Building a square stern pirogue strip, stitch and glue

[oldbuffpilot]

Welcome our new member J Pirhalla 1170. Let me introduce you to him. John is my son-in-law. He is Building a boat utilizing my expertise and advice!! He is by no means a novice woodworker and this is about to be fun. Stay tuned one of us will be posting pictures and notes. Oh, I about forgot the warning: John is retired military, Army EOD and a Marine Proceed accordingly!

We are building a square stern Pirogue (?), at least that's what we are calling it.The bottom is from the JEM Crawdad plans.. It will be Strip, Stitch and Glue. (SS&G), the boat will be 11 ft 6 in Long with about a 30-in beam and about 8-in sides. Hopefully we can build it out of two 2”x6”x14’ western red cedar boards and of course fiberglass and epoxy.

We got about 18 cedar strips from each board, ¼ “ thick, 1 ½ “ wide, 14’ long. I prefer to rip them with a “skill saw”. My wood jig for the saw is kinda heavy,so we tried it with a piece of angle aluminum for a saw fence. John using the aluminum fence.

That didn’t work as well as the wood jig, so we changed back to the wood jig. I find this much easier and more accurate that using the table saw, long boards are hard to handle, especially for one person.

These strips then went through the planner. This step may not be necessary as all the boards will go through the planner after they are glued into panels. Planing them now makes them easier to glue into uniform panels.

Then, on the table saw we ripped several of the inch and a half wide strips into ¾” wide strips. These narrower strips will be used for the side panels that have too much curvature to bend the inch and a half wide boards.

This ended our first work session.More later.

 

[beekeeper]

Welcome "J" to the board. I'm glad someone is building.
Nice looking boards. Clear cedar is hard to find over this way.
Is the wooden saw guide adjustable or would you need another one for different size strips?

 

[jpirhalla1170]

Welcome "J" to the board. I'm glad someone is building.
Nice looking boards. Clear cedar is hard to find over this way.
Is the wooden saw guide adjustable or would you need another one for different size strips?

Thanks beekeeper. I have a great teacher. The saw guide is not adjustable. I will post some pictures of the saw guide when I figure it out

 

[jpirhalla1170]

Here are the pictures of the saw guide.

 

[jpirhalla1170]

Another picture of the saw guide

 

[beekeeper]

I like the idea of the jig and not needing help cutting the strips on the table saw.
I don't mean to distract from the boat but how you do cut the last strips when there is little board left to support the saw?

 

[jpirhalla1170]

The last few strips of the board we did on the table saw

 

[oldsparkey]

LOL... If you are not covered with sawdust when building a boat then you are doing it all wrong.

 

[oldbuffpilot]

I like the idea of the jig and not needing help cutting the strips on the table saw.
I don't mean to distract from the boat but how you do cut the last strips when there is little board left to support the saw?

 

[oldbuffpilot]

JD I'll try to expand on that a little bit if you have another Inch and a 1/2 board like another 2 by 6 to lay beside the one you're Cutting you can strip it right down to 1 cut left I also like to secure the board to the saw horse somehow double sided tape or or something like that makes it easier. This picture shows what we took to the tablesaw.

 

[beekeeper]

I thought that might be how you could do it. Ripping strips on the table saw works best with two people, at least for me. I can make it work using my adjustable rollers on stands but even that goes much smoother with help.

 

[oldbuffpilot]

Our next step is to make cardboard patterns of each panel for the stitch and glue boat. This will include converting the paper plan measurements into the shape of the various panels that will form the stitch and glue boat. For this boat we used the plans for the prototype Crawdad bottom, and side panels were modified from a previous build. We made a cardboard pa

ttern for each panel. In this picture John is drawing a vertical grid every 12”, these will be used as reference lines for “lofting the pattern panel shapes. Instructions for lofting are in several stitch and glue online tutorials.


The lofted points from measuring the grid are connected using a limber wood strip to form the curved lines of the pattern panels.In the photo below John has already cut out one of the bottom/side patterns and is lofting the side/tumblehome pattern.

The cardboard patterns are then traced onto kraft paper. We used a different color for each panel,ie, sides and bottom. We then covered the paper with plastic so the wood glue will not stick to the paper.

The cedar strips are glued into the rough shape, (a little oversize) of the panels that will become the sides and bottom of the boat. Finish Nails are used to provide an edge of the pattern and to hold clamps if needed. The cedar strips are glued, pushed into the curved shape of the panel, and fastened to the table with 23 gauge headless brads. The brads are not required for every cedar strip
We only use the brads where required to clamp the strips where needed.

The glued panels cure overnight and then removed from the table. They come up easily after getting an edge started. They are not as fragile as you would think. After several builds I've never broken a glue joint. edit a glue joint came loose today. We determined it didn't have much glue in it!

 

[oldbuffpilot]

OK, I failed posting pictures AGAIN! I used the picture sizer in google docs, then copied and pasted the doc to the forum, the pics went back to large. Guess I need some help!

 

[oldbuffpilot]

his will be a short post to try a different picture post
The 23 gauge brads now have to be removed from the table top. Easy to do with vice grips and a little patience.

 

[oldsparkey]

Pulling the brads with vice grips has to be as much fun as clipping wire stitches and removing them. Especially the ones where the epoxy had cured.

 

[beekeeper]

The build is progressing nicely. I like the glue bottle guide for the strip edges.

 

[oldbuffpilot]

Now we cut the panels out to their final shape. First we will use our cardboard patterns to
Trace the pattern shape on the cedar panels. We didn’t get a picture of this step, these photos are from a previous build.

We clamped the like shapes together, ie, two side panels, two bottom panels together and used double sided tape to hold them. Some wood scraps on the panels made it easier to position on the sticky tape.

We cut out the shape just a little outside the lines we previously traced. John tried the jig saw, but preferred the “skill saw”.

After cutting the panels very close to the outline we used the belt sander to make the final “cut” to the line,this also helps to “fair” the curved edges of the panel,

Now we’re ready to make these boards look like a boat! First we drill stitch holes at the centerline of the bottom and around the perimeter of the bottom, using a jig with holes 10” apart and !/4” from the edge of the panel. The bottom panels are still stacked together with tape.




tape.

Tie wraps are loosely fastened down the bottom centerline, then unfolded like a book.

Also drilled stitch holes for the forms.

The forms are stitched into place, they are a little floppy but tighten up when the sides are put on. It’s not really a problem, but sometimes I keep the forms upright by placing a very short 2X4 on the edge and screwing it to the forms. It’s also worth noting that marking the bow and stern on the side panels would have been helpful, They just won’t fit on the wrong side!

More tomorrow

 

[oldbuffpilot]

The build is progressing nicely. I like the glue bottle guide for the strip edges.

That works pretty good, sometimes I put it upside down in a milk carton, just have to remember to close the spout.

 

[oldbuffpilot]

Today's building was a “do over day” as we were stitching one of the short side panels we noticed one of the glue joints was a little loose, that “not enough glue” in the joint was about to bite us again! So we unstitched the side panels, put them flat on the table and reglued a few places.

Since that meant we were done for the day we decided the transom we had already glued up wasn’t stout enough! So we ripped, planed, and cut some new strips for the transom. ⅜ “ this time, with lots of glue!

Not pirogue building, but a big thanks to John for saving my aging body from this chore.

 

[beekeeper]

Questions if you have the time.
How much "V" is in the bottom / how far below "flat bottom" is it?
The bottom side panel is how wide/tall? The next one?
How tall are the forms and is this the depth of the boat?