll try ali just yet though.
But a good point about starting with a Canoe. My wife, who has no real interest in Sailing, would be keen on a Kayak, so I'll have a look around for plans for a simple, stable, beginers type Kayak, and that may be a better first project - although they are not always the best I'm still looking at free plans of the internet for a start project (I would be put off just because it sinks!).
We did used to use "Peddello's" on holiday in the Med., when we lived in the UK, that is another, though less simple, option. All the family would have a go on one of them.

 

If the kayak idea is on fertile ground then one option without getting into building is a pedal kayak like the Hobie Mirage:
http://www.hobiecat.com/kayaking/index.html
You will see that they come in doubles as well.

An untrained person can move these about faster than a kayak and they have reasonable stability. They will cruise around 8kph all day. Not as fast as my boats but a lot easier to get on the water.

Rick W.

 

I found the plans for Northwind, if you can call them plans, a rather old Kayak.
But it's wide, flat bottomed, and supposedly stable.
Think I'll have a go at redrawing the plans with modern materials and stitch-and-glue in mind (and metric 1.2x2.4 ply sheets).
Just downloaded Hulls program too.

 

You will get better stability for beam with a 'V' bottom than square section. You see this form on modern cruising kayaks. Does the Hulls program provide metacentric height? This is an important stability criteria. It will allow you to compare different sections.

If you are going to draw your own plan then you should start with a good hull design.

You can read about Michlet program on this forum. It is available free. It has a hull optimising component called Godzilla that will produce you the best hull for your constraints. If you don't want to go to the trouble of learning it I can do a run for you if you provide what you want to carry, the speed you want to do, how stable eg able to stand and maximum dimensions.

The process is iterative but you get to understand a lot about the hull before you build it.

Rick W.

 

Hi PsiPhi,

I was in a similar position to you 2 yrs ago (perhaps a bit younger). I built a 12 ft dinghy from www.bateau.com that has turned out to be an excellent first project. As a result, I now know how to sail! Admittedly an American site, but they give you plans in metric if you want and have good tutorials for first time builders.

Boatcraft Pacific is a QLD based company that will provide you with all the materials you need for your materials, including epoxy, glass fibre, and all the fillers you'll need.

 

Rick
Thanks, I might take you up on that offer.
As a former software engineer I hate spending time working out how to use other peoples software - sepecially in a field where I don't know what I am doing and not familiar with the terminology.
Originally I was going to build myself a "Summer Breeze" - it was and easy and ideal choice.
Now I might have a chance on obtaining a dingy (in need of restoration) - so if I want to build something, I'll have to build something else. My choice would be a 16'-18' open cruiser, something I could take out into the bay or even across to Morton Island (when I have the experience).
That would be too much for a first project, so that's why a Kayak appeals - double value, it keeps the wife happy too.
I was looking for something stable and easy for her to paddle, and the Nothwind looked like it had enough room for the dog too (Border Collie) and that would be highly desirable. Me + dog must = 120kg!
Also the Northwind was too long, I understand short Kayaks are easier to manouver.
I'll draw some sketches and give everyone a good laugh!

 

For some reason I really like Mirrors,
and would love to get an old fixherupper one day to leave down at my girlfreinds family beach house to play with.
I almost bought one a while ago, and in researching them found this guys story of cruising and sleeping alone in mirror dinghy. It was a good little read.
http://www.btinternet.com/~sail/mirror.htm



PsiPhi,
have you found out what that dinghy in need of restoration is?
Personally I would go down that route (or something like it) first.
IMHO, Get yourself something old, wooden and cheap that you can do a few weeks of work on, fixing damage, replacing a bit of wood, some rigging, some fresh paint and varnish, and then get straight out there and try sailing it.
That way, within a month or two you will have found out both if you enjoy boatbuilding and/or sailing. You may like both, or one, or neither- and it might be best to find that out quickly with a second-hand $300-$800 (ish) 'experiment' than the 'build it from scratch' option.
Then you can look at your next step, and with more experience you will be in a much better position to choose the design that you want to spend your (considerably more) time and money and blood-sweat-and-tears on building (or buying).
Again my humble opinion would be that something a bit more sluggish and stable, like a mirror, might be a more enjoyable and rewarding first boat to learn on than something a bit quicker, and possibly more likely to capsize, then say something like a 125 (almost bought one but never sailed one).
If your wife aint interested in sailing yet, and you want to keep the wife then I think you might have to bear that in mind and hopefully come up with something that is less likely to buck her or you off into the drink, scare the bejesus out of her, and resolve her negative feelings towards sailing immediatly.
note I said 'if you want to keep the wife', if not, then I hear foiler moths are fun

Anyway, best luck.
Hans.

p.s.
what would I know? After sailing ocassionally on and off as a kid, and then a bit more regularly the last few years with my uncles, I decided I wanted a boat. So for my first little boat, I went straight out and bought a 30 foot wooden offshore keelboat in desperate need of restoration, after it had been retired from racing to Tassy and back. A year and a half on, the purchase of a swing mooring, 3 and half months straight on the hard, eight or nine sheets of marine ply, a large sack of silcon bronze and stainless fasterners, a few litres of epoxy, and maybe a bit more blood, etc, later, I can count the amount of days I have actually been sailing on it on one hand, and the amount of solid months working on it on two. Most recently amongst much else, I have had to learn how to design, bend and weld stainless tubing for the new pushpit-seat (SOOo close to finishing now). If I was to count the amount of money I have spent all up, in thousands of dollars, then unfortunately, I would probably have to take my socks off and start counting toes as well
Sometimes I catch myself looking with a touch of envy and frustration at nice little boats like ^that^ that I could be working on in the sun in my back yard on a lazy sunday afternoon...
but then I go out and sleep on my boat on its mooring, cosy and warm, with my partner, and dream of the day (VERY soon to come) when she will be 'finished' and crusing around my local waters...

 

If you have a reliable source of ducks and an old mangle you can make your own duck tape. It can be messy though.

Of course you could always use duct tape instead

 

Don't know what it is - but here's a couple of pictures.
As Hans recommends, it looks slow, I think that would suit me.
http://au.geocities.com/simonfbroad/boat.html

 

Australian Boat Building materials

Damn.....Anybody out there got a home for five hundred unused ducks...some only slightly squashed ?

 

...of course you could stuff them with Koala pooh, marinade in Kangaroo spit and chuck them on the barbie....

 

Australian Boat Building materials

I did...but Ken objected......(think about it....)

 

So does anybody have any idea what it is (or was) . . .




Bigger pictures here http://au.geocities.com/simonfbroad/boat.html - and yes, that is a hole in last picture!

 

Could be anything - looks like a sharpie of sorts, but you'd never know who designed or built it.

 

Yes, I figured is was a home built. It appears to be chine log constructions and nail/screws showing where the paint has been sanded back.
There is a hole because bad storeage caused a bit of rot. Rot and everything suspect around it has been removed. supposedly the rest is all good.
Worst case scenario is I use it as a template and rebuild the hull - that sounds like fun too.