Duck Trap Wherry

[Roy Morford]

I've had the plans for some time and spent many enjoyable hours wondering how and where to start. Yesterday I had the staples removed after hip replacement surgery and I'm now beginning to think ahead to the build.

Thoughts please. I've built several boats with solid wood transoms. Some with the grain vertical and some horizontal. I liked them all but now I can't make up my mind. Any preferences out there and, if so, why? Structural, visual, traditional, ease of building, maintenance. I've almost always used walnut in the past but I'm thinking of cherry for this one. Any and all thoughts welcome.

Thanks.

[WI-Tom]

The decision might depend partly on width vs. height--whichever one requires you to join fewer boards?

I used horizontal for my Alaska, not sure why. I didn't think about it much. And I ended up painting the transom anyway.

Tom

[Capt Brew]

The decision might depend partly on width vs. height--whichever one requires you to join fewer boards?

I used horizontal for my Alaska, not sure why. I didn't think about it much. And I ended up painting the transom anyway.

Tom

I built the same boat and glued up several pieces of mahogany vertically for the transom as I had the stock left over from building my deck. Over the years the end grain has chipped a bit and is a pain to keep varnished. If I were to do it again I would have gone horizontal.

[John Meachen]

Horizontal.

[Roy Morford]

Thanks gentlemen. I'm leaning more and more to having the grain horizontal. The vertical grain transoms I did in the past I had to laminate a piece across the top because I was afraid of the grain being susceptible to moisture penetration at some point in the future. Now I have to find some nicely grained wood. So much fun.

[The Q]

It shall be interesting to see how this turns out, I'm guessing this is nothing like a wherry round here.

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Wherry-Mini-Cask-2019.jpg

[Peerie Maa]

It shall be interesting to see how this turns out, I'm guessing this is nothing like a wherry round here.

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Wherry-Mini-Cask-2019.jpg

Think Thames Wherry.

Not so dissimilar.

[Roy Morford]

The last image is what I'll be trying to produce. This may be my last boat (advancing years etc) so I plan to take my time and make the best boat I've ever built. Then I'll use it and enjoy for as long as I'm able.

[Roy Morford]

Emerimat if you're still looking at this site I'd love to hear from you. In your build you mention using one sheet of ply for your keel and cutting it into three pieces 16" by 96". I'm having difficulty visualising how this would work as you basically need four pieces 96' long doubled to give you the 16" by 96" keel member. Maybe I'm I'm just mentally/visually challenged. Anyone else is welcome to jump in with advice and ideas.
Thanks.

[Roy Morford]

Problem solved. In fact there was no problem just my misunderstanding and I haven't even started yet! My skill at fixing my own problems is going to be called upon a lot.

[J.Madison]

There is a lot more plank fastening on the sides of the transom than the top/bottom. I would run the transom vertically for this reason. Fastening into long grain is stronger than fastening into end grain, whether glued or traditional. This boat does not have a transom frame to receive fasteners, they go into the transom itself.

You will also have a more enjoyable time working the bevels into the plank lands if the staves are vertical rather than horizontal.

[Dusty Yevsky]

I've almost always used walnut in the past but I'm thinking of cherry for this one. Any and all thoughts welcome.

Thanks.

I'd definitely vote cherry rather than walnut. I've used both and will never use walnut on a boat again. Cherry will darken to a beautiful hue that will last as long as the boat. Walnut's initial stunning color fades quickly to a bland tan. This happened on boats that were dry sailed and stored indoors.

Cherry is stronger to boot. Save the walnut for indoor furniture.

[Roy Morford]

Great thoughts on the cherry for my transom. Also, I hadn't given any thought to securing the plank ends into the transom with vertical vs horizontal grain. Two more decisions made - cherry with the grain vertical. I'll have to see if I can find some pieces of cherry with a nice grain pattern and then book match it.
Thanks everyone.
Now if only my surgeon would clear me to drive again I could start accumulating the wood I'll need.

[Ben Fuller]

Some thoughts:
What does Walt recommend? Both for grain orientation and wood species? Cherry does move around more than most and the wider the piece the more it will move ( expand/ contract) Keeping things horizontal gives you one free edge.
Many boats that have horizontal grain use fashion pieces into which the plank fastenings go. In the case of Walt's design, the only place where there may be grain problems with horizontal grain is right at the bottom and I suspect there is a big knee of some kind there which can take the

[Roy Morford]

While not disagreeing with Ben Fuller, my experience with cherry has been good and I've never experienced expansion or contraction. I think a lot would depend on how the wood is finished, how well is the finish maintained, where is the boat kept etc. With regard to an issue raised by Dusty Yevsky, I too have experienced the walnut colour changes noted. I'll never use walnut again because it does fade over time. My preference now is mahogany instead of walnut. For gunwales I really cherry. I like the colour, I can get long, straight grained, knot free pieces and it's a pleasure to work with.
Over the past few days I've been gluing small scraps of thin ply cut offs together to make a "patchwork" plank 16 feet long which I'll use to make a template for the plank keel. I won't show a picture because it looks truly awful. However, the glue has set and the "plank" will be stable medium for the template.
Please be patient when it comes to my actual start date. I hope to get permission from my surgeon in the next couple of weeks to drive again. For now it's probably a good time to get busy and sharpen all my planes and chisels.

