Big first time project, any assistance..

I have begun work on a 42' sailboat. The finished product will look like a scaled down version of a 19th century merchant ship. The entire keel consists of treated 4x4 14 footers, staggered overlap, bed with asphalt and bolted together with galvanized fastenings. I plan to frame with 2x6's and plank with layers 1/2" ab plywood. There might involve some glass below the waterline, I'm really not sure at this point how good it would look.

My dilemma.
I am about ready to throw out the plans and complete this boat on the fly. I don't like the original plans I drafted basically because the plans don't look like the boat I want and second, because I stink when it come to drafting plans. Can this be done? Can anyone tell me how to determine the waterline for a guide when I begin framing? Can I measure and mark out the stations on the completed keel? I understand this is very non-traditional, but this is my dream, and I am bound and determine to see it through. Any help and advice you can give me would be appreciated.

 

Pick up a copy of George Buehler's "Backyard Boatbuilding". It has similar down and dirty methods, plus several sets of plans for some pretty salty yachts.

As far as winging it, or engineering it on the fly, you'll have quite a bit of information to absorb and understand, before you can successfully design an ocean going yacht that will not drown yourself, friends and family, with any level of assurance, let alone float deck side facing up, on launch day. Maybe aircraft design is more up your ally. At least you can respect the possible simple engineering failures more readily, as you spiral down from 30,000 feet wondering what you might have missed in the design process.

In other words, being father from shore then you can swim back too, places you and anyone else aboard, in an unnatural environment, much like cruising along at 30,000 feet in the air. A failure in either location will result in less then desirable conditions for all involved.

 

Tradewind,

While I applaud your enthusiasm, I wholeheartedly agree with PAR that winging it would be a foolhardy endeavor without aqiuring the proper education.

Forty two feet is ALOT of boat, especially if you,ve not done anything remotely sizable in the past, say 24'+. Its not beyond a talented & determined person, but remember to double your cost estimates and triple your projected time. This will save you from future discouragement.

I assume you want the type of boat stated because of a love of traditional working class boats of the era. Many stock plans have much old time "salty" (as PAR says) character of the sort you desire. Some of Jay Benford's designs come to mind.

Pick up a Wooden Boat Magazine for info. & inspiration. Back issues could prove valuable also.

Welcome to the forum. Don't be shy about posting questions as there is much help to be had here. You've already spoken to one of the best, and I do not mean myself.

Hope your project proceeds well.

Take care.

Tim

 

Hi and welcome, Tradewind.

At first I was sure this was already a Buehler. I can add little to what the previous posters have said. The plans must be absolutely married to the construction, and the plans must be well analyzed before one stick goes into place.
You will find, upon researching design, drafting, lofting, and setting up, that rather than a container that is shaped like a boat, a good design is a gestalt of interrelating parts, each of which lend the maximum benefit to the whole structure. A house simply sits by gravity. It's lucky the Earth is generally very still, and that the worst weather in the world is found... offshore.
As a result, house materials and construction are incredibly simple.
Now imagine a thing (a 42 footer) that weighs (yes it does) as much as a house, but rather than just sitting there in relatively calm conditions on a huge base of concrete, it is being raised and lowered 10-15-20 continuously for days on end. Each time it drops, imagine it is a house. Tons of pressure smashing against one side and then the other. Then imagine not air outside, but solid cold water with man-eating sharks in it.
Remember that as you advance through the project. And before you go much further, get the plans down.
Do you have a drawing we could see?

 

How many times can we all say the same thing?
Well, once more, at least.....
If you don't like the plans, then have them changed, or get new ones - on both instances from someone who know's what they're doing.
Tossing 'em out at this stage may seem like a quicker route to the water, but it's not

 

Big Build

Try building something small like I did first. The 12 ft dinghy that I made took me 9 months and taxed my woodworking skills to the max! Take my advice with a grain of salt though. I am a certified rank-amateur. These other guys that are talking know their stuff and their words should be heeded. Don't get discouraged though. Building a boat is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Complete strangers approach me and ask me where I bought my boat. I get unbelievable joy telling them that I built it myself!

Happy sawdust!

flydog

 

Thank you. Ok. Those were the answers I did need to hear. So thank you. I do have plans but they are on builders paper, so I can't scan them as an image.

So far, I have already laminated up 8 inches of keel so perhaps I could stop and go back to plans. Do you think a boat builder might draft me plans based on the keel section I've constructed so far?

 

There are so amny plans available already. George Beuhler's plans use the kind of materials you are thinking about. What you may not realize is that stock plans are incredibly cheap for what you get. A lot of designers actually take phone calls and answer questions, or charge a small fee for consultation.
A custom one-off design is very expensive, because the time involved in designing and drafting a complete boat (especially a 42 footer) is extensive.
stock plans, even if used only to build the basic hull, are a bargain by comparison. Perhaps 100 sets of plans are sold even though the boat took no more effort to design than a custom. If the plans cost $250, the effort has rewarded the designer with a gross profit of 25k. If you can imagine half of that being his profit, you can see how a custom design would be at least as much.
To design a boat around a few 4x4s... things aren't that simple. Better to ask for advice on a good design you can afford and are able to build, pay for plans, and start fresh.
Building a boat is the biggest commitment of time and energy and money you will ever spend. Designing it yourself without the knowledge to do so is to risk that commitment right from the start. It's enough for anyone to commit to the building project. I wouldn't design my own boat in that size range myself (I might modify some existing lines) simply because I'm not qualified to do so with any certainty that the design will be a success. That said, it may surprise you, but a lot of navel architects make mistakes. They cannot always predict exactly what a new design will do in the water until its built. The most they can be sure about is that the boat will be structurally sound. When they are successful, and the boat also performs very well, they are pleasantly surprised, they pinch themselves, and then sell stock plans.
Think of that.

Alan

 

You have gotten sage advice from all the above who replied to your thread. These are all really smart people who have "been there, done that" . That includes Flydog who has just finished his first boat. Flydog is giving you some clues about the length of time that you will need to complete your boat. Succinctly, it takes much much more time than you'd think. Stories abound about ambitious and determined people who have started a good sized boat and launched it ten to twelve years later. Boat building is not at all like building a house. A boat is neither round, nor square, nor flat.

Do not be discouraged by all the negatives on this thread. Build the boat but do it right the first time. If you want to build something that floats just to get a feel for the process, then try a simple sharpie. With designs of that type you can "wing it" but it it's still a wiser decision to get a set of plans from an experienced designer.

 

alan, by the way, your right. everything I've done thus far was based on George Buehler's Backyard builder book.

 

You might hunt up an issue of wooden boat that had a very good article on the sailing vessels that are built in the Caribbean without plans, just long traditional procedures. But before you try to build one like they do you should find out what size timbers they use for the backbone and all other parts of the vessel.
The type of structure you seem to be going with is not too far from the type of construction Reuel Parker describes in his book 'The New Cold-Molded Boatbuilding'. But you are going about it backwards. His method usually starts with the hull being built like half a nut with wood, plywood, and epoxy and then glueing on the deadwood that you are talking about starting with.
And what would be wrong with going with a George Beuhler plan?
After years of making boats and lots of other things I absolutely hate doing anything over. And that is even if it is only a small thing or piece. Trust me, you do not want to do any major part of a project of this scope twice.