Search:

After I wrote this, I did a quick Google search and found that tiny body-worn RDF devices are a happening thing with the Orienteering crowd. If you could get something like this that got a lot of...

The little navigation that I know, I learned as a teenager on the great lakes in the 60's, and I get nostalgic for some of the old stuff that could be a good backup for the ubiquitous GPS & VHF. In...

I have been using the Raptor nailer for a strip-composite project with mixed results: The pyramid point nails are useless imho, because they grab whatever wood-grain they find and head off to...

recommendations? This might be a wierd boat to trailer when I finish it: Great Lakes Mackinaw, double-ended, and very skinny in the stern, so it won't be floating off a trailer easily. 26'L, 7'8"...

I replaced my wheelbarrow handles with some recently-cut black locust I had. I took some clear deck finish (non-photochemically reactive) and fortified it with Tung oil and it has been amazing! It...

I like a technique that I believe came from Erik Schade for use with greenland- style kayak paddles. The historic ones would have a bit of bone or tusk fitted into the tip for pushing off from...

In a moment of weakness I bought a pair of claves* in Mexico because they looked like good blanks for making chisel handles. Then I had a 3.5 hour plane flight to wonder whether I had been an idiot....

I am sure this will ripple thru the wooden boat press for years, and there will be no end of blame, but my first questions are how / why such a ship loosened up in what I understand to be a...

I take that as a plea on your part??

Be aware that the company (Omer / Raptor) makes a big deal about the tolerances of the nail chute in their (proprietary) gun, and that they wouldn't vouch for the performance of their nails in...

No quick answer: The plastic nail material is very brittle. These nails can be very helpful for holding something together while the glue dries, but IMHO shouldn't be relied on for anything...

What size is this? Do you recommend for fairing large surfaces / curves? My minimum radius is about 8", it goes from that to flat, to convex about 10" radius.

Dang! This is a lot more complicated than I wanted. I had hoped to find a unit with a simple cowl wider than the pad which would suck up a bunch of the dust. The shop is barely 2x the size of the...

Yes, good guess, Western Red Cedar strips edge-glued with Epoxy & thickener. Slight misalignment of strips. I used a scraper as I stripped when the glue was soft and later a backing plane and block...

I have a lot of fairing to do on a 26' strip-composite boat. It was suggested that a large, circular sander was the way to do some of the material removal. Can anyone suggest one of these that has...

One can make scrapers to whatever shape you want. Take an old standard handsaw and break up the blade into pieces and grind a couple of the chunks to a range of the curves you will need. As...

It is a #6000 boat. The original scantlings are unknown, but Chapelle drew the rabbet at 3/4" for traditional construction. Gougeon recommended 3/4" WRC with the layup I reported. David Wyman...

A well-primed paint job w/o epoxy has a known track record.
I don't know about epoxy by itself as a varnish primer, but glass and epoxy can be bomb-proof. I made a roof rack for my car out of...

I solved a similar problem for my dad: the original garage-sale "find" had a corroded reflector and non-standard socket, but a beautiful mechanism for aiming the spotlight from the pilothouse. I...

I haven't seen it online, but all the major paper books cover it more carefully than you describe above. I like the "Boatbuilding Manual" by Steward, and "Lofting" by Vaitses might be the bible of...

Which I have heard about, and I think I pursued for a while, but at some point I hit the classic MEGO point, (My Eyes Glaze Over)

I am not inherently opposed to racing, I have really appreciated races where crews have used the opportunity to put down their beers and focus on excellent seamanship and sail handling, and the...

I am working on a 26' Mackinaw boat, adapted to strip- composite. I got scantling recommendations from the Gougeon Tech department, and from MacNaughton, Gerr, Gartside, & Wyman, and the...

Wherever the line is, the thing that Dennis Conner did to "Fame" is clearly a giant step over. (p 85 in the same WB issue) imho, this is a guy attempting to purchase class, but who can't abide not...

Well, if you are hung on this 40 thing, you have to make the theme something about "Roaring 40's". Have an under-40' race and an over 40' race, and in each class try to set the tone that the sail...

