Lapstrike Construction Books

[Doug Canada]

Greetings,

I'm planning on building a Lapstrike (Clinker) trailer sailer in the future. Cape Cutter 19 / Eun Mara. It will probably be a plywood construction project.

Looking for some recomendations and thoughts on "lapstrike" construction books.
Any suggestions?

-"Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual" by Iain Oughtred
-"Building Small Boats" by Greg Rossel
-"Devlin's Boat Building" by Sam Devlin

What & where does the word "Clinker" come from, in the world of boating.

Thanks,

[Bruce Taylor]

That's "lapstrake," with an "a" smile.gif .

As near as I can tell, the word "clinker" comes from the verb "to clinch." "Clinching" is the act of turning over the point of a nail, so that it lies buried in the wood of the plank. The word "clincher-built" for such boats has fallen out of use, I think, but was once common.

Skimming the OED, I see that the word wasn't used before the 17th cent., but lapstrake construction certainly was. Early Norse vessels were clinker-built, in the modern sense of the word, as was the famous Sutton Hoo treasure ship (7th century).

If you're building in plywood, you want Iain Oughtred's book. While you're at it, get Tom Hill's.

I haven't seen a copy of John Welsford's, so I can't evaluate it. I assume it covers his unique method of lapstrake plywood boatbuilding (have you looked at his Penguin, incidentally? Another small lapstrake cruiser worth your consideration).

The best all-round guide to traditional clinker construction (using solid wood, nails & rivets) is probably Walt Simmons's Lapstrake Boatbuilding, vols 1 & 2 .

Greg Rossel's text focusses on small craft, and covers both lapstrake and carvel.

[Donn]

As near as I can tell, the word "clinker" comes from the verb "to clinch." "Clinching" is the act of turning over the point of a nail, so that it lies buried in the wood of the plank. The word "clincher-built" for such boats has fallen out of use, I think, but was once common. :cool: That's very cool. With all the clinkers I've owned and used, I never heard why they were called clinkers. Thanx.

[DougC]

Doug, Since Eun Mara (good choice)is an Iain Oughtred design I would recommend his book on plywood (glued) lapstrake construction. Greg Rossel's book is very clear and full of good information. Even though the boat under consideration is not a dory, John Gardner's Dory book has some good illustrations of the traditional lapstrake building process.
(another) Doug

Bruce, thanks for the etymology.

[ 10-23-2003, 09:54 PM: Message edited by: DougC ]

[Steve Lansdowne]

Devlin's book is good, but it just covers stitch and glue construction, which is Sam's specialty. Clinker is the British term for lapstrake.

[Jack Heinlen]

Second Walt Simmons. Mine were destroyed when the roof of a shed leaked. :(

[imported_Steven Bauer]

Then there is John Brooks' book. :D

At his demonstration this summer at the Woodenboat Show he said he had gotten everything to the publishers 'last week'. So I guess he was admitting that the delays up to that point were his fault. Since then, theoretically, the ball is in the publisher's court. So how about it, Woodenboat? You're the publishers, right?

I just checked the Woodenboat Store website and they are listing Nov/Dec 2003 as the the available date for "How To Build Glued-Lapstrake Wooden Boats" by John Brooks and Ruth Ann Hill.

Steven

[JimConlin]

See also the Tom Hill book, "Ultralight Boatbuilding". I think that for some boats and builders, his ribband mold method is a good idea. The companion video is helpful.

The word I got from our host's store is that the John Brooks book is expected to be available in mid-December. Just in time for Xmas.

[ 10-24-2003, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: JimConlin ]

[Aramas]

John Leather did a good clinker book, but stuff on traditional methods is only secondary when doing ply/epoxy lapstrake. Maybe an origami book would be useful? smile.gif

Of course you should always be familiar with the Gougeon Brothers book before mixing your first bucket of goo.

[Keith Wilson]

I'll second the recommendations for Iain Oughtred's and Tom Hill's books for plywood lapstrake boats. The Gougeon book on epoxy is very good, but enormous. The System Three "Epoxy Book" will tell you everything you really need to know about epoxy in about ten pages. You used to be able to download it as a .pdf file from the Sustem Three web site (http://www.systemthree.com/index_2.asp), but they redid the site and I can't find it now. It comes with their trial kit, anyway. Greg Rossel's book I don't like much, too breezy and too little solid information for the price, although it would be all right for someone who'd never built a boat before. Devlin's book is specific to taped-seam construction.

For glued lapstrake construction, I really like System 3's T-88 epoxy. It's a thick 1:1 mix glue - only glue, not for coating. It was originally developed for aircraft, and has been around almost forever. IMHO it's much simpler to use for gluing than all-purpose epoxies. No coating first with unthickened stuff, no adding thickeners, just smear it on and clamp.

Another useful tip, which I repeat as often as I can (and forgive me if you already know this): By far the easiet way to clean up epoxy drips (and you'll have a lot on the inside of the hull) is with a heat gun and scraper. Epoxy softens with heat, gets rubbery, and can be scraped off with almost no effort and no damage to the underlying wood. It makes a really nasty job almost pleasant.

Have fun! I really like both of those boats.

[Venchka]

I have Oughtred's & Hill's books and all of Gardners books. All highly recommended!

