Building a 10 ft Dinghy (#127; Gartside)

[Helder0906]

I will build a classic wooden dinghy the coming year. I have bought the plans for the #127 from Paul Gartside; a 10 ft dinghy (sail/oars) I plan to share my experience and hope to get help from you whenever I counter building issues. I will set up a site for the images. Regards, Christiaan Helder

[Helder0906]

Today I started the lofting; two pictures on the above link to my picassa album

I used a fairly big plate on two tables as a lofting floor; the plate I covered with paper on roll
I used some wooden battens, some longer than the boat, some shorter and more flexible ones to mark the stem and moldes. I flattened the battens, as precisely as I could on our 'van dikte bank'; some thin battens with straight grain to follow the curves; possibly plastic will do even better.

First I set the keel line and the grid. I checked the diagonals from all the boxes; It was hard to learn how easy a certain line is not 90 degrees. Checking and correcting is absolutely necessary.

After that my cousin has help me to give me the off set numbers, that I marked on the grid. A hammer and some nails did a good job to mark the points from the offset table. One by one we set out the lines. The results we checked using the diagonals.

It took as somewhat four ours to complete the results.

[Thorne]

Your photos don't allow public access, so you may want to change the settings. Sounds like a fun project!

[RFNK]

Looks like a great project! Looking forward to seeing your progress!

Rick

[Jamesh]

Ian
we have lost the can do attitude of both usa and aus.
We live in a caint do that culture where if you make a misstake your done for.
Also were in a consumer culture and not a manufacturing culture so most of what we buy comes from china and not the uk.
Just my 2 pence worth.
james

[Helder0906]

Dear Thorne, I like your hat Thanks for the remark on the picasa web link. I adjusted the options. Everybody with the link should be able to see it now. Please let me know if it is not working properly

[Helder0906]

I am figuring out what the best way is to make the molds for the planking. Any suggestions?

[Helder0906]

I tested a procedure to make the molds. A good way seems to take the measurement points from the lofted 1:1 plan to the molding board, using nails. Remove the nails and the drawing. reuse the holes, to fit the nails again. And mount a flexible batten along the nails. This time not to draw the line, but to use a router. Mount the batten in position with small screws that are drilled and countersunk. Remove the nails. Use a router with guide (ball bearing) to follow the batten. A lot of filing will not be necessary; the natural shape of the batten is copied. Flat areas in the molds are prevented

What ways do others use?

[Helder0906]

I hope, by the way, any incorrect English is forgiven... My native language is Dutch and I do my best to write in English. If anything is not clear due to the words/grammer I might use in a wrong manner, I am happy to explain.

[Corvida]

Is there a link to the pictures that I'm missing? A vicarious small boat build would be nice, since my own plans have been sidetracked for the summer.

[Helder0906]

Is there a link to the pictures that I'm missing? A vicarious small boat build would be nice, since my own plans have been sidetracked for the summer.

Corvida, the link in the second reply should do it. Does it work for you?

[Jamesh]

Hi mate somehow a post on another thread about why we don't do much casting of fittings in the uk has managed to jump threads to this one!
Sorry I have removed it.
looking forward to watching your build come together.
James

[Peerie Maa]

Dear Thorne, I like your hat Thanks for the remark on the picasa web link. I adjusted the options. Everybody with the link should be able to see it now. Please let me know if it is not working properly

Nope, still asking me to register with Google

[Corvida]

The link in the second post is the one saying I don't have permission. I don't see any other links to a gallery.

[Helder0906]

I have changed the settings in my picasa webalbum. It is public now. I hope it works. Here is the link.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1041127...2321206/Dinghy

Does it work? Do people have access now?

Other members seem to be able to upload the foto's to the forum. How do they manage?

[Helder0906]

Today I checked the lofting results. Gartside advised me to check the results by taking the measures from the WL width in the 1:1 result for the molds and use them to create the WL results. And see weather they are sound when connecting the points with smooth batten. It was very good to do so. Most point were accurate. One did not. I could correct it now, without having to correct it on the molds.

