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A mini fleet of little wood boats

MM2CVS9

Active member
As a kid around 10 or 12, back in the 50's, I spent time at my grandfather's home on a lake. One of the things to do was to help scrape, putty and paint the fishin boats to keep them in shape. This was before plastics and fiberglass (and money) was available. Here in Michigan we have thousands of small lakes. Each cottage had a fishin boat or two. These boats were mostly hand made from locally available material, sometimes salvaged from wherever. Hardware was cobbled together, such as a coffee can filled with cement and a metal loop imbedded in it for an anchor. Each lake seemed to have similar but slightly different designs, usually patterned after a boat built by someone on a specific lake that had built a successful boat. Us kids had fun in them, spending hours fishing, frogging and just messin around.

I have collected 3 Midwest Skiff kits #967 in 1:12 scale. I'm not sure exactly what "skiff" means, but the kit produces a much fancier boat than our "fishin" boat was. One kit I got at 40% off from Hobby Lobby. Two kits were given to me by model club members that said they would more than likely not build them, so my investment is small. The kit, even though it had a fancier design, kinda inspired me to build a couple of those old boats that I remember. Maybe the kit is of a design used along the Atlantic seaboard for utility purposes. The rockered bottom and more flared sides may have made it more seaworthy in the coastal bays. Our boats rarely went out on big water such as Lake Michigan, but were very common on every small inland lake in the state.

My intent is to build four of these boats;
one - out of the box according to the plans
two - modified to a couple of the boats I helped Grandpa build
and one - from scratch like the first one I built myself with guidance from Grandpa. I plan on building them simultaneously, showing the modifications I make for each boat.

So a fleet of four boats, One as the kit depicts, three of them, 1:12 copies of the boats I built 1:1, 60 years ago. This should be fun.





Will post photos as I get these baby's going.

EJ
 
I got one in my stash also, will look forward to seeing this build. Got it just to get some experience building with wood and stuff. :popcorn
 
great to have youback here EJ, being as how your a navy man thought I'd lookup the meaning of Skiff for you

"a shallow, flat-bottomed open boat with sharp bow and square stern"

I'll be watching EJ, I love your work :popcorn
 
Thanks Mate. It is good to be back.
Must be "flat-bottomed" means port to starboard flat but not stem to stern, as the kit boat has a pretty good bend to it in that direction. The little boats I remember were for the most part, really flat in both directions. We built one, that I will be doing, with a slight "V" shape.
Picked up some basswood sheets, basswood sticks and a small bottle of sanding sealer and some #11 blades today. Broke the packaging open on one kit today too. Might get going tomorrow.

EJ
 
The first thing I noticed about the kit was the oars. Looked to me that the wood is supplied but we're suppose to carve them out?

EJ I'm going to ask some basic questions. Basewood vers balsa, why basewood?
 
Ask away. I'm not necessarily an expert, but I have developed a sense of what works for me. As I post the four builds, I'll be explaining not just what and how, but why as well. Remember, if you ask 20 carpenters how to hang a door, you'll get 20 different answers. They all get the same place, just different paths.

Well, basswood was what was supplied in the kit, except for the seats that are mahogany. Most of the kit gets painted except the seats that will be varnished. Basswood finishes nicely if sealed with a lacquer sanding sealer first. I find basswood a bit stronger and can be bent without breaking as easily as balsa wood. Most of the balsa wood I see is very variable in quality. Some is more solid (denser), some almost spongy, like plastic foam (much less dense). When mentoring kids at science Olympiad in bridge building last year, we found much of the balsa could be literally pulled apart lengthwise because of low strength. We wound up using balsa for parts in compression and basswood for parts in tension or twist. One of my kids came in 10th in the state for the bridge building competition. The kids building gliders used balsa exclusively because it is much lighter weight. I do like to use mahogany, cherry and walnut as well. They tool and work well, and if finished with clear, they add a nice touch of natural color too. Some of the more exotic woods seem to be more brittle. All of these woods bend nicely if soaked in hot water or, if thicker in cross section steamed. I have made a set of jigs that work on my table saw that allows me to cut pieces as small as 1/16" X 1/16" so I can use any kind of wood I want if I'm looking for various colors.

The oars are made with a dowel, usually birch, and some flat stock. The blades, look nice if done with mahogany or walnut. The oars we made at the lake were similar in construction. Not as pretty maybe as store bought oars, but very serviceable, non the less. once the parts are glued together, it just takes some time to sand them to shape. You could make them out of a single piece and shave the shafts down to size. Looks nice when done in cherry. Mine will have the shafts painted so it won't make any difference.

Wood kits are based much differently than plastic kits. Most modelers expect plastic kits to fit together perfectly and produce an exact replica. Wood kits are more a pile of basic materials to be shaped, fitted and assembled, much like building a house. I often use materials other than wood building as well, wire for rigging, various weights of paper, foil - especially the foil that comes from the tops of wine bottles, lead foil, solder wire in fine diameters, clear plastic from bubble packaging, cloth, and yes, even styrene sometimes. Cordage for rigging I usually get from Syren Co. as it looks quite realistic and comes in a number of colors and diameters.

