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Plank Construction

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Plank Construction is a simple concept, what you are doing is using a plank of wood, such as a 1x12, to make the sides and possibly the bulkheads. The reason it is so fast, is it eliminates the need to make and attach chine logs for joining the plywood together. This series of photos is from making a small kayak, to see the full article on it, see ShortyPen.com


With all aspects of sailboats, there are compromises. Your construction time will probably be cut in half for the hull, but it will be a slightly heavier boat. If you were to use 3/8" for the bottom, and 1/4" for the decks, and planks for the bulkheads and transoms, the hull would weigh about 143 lbs compared to 114 lbs for a boat built with 1/4" framed plywood and a 3/8" bottom.

But if you look at the whole boat and skipper, the 29 lbs is easily a moot point, especially in my case because I weigh atleast 100 lbs more than just about everyone that I have beaten in races.





The largest common lumber I could find was 1x12x8', which in reality is 3/4" x 11" x 8 feet long. This won't limit you in the height of the sides though, you can butt strap a smaller board on top to make the boat higher.

Attach the transoms. Here I used a very simple rectangle that was not beveled. Later on, to fill the gap where the bevel cut would have been, I'll put a fillet of thickened epoxy.

Lots of glue on the edges of the planks, and put the bottom on with some bronze ring shank nails.



The plywood will bend up in the middle, so to temporarily hold it down, put in a few screws.

I didn't have a single piece of plywood big enough in stock, so I used 2 smaller pieces.

Glued a strip of plywood on the inside, this is called a butt joint. The water bottles are to hold pressure on the joint while it is curing.

I sorta messed up and didn't get the transom on properly. No problem, I'll just tape the ouside to keep the epoxy from running out.

To make a really cheap filler, take sawdust and run it thru your blender. Then mix it with regular kitchen flour. I used a 50/50 mix here, it was a little on the rough side, possibly use 60% wheat flour and 40% sawdust.

Mix enough filler in till you have a peanut butter like substance.


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