Mick's Julie Skiff build

[hairymick01]

G'day guys,

The last few years have been very busy for me but I have been itching to build another boat for a long time now. I downloaded The free plans for this lovely skiff by Gavin Atkin http://intheboatshed.net/2008/10/11/int ... -progress/
about a year ago (initially out of curiosity alone) but over time, I fell in love with her.

With Gavin's permission,
I have opted to use 19mm X 42mm New Zealand pine for the frames instead of cutting ply. So far, the frames have all been cut and glued together and I hope to start marking out the panels this week. God I love the smell of epoxy and sawdust !!

A couple of piccies.

Forward frame cut, glued and clamped.



My cheap gluing clamps


My workbench with the frames glued up



Cleaned up frame



More soon

 

[oldsparkey]

From the looks of those frames it makes me think back to building a Uncle Johns Pirogue.

Chuck.

 

[hairymick01]

Thanks for the interest Chuck.

I have learnt a lot from Uncle John's build methods and am adapting some of them to this build. Likewise, I am also applying some of what I have learnt from building Matt's beautiful boats and applying some of that also. :mrgreen: Hopefully the end result will be something that both I and Mr Atkin can be proud of. He and I have been emailing regularly and he has been most helpful in answering my many questions Even though where he lives in the UK has been subject to terrible storms and flooding in recent times.

Now that Evie and I have retired, we want to travel and fish far and wide around this country and a canoe just doesn't cut it in crocodile infested waters up north. This boat, at around 15.5 feet long and 4 feet wide, will hopefully be bigger than most of the crocs we are likely to encounter and give us a margin of safety. I think I can build it at less the 30 kilograms so it will be lighter and prettier that a 12 foot aluminium car topper and will be a much better rowing option.

Some more piccies,


Rear, bottom panel mark out.




Bottom sliced



Oh yeah, a honey do.. Palm Garden planted 8)

 

[catfish]

mick those crocs will probally eat pretty good as out gators? :mrgreen:

 

[tw541]

Mick

I'm really looking forward to seeing this build. I have had these plans for a while myself. It should be a very useful boat.

 

[tx river rat]

I am looking foreward to the build Mick. Mick is my hero when it comes to paddling and building wooden boats and I have learned a lot from reading his build threads.
Ron
PS come on Mick give us a detailed build thread on this boat ,I would enjoy it and a lot of the new guys would too.

 

[hairymick01]

Geez, thank guys,

Mick, (TW541),,

I think this design is really worth building. The boat is long and lean and to my eye, has truly beautiful lines. She should row very well and be easily pushed at design hull speed by even a 2.5hp outboard. I would guess her design displacement speed to be around 5 knots or so. Mr Atkin would be better able to advise..

G'day Ron and thanks for the very kind words mate. You are a far more accomplished builder than I am.

To the build,

Frames made and mounted on my work bench/strong back. This is not traditional stitch and glue but it works for me, building on my own.



Panels mounted and stitched together and tacked.

 

[hairymick01]

Beautiful, slippery lines,



Transom is cut and on.


Epoxy and fibre-glass tape is on. I am using 4" cloth tape on this build in an attempt to keep weight down a bit. She is a big boat for what I want And I am a bit worried at this point that she will be too heavy for me to lift onto the roof of my truck.

 

[hairymick01]

I lifted her off the strongback today and it is with a heavy heart that I have to admit that she is too heavy for me to use as a car topper. this is without gunwales, seats or anything else. Just the bare hull. This is not the design fault but mine entirely. I used cheap, exterior, hardwood bracing ply on the build instead of Gaboon/Okoume. Gaboon/Okoume ply at 4mm thick is almost impossible to get here these days and the stuff one can get is inferior and costs over AUD$100 per sheet.

I have winched her up into the roof of my shed and will decide what to do with her later. (perhaps build a trailer.)

Plan B A few years ago, I started building a Bayou Skiff using Gaboon ply. My head wasn't in a good place at the time and I made some pretty bad errors in the build. Long story, short, The boat was 5/16ths of an inch out of square at the stern and other things just didn't look right to my eye. I really got pissed at myself and put her aside for another day - maybe.

The other day has come. If I can find my old thread on here, will re-open it and start again.

Thanks agin for the interest and nice comments guys.

 

[tx river rat]

Mick
I doubt I would have ever constructed a boat if it hadnt been for your and Chucks build threads
You need to try the strip stitch and glue method ,no worry about finding good ply or how good the glue is , just find you a nice piece of light wood and start cutting strips ,you can build lighter and stiffer for the same thickness,if you ever build one that way I bet you never go back to ply.
Ron