[bolger] Folding Schooner construction
We bought some good looking Luan which looked better than the Fir ACX
available.It is 5.2mm and is a little shy of 1/4. All the ACX was three
ply and even at $20 a sheet and more was pretty bad on the C side and
very wavy. The Luan was $15 a sheet. (There was some 5.5mm Red Meranti
with an exterior glue sticker on it at Home Depot for $10 a sheet but
it was high up on a rack and we couldn't pick through it easily. Our
local home depot is a zoo) We picked through the pile at the lumberyard
most of the local contractors prefer and got some good faces and picked
sheets with only four or five butts per sheet. Cut out the two
transoms tonight and framed one of them. Found no voids in the Luan.It
does make a nasty dust. All the frame angles are the same and with a
little fussing we were able to cut out good fitting frames on the table
saw. The transoms have no bevel, so it seemed the place to start. My
feeling once we started cutting wood is that if you can afford it go
with Marine Ply. We really have to stay within a budget and know you
can build a fun and serviceable boat with lumberyard materials. But
these are pretty boats and would be nice to have first class material
all the way. We may stretch the budget to have marine ply side panels.
I am also beginning to think that glass all the way around might not be
a bad idea. I think the transoms should be glassed because of the wear
and tear of folding and banging into each other. The revised plans call
for the bottom to be glassed. If you do both of those you might as well
do the whole hull. The Gypsy we built was made that way. I rowed it
full tilt into a dock once and all it did was bounce.
Our plan for the beveled frames is to make framing stock with the right
bevel and then cut the Luan with the right bevel set on the circular
saw and then align the bevels when making up the completed frame. Hope
I am not missing something here. I think I understand some of the
pitfalls and still have a few Gypsy bulkheads with bevel on the wrong
way.
Thaks to all for the continuing help and encouragement.
Leander
available.It is 5.2mm and is a little shy of 1/4. All the ACX was three
ply and even at $20 a sheet and more was pretty bad on the C side and
very wavy. The Luan was $15 a sheet. (There was some 5.5mm Red Meranti
with an exterior glue sticker on it at Home Depot for $10 a sheet but
it was high up on a rack and we couldn't pick through it easily. Our
local home depot is a zoo) We picked through the pile at the lumberyard
most of the local contractors prefer and got some good faces and picked
sheets with only four or five butts per sheet. Cut out the two
transoms tonight and framed one of them. Found no voids in the Luan.It
does make a nasty dust. All the frame angles are the same and with a
little fussing we were able to cut out good fitting frames on the table
saw. The transoms have no bevel, so it seemed the place to start. My
feeling once we started cutting wood is that if you can afford it go
with Marine Ply. We really have to stay within a budget and know you
can build a fun and serviceable boat with lumberyard materials. But
these are pretty boats and would be nice to have first class material
all the way. We may stretch the budget to have marine ply side panels.
I am also beginning to think that glass all the way around might not be
a bad idea. I think the transoms should be glassed because of the wear
and tear of folding and banging into each other. The revised plans call
for the bottom to be glassed. If you do both of those you might as well
do the whole hull. The Gypsy we built was made that way. I rowed it
full tilt into a dock once and all it did was bounce.
Our plan for the beveled frames is to make framing stock with the right
bevel and then cut the Luan with the right bevel set on the circular
saw and then align the bevels when making up the completed frame. Hope
I am not missing something here. I think I understand some of the
pitfalls and still have a few Gypsy bulkheads with bevel on the wrong
way.
Thaks to all for the continuing help and encouragement.
Leander