After building several canoes and having some success, I decided to build a sailboat. Choosing a design was more of a challenge than with the canoes. Because of the sailboat's greater building cost, time and effort, I asked for advice on my Internet boat forum. I got lots! Buy a design, bigger boats are better, traditional construction vs stitch-and-glue vs some other way to build it: it took a while to make up my mind. I decided I wanted a small boat that could be sailed single-handed, carry 2 people on occasion and easily be car-topped. I chose a design from Paul Ricelli, a boat designer in Florida.
Paul's design gave me a lot of insight into the why's and wherefore's of boat construction. Being me, and having some ideas I wanted to try out, naturally I made changes. Paul was very encouraging and a great help; although fine boat designs have been around for a long while, there is an advantage in having a living designer to go to for advice!
I retained the underwater shape and general construction, but reduced weight and simplified construction. This allowed me to employ the building methods I had developed for making canoes. I built combined buoyancy chambers and seats along the sides, which I hope will allow me to right the boat with a minimum of effort in the event of a capsize, since I am 70 years old. Hopefully there will be no need to bail out water. I also made provision for 3 mast locations to allow me to experiment with different types of sailing rigs.
The Sheer Planks
The sheer planks form the sides of the hull, and are cut from marine plywood. One of the modifications I made to the design of the boat allows the edges of the sheer planks to be cut straight which simplified cutting out the blanks. The planks are about 3 m (10+ feet) long, so I had to extend the length after cutting them from the 8 feet (2.44 m) long plywood sheet, by gluing on extensions using scarf joints. The pair of sheer planks in the picture have strips of wood glued to them, these are called inwales (top edge) and chine logs (bottom edge), together with battens that will become the stem at the bow of the boat, and will reinforce the joints between the sheer planks and the transom at the stern.
Making the Sheer Planks More Flexible
With the canoes, the long thin sheer planks were very flexible and gluing on the chine logs and inwales made them easier to handle by making them stronger. With the sailboat sheer planks, however, they are stiff enough to be difficult to bend to the shape of the hull without risking a breakage. The problem is caused by the chine logs, which are twice as thick as the inwale strips. cutting a lot of slits at intervals across the chine logs as shown here in the picture solves the problem. This must be done carefully, as it is important to ensure that the planks bend uniformly along their length, so the slits must be uniformly spaced and all the same depth.
Preparation for Adding the Bottom Plank
I will skip a few steps here, since they are very similar to the steps of building a canoe, as shown on the canoe page.
The hull is built upside-down over a simple form, visible in the picture near the stern. The bulkhead nearer the bow helps to form the shape, and later supports the daggerboard trunk and foredeck. Down the middle of the hull runs the keelson, which is a narrow piece of plywood, thicker than the bottom, to stiffen and strengthen it. The keelson is held in shape by a temporary piece of lumber underneath, which has been carved to match the shape of the bottom.
The shape of the bottom, as seen from the side, is determined by the curve of the sheer planks and the slight angle at which they are set, called the flare angle. I arranged this to duplicate the bottom shape of the original design.
Adding the Bottom
The bottom plank is another sheet of plywood, a bit thicker than the sheer planks. It must be glued securely to the edges of the sheer planks and transom, as well as the keelson which runs down the middle of the hull. Since this joint is below the waterline it is made using epoxy. I don't want to get messy splotches of epoxy all over the bottom so I planned this step carefully.
The first step is to cut the bottom plank to shape and screw it to the sheer planks and keelson in a dry fit. Then all the screws are removed and the bottom pushed forward of the transom as shown in this picture. Glue is applied to the areas aft of the bottom plank and the bottom plank moved back into position and screwed down along the aft edge only.
Because the hull is curved, when its aft edge is screwed down the bottom tips up at the forward end, allowing glue to be applied the remaining edges of the sheer planks and keelson. Final step is to push the bottom plank down was screw it in place.
The Outwales
Once the bottom is in place the hull can be turned right side up ready for finishing. The temporary form must be removed, but a temporary brace is still needed as shown in the picture, to keep the hull's shape, since it is still somewhat flexible. The thin strips called the outwales are shown in position, with lots of clamps while the glue sets. This step is very similar to the gluing of the outwales when building the canoes. A difference is, only one strip is required for the sailboat, since extra strength will be added later when the seats are added.
The daggerboard Trunk
The daggerboard is a narrow retractable keel that is lowered through a slot in the bottom. To prevent water rushing into the boat through the slot, a box structure called the trunk is added. This also supports the daggerboard when the boat is sailed.
Wind can apply a lot of force on the sails which is passed down through the mast and can push the boat sideways. This tendency to slide sideways is prevented by the daggerboard which applies a counteracting force. This force is passed through the trunk which therefore must be strongly constructed. When I tested the trunk it actually split slightly, requiring additional reinforcement, so I learned the hard way just how strong this part of the boat must be.
The trunk is attached to the aft face of bulkhead. Later the deck will be attached to the forward face of the bulkhead, together with the kingplank which will hold up the mast. The forces on the mast and daggerboard trunk cancel each other to a large degree, so the extra heavy construction is only needed in this area of the boat.
The Buoyancy Tanks
This is a part of the boat where the original design has changed quite a bit. The designer's original intent was seats going across (or athwart) the hull with closed boxes underneath to provide emergency buoyancy, together with side decks and coaming to provide rigidity to the hull. To save weight, I combined these functions in a single structure.
