"We Be Skiffin'...."

[captaindoug]

A fellow tug boat captain I work with, after watching me build my two Uncle John's pirogue/skiff, (pirogue X 2) has decided to jump in the boat so to speak. He wanted a boat a bit larger than my skiff "Lite" turned out, so I showed him the real Bayou Skiff and he fell in love immediately, pulled out the plastic, called David and the rest, as they say, is history. Should ship Monday, we get off the tugs Wednesday, so by the time we go back to work a week later, we should at least have some boat shaped chunks of wood put together. He is going to use 1/4 marine ply, glass both sides, likes the dry storage compartment in the bow. Seats to be determined.
Now I won't feel so bad about copying the Bayou Skiff a little in my build, at least I am responsible for someone buying a kit.

Soon to be another like this....
We will post the progress

 

[Kayak Jack]

... and another innocent soul slides downhill to the hallowed halls of sin . . . . . . WHEEEEE!

 

[captaindoug]

Uncle John's Bayou Skiff, "in a box" showed up at my doorstep yesterday. I gotta say, their service rocks, third time I have ordered a kit from them, and delivery has always been very prompt. That's nice in this day and age of "who gives a sh*t? " The fellow who is building the boat with me, wants "only the best", so he bought 3 sheets of 4mm Okume BS1088 ply, of course we are using epoxy, and he is even asking, "what about using carbon fiber instead of fiberglass?" Where I shop fiberglass supplies, the difference is only about $64.00 a yard between the two, but I think that chilled him out on that idea. He does want a yacht finish on the outside, so for home work before we start the build on Sat., I have him reading and re-reading Chuck's thread, to see how the pros do it. I advised him that all a finish like that takes is some fairing compound and sanding, and sanding, and sanding, etc., then primer and sanding, and sanding......then sanding. As the project progresses, he might come to the conclusion that time spent getting a "perfect" finish is better spent "Yachting" in his new boat. Either way it goes, I'm looking forward to seeing this one sitting next to the skiff I built to compare the differences, you know, just in case there might be another "custom yacht" in my future.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Good on ya, Doug. You're going to enjoy both the build, and the paddling.

 

[oldsparkey]

I have him reading and re-reading Chuck's thread, to see how the pros do it.

captaindoug...

I thank you for the complement but in all honesty I don't know when that Pro visited here. It is just as much fun for me to make the boats as it is in using them. I enjoy taking my time , watching them come together and trying new things. In fact I have been accused of enjoying making them more then using them. To paraphrase Kayak Jack..... We take some ordinary sheets and pieces of wood , cut them into smaller pieces and turn those pieces into a boat for our enjoyment.
Making them can be addictive , Ya Know. :wink:

Chuck.......

 

[captaindoug]

We tried our hand at scarf joints for the sides, they turned out a lot better this time, as you can maybe see from the photo. we used BS 1088 Okume. It is 4mm, which in retrospect might be marginally thin for the bottom, but we are going to use stringers on the bottom as per UJ's plans, and it will be glassed inside and out with 6 oz. cloth.

Ribs in place, this boat has significantly more rocker than my Bayou Skiff "Lite" (pirogue X 2). When we flipped it over, it reminded me of a Dory from the old fishing schooner days, well , except for the transom.

My building "pardner" liked the way I inlet my rubrail so the rail set over the edge of the plywood sides, so while at the big box store, he picked out some moulding that accomplishes the same effect, plus that saved us a good three or four hours of re-sawing, cutting the notch and sanding.

You'll notice I said we scarfed the sides, the bottom was put on the boat and butt jointed right over a rib, so the joint rides the rib right at the centerline of the rib. I have used this method on all three of the boats and I can't find any weakness in the joint so far, and I have stood with my full weight near that joint. No creakin' or crackin' yet.

