Wooden Boat

LP, About 20 some years ago when I first started running the Coast Guard's flotation testing program we tested a boat that failed flotation. We had a lot of problems with the builder so the boat never got fixed and we had it cut up with a chain saw. He used plastic milk bottles for flotation. I have pics of this. I'll see if I can't find them and post them here. It'll give you a good laugh. The funny thing is it would have worked except for one thing. He used plastic bottles with metal caps. The caps rusted through and water leaked into the bottles. If he had used plastic caps and glued them on so they were watertight the boat would have passed!

 

Shakeyj,

I'm going to retract my suggestion about undoing the framing to coat those joints to make them water resistant. The benefits, if any, don't warrant the effort. What type of wood is the framing made of? If you happened to have used yellow pine you'll be in great shape. Your biggest concern is for limiting moisture migration into a non-marine plywood and to use fastenings that will maintain their holding power in a wet environment.

 

LP-

"Experience ----- Knowledge gained too late."

Experience -- What you get when you don't get what you were looking for.

 

I used pressure treated wood for the frame. I haven't had time to work on the boat because I have spring football practice, but it ends this saturday.

 

Pressure Treated Wood ???

Haven't tried to glue or use adhiesive with Pressure
Treated wood but, a friend of mine used Pressure Treated Plywood for the floor on his boat (which I helped install) and I personally found the wood to be soft... very soft.

Screws pull out easily, even when the thickness of the wood is built up with several layers.

I have hauled a lot of Pressure Treated wood products in my time, (I am a truck driver), and to my understanding, not all wood is ACTUALLY Pressure Treated. In fact, most companies actually just DIP or SPRAY the wood in their chemical and call it Pressure Treated.

To make things worse, the wood isn't even dipped one piece at a time either. They take entire bundles (for instance of 2 x 4 x 8 pieces) of lumber, and while banded together, dip or spray the whole thing for a specified length of time, thus some of the wood pieces on the inside of the bundle get very little chemical absorbsion.

Hopefully some of the other guys hanging around here can shed some better light for you but personally, I think that you might have a hard time with getting whatever plywood you get to adhere to it.

Hope for the Best & never give up

VKRUE

 

If this pressure treated wood is no good, then don't despair.

the frame being built already means that all you have to do is unscrew it, measure it up against your new wood, exactly copying it, cut it yourself or get someone else to (the neighbor?) drill your holes and screw it in (this time gluing too).
If you have the tools available, then maybe 1-2 hours work max.

You really should be able to find some very cheap if not free wood.

I will tell you my example,
on sunday I was frantically driving around everywhere trying to buy some wood for support beams under the deck.
Wood supplies, hardware stores, and hardware-superstores (Bunnings)-
all that everyone had was pine, pine, and more pine, some treated, and a bit of hardwood..
I was looking for oregan, or anything suitable for marine use, on the interior of a cabin.

After driving around for about two hours, we started driving back to the boat yards.
In the suburb surrounding the boat yards it was the time for "hard rubbish collection"
This is where everyone in the area can leave a pile of stuff out the front of their house and the council will come and pick it up and take it to the tip.
(I don't know if you have this sort of thing there)
Within 15 minutes I had found two bedframes made out of beautifull old fine grain oregan. I unbolted them on the spot, chucked em in the car, and we were off. More than enough for my needs.

Now I couldn't even buy this wood.
But I could find it faster than driving to a shop, and for free.

So if this is treated pine that you are talking about,
I would say scrap it.
If it is anything like the treated pine here, then it is awefull stuff. Pluss, when the boat gets wet, it will start treating you!

So try to get some real wood. Do some research and find out where you can salvage some wood.
Maybe some of the people from the US can tell you what sort of wood would be good, and what sort of thing you could easily salvage it from- also how to identify it.

Try the rubbish dump. Seriously.

Or look in the yellow pages for a timber salvage yard.


Good luck.
(I just got home from another 14 hour day working on the boat.
It is past midnight, and I have to get up in about 6 hours and do it all again.
Can't wait.

We are winning the battle.
She is coming together.
In a day or two I shall post in my thread and update, with photos.)

 

Searching for lumber ???

Hey ShakeyJ:

I have an idea (actually Hans' idea but elaborated on) about how you might possibly acquire some free lumber, if you live in or near a good size city or town.

I work for a Redi-Mix company and I deliver concrete to various different places, one of which is new neighborhoods or suburbs. In these particular areas where they are building rapidly the contractors bring in large dumpsters to each lot where they are building. They use these dumpsters to disguard their scraps. Drywall, plumbing materials, insulation, siding and of course... WOOD !

I just picked up several pieces of thin plywood (sub-flooring) this evening myself. It is not suitable for my boat but I also have other projects that it will be usefull for.

I have salvaged quite a bit of different pieces of wood this way and it's free for the taking.

Just an idea bud...

Vic

 

Good Luck

No matter how you build it. Any wooden boat is a boat worth owning.

 

Shakeyj.

3/8 ply, construction adhesive( liquid nails) on every mating surface/ joint you can get it onto. Nail the ply with ringshank nails. Paint it 3 times inside and out( every nook and cranny ). Load the floor between the 2x4's with empty pop bottles ,caps glued, and cover with another piece of painted ply for the floor.

For what they are they work just fine, just keep it out of deep water.

Enjoy, Mark

 

Hey Shakeyj,
how is your boat going?
I am sure we'd all like to hear, and hopefully see.
Hans.

 

quick, cheap

I built a skiff for a lobsterman friend. 1/4" fir, galvanized drywall screws, and 3m 101 (all available at the local hardware store) and painted it with exterior oil paint. Seven years later it's still going strong. It gets a coat of paint every year. My friend uses left over bouy paint so the current paint scheme is dayglow canary yellow and hot pink! At least he can't lose it. Oh yeah the skiff took 16 hours.
psb

 

Going…Going………
(you know, like at an auction)

Each to their own I spose. It does sound like you at the very least did a good job with the materials used. I would think though that there must be some sort of (rapidly approaching) "used by" for a boat of that construction. I would certain not want to retire it, before it it got the chance to retire me.
Floating down a shallow creek is one thing, but offshore?
Best of luck to him.

P.s. How big was the boat?
16 hours construction is pretty damn good!

 

boat years?

My friend wanted a cheap skiff he could use to get out to his lobster boat. The boat is 12' and suits his needs perfectly and thats what matters. No sense putting time, materials and money where not needed. Thats called gilding the lily (polishing the turd). I build and restore traditionally built wooden yachts to very high standards but I pride myselfing in understanding and meeting a clients needs.

The skiff has already exceeded its mandated life expectancy by 2 years. For open water work a 12' boat is not suited no matter what the material or workmanship. Sure some idiots pull stunts...

For a shallow creek and a young back yard builder $100 and 2 weekends the method might be suitable.

psb

 

A fan

Just a fan yelling from the sidelines here. This thread is a wealth of information.

 

lol, you too? Man, we should start a club