A Question for Hairy "master builder" Mick

[islandpiper]

hey Mick, you showed us your nice building table. Did you design that or did you adapt it from a book someplace? Now that you have used it a couple of times can you give us an update? It's good and bad points? What you would do different this time? etc.

I want to get going on a new yak this spring, right after the kitchen and a couple of other things, and really don't want to build "freehand" again.....your long work table looks like the answer.

thanks, Piper

 

[hairymick]

Hi Kieth,

Thanks for the kind words mate, but I certainly don't fit that description. :lol:

My bench is just a simple thing I knocked up using some borrowed ideas from here and worked them to suit my preference for strong back builds on multi-panel hulls.

All it is is a bunch of 6" X 2" straight, treated pine beams - 8 feet long and joined at the ends with a butt block batten screwed to hold them together. Legs are of the same timber, 30" high - and the cross braces are 20" long , also of the same 6" X 2" timber. Top is a sheet of 8' X 4' X 1/4" ply ripped lengthwise and screwed down with CS wood screws.

The whole thing is 16' long X 2' wide and a comfortable height for me to work on my boats - on the temp frames.

I really like the set up. About the only thing I would change is that I would use 1/2" or 5/8" ply for the top. the 1/4" stuff is really not solid enough.

No plans mate, sorry, it sort of evolved as I went. if I could draw on this thing I could knock something up for you.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Mick, if the decks of your workbench can be removed easily, attach a brace to the under side. On mine, I used some old, wooden banister rail. 2" diameter wooden rod with one flat side. Lacking that, a 2X4 on edge and screwed to the under side along the center line would stiffen it a lot.

 

[islandpiper]

I have a book, laid it out at the Rendezvous on the SHOW AND TELL TABLE, entitled "How to build Plywood Kayaks". the author shows and fully describes a table, much like Mick's, made of heavy ply, very accurate and solid. I'll build one before starting the next boat.

The only issue is having a 16' long table to deal with after the build.......so I may dream up some way to build it in three or five sections, using more legs and carriage bolts to allow it to be dismantled after use.

That way, it could be lent out and hauled around to someone elses carport when they are building.

Mick: I have your pics, which are pretty descriptive. But, in the future, you can always draw with a black Sharpie on white paper, photograph in close-up and HD and post it as a JPG. Not as good as a scanner, but it will do in a pinch.

thanks!!

Does anyone else here use a long, boat-bench or are you all building freehand on saw horses?

Piper

 

[jdupre']

Piper, I built my pirogue on saw horses and will never do another one that way. Even with 1/4" ply, it flopped around too much between the horses. Can't imagine what 1/8" ply would be like, much less building a multi panel boat.

Joey

 

[Jimmy W]

I built a tabletop much like Mick's without legs. I made two frames 8' by 2' out of 1x4's with a couple of cross pieces dividing them into thirds. These were both covered with 1/4 ply from a 4x8 sheet ripped lengthwise. Both of these were joined together with a piece of 1x4 screwed to each side. The joined tops were then set on top of my worktable which has a top made out of a piece of 1 inch plywood and is 1 meter wide and 2 meters long. They could have been just set on two sawhorses. After I was through with it, I removed the pieces joining them together and was left with the two 2' by 8' sections that are now leaning against the wall.
Part of it can be seen here.

 

[oldsparkey]

Mine is two 4x8 sheets of 3/8th ply sitting on sawhorses. The center of the ply is butt jointed together with a 1x3 under them and screwed down.

The ply was 4x8 but cut to 3x8 for walking around room.

Chuck.

 

[dangermouse01]

My work table sounds alot like how Jimmy W describes his. But I also have a additional 4 foot long x 2 foot wide section. So depending on how they are connected I have either a 4' table, 8' table, 12' table, 16' table or 20' table.

Mine sit on sawhorses when I am using them, leaning against the wall when I am not.

DM
mike

 

[Jimmy W]

The only issue is having a 16' long table to deal with after the build.......

Pipipiper, You could sell it to Bro Bear for a Beowolf table.

 

[bearridge]

Friend Jimmy,

They have some mitey fine tables here at the rehab hospital....made in Columbia, Southern Carolina. I mite see how much they would take fer one. Never kin tell when Ole Grindel mite show up. Dont wanna hear the sound of one arm flappin'. :wink:

regards
bearridge

Lorie: Ya want yer rifle.
Gus: No, I shot me many a fancy bandit with just my pistol.

 

[Kayak Jack]

To me, the key is to get two sections, 2' X 8'. These form the basis of your work bench. They need to be stiff, and can be stiffened in any of the ways already described. I used 3/8" plywood and screwed on lengths of wooden banister rail underneath. Boards on edge will also work well for stiffeners.

When working on the sheets of plywood to lay out the panels before cutting, I join my two sections into a 4' X 8' table. Once boat panels are cut and ready to be joined end to end, from then on I join the bench sections end to end into a 2' X 16' table.

I join mine by simply screwing on two slats onto the bottom, and reposition them for either side by side or end to end configuration.

It sets on four saw horses. My horses are store bought, you can make your own. Sawhorses should be sturdy, strong, and stable. You cannot afford a flimsy, wiggly, base to the workbench.

 

[Jimmy W]

Bear, You don't want one o' dem store-broughtten tables, you need a genuwhine Hand-Crafted one. Piper could string some wires along the bottom, so that ye could strum a tune while yer et.

 

[keith]

when I make a plywood pirogue with the chines on the inside, I use my long table ( that hangs from pullys in the celling when not being used). The other 98% of the time I use sawhorses and jigs. later keith