Building the Piccolo canoe

[John A. Campbell]

My primary interest is building R.C. boat models of the Hacker, Chris Craft, Gar Wood, etc. type.) however, having completed construction of the 9' 6" Nutshell pram, Billy Atkins' "Bagaduce" (inboard launch), and most recently....Tom Hill's 11'6" "charlotte" canoe, I have obtained (thru Woodenboat) a set of R. H. Baker's plans for Piccolo sailing canoe. This will be my next project.....the question is.......what are the Readers thoughts on glued lapstrake construction (4 - 6 mm Occume) for this boat as compared to traditional lapstrake planking (the latter is specified in the plans...1/4" cedar)? Piccolo will live mostly on dry land, summers are hot and dry in Texas and glued lap looks like the best way to go but I'm also itching to give traditional construction a go. Either way, Piccolo is next.......she is a most exquisite craft indeed!!

[Donn]

Here's a guy building them with epoxy glued plywood clinker using mahogany marine plywood.

http://www.woodwindboats.co.uk/images/pic4.jpg

Woodwind Boats (http://www.woodwindboats.co.uk/index.html)

[John A. Campbell]

Thanks for the photo, Donn. I forgot to mention in the posting that I would appreciate comments (pro or con) from Readers who have built the Piccolo......thanks

[ishmael]

Look up and post a note to Bruce Taylor, a frequent if not just recent contributor here. If memory serves, he just completed one of these in the traditional manner.

Your skills sound up to either. The main reason to build traditionally, in my mind, is that it would be more pleasant work. There are ways to use a bit of polysulfide on the outside of the plank lands that obviate any drying considerations. See Walter Simmon's books on lapstrake construction.

Have you had a look at Ian Outred's interpretations of the double paddle canoe in glued lap? Wee Robb and McGregor I think.

Best,

Jack

[landlocked sailor]

Rich Cullison built a traditional Piccolo. www.cullisonsmallcraft.com (http://www.cullisonsmallcraft.com) for some pics. Rick

[Tom Dugan]

Let me state right up front that I'm not going to give you overwhelming reasons to build either way. In fact, I'm going to remove an objection to traditional planking that you seem to have!

There is a lot said on this forum about the dangers of traditional lapstrake constructed boats living on trailers and drying out at highway speeds, but I think that small boats that spend relatively little time in the water will not suffer. Although Rushton canoes and Adirondack guide boats weren't put on roofracks and driven cross-country, they did spend a lot of time going between water and land, and didn't seem to leak (given lack of anecdotal evidence to the contrary). I'm not sure whether Rushton used anything between his planks (the equivalent to Ish's polysulfide), but the Adirondack GB builders would put old (ie semicured) varnish in the laps, which seemed to have worked just fine. I know that in Dan Sutherland's recreation of Rushton's catboat he did put polysulfide (Sikaflex) in the seams, and he runs around the country with that thing up on the racks of his pickemuptruck. I know, 'cause I helped him load the sucker one time. One time.

So I'd say that you'd do OK building traditional lapstrake. Just make sure your planking stock is well-dried before planking the boat, so it doesn't shrink too much more. And use a dab o' Sikaflex twixt the laps.

Now having said all that, I think that glued lapstrake construction is the cat's meow (or should this be in Misc?). I've built more than one small boat this way, and my current toy is the CLC Sassafras, which is just a stitch-n-glue version of the Wee Rob class of canoe, as is the Piccolo.

So in my mind you will end up with a fine, useful, dry boat whichever way you go. It's purely (IMO) a matter of personal choice.

I know, I know. No help at all.

-T

[ishmael]

I've never done this, but Walt Simmons uses a small bead of poly in a groove cut at the outside of the plank land. He uses a veinier, a small v-shaped knife, to form the groove. I don't know why he settled on this method as opposed to just gooping the land before fastening. Perhaps just more in line with small scale production, or to prevent the slipping and sliding a bead in the lap would produce. At the time I met him he'd been building small lap' boats for fifteen years and it worked well. The boats, according to him, didn't leak a drop.

