Boat building help

Hello guys/gals,

I am new to this forum but I have been interested in building a small sailboat for awhile. I have a book called Boats To Go and I found a nice boat that I want to do from it. It is called the Tuckahoe 10. Does anyone know where to get plans for the little boat?

Thanks,
Lockley16

 

Welcome. I think this comes close: http://www.pdracer.com/ http://www.pdracer.com/free-plans/

 

Thanks hoyt, I have seen the PD Racers before but I was never crazy about them, again I was more hooked on the Tuckahoe 10.

 

Thomas Firth Jones designed the boat. He, sadly, has expired. A Google search may yield some results.

 

Man, that sucks that he passed. So is there anyway to draw plans? I would try to recreate the Tuckahoe 10 or something like it.

 

There are plenty of plans available from which to choose. Many are free.

This is just one example http://www.bateau.com/free/D4.pdf

 

I was just going back to my book and I noticed I have part of the plans and I have pictures of the mold. I am good with scaling items so I probably draw up some complete plans.

 

That sounds like a good idea. Lots of help on the forum if you have questions.

 

I know this will sound stupid but they are things I need to know, like how do you make a mast and boom? And how do you take the boat from the mold to a real boat, do you cut the mold to make ribs?

 

All of those questions are addressed here. You can search for the answers here.

PAR gave a good illustration for a hollow wood bird's nest mast here: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/wooden-mast-building-30741-2.html post 28.

 

Cool. Thanks for the link, I might try building a mast that way. I also found a boat called the Missile on svenson.com (I go to that site a lot) and the mast doesn't look that hard either, it almost looks easier. Granted this is for a 20' sailboat but I probably change it with 1x2's and 2x4's.
Edit 11/1/13: Sorry guys for the pic, I new it was too big.

 

One other thing, sorry for asking so many questions but I want to learn everything before I do it. What does the sheer, upper, lower, sheer, upper, and lower mean on offsets?

 

You should build that mast scaled to fit your boat. It should do a very good job.

Here is a homework assignment: http://www.glen-l.com/resources/glossary.html

"SHEER (Sheer clamp)
The junction of the side and deck or the member backing this junction. A boat with a "lot of sheer" is higher at the bow and stern than the center when viewed in profile; with little sheer, the sheer arc will be closer to a straight line (a hog sheer).

OFFSETS
Measurements supplied by a designer for the builder in order to lay down the lines of the hull. . . ."

 

welcome to the forum Lockley,

"shear" in boat building means the up turn of the gunwales (the uppermost stringer on the upper edge of the sides of the boats, where "guns" would be mounted on an old battle ship). the word shear is unrealted to the other uses of the word in English, in boat design it comes from the dutch language and just means "up turn". for examle many surf and river fishing boats have high up turned ends, one would say it has a lot of "shear", and some speed boats have negative shear or "hog back". The other uses of this word in English can mean "opposing force" as in a pair of shears, perpendicular, as in shear cliff, or translucent as in shear fabric. do not confuse these works, they come from old English, German and Latin and are unrelated (at one time they were all spelled differently).

there are lots of odd terms in sailing and boat building, most are old english, but some have unknow oragin, some are dutch, some are french. You just have to learn them, there is often no rational reason for them (like why is he line that controls the sail called a "sheet"? no one knows for certain, just tradition).

 

Also, sheer refers to steepness, whereas shear is more of a cutting action.