Greetings,
I am thinking of building the Stevensons Weekender sailboat. I have no construction experience. I will certainly have some questions if I choose to build this sailboat and I am glad to have found this forum.
Before I decide if this is my new hobby I did have a couple of questions about construction. I live in northern New-Brunswick, Canada and we have some cold winters.
Can I construct this boat in the cold?
I have unheated garages with gravel floors and I am hoping these will be adequate for construction?
Does marine grade plywood, warp or shrink in the cold?
I have never worked with wood so these maybe newbie questions.
Thank You. Mariette
Welcome aboard.
Northern builders out weigh the more temperate climate builders by a huge margin, so yes, you can build in the cold. Of course, it's helpful to have some control of the building environment, if only so you can feel your hands in the process, but cutting lumber and driving screws are still the same deal in the cold. I'm at the other end of the spectrum and need to control the heat most of the time, but in cold weather I use heaters and maybe a tarp over the work to keep the heat contained in the area. The same is true of warm, where I'll rig a window A/C unit to cool the area, under a tarp, say prior to applying paint (for instance).
Working with adhesives and coatings will be the most challenging in the cold, as these products usually have minimum temperature requirements. For example, paint can take forever to dry when it's too cold for the vehicle to flash off or getting glues to setup, etc.
Plywood (good stuff) isn't dramatically affected by the cold. All materials will shrink a bit in really cold weather, it's simple physics, but not enough to cause issues with a build. When the boat's finished, it'll have to endure the same temperature swings, so . . .
Do some searches on this site for previous posts about the various questions you might have. There's lots of information and you'll spend several hours doing research about different stuff, like the preferred glues, types of plywood, building issues and techniques, etc.
I'm in the middle of a small build right now. I live near Duluth MN and it is probably as cold here as it is where you are. I like this time of year and spring time to build. Granted I have a heated shop now but when I built my weekender it was touch and go. I think the main thing is to keep water off your build. If you are building in a tent, maybe you could keep a tarp over it as a fail safe. If you are using epoxy, building in the cooler weather is a big advantage as long as you can heat up the boat until the goo cooks off. There are a thousand different ways to do that. I'm sure you will figure out the best one for your situation. Right now I turn off the heater and open the shop doors to cool off the shop before I start mixing epoxy. I like it to be below 50 F in the shop when I apply epoxy. When I am done, I turn on the heater and shut the doors until it is as warm as I can reasonably get the place. The goo cooks off within a couple hours and I can let things cool off some.Â
Weekender is a pretty simple build all things being equal. Off hand I can't think of a mistake that you can't fix fairly quickly. Don't get first cutitis. Jump in and go, just check your dimensions and lines. Above all enjoy the process. Boat building is so much fun that it is addicting.
Everyone here has been where you are. We are happy to help.
Al
i live in calgary, and did most of my build in the late summer / fall. i waited till the spring to do the final paint job, so the boat spent the winter in my unheated attached garage with no issues. My boat has been outside and tarped the last 3 winters with no damage or effect from the cold.
enjoy your build, its a lot of fun!
Thank you all for the information. Now I know my space is adequate for building a boat, next step is to get the plans.
I will certainly peruse these forums for more information and if I get stuck I know where to go.
Thanks Again
Cheers,
Mariette