[Scott in WV]

Make sure you get the whole transom from one board, and the direction of each piece is the same, otherwise the chatoyance will differ from piece to piece. I built a Duck Trap about 10 years ago and got one piece of mahogany running opposite the others, luckily I noticed it in good lighting and had some leftover from the same board so was able to cut it off and redo. I've built two other glued-lap boats since, but neither of them turned out as nice as the Duck Trap.

[Roy Morford]

That's what I love about wood. There are so many variations in colour and grain. Whenever I can I look for highly figured boards and then split them so that I can flip one piece over and create matching grain patterns working away from the centre. I've always called this book matching and find the resulting overall pattern worth the time and trouble.

[Roy Morford]

Still waiting for clearance to drive and so I still can't go out and buy the wood to get started and I got bored. I've had plans for Boy Scout picnic chairs on my to do list for ages. Decided now was a good time because I had the materials and time to do it. I know this is not part of a boat but at least they're made of wood. I also have lots of 2x4s which I plan to cut down to 1x4s (OK, 3/4 by 3 1/2) and use them to make the moulds (and a lot of sawdust). Donkey cart and beach chair.jpg Picnic chairs.jpg

[Roy Morford]

I spent several hours this morning looking at the plans and various measurements. I've now completely changed my mind about how I'm going to tackle the next step. I've started by ordering a roll of parchment paper on which to trace the transom and mould frames directly from the plans. I'm hoping I'll be able to drive again next week so that I can go and find some nice wood for the transom. A friend suggested I visit a recycling store to see if they have any old mahogany furniture that could be repurposed. One of the things that makes this an attractive idea is that, if I'm lucky enough to find some wood the right size, it will not be subject to warping after many years of air drying as a piece of furniture. Wish me luck.

[Roy Morford]

Started to modify my old building frame and ran out of the right size of screws. Off to the hardware store tomorrow.building frame.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Yes, I'm a scrounger and a pack rat! Yesterday I took the many 2x4s I've scrounged from building site dumpsters and cut as many pieces into useable 3" x 3/4" as I could to use in making my hull frames. Sadly, there was a lot of waste but a couple of hours work has saved me a few dollars.

[timo4352]

I like the chairs.
Where did you get the plans for them.
Looking forward the wherry build too.

[Roy Morford]

You'll find the chair plans here - http://www.scouters.us/chair.php
I made the smaller, lighter version.

My wherry build is coming - please be patient.

[timo4352]

Thanks!

[Roy Morford]

An amazing amount of good useable 2" x 4" cut offs collected from new home building sites within 4 blocks and cut down to 3/4" x 2 1/2". More than enough to make the hull moulds. Now to draw the mould shapes on parchment paper, cut them out and start assembling the moulds.

September 17, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Tangible progress. The first hull mould (actually the second. I made the same mould from cut up 2x4s and didn't like it). I've mentioned before that I'm a scrounger and the plywood I'm using for my moulds is all out of the waste bin on one or more local home building sites.
September 20, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Just finished the fourth mould. I should have the remaining three completed by the end of Wednesday. No picture because they all look the same. Next job will be to find some nice hardwood for the transom, stem and stern knees. That might take a little longer because I'm still not allowed to drive and the planks I need won't fit into my wife's mini.

[Roy Morford]

Moulds now all made. Next job is to repurpose my long workbench and mark out mould locations. I can't mount the hull moulds yet though because I'll need the bench to glue up my keel plank. That in turn will have to wait until I order and receive my order of okoume plywood. By then I should be able to drive again and will be able to go looking for some nice hardwood. Slow but sure.
September 22, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

One small step closer.
September 23, 2020.jpg

[Roy Morford]

Today I assembled the moulds on the frame and realized there was something wrong. It didn't take me long to see that I'd cut the moulds at the base to the outside keel line and not the inside line. Tomorrow I'll take it all apart, trim 1 inch from the base of each mould and put it all back together. When it's all done and after double and triple checking I'll post a picture.

[Roy Morford]

Finally it's beginning to look like a boat. Now I plan to make a stem, stern knee and transom from plywood and make sure everything fits the way it should before cutting expensive wood.
September 26, 2020.jpg

[leikec]

Looks like good progress!

Jeff C

[Roy Morford]

Thanks Jeff. Only problem right now is that when I attached my practice transom my gunwale line seems to be off. Now I have to go back to the plans, measure, adjust, measure again until everything lines up properly. As I've seen it said before - when it looks right, it is right. As of now it doesn't look right. The good news is that the practice stem lines up perfectly. At this stage I'm thinking of laminating my stem and also tapering the front edge so that the cutwater, also laminated, covers both the front of the stem and the front edge of the planks.

[Roy Morford]

Two steps closer today. I made a jig to cut 12/1 tapers on two pieces of wood at the same time where longer pieces are needed for things like gunwales and inwales. Made out of scrap plywood so it doesn't look too professional but the joints cut with it are the best I've ever made. The second thing I've done is set up a workbench with blocks to hold the strips which will be glued together to make the stem. I've been cleared to drive now so on Monday I'll be visiting the wood store to check out what nice hardwoods they have that I can use for my transom, stem and stern knee. I'll also check out some cherry for the gunwales.

[Roy Morford]

Thanks for the AYC suggestion Gib. I'd never thought of using it in that way. I have some here somewhere, I just have to find it.