BYYB Forums

As I have noted in the Introductions and Current Builder forums,  I have resumed work on my Maine Peapod.  I've altered the design to experiment with strip planking and because that is the only way I'll ever get anything done.  Strips are 3/8 cypress.  I have not yet settled on fiberglass yet, but since I'm experimenting, it will most likely be 9oz or 10oz cloth.  The outside will be painted, so I have few concerns about the weave showing through as it would on a varnished surface.  Inside I've considered using a lighter weave and keeping it bright.   

I've also deleted the keel, but not the ash kingplank.  Seats/thwarts will be on longitudinal stringer running the length of the boat. 

Recommendations and /or kibitzing welcome, especially on the fiberglass.  Pics to come soon! 

4 ounce or less weight fabrics don't show through varnish. Anything heavier will telegraph through. Under paint, all fabrics will print trough, unless the weave is filled and smoothed.

How did you establish your scantlings for strip planking?

Hi Paul!  Hmmm.. I had considered multiple layers of lighter weight fabric, but shied away because of costs. 

The scantlings for the planks were reckoned from Gardner's original scantlings for a 3/8" lapstrake version of this same boat.  He also describes a carvel planked version using 1/2" planks. 

I guessed that I could get away with this based upon Susan Van Leuven's book "Woodstrip Rowing Craft".  She strip-planks a version of one of Gardner's boats, the Rangely Lakes boad, which is slightly less beamy, but longer than the peapod, in 1/4" cedar.  She also adapts a lapstrake sliding seat rowboat using the same material.  Unfortunately, I don't have any calculations to demonstrate that I could do the same, so i opted to stick with the original planking size, reinforced with fiberglass.  I'm not 100% sure this will work. 

I would like to replace frames with fiberglass lamination for the most part.  I do plan on keeping some of the original structural stiffeners, the keel/king plank (ash), the gunwales (also ash), and the longitudinal stringers for thwarts and fore and aft seats. Keel and stems have been deleted.  Stems will be replaced by fiberglass fillets and the bow and stern reinforced with plywood bulkheads and flotation foam.  I have considered building underseat boxes under the thwarts for additional reinforcement and a place to conveniently add ballast (and lunch). 

Sending you a PM.

You can use heavier cloth, you just need to fill the material pattern with  epoxy with a filler like micro balloons or something that sands easily and smoothly.  Some people just layer on straight epoxy, sand most of it away, then layer on more to fill the weave.  That will work eventually but it is a lot of work, waste and puts a lot of epoxy dust in the air which I try and evoid because my shop cat refuses to wear a mask.  Some people use bondo but if you mix a bit of something in the epoxy it will fill the weave just fine.  I put the cloth on with clear epoxy then add a layer of the stuff with filler.  I read somewhere, probably one of Paul's posts, about using multiple coats of epoxy with different color fillers for areas that needed more filling.  The idea was that you would see the colors change as you sanded and never sand through to the cloth by mistake.

I even have a door that she will fit through.  Really!  I measured!

amazing work, i assume the plywood is just a form to be removed later? if so does that mean the main shape of the boat is held by the epoxy between the slats? looks like it will be a beautiful hull!

That's correct.  The plywood forms come out after I turn the boat over.  The strips are held temporarily on the forms by nails and attached to each other using glue and a few staples where they get stubborn.  I'm getting better the more strips I put on, so you'll see fewer staples toward the bottom of the boat (away from the sheer).  After I've got all the strips glued, the staples and nails will be removed, the hull faired, filled and sanded, then layers of fiberglass and epoxy will cover the hull on the outside. This is what actually gives strength to the hull, not the glue.  After the fiberglassing, the outer stem and false keel go on (possibly the outwales too).  Then I can flip the boat, take out the plywood forms and start work on the inside.  Same fiberglassing process, then fitting out with seats, thwarts, inwales, small decks at at each end and floor boards.

  Takes me back to my kayak days,  Keith W