I must say that this is the first Milwaukee tool I have ever been seriously displeased with. The instant you lift the thing from the work it begins to wind up the RPM on the pad like a centrifuge,...

Correct me if i am wrong, but the classic solution to surf work is a double-ended boat, which is inherently not a planing hull. One may find a boat that he finds acceptable for these two purposes,...

I'll take the illustration over the current state of the boat. I am very sorry she left the lakes, and sick over the modifications.

My dust issue is somewhat unique in that I am ripping 5/4 cedar decking into strips for a 7/8" thick hull. Though I didn't order it edge-grain, that is what I got. It's beautiful, but to end up...

The wheel assembly I was able to buy was hydraulic & not adjustable, however I was able to return it and make another solution.

I have three possible riving knives in at least two thicknesses:...

@ Canoez, I got error messages with a new Freund blade until I sanded the low-friction coating off the hub area of the blade so that it could make electrical contact.
I have an early version of the...

I wouldn't claim it as gospel, but I thought that part of the appeal of strip planking was that it was conducive to a two-piece stem (&/ or keel). That is, that you make an inner stem, run the...

A common industrial motor is 90 vdc, they are used in variable speed conveyer belts, and as has been noted, in treadmills. Controllers for them which run from AC mains are readily available from...

Thanks for the thoughts, Humidifier is dubious bc the garage would freeze whenever I am not stoking a wood fire. I would hope to be adding to the planking throughout the winter, so, while 12" of...

It is becoming obvious that I won't get my strip-construction hull sheathed before fall due to family and work commitments. I am worried about the strips opening up as the humidity changes...

If it's all encased in epoxy will the sap cause rot? (Some of the books suggest this)

Thanks for your reply, The design is 26'7", double ended, so this inner sternpost catches all the plank ends. It is 1 3/4" thick fore-to-aft, trapezoid in cross section, 1.5-4" side to side. It...

I just discovered a pocket of sap running down the inside of my partially planked, Douglas Fir, new, and otherwise gorgeous, sternpost. So far, it seems to be about the diameter of a pencil and I...

Interesting data point: I talked to one of the tech / service guys at Gougeon today who said that it is not necessary to pre-coat when you thicken their epoxy either, except that there is a time...

"Western Lakes Mackinaw", per Chapelle, "American Small Sailing Craft" I got the lines from the Smithsonian and am developing the construction plan with help from a N.A.

Ken

to Gib: I spent forever debating the bead-and cove approach, I don't think I could have milled the strips in my tiny shop and the bids to have it done for me made the planking cost almost triple. ...

This has been covered in bits and pieces, am hoping for a summary: I'm working on strip / composite / sheathed construction with Red Cedar. Gluing square-edged strips (7/8" x 1") that need a lot...

The fish tug pictured looks to be at least 60' long. Those tugs were a very deep V design to get a large slow-turning prop down deep in the water. If you want lines for them there are various ones...

It's too late to do this now, but for future reference, I have become a fan of soaking in a good coat of epoxy, followed by spar varnish which has a UV inhibitor. The roof rack on my car is made of...

I am sorry if I am being dense &/or writing poorly, I am not using any ribbands and I only have two permanent frames in the initial setup, one each for attaching forward and aft flotation...

Angled in what way? do you mean diagonally?

Ken

Are you suggesting that I don't bother to get the inner stem bevelled correctly? If I did this, the thickness of the planking+ stem would not yield a consistent width to clap the outer stem onto.

I am working on a boat that is not shaped anything like the canoe-body illustrations in the literature I have read about strip building. After wrestling with the question of how to line the planks,...

I lofted the waterlines and diagonals w 1" x 1/2" battens and they all agreed on the shape of the surface. I lofted the buttocks also but the ends needed more flexible battens. But I am now using...

That is what I am seeing, but it challenges my previous understanding of reality.......... I mean, it's still presumably one, and only one, curvaceous surface regardless of the strip orientation...