Anyone else here thinking of building/recently built a Shearwater?

[ErikH]

I'd like to build one. How hard did you find it? How many hours did it take to get to the painting stage? (I know you can spend between 5 and 500 hours finishing almost any boat, so don't include your finishing hours smile.gif

Did you manage with handheld tools or am I well advised to go recover my bandsaw from my sister?

What did you end up using for plywood and how happy have you been with your choice?

What do you regard as the "take all the time you need, but make SURE you get this step right" things? I imagine that shaping and mounting the frames would be in that category. Anything else?

any tips, things you wish you had done, things you wish you had NOT done, etc? Include the obvious ones, even if you think "nobody else can be that dumb" because yes, I can.

Thanks!

[gert]

If your refering to Joel White's Shearwater I finished and launched one last july. Her name is Carina, if you do a Shearwater or Carina search here you will find some info. I used certified Accume plywood scarfed and glued off the frames. She was only my second boat and I found her relativly easy to build, the only advise I would give is: the frames are laminated, make the strips no thicker than 1/8 and allow for a bit of spring back. Shape and fit the "wrangs" after the boat is planked. Use 1/8 door skins to make templates of the planks. Get Ian Ougtreg's (sp?) book "Plywood Boat Building"(don't let his sanding to 3200 grit scare you off) and Tom Hill's book "Ultralite Boats", these are indespensable.
And build the sailing version; she's a hoot.
Good luck and enjoy.

[ 06-04-2003, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: gert ]

[ErikH]

thanks, I'll search the archives.

E

[Doug Hamilton]

Joel White's Shearwater is 16'-0 x 4'-5. *His design #57 is a longer, beamier, deeper version of Shearwater. *It is 18'-0 x 4'-6. *A profile view above the water-line of the sailing version of this larger boat appears on page 51 of WB 147.

[Bill Perkins]

Gert have you wieghed your boat ? I'd be interested to know the wieght of the hull if you have .

[imported_Steven Bauer]

My son and I are building Oughtred's Hardanger Faering - ELF, a very similar design.
Gert, what is the thickness of your hull plywood? Iain says you can use 3/8 or 1/4. We're thinking of using 1/4, to save weight. I'm interested in hull weight also.

Steven

Hey: watch those fingers!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid64/p531decef24566b5581e995c9f3866294/fbfc6a6a.jpg

And here are the laminations for the stems. All milled out of a douglas fir 4x4. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid64/p7ada89d1a710cb3bf193b63a7a9848ef/fbfc6a5f.jpg

[gert]

I used 3/8" Accume (paints wonderfully) per designers spec; a local profesional boat builder recently finished a shearwater also and he thought 3/8 was excesive (stiff), perhaps 5/16, 1/4" seems lite. As a sail boat I would think you would want the strength. I have never weighed her but two people can carry her (c/w sails rudder oars etc) for a short distance. I guess she's about 170 lbs. She's not a car topper. I had her out on friday afternoon she doesn't like lite winds and I didn't take her out earlier because it was gusting to 20 mph and my sailing experience is only around 50 hrs. The sail has no reef points yet and the boat no "floatation". I'll probably put her back in my shop next winter and add for and aft decks to her as these spaces are wasted anyway and would create dry storage and floatation chambers. I experimented with a standard tiller but ended up going back to the designers push pull tiller which allows you not to have to change hands when tacking. For the "rangs" go out into the forest and find some natural krooks (sp?) to cut them from or at least double spline this during glue up. By the plans the center board trunk is about an inch back from the 1st frame this creats a little recess thats hard to clean and dry, I would taper the front post of the trunk forward to fill this void and also modify the "mouse hole" in the frame on that side of the keel. If and when you have sails made put a webbing loop at the tack corner not a grommet.
Have fun, she's worth it.

[ 06-08-2003, 07:20 PM: Message edited by: gert ]