Wooden boat question

Hi guys, I am new to the board. I hope to find an answer or two here.
I recently was given a 14 ft. wooden boat from a family friend. It is a homemade item, half completed. The outside of the wooden boat is completed with the inside non=finished. I have decided to sheet the inside of the boat with some type of plywood (a tip on the type would be appeciated). My larger question is dealing with floation. I was told by a friend that I should put foam inbetween the outer layer of the boat and this plywood layer, in between the ribs. Is this true? If so, what purpose does that have?

Thanks for any tips, I hope that my rant made sense.

have a great day

B.D.

 

It's a big mistake to burden a small boat down with extra weight, if the plans don't call for it. Balance is very easily upset in these types of craft and it can lead to a sorted lot of difficulties.

One of the most critical aspects of small, wooden boat design, in regard to long life, is excellent ventilation to all the structural members (frames, planks, etc.) Sandwiching insulation will create dead air spaces where rot will quickly form. A well designed wooden boat has everything out in the open or permits air to circulate around and through the boat parts. Without this air movement, the boat will be short lived. You can cover up the ribs in areas where you sit, with ceiling pieces (strips of wood) nailed or screwed across the ribs with gaps in between (the air flow thing again) Do this in only the areas it's necessary for comfort, a 14' boat can't afford much additional weight and ceilings pieces are purely decorative (in this application)

Find the plans for the boat. Go look at the local marina, with an eye toward the small, wooden craft that will be scattered around. You'll note many similar features, pay attention, because these are why the boats are still alive. Lots of ribs showing, slotted floor planks, open gunnel tops exposing the rib ends, etc. There are lots of little tricks to small boats that make them work. From a design stand point, these are the most difficult things to design. It's not that they have complex structures or complicated systems, it's the weight thing that can drive a person nuts trying to balance a design out so it performs as well as expected and doesn't drown the owner. Larger craft have some latitude in this regard, but small boats don't.

When asking for advice about how to proceed with your boat (particularly true of helpful friends) first determine how many small, wooden boats they've built then ask how many they currently own. The value of their advise should be reflected in the numbers they recite. I currently own 5 wooden boats of various ages, a few of my own construction and over the years have built or had a hand in the construction of hundreds (I brought it up, I figure I should also qualify my ranting)

Post some pictures, as it would seem you're pretty new to this sort of thing. There are many here that have seen most every make and model and resources to help ID your new little cruiser.

 

What PAR said

 

Hate to be a bore but PAR has hit it in one and really has supplied all the information you need - initially!

Go look, ask think and play - especially play

 

Unballasted wooden boats inherently float. Extra floatation may be added but it can't sink even if it breaks in pieces.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys, that is excellent service!

I have one question though:

"Unballasted wooden boats inherently float."

what does unballasted mean? I hope my dumb questions don't make you guys roll your eyes.

thanks

Brad

 

All boats have ballast, it just boils down to what type of ballast.

Fixed ballast is weight added to the boat to trim her on the designed lines and help providing righting leverage when heeled, etc. Because it's locked in position, you're stuck with it, without a major job to remove or re-position the weights.

Movable ballast covers several different categories, from nothing more then a person sitting at the helm to fixed tanks where water may be pumped to and from, to help steady the boat down or lessen heel angles, to long boards wedged under clamps with crew members, sand bags and coolers full of beer tossed well out to the windward side of the boat, again to lessen the heel angle.

Typically, a non-ballasted boat is as it suggests, no chunks of weight added to the keel, centerboard or bilge of the boat. It's sometimes believed that this type of boat isn't sinkable, but they can sink, trust me, I've done it. Wooden boats are thought to remain afloat when completely swamped, which for the most part is often true, but not necessarily always true.

Un-ballasted boats are usually small craft and small boats can carry enough floatation to keep from sinking, regardless of the amount of water they take on (regardless of build materal). In larger sizes, enough flotation to keep a vessel afloat has limited returns (you loose too much interior volume) and compartmentalization is necessary, to provide the floatation to keep from sinking. Titanic may have survived her brush with that ice berg, had her bulkheads been sealed at their tops, rather then left open. The broken pieces of a teak built boat, will not save anyone, but most boats built of wood will have lower specific gravity lumber then teak and those parts do float. Have security in floating boat pieces is a false sense of security, frankly. Unless you have waters like the ones I enjoy here in Florida, it will not take long before you loose enough body temperature to die from exposure, clinging to a broken hunk of boat or not. You're better served by being prepared with good skills, equipment and float plan, then a wooden, foam core or other material that just may happen to float. Try a good PFD and survival kit, your changes are a lot better, though still not particularly good if very far from shore or in the water for very long.

This is the internet, you can't see our eyes roll . . .

 

thanks

thanks again for the info. That is another reason to love the internet, you cannot see people's eyes roll when you ask a silly question. I hope to post some pictures of the boat when i get it into my dad's shop and start working on it. I hope to have a lot of fun with this new adventure.

b.d.