So after the epoxy kicks, we'll take off the temporary battens along the bottom, and trim the bottom to fit, radius edges for fiberglass, fill all the little screw holes, (our clamping method, don't have as many clamps as Chuck's got) and we will be ready to glass the outside. Going back on the tugs tomorrow, but not a bad start on the Bayou Skiff. By the way, this one is the full 14'-0, We added the 2 3/4" the sides before we cut them, actually came out 14'-0 1/4. Pardner is going to use it with two passengers and a 60 lb dog.

 

[oldsparkey]

John said it can be stretched out to 16 feet if a person wanted to. You guy's are really quick on the boat building but you do have some good weather.

All those clamps come from building boats for the last 10 years. The wife gets out there , rearranges stuff so I can't find anything .... off to the box store for more clamps and then later I find the ones I was looking for. "O" Well ya can never have to many clamps. :wink:

Chuck.

 

[captaindoug]

As far as the speed of this boat build, it being the third one I have been involved with, there are steps you can do while you wait for the glue to dry, that aren't evident to you if you haven't done it before. We sanded the ribs before we glued them up, because it was a pain to do them when they are glued into the boat, IMHO, same with the gussets. The temporary battens will become the inwales. He is going to use closet rod doweling for the spacers on the inwale. All these things can be done while you are waiting for the epoxy to kick, not really a speed issue, rather a no wasted time issue. Most importantly, having a "pardner" that can work on his own plus being available to, "hold the other end of this", speeds up the process more than any other thing, extra set of hands and all that. Getting the wood to "look" like a boat is the fast part anyway, making it "be" a boat is the time consuming part.

 

[captaindoug]

We got a little more done on pardner's skiff. We got the gussets cut and installed. I kinda think the gussets would have been neater and easier if we had put them on when we put put the ribs together. They could have been sanded to fit at that point instead of needing to hand fit each one after having made 16 identical gussets. Inside the boat has been epoxy coated and all the corners have been filleted and taped. Now it can be flipped over and the bottom cut to fit, then glassed inside and out.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Doug, because I've never used a boat of this configuration, do you plan to install floor boards? If so, screwed in or laying loose?

 

[captaindoug]

Jack, since the bottom is only 4mm, less than quarter inch, it will be glassed both sides and also have the outside stringers like the ones Uncle John used on the first one. I am going to suggest glassing the outside first, then flip it over and do the bow compartment first. If that doesn't seem strong enough, then I have some 1708 (biaxial/ stitched to mat, that we can cut into one or two inch strips and make some interior runners for the center and stern sections and then put the cloth over it. The 1708 is equivalent to 3/8 ply when properly applied. It is a lot tougher to wet out than the 6 oz glass, but any flex will be taken care of if we have to go that way. So, short answer longer, no on the floor boards.

 

[oldsparkey]

No runners or anything in the one I made from the 1/4 inch wood....... Just glassed on both sides.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Thanks. from thinking about my boats made with 4mm ply, and glassed inside and out, you may well not require any internal stiffeners.

 

[tx river rat]

I put mat in my first boat ,it is stif but is heavy and eats up the epoxy.
Ron

 

[captaindoug]

I like the texture mat has as far as a non-skid surface, but my fiberglass Guru tells me, as you say, "it eats up epoxy" and compared to the other fabric types, it yields relatively low strength. Mat has been recommended to me for use as a thickness builder when laying up multiple layers of glass.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Has anyone tried that sticky, rubbery mat stuff that housewife-types to put on pantry shelves? I haven't used it, but seems it might work. Mebbe, steal a small chunk from your wife's cupboard and try it out before you buy a large supply, though. It may not be satisfactory after all? (Be sure to get the kind with lots of large, pink flowers on - not the plain gray motif. That stuff is SO gauche!) :wink:

 

[captaindoug]

"Go on with your bad self Jack" Let us know how that works out for ya. Flowery shelf non skid? At least your teacup won't slide kayakin' down the creek. There is a product called Seadek that is supposed to be pretty good stuff, haven't checked out how much it weighs or anything. The micro skiff and Gheenoe guys like it.

this boat is covered with it