Here the vertical walls of the buoyancy chambers are being glued in place. They are attached to the bottom by means of battens and reinforced at their top edges by more battens. The seats will attach to the top of the buoyancy chamber walls, which will seal the chambers against water leaks.
Note the wood blocks that have been added to the top edges of the sheer planks about half-way along. Holes will be drilled into these when the seats are finished, for the oarlocks. This will allow the boat to be rowed in calm weather.
Seats and Side Decks
The seats are almost flat plywood planks attached to the buoyancy chamber walls and sheer planks. In the picture, the starboard seat has already been glued in place and the port seat is being held down by weights while the glue sets.
At the far end of the boat, the kingplank has been installed from the bulkhead to the stem. This will support the deck planking, and also the mast.
The 2 thin strips of wood lying on top of the hull are the rubbing strips, which have been prepared for addition in a later step.
The King Plank
This picture shows detail near the bow. The bulkhead can be seen with the trunk behind it, and the king plank extending forward to the stem. There will be 3 mast locations requiring 3 holes to be drilled through the kingplank, which will weaken it considerably, so it is reinforced by a vertical strip of wood along each edge, forming an inverted U-shaped girder.
On the bottom of the hull the mast step can be seen, held by a clamp. The mast step will support the base of the mast. I planned to have one mast step which could be placed under any of the 3 mast positions but it did not turn out to be a practical idea and it will be replaced with 3 permanent mast steps.
The Foredeck
The foredeck consists of 2 triangular pieces of plywood attached to the king plank, sheer planks and bulkhead. It can be difficult to paint the undersides after the deck panels have been glued down, so they are painted first, with the glue areas taped as shown.
The holes for the 3 mast positions are drilled through the foredeck and king plank. Only one mast position will be used at a time, of course! To prevent water running through the holes into the boat, caps are placed in the holes and secured by elastic bands from underneath.
Mobility on Land
The finished hull is only 60 lb (27 kg) without the sailing rig, but it's not an easy thing to move around because it is too big to carry under one's arm!
I found a cheap replacement wheel for a snowblower, and a pair of incredibly cheap oars which I got from a department store. The wheel is attached to a simple frame that fits inside the daggerboard slot, and the oars make a neat set of handles, converting the boat into a wheelbarrow!
Making The Mast
The 8-sided hollow mast is built up using spruce staves, cut from a plank. The edges are beveled at 22.5 degrees. In the picture, the staves are lined up over adhesive cloth tape, ready for gluing.
With the glue applied, the staves are rolled up to form the mast, using the tape. Plastic cable ties provide extra binding power while the glue sets.
Two-Piece Mast
The mast is in 2 pieces, the main mast and the top mast, which is made in the same way. Building the mast in 2 sections allows it to fit inside the boat when the wind fails and it is necessary to row. The top mast is slimmer and fits inside the main mast with a tapered stop as seen in the picture.
Because the mast can be easily split by forces from inside, glass-fiber reinforcing tape is applied around the ends of the mast and stop. The mast sections are finished by adding wood plates at the bottom of the main mast and the peak of the top mast, but one end of each mast is left open to allow ventilation for drying. The outside is given several coats of varnish.
The daggerboard
The daggerboard blank is built up by gluing several strips of spruce edge to edge. Alternate strips are reversed, so any tendency to warp is neutralized.
Here the blank is being roughly shaped using a router and a profiling jig. The roughed out result is shown opposite, top.
Once the daggerboard is roughed out, it is sanded smooth. A reinforcing strip of hardwood is glued to the trailing edge and a protective brass molding attached to the leading edge. The whole thing is given several coats of varnish (see picture opposite, bottom).
Launch Day
Dace was launched as a rowboat because I did not have the sail rig finished in time. I found the oars and oarlocks in Walmart; that was a huge surprise, hardly the first name that comes to mind when shopping for boating supplies, but there they were - perfect and ridiculously cheap - so into the minivan they went!
Dace is very stable, but like standing on a skateboard, move one way and the boat moves the opposite way. I can stand anywhere on the boat with only a little heeling or pitching. Launching is easy; I put the bow into the water and leave the stern resting on the launching ramp, step in, and walk towards the bow. As the bow goes down the stern lifts and we just float out into the water.
She rows very easily. Other rowboats I have tried were heavy and clumsy but Dace gets up to speed with a couple of quick oar strokes and spins on a dime. I did not instal the skeg suggested by the designer, so she has a tendency to spin, but with the rudder just dipping below the surface she runs straight.
Dace is no more!
Alas, Dace was parked out in the yard for several years without maintenance due to a long illness which stopped me doing much at all. When I returned to health I found the plywood on the bottom had delaminated and much of the oak trim had rotted. The oak trim would have been simple to replace but because of the way I built Dace the bottom was impossible to repair, simpler to build another. Sadly, little Dace has been scrapped.
This was an educational experience, because the plywood was purchased from a reputable supplier and carried a BS1088 stamp, which used to be an indication of quality. The BS1088 standard is voluntary and apparently anyone can use the stamp whether they adhere to the standard or not. In future I will look for a standard that is monitored like Lloyds, or buy BS1088 plywood made by a reputable manufacturer like Joubert. Live and learn!