Re: what's the best way to save weight when building a boat?
Well, most of my weight saving experience is with model planes, but I
did design and build a pram which came out within a couple of pounds of
what I expected, so the following might not be totally off base:
Go over everything that's going into the boat and try to calculate what
it weighs. Add it all up. Try to get info about how much the different
kinds of wood will weigh. Plywood places will often tell you the weight
per sheet, and you can guess other wood density by species. I don't know
how much wood varies from piece to piece, but if you're really serious
you can weight the lumber. The wood I'm most used to using varies by a
factor of 6 or so, but balsa is much more extreme than the wood you'd
use in boatbuilding.
Think hard about each part of the boat and what your weight options are.
This doesn't mean you have to always pick the lightest, but only use
anything heavier for a good reason, like budget. Don't use 6 oz glass
cloth when you can use two. (BTW, it is my understanding that if you are
really careful about not using too much epoxy, the finished weight will
be about double the nominal weight of the cloth, i.e. 2 oz cloth will
come out 4 oz per yard).
Be sure to squeegee all the excess out of the cloth if you do use glass.
If you use certain kinds of plywood, or are building something where you
will keep it indoors and don't care a lot about checking, maybe you
don't need the glass. Don't use southern yellow pine unless you are
forced by budget considerations. If you have to use some heavy wood, use
it on a daggerboard, rudder, etc. where you would like it to be heavy,
and try to keep the hull and spars light.
I guess my main message is to keep track of the weight of everything. If
you're aware of it, you're probably less likely to pile on more weight.
BTW, you might go to www.apci.com/~michalak and look up the article(s)
on weight.
did design and build a pram which came out within a couple of pounds of
what I expected, so the following might not be totally off base:
Go over everything that's going into the boat and try to calculate what
it weighs. Add it all up. Try to get info about how much the different
kinds of wood will weigh. Plywood places will often tell you the weight
per sheet, and you can guess other wood density by species. I don't know
how much wood varies from piece to piece, but if you're really serious
you can weight the lumber. The wood I'm most used to using varies by a
factor of 6 or so, but balsa is much more extreme than the wood you'd
use in boatbuilding.
Think hard about each part of the boat and what your weight options are.
This doesn't mean you have to always pick the lightest, but only use
anything heavier for a good reason, like budget. Don't use 6 oz glass
cloth when you can use two. (BTW, it is my understanding that if you are
really careful about not using too much epoxy, the finished weight will
be about double the nominal weight of the cloth, i.e. 2 oz cloth will
come out 4 oz per yard).
Be sure to squeegee all the excess out of the cloth if you do use glass.
If you use certain kinds of plywood, or are building something where you
will keep it indoors and don't care a lot about checking, maybe you
don't need the glass. Don't use southern yellow pine unless you are
forced by budget considerations. If you have to use some heavy wood, use
it on a daggerboard, rudder, etc. where you would like it to be heavy,
and try to keep the hull and spars light.
I guess my main message is to keep track of the weight of everything. If
you're aware of it, you're probably less likely to pile on more weight.
BTW, you might go to www.apci.com/~michalak and look up the article(s)
on weight.
>jason wrote:
>
>I've built two glue and nail boats and one stitch and glue boat. I
>always seem to go a bit heavy on the construction. What is the best
>way to save weight while building? Spars? Marine Ply?.....i've never
>used it before. Don't really want to skimp on the lumber as i feel
>bolger boats are from what i've seen kinda on the light side.
>Opinions?
>Thanks,
>jason
>
I've built two glue and nail boats and one stitch and glue boat. I
always seem to go a bit heavy on the construction. What is the best
way to save weight while building? Spars? Marine Ply?.....i've never
used it before. Don't really want to skimp on the lumber as i feel
bolger boats are from what i've seen kinda on the light side.
Opinions?
Thanks,
jason
always seem to go a bit heavy on the construction. What is the best
way to save weight while building? Spars? Marine Ply?.....i've never
used it before. Don't really want to skimp on the lumber as i feel
bolger boats are from what i've seen kinda on the light side.
Opinions?
Thanks,
jason