Building a flat bottomed canoe

Reducing plank width helps even more than reducing the thickness. I found that out on a canoe design I've been developing recently, when I tried a mockup of the severely twisted garboards. It was a struggle to pull them in even when I reduced the thickness down below 3 mm and they looked awful, 5" of unexpected rocker of an unfair shape, until I divided them into 2 planks of half the width, then it was easy and the keel curve was perfect.

 

Good suggestion. I hadn't thought of double planking, but it's another possibility. Of course, since this is a single-chine boat I'd just run the planking fore and aft, instead of diagonally like true Ashcroft.

Sounds like you ask a lot of the wood, when you design and build your canoes.

Amazing stuff, isn't it?

 

I find it is better to ask ...

 

Getting ahead of myself again....particularly since it's starting to cool off enough to go hunting and plinking again, instead of hiding under shade trees building boats.

I haven't finished the compartment fasteners and the paint details on the Blue Bayeau yet, much less gotten the outboard running reliably. But I just sent Mrs. (Pat) Atkin a check anyway, for a set of Excelsior's plans.

I also sent her a nice letter, telling her how much I've enjoyed rummaging through plans by William and John Atkin over the years. Pity I didn't have enough sense to send one to John, while he was still around to hear that I appreciated him.

 

You will finish the Bleu Bayou soon enough. How is the lung?

 

I'm still breathing, so I guess it's good.

Got a blood test yesterday, and the gal at the doctor's office called me this afternoon. I've been taking two 2mm tablets of Coumadin a day; they changed that to two tablets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and three on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

You'd think they would tell me to take 2 1/2 tablets a day and be done with it. But maybe they're afraid I'll cut myself dividing them, or something.

 

Yeah, they did that to me too. Mine was(mg){Monday-Sunday} 8-7-8-7-8-7-7.

 

Scored on some tools, by the way. While we were working on the BB, the locking lever broke on my 1949 10" Craftsman table saw fence. So I went onto Ebay, and found a whole replacement fence for twenty bucks. While I was at it, I found a complete 1938 10" Craftsman saw. It was about 8 miles from my house, and being sold as 'local pickup only.' Which is understandable, considering the thing's about as heavy as a pickup full of scrap metal. It would cost a fortune to ship it.

I was the only bidder, for $9.95. Also understandable, considering the location. And when I went to pick it up, I also bought a Craftsman 6" jointer for twenty bucks, about the same vintage and almost as heavy.

Here's the fun part: the seller said, "hold on; I think this goes with it." He dug a cloth pouch out of a drawer, with six old but never-used Craftsman jointer blades in it. Those alone are worth more than I paid for the saw and jointer put together, if I just wanted to keep them for my existing jointer.

 

That was a good find.

 

Back to the boat.

Went out with my son and his girlfriend Danielle yesterday morning to Lake Perris, to try out the MotorGuide trolling motor I picked up for fifty bucks off craigslist.

Unfortunately it was stormy when we started, and got rapidly worse. So instead of jaunting across the lake to Allesandro Island, doing a little fishing and swimming, and having a picnic as planned, we just took turns going in circles in the chop for a while. Danielle was a good sport, but I think she really preferred standing on shore with the camera.

When the wind picked up enough to start throwing beach sand in our eyes, we called it a day and went to a restaurant for steak and eggs instead.

It really isn't a rough-water boat....

 

I never posted pic's of the watertight storage compartments fore and aft after completing them, did I?







It's definitely low-tech engineering. The lock pins are 3" brass-plated door hinge pins from the local hardware store; I drilled them for the split rings so I could chain them. I sealed the compartments with closed-cell foam weatherstripping, and pushed the lids down tight before drilling the pin holes. That keeps a little pressure to make a tight seal, and holds the pins in place too.

The lids can be opened like they're hinged in the back, or pulled completely off as in the last picture.

 

It looks great, but as you said, it is not meant for rough water. It is perfect for calm waters, though. Sitting lower in the boat helps. See http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/diy-marinizing/weed-eater-engine-conversion-1681.html to see how the cut down lawn chairs work(I believe the images are on page 42 post 621).

 

I intend to put at least one chair in per your suggestion, Hoyt, with a second one when I have a crew. Haven't had a chance to do it yet.

 

Stay low: a flattie has to be a bit wider than that to feel stable. A round bottom lowers the CoG which helps to add stability to a narrowish hull.

 

No problem with the stability at all; the problem was water coming over the top. Remember, those sides are made from nominal 12" planks. Which were really only 11 1/4 " to begin with....

If we'd both been paddling, we'd have moved closer amidships to lighten the ends, and it would've ridden the waves better. But he was in the stern hanging onto the trolling motor, so I had to move relatively far forward to balance him. That put enough weight to shove the nose into the waves, and spray us. We were never out of control or in any danger; it just started getting wet and uncomfortable.

As I've explained, I built the boat for the backwaters south of Blythe on the Colorado River, not for choppy lakes. My older son is tentatively planning to join me down there in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to do a day-long fishing float down the Palo Verde Lagoon to Walter's Camp, past where the lagoon empties back into the river. I should get a few good pictures out of it...whether the fishing is good or not.