I prepared the making of the molds. I plan to make them tomorrow.

[Corvida]

Yup, the pictures are working now. I've seen that same issue of a couple points being off a touch. Seems to happen when converting plans from and to metric or imperial. At some point, something has to get rounded, and even though it's rounded correctly, it doesn't really line up.

[Helder0906]

Gartside advised me not to convert. As a Dutchmen I bought the measuring equipment in feet and inches and work that way for this project. I would advise anyone to do so, even after the short experience I have now using inches.

[Helder0906]

Today we produced the moulds 1-5. The technique described above, using the router, worked quit well. The only change: using a pvc batten (7x7mm) with small parts glued to it, with the screw holes. Drilling in the 7x7 staf directly did weaken the staff too much given the bending in the curves for the moulds. Take care the design specifies weather the offset are with or without the hull planks. In this case we made the moulds 9mm less wide than in the offsets. I forgot to make a picture from the routing. Sorry.

[Mike J]

Pictures are showing up just fine. That is a beautiful design and thank you for sharing your build with us.

Mike

[Helder0906]

Today we continued the lofting and drew in the lines for the stem and transom. Coming to the actual width and height of the transom was quit something. We transferred the measures as good as we could. Hopefully we managed. Is there anyone out there able to advise me on a thread that explanes this? Or someone who can explain on a step by step basis how to loft the transom from the molds in a straight position to the actual transom measures (slightly angled, it will have a larger shape)

I selected some nice air dried oak (50mm plates, 45cm wide) for the stem and keel. Next week the making of the base and keel and stem are planned.

[Helder0906]

With the help of my uncle and my father in law, I have managed to build the building of a solid building frame. The best thing: a laser to determine the horizontalness. I checked the keel line ( apron) to have it Luke in the lofted result. One frame did not have the correct keel space debt and was corrected 1 mm. not to bad for a beginner. Although I have some woodworking skills. The picassa folder will be updated to show you the result.

[Helder0906]

The making of the keel and stem. We figured out it would work OK to make a mould for the three parts of the stem. We selected some nice peaces of oak and planed them flat and with the correct thickness. With two sides stick tape we fixed the moulds. First we sew near the line. And copied the shapes with a router and the newly acquired router bit. What a pleasure. Nice that this technique worked out right.

[Helder0906]

I have made the part for the stem (with moulds and router) and tuned the three parts so that they fit nice. I will not yet assemble the parts until the other parts are ready (keel, stern)

New pictures added to picasa (link second reply of this topic)

Next thing is the making of the keel. The design of the keel gave me something to think over. I want to add a centerboard. The boat is intended to sail most of its time. The oars are more to enter the harbor, or occasionally to have fun on oars.

To do this, Gartside sent me the copies of design #177, a sailing pram of the same length. Most of the details of the casing I can use. The problem was that this design is without a keel, only with apron. I will widen both keel and apron 4 inches before the centerboard casing starts, to be able to make a smooth transition for the water alongside the wide area.

[Helder0906]

A decision is made on the wood for the planking. Originally the design is made with WRC. WRC is available in the Netherlands but only in inefficient measures for planking. This drives up the cos considerably. I managed to obtain a good lot of larch. The mill let me select the planks from the pile. I selected 0,6 cubic meter with only an occasional flaw. The final planks will have no knots at all, I guess. Next week the lot will be delivered. The thickness of the sawed planks are 1 inch.

The plan is to make the moulds for a plank, select the wood, cut the shape roughly and plain the plank on both sides. The split the planks in two with the band saw and plain the parts to its final thickness. Two planks with the effort of one. Are their any that have experience using this method?

[Helder0906]

last week I worked on the stem parts, the stern knee, the apron and keel and the dead wood.

For the stem parts and knee, we have glued the parts with epoxy. Although I thought of using sikaflex 291. I will use sikaflex to attach the main parts (transom, knee, keel etc) together. Main consideration: These parts are made to be in one piece and are made of two or more pieces to make it stronger as I do not have the wood from a branch and have wood with straight grain only. Together with the sikaflex I will use 3/16 copper rivets.

