Friends, I need a bit of quick advice. I bought a nice Spanish Cedar board for the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe, but it is about 10″ wide and seems like it is cleaned-up flitch-sawn – the grain runs in a nice wide arc through it. I have two pieces that will come out of it that are 9″ and 9 1/2″ wide. Should I split it length-wise and re-glue so that the grain runs against itself a bit (i.e., in a subtle s-curve)? Or, given it is kiln-dried, should I just let it be because it won’t cup much more. I am thinking the former, but wanted to see if anyone could comment. Many thanks,
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 Posted on February 22nd, 2010Category: 1C. Skin-on-frame Outrigger Canoe (2009), 3. Boatbuilding |
 Tags: grain, lumber, spanish cedar |
 One comment |  Trackback this Post Posted on February 18th, 2010I believe I have mentioned that I work in sub-optimal conditions for a boat-builder, even one focusing on small craft. Our house is modest and my workshop is in the basement, overrun by stuff in storage. I count on being able to work outside, but this gloriously snowy winter (yes, I said “gloriously” – snow is fun too) has wiped that out. I plus along in the space I have, and thus you see pieces below laid out across living space. So here are some signs of progress, albeit slow. As with the keel of the ama, I cut the first few feet and relaminated it to give it rocker. Here is that task, in progress.
I took a whack at laminating one of the frames. I have subsequently decided to junk this one. There were two issues. First, I am still figuring out my new bandsaw, and the strips were pretty lumpy (even after some planing). They didn’t lay together well. Compounding this, I also messed up the glue up and I wasn’t confident in the piece’s strength. Lots of learning there. Too many strips, too short working time, and too little glue (using Titebond III).
I decided to use the frame to further test and cut out some of the mortises. The keel scarf is not yet glued, but I was able to mock things up by means of some clamps: one frame, the full keel, and two stems. Great to see.
Here’s the same set-up looking forward (excuse the living room). You can see the bow stem is cocked to starboard. Seems there is a little twist in the keel. I have to see if I can pull it straight with the gunwales.
Posted on January 19th, 2010So we went back to the drawing board for a bit on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project, as we noted last month. It was a productive venture – we made some improvements, got a lot of problems solved, and got some useful planning in. We confess, though, that we were eager to get back into the building phase, and around the holidays, we were finally able to do so. First step: stems.
Posted on December 23rd, 2009One of the aspects to designing and building my own boat is the noodling on very specific problems – how would X work, how do I need to construct Y, how big does Z need to be, etc. To think through these issues I have done some mini-lofting – full-sized drawings of pieces of the frame. I thought I’d share some of these drawings so you can see what is difficult to tell in my lousy reproductions. I had a rough idea of how to do the inwale / outwale construction from my reading, but I had to think through a number of details when it came to the two laminated frames that are the key structural elements amidships.
Somewhat less complicated, but still worth some thought, was » Continue reading Design details on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe » Posted on December 19th, 2009It was thrilling to hear an inquiry from our friend Bob Holtzman over at Indigenous Boats on the status of the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project. Our last update showed off a completed ama frame, and, truthfully, for various reasons, there hasn’t been any building progress since then. What I have done is go back to the drawing board to make a few design adjustments based on earlier feedback. I nudged the ama forward and adjusted the internal layout a bit accordingly. I also adjusted the sheer and keel lines a bit to ease construction. The biggest difference, though, is that the split rig is gone in favor of a single lanteen sail. I couldn’t make balance work right otherwise. I am eager to try the rig and I think it fits well – it gives it more of a Southwest Indian Ocean flavor (e.g., Madagascar).
Construction hasn’t changed much, but I have figured out a few more details.
Posted on September 30th, 2009We are thrilled to report a major milestone reached in our latest boatbuilding project: the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe. The frame for the ama is all done and, while there a few things I can quibble with – namely the lines around the bow – on the whole I am pretty pleased with it.
Left to be seen, of course, is how the stern works when skinned. Hopefully the shape made by the “high heeled shoe” piece comes through OK.
The lashing was fun to figure out. Among the learnings was that I really didn’t think through putting all those holes in the three main frames – the cut-outs were fine, especially if I created a strategic notch.
Finally there is the scarf joints I did for the two lower stringers. There isn’t a lot of stress on these, but I am pretty proud of these. Two dowels and a slightly modified simple whipping technique and I feel better about these than ones with glue. OK, maybe that is too much, but they feel solid.
