Friday, October 31, 2014





Today is Halloween, and the boat is coming right along.  The frames are all in place, and we are fitting all the stringer pieces.  Before the day is out they will all be assembled.  The permanent installation of the stringers will then be the next step.  We are also fitting the keel today.  Boat building is a lot more fun when the large object in the middle of the shop starts to look more like a boat!  It is really fascinating to see how all these pieces go together.
Looking at the project at this stage, we are reminded of the preference on the Atlantic coast for fairly narrow-beam boats.
Lots of progress today-a few mistakes to correct-it is always good when you can pick them up early.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

We are back to work after a trip to northeast Montana where we had a good visit with our son, Mathew, but didn't see many pheasants.  When we got home, we went in to the freight depot in Missoula to pick up our order of Akumi plywood.  We also had ordered 2 X6 Douglas fir boards 23 feet long from a local saw mill.  These two boards are for the chines.  The operator did a lot of extra work for very little money ($47.50) total.  He had to select the log, make sure it was relatively clear, cut the boards, paint the ends to keep them from splitting, and wrap them in plastic to keep moisture off them.  It was so inexpensive we added a bit for a thank you.  So, now we have the plywood and the boards stored in the lower garage and we are ready for lots of entertainment!
All of the frames and the keel should be in place by the end of the week.  Today we did a bunch of fiberglass adhesive work.  Things seem to move right along when you start working at three A.M., which is not to be recommended.
Oh yes, when we were over in Glasgow, Montana we found a great buy-a used boat trailer in super condition for a good price, and we towed it back here for the new boat.



Monday, October 20, 2014

We will be taking a short break from our boat building project, since we are waiting for the next shipment of plywood to arrive in a week or so.  We are going pheasant hunting in eastern Montana for a week, so won't be writing any posts during that time.  We will start up again when we return, and hopefully the plywood will arrive about the same time we get home.

Sunday, October 19, 2014




We just finished laminating two pieces of plywood together-one 3/16 and one 3/8.  This is for the transom.  We are also attaching side stiffeners to most of the frames.  When we laminated the stiffeners to the frame we discovered that there were some accuracy issues.  Cutting some of the chine notches before we put them together was not the best way.  Next time we will cut the notches after doing the frame laminations.  We keep learning!  We needed to improvise a bit when laminating the transom pieces to weight them down till they set up.  Buckets full of sand did the trick!  We had to start a fire in the wood stove to keep the shop warm enough for the resin to cure.  The resin went off a little fast because of the temperature (73 degrees F)

Saturday, October 18, 2014

This is a new experience fo us because the construction of plywood boats has changed a great deal in the last decade.  The initial construction takes place with lightweight, fairly thin plywood.  The structural part of the boat is put in place with layers of fiberglass cloth.  This technique reduces the weight of the boat, and you can also add considerable curvature to the shape.  The stringers and frames are designed to help achieve structural objectives.  It sounds pretty complicated, and it is!  We have had plenty of experience building hard chine river boats with the "stitch and glue" method where temporary wire is used to hold the boat together until you use seam tape to hold the boat together permanently.  So we are learning a lot right now.  The templates that came with the plans are complicated, as are shown in the following pictures.  We transfer them to the plywood using transfer paper.


Thursday, October 16, 2014

Today the jig is done, and two of the temporary frames are in place.  Other frames will be made when the Okumi plywood arrives, hopefully today or tomorrow.  The first shipment of plywood,the Meranti-Hydrateck, has arrived, fifteen sheets worth.Four very long stringers have been cut outof the new plywood.  Two are 17 feet long.Since the plywood is so pricey, it is "measure and then measure again" before cutting in order to waste as little wood as possible.
Now we are at a standstill until the Okumi plywood gets here.

The top picture is the jig and the bottom is the transom cut out.

Monday, October 13, 2014

     Big day today, with the UPS man delivering piles of stuff!  Plastic staples, staple gun (this is a new idea for us, but supposed to be a good way to go), fiber glass resin and cloth and a few more odds and ends arrived.  Now all we need is the plywood so we can start actually building something besides frames.  Anyway, the wood should be arriving sometime this week.  This is one of the difficulties with building boats in Montana.  You have to order most of your materials and then wait for it to arrive.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

The beginning-the boat building project

     We have always had a fascination with boats and boat construction, and have built several boats over the years.  Since we like the lines of the Maine lobster boats, we saw the pictures of the Outer Banks 20 and decided on this design.  This boat is designed by Graham S. Byrnes, of B & B Yacht Designs.  The complexity of this boat will be the culmination of all our boat building adventures.
     This project started with studying and more studying of the plans, and ordering of building materials.  We are using exotic marine plywood such as Okumi and Meranti.  This will help to keep the boat light, but strong.  Now we wait for the delivery of these materials!