His two books on lapstrake construction are well worth a look.

[John A. Campbell]

Thanks, Gentlemen, for your input....it is much appreciated. At this point, I believe I'll go with traditional construction. I'm planning an extended camping/canoeing trip to upper New York State in October through the Adirondacks and extended over into Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and will be taking canoe "Charlotte" with me. I plan to view as many small wooden craft on this trip as possible not to mention the FOLIAGE to be seen in this wonderful area of the Country. Once again......many thanks for input from all of you.

John

[ishmael]

Building with solid wood, for a project like this, is the way to go. Especially if you have reasonably ready materials at hand.

Would you build a nice piece of Shaker furniture out of plywood...gooped with plastics?

Outred's designs are still worth a look. I have the plans for McGregor, and he includes notes for solid planking. I think he has an eye at least as good as the designer of Piccolo. He also takes the guess work out of lining plank! FWIW.

Best,

Jack

[RCullison]

John,

I buit a traditionally planked Piccolo for my wife about 10 years ago and have been very pleased with it. Given a well made suit of sails it is a good sailer and paddles well, although it seems a bit wide to me for extended paddling. We carried the boat on the top of the car for a month during an extended trip to Minnesota one summer and had no troubles with it. When put in the water after an extended dry period it is usually imposible to identify any water that has leaked in from that carried in by climbing into it from the water. If constructed strictly by the plans it is really a miniature lesson in building larger boats, with it's rabbeted stem and keel, hanging knee under the thwart, etc. Most canoes this size are constructed using much simpler techniques. One caution, never, ever store it in an air conditioned space. Don't ask how I know this. Ok, I'll tell you. Not long after I built it we were having a couple of small boat shows at the local TSCA chapter and I left the boat at a friends photo studio over the two week period between. When I went to pick it up from the heavily air conditined space both garboard planks had split almost the whole length of the boat, I asume from the rapid change in humidity between the damp Maryland summer and the inside of the studio. I repaired them by taping the inside and filling the crack with epoxy darkened with wood dust and have had no other problems from the nnormal seasonal changes when stored outdoors. It really is a great little boat and well worth the effort to build as designed

[Bruce Taylor]

Hi, John.

I built a Piccolo last summer. Actually, I was out sailing in it, not twenty minutes ago.

It's a delightful little boat, but if you wished to build in clinker ply you'd be better off with an Oughtred boat, as Jack suggests.

The boat has a number of idiosyncracies, which you should know about before attempting to build. I'd be pleased to go over the design in detail with you, if you're interested.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid20/pecbdeea07239d9914ae48e0123f43f24/fdb934f8.jpg

[Bruce Taylor]

Here's my friend Peter, about an hour and a half ago, ghosting along under my Piccolo's "temporary" polytarp sails. They work so well that I haven't had much incentive to get a proper suit made.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid24/pd6bd6096427df29a7b55e61c5c50d168/fd9865b3.jpg

[Art Read]

God, but they ARE lovely little boats, aren't they?

[John A. Campbell]

You bet they are, Art, and I don't think I'll be able to rest until I get started on one. I
checked with a cedar & redwood supplier here in Texas today and he's given me a price of $27.72 each for western red cedar 3/8" X 8" X 14'0" in "B" or better (export grade) and can furnish it
at that price either vertical grain or flat sawn I've got a thickness planer with which to mill it down to 1/4". I'm finishing up with four (4 of a kind) John Hacker boat models for a
party in Atlanta and as soon as that's all done, I plan to start lofting Piccolo. This will be
my FIRST traditionally built full size boat and I would be fibbing if I said it wasn't giving
me the willies just thinking about it but this Old Man must give it a go.

[JimConlin]

If you have access to a a decent-sized bandsaw, you might save some time and money by starting with 3/4" or fatter plank stock, cutting planks to shape, then resawing and thicknessing into two finished planks.

[John A. Campbell]

I've got a 14-inch Delta with a re-saw riser that is supposed to allow resawing up to 12 inch thick material but, working alone, anything much above 6 inches is really tough when working with a 14-foot plank.