EJ
 
:hmmm This is gonna be interesting EJ! :captain As ya know I have the Niagra which has been calling me... So, I'ma :popcorn this build :drool
 
This is going to be especially interesting to watch, EJ.

I am more familiar with the term LST and a definition of flat bottom, A.K.A. gator freighter.
 
Just for the heck of it, I searched info about skiffs. Seems there is a whole bunch of definitions for skiff, depending on what country you're in. In the US, a skiff is a flat bottomed rowing or sailing craft. However, many skiffs have rounded bottoms (Dory built) or angled bottoms. They can be Carvel built (hull planks edge to edge) or Clinker built (lapstrake hull). Other names are, Dory, Tender, Pram, Punt, just to name a few types.

The boats in this build I will refer to as "Rowboats". These are used on inland lakes for recreation and fishing. They are also patterned after the "homemade" boats commonly used here in Michigan from the 1800's to around the 1960's that I remember and helped my grandfather build. At that point, aluminum, fiberglass and other synthetic materials became common and the home built boats pretty much went out of style.

First, I bought a new light bulb for my work lamp. This lamp has a metal shroud that got very hot with a 75 watt bulb in it. I touched my forehead against it a couple times causing much discomfort. I got a 100 watt LED bulb. This thing is only 18 watts but throws a really nice light. It stays so cool that you can wrap your hand around it and hang on. It feels cooler than a fluorescent light bulb when lit. I really like it.





Picked up a few more materials -





Now, the four builds. Each is roughed in ready to be faired in for application of the hull planks.

#1 is the build from the kit as directed. It is fancier than anything we built and seems as if it might be stronger although heavier, perhaps for use in coastal or river waters. This shows the bottom, stern board, stem and all the reinforcing knees and cleats installed. The bottom will be curved in the next step.



#2 is a flat bottom boat, assembles with the stern board, stem and cleats along the edge of the bottom for fastening the hull planks to. This will have a carvel hull. This style was great for fishing as it was very stable and handled well with oars.





You can see here the offsets in the wood members that need to be faired in.



#3 has a somewhat V shape hull bottom. This boat, as with #2 and #4, all have a more vertical stern board for mounting a small outboard motor. The V bottom really worked well with a motor, but was somewhat tippy to move around in. Because of the more extreme angle at the bottom/hull join, it required a wider cleat to be faired in which was more difficult to bend, so in the pot it went to boil for a few minutes, then set to a pattern to cool and dry.





Here with the stern board, cleats, center joint board and stem installed.



#4 This was the first boat I built with some direction from Grandpa. All we had was some 1 X 4's and 1 X 6's. So the first thing was to make the bottom. The boards were all roughed in to length, then rabbeted on both edges. Then smeared along the rabbeted edges with white lead and tacked together with small nails.
Yes, I said white lead. It was used as a sealing agent and to make white paint. We just smeared it on with paint brushes. Got it all over ourselves. Maybe that's what's wrong with me, although I've made it to a ripe old 73 years old. Made a great caulking sealant for boats. Then installed the cleats for the hull sides, which also stiffened the bottom. Then the stern board and the stem.

The bottom I marked the edge of each board with a black magic marker to define the boards better. Don't know why now that I think of it, as I'll be painting it all anyway. I just wanted to define the planking. We'll see how it turns out.



Then sanded it lightly and applied the edge cleats.



Finally, the stern board and stem.



Next up, each frame will be faired in and the hull sides installed. #1 will have the kit sheet hull, #2 will be carvel hull, #3 sheet hull and #4 clinker hull.

Might have this done by the week end?

EJ
 
Running a bit behind schedule, but the winter weather finally hit so - back to the bench.

I'll post each boat in a separate post because of size and to help keep them strait.

These boats each have the hulls completed. Each boat will get a few more trim parts, then a couple coats of sanding sealer and sanding to get rid of the "fuzzies". They will then get some paint brushed on.

First, boat #1

She is faired in and ready for planking. She's tacked to a strongback to keep the bottom in the correct bend while installing the planking.





A brace to keep the rib from breaking.



Both sides planked except for pulling the bow end together.



Bow end done.





All faired in and the false stem installed.



The false keel added.



EJ
 
Boat #2

This one has a carvel hull. Planks set edge to edge. The stem and stern are more vertical, unlike the kit hull.

Faired in



The stem



bracing



The planks are steamed as they have to bend and twist. The real boat had rabbeted edges sealed with white lead. This one they are butted together with thick CA from titebond meant for woodworking.
The first plank



3 planks



4 planks then set aside to dry.





Dry, faired in and the false stem and keel installed



The bench is getting crowded so I need to straiten up a bit.



EJ
 
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