Not tiny house..........tiny boat | Page 5 | SouthernPaddler.com

Not tiny house..........tiny boat

beekeeper

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2009
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Looks like more boat than you can get out of one sheet. No reason the sides could not be made taller.
If I were being held to the same amount of plywood that's in the boat, I would have reduced the decks size and added the wood to the sides.

bee
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
To me, it seems a silly restriction to commit to only one sheet of plywood. Build the boat right, to do the job you want it to do. If you do successfully build a boat using only one sheet, are you then going to limit yoursrlf to using only one worm per fishing trip?
 

jdupre'

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2007
2,327
40
South Louisiana
Jack, it seems you just don't have the experimentation gene. Nothing wrong with that , for sure. For us souls that have been cursed ( or blessed ??) with having that gene, the limitation is part of the charm of doing a project. Heck, I could just go ahead and pay someone a few grand and build the boat of my dreams from the finest materials and be done with it. Never have to SAND! I don't use boat plans. I get a LOT more artistic satisfaction from figuring out every curve and line of a boat. It's sculpture to me. Plans are fine if you want the quickest , most accurate way to build a boat.

I don't build boats to HAVE boats. I build boats to BUILD boats. The more boats I build, the more funner it is! A one sheet boat is not a five course meal at an upscale restaurant. It's a quick, tasty snack at a quirky little roadside hole-in-the-wall cafe'. Sometimes that's all you need.

Yes, Bee, I would put a little more wood into the sides of that little punt, too.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
I'm with you on the challenge, Joey. The canoe that I built from plans has 2" more freeboard than design. My kayak, a Pygmy Osprey Standard, is, in my opinion, in a very small group of kayaks labled "world's best".

I no longer wanted to paddle rough, open waters where a sea skirt was needed to seal out waves etc. I now use the boat on rivers and small lakes. I now use it for week-long camping trips. So, I removed decking both 4' in front of the cockpit, and 4' aft of the cockpit. I now have a very nice under water hull configuration (as originally designed from Pygmy), and an easy loading & unloading boat above the water, kind of a decked canoe.

I experiment, just in different directions. But, I'm not as good experimenter as you. I'm just stuck with being handsome. ;-)
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
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Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
" I don't build boats to HAVE boats. I build boats to BUILD boats. The more boats I build, the more funner it is! A one sheet boat is not a five course meal at an upscale restaurant. It's a quick, tasty snack at a quirky little roadside hole-in-the-wall cafe'. Sometimes that's all you need. "

Joey .... Well Said.
 

beekeeper

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2009
1,917
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I would guess all designs evolved from the same origins. Probably a half hollowed log found floating in the local waterway. Not a lot new in this old world. Man is not near the inventor we think we are and we certainly are not creators.
Most design features seem to have evolved based on material available and which variation worked best in that area for the most popular task.
Materials availability ($) seems to be the biggest factor in the types of boats we have. Marketing determines what designs are for sale not necessary what works best. One's building capabilities and preferences determines what type build we choose.

bee
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
You're pretty much on target, JD. The Aleutes were separated from the Greenland Inuits by about 3,000 miles. Yet, their kayaks - stealth hunting boats - differed primarily in cross-sectional configuration.

And, neither of them used plywood and epoxy!
 

jdupre'

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2007
2,327
40
South Louisiana
Here's one angle on design I picked up somewhere. Ancient people tended to improve on the design of boats ( and most other things) until they found something that worked and was worth the time and effort to construct. If a kayak got you out in the ocean and you came back alive and with fish, that was a success. When you are scraping an existence out of the wild, you don't tend to experiment to get a tenth of a mph more out of a kayak. We have the luxury nowadays to fiddle and tweak and build a half dozen boats to improve on design. One of my pet peeves is an "authentic" boat with 10-15 coats of hand rubbed expensive varnish. No way a poor fisherman could justify that much time, effort and money on a boat he needed tomorrow to catch fish to eat.
 

jdupre'

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2007
2,327
40
South Louisiana
Me too, Jack. Don't get me wrong, I do love the look of a great varnish job. I did a little research and those exquisitely varnished decks and trim on a million dollar yacht need recoating twice a year...........only once , if you're really lucky. Me??? No way! I worked at a hardware store many years back and would tell people wanting to varnish their front door that they would have to lightly sand and revarnish it once a year. "Oh, yeah, I'll do that." I'd bet good money that maybe 1 in 100 would.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
That's right, Jon. While I can admire the woodworking skills of those who have them, I would prefer to see those skills used to make furniture. Furniture can be used and fulfill its purpose while in a protrcted environment, in a home. A boat - canoe, kayak, pirogue, etc. - is a tool. Tools are designed and made to do jobs, accomplish purposes, perform work.

There are several definitions of the word, work. In physics, it is defined as "moving mass through space". Economically, it is defined as "performing assigned tasks for remuneration". In camp, "nothing is work; unless, you'd rather be doing something else".

Now, using a boat for such things as fishing and camping isn't work, because when I'm doing it, there is nothing else I'd rather be doing.
 

beekeeper

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2009
1,917
59
Boats = everything a trade off. It is all about what "game you want to play".

Finish = To look good.
To protect the boat and sometimes effects the fairness of the hull.
Fit = How well the boat is constructed.
Makes the boat look good.
Form = How it performs.
To look good.

The builder or user has to decide what is best for the task the boat is to do. None of my wooden boats will hold up to the abuse an aluminum boat will. I doubt if an alu. boat will paddle or fish as well as the wooden ones. Probably won't have to spend much time answering questions about it at the landing either.

bee
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
My boats score a "Fair" on Fit, at the best. Form was someone else's design, and the first one flunked. The two I have now, one I'd rate as excellent for open waters. T'other one is good on rivers.

I'm avoiding any Finish discussion, altogether.