However, Oughtred's book has next to nothing in it about Eun Mara or his other cruising boats. The book will give you good information on backbone construction and planking that should apply to Eun Mara. Beyond that, you'll need addtional books for guidance.

[Venchka]

David C. "Bud" McIntosh's book surfaces during the Forum's boatbuilding book discussions. I would add that any book illustrated by Sam Manning is worth the price of admission.

http://www.woodenboatstore.com/store/images/325075.JPG

How to Build a Wooden Boat (http://www.woodenboatstore.com/store/prodinfo.asp?number=325-075&variation=&aitem=45&mitem=57)

I would add that you aren't building a small boat. Rossel, Hill & Oughtred focus on small boats. You also need books that explain cockpits, decks, cabins, etc. with plywood as the primary building material.

[JimD]

McIntosh's book is very well illustrated and an excellent resource for carvel planking but doesn't cover lapstrake or any use of plywood.

[Jon Etheredge]

Originally posted by Doug Canada:

What & where does the word "Clinker" come from, in the world of boating.
I believe that the term "clinker" comes from the Norwegians. In Norwegian, clink is a verb meaning "to rivet" i.e. the action of heading over a rivet. Traditional Norwegian (Viking) boats were constructed with lapped planks fastened with iron rivets. The English picked up the term from the Vikings. It is now synonymous with lapstrake.

[Aramas]

Acording to the Oxford Concise dictionary, 'clinker' is from 'clink' which is a 16th century northern English variation of clinch/clench.
Orig. ME clenche OE clencean OHG klenkan Gmc klankjan

Oh yeah, and with reference to boats it's not actually 'clinker', it's specifically 'clinker-built'. ergo, a 'clinker boat' would be a boat that carried a kind of brick, whereas a 'clinker-built boat' would be lapstrake.

The Rogue Pedant strikes again! :cool:

[ 10-25-2003, 01:40 AM: Message edited by: Aramas ]

[dmede]

I'm going to be a lone voice of moderate dissent here. I do not think Walt Simmons books are very useful for understanding lapstrake construction. He is a great builder and his plans are nice but his writing leaves something to be desired. His email correspondence is wonderful, he usually clears up questions right away and in straight forward language, but in his books he often rambles about unimportant stuff then leaves little details on specific construction. He sometimes jumps back and forth between interchangable terms for the same part of a boat without explanation, leaving the first time builder to scramble to find the definitions. And his book construction details often do not match those on his real plans. I think the other authors mentioned will serve you better and Walts books may only confuse you. As I built one of his boats I found that I eventually spent most of my time reading other sources for information and applying it to his plans rather than using his own construction manual. HTH.

[Venchka]

Originally posted by Doug Canada:
Greetings,

I'm planning on building a Lapstrike (Clinker) trailer sailer in the future. Cape Cutter 19 / Eun Mara. It will probably be a plywood construction project.

Thanks,Given the nature of those two designs, books on clinched lap, a.k.a Clinker, construction won't help at all or very little. The designs you've picked are glued-lap plywood construction. As I previously stated, Oughtred's book will help. If you were building one of his double ended open boats, it would help a lot. However, he treats his cruising boats as an afterthought in part of one chapter at the end of the book.

Back to Bud McIntosh's book: for anyone who owns it, how much information is there about decks, cabins, cockpits, etc. that would be useful in building a small trailer sailer?

Does anyone have John Welsford's book? Is there good information in it about PENGUIN that would translate to similar designs?

Just to muddy the water a bit, EUN MARA can be strip planked, cold molded or a combination of the two.

[Meerkat]

I have John Welsford's book. It predates his Penguin design, but it does cover his ("his"?) stringer/lap construction method and has a lot of study plans for his boats, each with his comments on them. He's told me that one of them, more of a conceptual design for a 24' trad-looking blue water gaff cutter named "Arwin" (I think that's it), has garnered new interst from someone(s). A very pretty boat, somewhat reminiscent of "Blue Moon".

He's in the process of working up a 2nd edition that may well have Penguin details.

[NormMessinger]

"Back to Bud McIntosh's book: for anyone who owns it, how much information is there about decks, cabins, cockpits, etc. that would be useful in building a small trailer sailer?"

Perhaps not a lot but you are never going to find a manual precicely tied to your specific project and manner of working. What you decide to do will be your own preconcieved misconceptions muddeled together from all you know. Thus McIntosh's book will be helpful in building you knowledge base and you never know what you might generalize from it for you specific project. Get it and the others too.

[Meerkat]

Boat Joinery and Cabinet Making Simplified (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0070053073/qid=1067283837/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/103-0071654-4998234?v=glance&s=books) has a lot of information on things like hatches, doors and other miscellania. I don't have my copy close to hand, but I think there's something in there about deck construction too.

[Venchka]

Canvas the local library. Get on good terms with the Librarian. Do they do "Interlibrary loan" in the frozen North? I figure if they do it down here in the Third World Swamp, surely a more civilized society can make it work. Get everything you can from the library. Try (read) before you buy.

Hey, Guys & Gals, we need a "How to Build (fill in your favorite trailer cruiser)..." book. All the wee boats have books of their own. Why not their big Sisters? Huh?