Posted on September 10th, 2009I know many of you have been waiting with bated breath for an updated on my skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project. OK, by “many” I mean “three, max” and by “bated breath” I mean “vague curiosity.” But this boat is starting to take shape and, by the powers granted me by the good people behind Wordpress and the blogosphere in general, I declare an update is overdue. It so happens that I hit a nice milestone last night, so here we are (complete with background views of our playroom). I have assembled the keel, the three frames, the deck, the iako connection pieces (partially), and (partially) the bow piece.
Just the “transom” piece to go, along with the stringers. » Continue reading Its starting to look like an ama – the latest on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project » Posted on August 23rd, 2009I have been making progress on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe [note to self: you have to name this thing] on two fronts: a) updating the design a bit and b) building the ama. I hope to have the design updates done soon. I nudged the ama forward as much as I could (maybe six inches), but this was the easier task. The harder problem was reconfiguring the rig. I won’t go into the gorey detail of it, but suffice it to say that, in an effort to get the CE forward, I tried a number of rig configurations, none of them satisfactory. In the end I decided to abandon the two sails approach. Results to follow. Now – the tangible stuff. I decided to start with the ama because it let me try the techniques of skin-on-frame building in a lower risk project within a project. I am using cheap, generic “white wood” from the local big box as well as some scrap form other efforts. I have built the three sawn frames, and below you can see the results of my first real effort at lashing. I expect those holes will not get used.
The keel has some rocker in it. » Continue reading Progress on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe – an ama slowly takes shape » Posted on August 6th, 2009Our loyal readers – yes, both of you – may recall a hint of sorts we dropped a few months back regarding thinking about building a new boat. Things are now at a point where I am able to share more, as I have things underway, if at a pace that is in line with many a home-built project. As I mentioned, I have been fascinated for some time with the skin-on-frame building style. I love that it is so closely tied to tradition – even using nylon skin. I also love the idea of using trunnels and lashing – such elegant simplicity. So that was one theme in my mind. Another long-time interest has been outrigger canoes. Love ‘em – have for years. The look, the history – they have been the object of much of my recent doodles. Then there is the longest-held desire of all: to build to my own design. Well, I got to thinking and I got to drawing… and the result is a marriage of these themes. I am designing and building a skin-on-frame outrigger canoe. A few thoughts may jump to your minds, like, “gee, do you have any experience with either skin-on-frame or outrigger canoes?” And the answer is, in both cases, no. I have read a bunch, but the fact is that this is a grand experiment. The results could be sub-par, but I have aimed to keep things reasonably simple and will get the boat in paddling shape before investing in rigging for sail. I can always bail (no pun intended) if I don’t think the end results merit going farther. And of course, I have you all to give me feedback before I get much farther (I am working on the ama first because it’s smaller and could be done very cheaply). So without first ado, here are some incredibly lousy reproductions of my drawings (I’ll try to replace with better versions). She is 18′ long, for those trying to get a sense of scale. The aren’t complete because I wanted to get myself building. I have lofted parts separately and may post those along the way. Click on the image to see bigger versions.
You may note that I have consciously blended traditions in a sort of nautical mash-up. The sailing outrigger is Indo-Pacific, of course, though I grabbed an ama connection approach that is from the African extreme of outrigger territory. The ends then hail from Central Canadian birch-bark tradition while the rig is decidedly Anglo-American. Some will call this a hash; I call it a gorgeous mosaic of cultures. I like fusion in food and music; why not boats too? Now, let’s remember that I am taking a flyer here and this is my first time putting my wood where my pencil is, if you will. So let us review how to put comments in a positive light:
Seriously – I want feedback, but be gentle! One might also ask: whither the boat I just built a couple years ago? Well, there have been two related problems with PEACE OF THE PUZZLE. One, it is heavy enough that my wife struggles to lift it, diminishing opportunities for and interest in use. Second, given the weight, I can’t take it out myself with one or two kids, which I would have more opportunity to do, given schedules. I expect a skin-on-frame boat, especially one that disassembles a bit, will be much lighter and, at least, give my wife a break. Posted on April 21st, 2009
In the course of noodling on this idea I came across the site skinboats.org, which consists of The Skin Boat School and Spirit Line’s Skin Boat Store. The former, as it sounds, is the educational resource area, though there are some good nuggets online. The latter piece seems to be a great source for materials. I found proprietor Corey Freedman extremely willing to chat about this topic, giving me a number of ideas that I didn’t directly solicit. This is one worth keeping close at hand for the skin-on-frame medium. |
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So here are the results, minus sanding and some seam-filling. I am pretty happy with the results and am getting psyched to pull the keel together. I have the scarf cut and am ready to put the rocker in next. I’m getting giddy…
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