The stern knee is made with a half joint. Nice to do one again. It was quit some time ago I made the joints for furniture by hand.

The apron and keel have the basic measures now. For the centerboard, we left the keel and apron 1,5 inch wider than when on oars. The 4 inch in front and after the future centerboard casing, we used to have a smooth transition. Pictures will follow. The next part for the keel is to chisel/plane the rabbit line. A job I hope to stand through...

[Helder0906]

I have asked some questions the last weeks. Are these questions noticed? No one seems to be able to respond. I like to share my considerations ans problems I face. It helps to give it the effort if others will help me in they can. What's up?

[whatshisname]

The plan is to make the moulds for a plank, select the wood, cut the shape roughly and plain the plank on both sides. The split the planks in two with the band saw and plain the parts to its final thickness. Two planks with the effort of one. Are their any that have experience using this method?

I haven't used that method. I cut and shaped one plank and once I was satisfied with the shape and fit, I used it as a router template to cut the opposite plank. So kind of like two for one I guess. This worked well with plywood planks. I don't know how well it would work with solid planks.

You seem to be progressing right along Keep up the good work!

james

[Peerie Maa]

A decision is made on the wood for the planking. Originally the design is made with WRC. WRC is available in the Netherlands but only in inefficient measures for planking. This drives up the cos considerably. I managed to obtain a good lot of larch. The mill let me select the planks from the pile. I selected 0,6 cubic meter with only an occasional flaw. The final planks will have no knots at all, I guess. Next week the lot will be delivered. The thickness of the sawed planks are 1 inch.

The plan is to make the moulds for a plank, select the wood, cut the shape roughly and plain the plank on both sides. The split the planks in two with the band saw and plain the parts to its final thickness. Two planks with the effort of one. Are their any that have experience using this method?

Was common in boat yards doing high quality work when labour was cheap. The pair of planks were hand sawn though, not bandsawn. One advantage is that the off cuts were thick enough for risings inwyres and gunwale stringers. Economic use of materials.

[skaraborgcraft]

Nice project. I just pasted a picture over to check it could be done. Getting two planks from one board is not a bad idea IF you have a good enough bandsaw. You will still have to make up an accurate templates for the plank anyway. What glue are you going to use for your oak? Seems to be good availabilty of larch down your way.

[Helder0906]

skaraborg
Yes, a good band saw is necessary. Luckily, we have a large, pretty sturdy old but very powerful band saw. I still have feeling of being small, when using that machine. It is on one of the pictures when cutting the moulds (only a small part; the machine is approx. 2,6m in height...) For cutting the two planks from one heavier one, a good setup is required. A side rail on one side; a feather on the other to push the plank firm to the rail. We will have to fix that as it is not standard equipment / accessories, like when using today's router tables...)

[Helder0906]

Thanks Nick, for the advise.

[Helder0906]

https://picasaweb.google.com/1041127...321206/Dinghy; The last pictures. Nice that skaraborg tried the copy paste. I will do that from now on. Starting to post the series.

[Helder0906]

The plan I purchased from Paul Gartside. The original plan is for a rowing dinghy. A sail plan was provided later. As I plan to use the boat as a sailing boat most of the time for my daughters (11 and 13) I will provide it with the more sophisticated centerboard and rudder from design #177. Many thanks to Paul.




Construction plan



lines plan



the end result to be; picture from the site of Paul Gartside

the lofting scene

the lofted results; frame plan

[Helder0906]

Pictures continued. The max in one rely is 6.

sawing the moulds with the bandsaw; the grey staf is the pvc 7x7 mm staff, I used to guide the router, to smooth the moulds.

sawing moulds picture two

the building frame

building base, side view

Next time, I would use more solid battens, to prevent the different moulds from moving off the 90 degrees and possible torsion. Make sure, the moulds are positioned to the correct place on the base. And that the base is placed horizontal.