Damaged kit boat

[jim seemann]

Recently a friend of mine "gifted" me with a complete, but unassembled, Annapolis Wherry from CLC. The trouble is that the ends of the precut strakes had been damaged in shipping. I'm thinking that it can still be salvaged. This would be my fourth build. I am not familiar with the AW. My plan is to cut off the finger joints from the ends all of the strakes and scarf or half lap them together instead. The completed boat will be about eight inches shorter, of course, but will that make a significant difference in performance and handling? I may also need to make a number of other adjustments in assembly. Any thoughts on this?

[rbgarr]

All the planks are damaged?? The previous owner didn't contact the shipper or CLC?

Is the damage at the transom end of the planks or the bow? Moving the transom 'forward' eight inches would be less of a problem than aft at the stem. Unless you alter the hull shape you'll have to make a new and wider transom and/or different shape stem.

If it were me, and since the kit was free, I'd contact CLC to see what replacements would cost. You don't say where you are so shipping might make it not worth it.

Good luck. Nice boat. http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/rowboats/sliding-seat-rowing/annapolis-wherry-row-boat-kit.html

Let us know how it works out.

[jim seemann]

The planks are all okay. It's just the finger joints at the ends of the strakes that were damaged. Again, my plan is to remove them, then scarf or half lap everything together. I don't know all of the details, but my friend said CLC would not replace or reimburse. Granted, I may have to alter the transom or any of the other parts a little. My first three boats were built from scratch. I did the lofting and fine tuned the fitting as I went along. I would expect I've got the same kind of task ahead of me. My friend actually threw in a couple sheets of marine grade plywood just in case. Thanks for the advice!

One concern is that this shorter version might handle a little differently. I'm hoping it won't make much difference.

[Peerie Maa]

Are the streaks made from long and short ends so that the finger joint "scarfs" are staggered and don't all land at the same place? If so have you enough new plywood to copy all of the short ends, so that when you join them to the longs with conventional scarfs they finish at the intended length?

[Rich Jones]

How long is the boat? If 16', then 8" isn't going to matter much in performance. If 12' or so, then it might make the boat a little stubby. You might want to adjust the location of the center seat and oarlocks to compensate for the change in length.

[Canoez]

The big hiccup that I see with shortening is that you're going to change the curve along the edge of the panel - IIRC, the joints are staggered, so it will take place in different sections. The chines may not be "fair" unless you pay some attention to what you're doing. I think splicing a piece of good stock in sounds like a nice idea if you've got something similar. Might not be great if you wanted it bright finished, but hey, it's a free boat!

[JimConlin]

I'd certainly contact CLC and ask their advice. Even if they supplied a drawing of the parts that would allow you to replicate their ends, it'd be a big help.

If you intend to use a sliding seat, I would absolutely not shorten the boat. A shorter boat would pitch badly.

[mcdenny]

Are the joints good enough to properly index piece A to piece B? If so use them to connect the pieces and slather in epoxy plus cabosil mixture to fill in the gaps. Plastic over and under with the joint squeezed between two flat boards would minimise later sanding. This wouldn't look that great bright finished but neither do good puzzle joints.

http://www.clcboats.com/scripts/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/images/photos/boats/annapoliswherry/construction/AW_construction_3.jpg&w=580

Plan B would be to scarf in a new piece of ply to make up for the amount you cut off the original strake pieces. The plank would end up being the same shape as CLC intended.

Shortening the boat will surely invoke the law of unintended consequences.