Boatbuilding Tips for Amateurs

Challenge yourself, right from the start, to work to the highest standard of finish that you can, even on the parts that will be hidden from view.

A boat that looks good, in all it's details, will give you more pride and draw more admiration than one that is too obviously an amateur build.

So, go on, take your time, aim to surprise even yourself.

• Sanding Wood
• Round off Angles
• Fairing Glassed Edges
• Fillets
• Saving on Timber
• Quotes from the Professionals
• Have Your say

It easier to get a good finish on paint or varnish if you spend time getting a smooth (matt) finish on all the bare wood right from the start.

And it is easier to get the wood as smooth as possible right from the start as you are cutting the pieces, before assembling them into the boat.

Now by a smooth surface I do not mean a shiny one but one that has been sanded with a fine grit paper.

That matt surface will take a finish coat better than a shiny smooth one.

Once you've finished rubbing down get rid of the rubbing-down dust, it will cause problems if it's not removed.

Sanding dust will block the pores of the wood, reducing penetration of any coating.

A boatbuilding tip for surfaces that are to be glued, they can be left slightly rough or even clean-cut but special care should be taken to remove dust, good penetration is needed to ensure a strong bond.

Paint, varnish etc. are allergic to sharp corners.

So, round off the exposed corners and angles in the wood.

Paint, varnish and epoxy will be pulled away from hard edges by surface tension, leaving those edges with minimal cover and protection.

Rounding them off is boatbuilding tip that will allow a coating to adhere better, spreading itself evenly around the corner.

This will give a smoother finish and a more constant thickness thus giving maximum protection.

And it looks much nicer when the appearance of your boat is softened by removing the visual harshness of the sharp corners.

Those sharp corners can cause damage to skin and bone if fallen against, as well as wear and tear and chafing on items of boat equipment due to constant movement at sea.

Rounding the corners of the wood before glassing will help reduce the need to sand those corners too much after glassing.

Too much sanding on fiberglass corners is a major cause of overlay cracks.

However, if the boat that you are building has glass taped joints or areas that are reinforced with fiberglass, sand the edges of the glass to a feather edge then apply a final coat of resin to fill the weave and seal any exposed fibers.

A boatbuilding tip for when fairing glass surfaces with epoxy fairing, the fairing should be no thicker than needed to fill any hollows and with minimal thickness over any humps.

Sand it smooth enough to make the glass fibers disappear into the surface once it has been painted.

Just as you sand your wood surfaces before applying the first coat of epoxy, paint or varnish, you should also sand between each coat of finish.

The first coat will often result in surface fibers of the wood standing up.

Do not ignore this and paint over it.

A light sanding now to smooth the texture before applying the next coat will save a lot of extra sanding later.

Make sure to get rid of all dust using a tack rag or a vacuum.

Any dust that gets into the coating as it is applied will need a lot of sanding to smooth it before the next coat.

Sand lightly between coats if more time has passed than the over-coating time recommended by the manufacturer.

For epoxy this is normally 12 hours, for paint it varies.

It is also worthwhile to do a chemical wipe with acetone or mineral spirits to remove any surface contamination that may have come from skin contact or other sources of contamination.

A diesel generator running nearby can ruin your paint job due to oils in the exhaust gasses raining down on everything downwind of it.

Buying wood that is planed all round, in the sizes that you need them is convenient but expensive.

It can work out a lot cheaper to buy your timber in wider planks then cut them down to size yourself.

That is, if you happen to own a table saw.

If your project is a small one, the cost of buying a table saw might outstrip any savings on lumber.

But if you do use one, fit a carbide-tipped blade with 40-50 teeth, this will rip the wood quickly and leave surfaces that need minimal sanding.

For large boat projects it is worthwhile buying a bench belt sander with 4 "wide belt.

This will speed up the sanding of framing and smaller items to a nice finish before fitting them into the boat

It will also allow you to fine-tune details such as pieces that need to meet neatly at intersections.

Attention to these smaller details is a boatbuilding tip that will make a big difference to the finished appearance of your boat.

Des Sleightholme, boatbuilding tips

• To be successful, a self-draining cockpit should be at least eight inches above water level. The minimum leg room is held to be 15 inches.

To be successfully self-draining, a cockpit should be at least eight inches above water level, yet in must not be so shallow that it is virtually a box for the feet. ... The drains to empty it must be of at least 1 1/4-in. pipe.

• It must be mentioned that built-in buoyancy should never be more than a last resort. First comes design, and a hull that just cannot be swamped in a knockdown.

Norman L Skene, boatbuilding tips

• 'Science is first in the requisites for consistent success, but it must be blended with natural genius, imagination and much practical action'.

Henry Ford, boatbuilding tips

• Simplicate, and add more lightness.

• The first requisite of any practical boat is safety, the second comfort, and the third speed. Edson B Schock

John G Hanna, boatbuilding tips

• Other things being equal, the faster boat is preferable. The hell of it is, other things are never equal.

Cinch up your belt, roll up your sleeves, and go ahead and build it, regardless of hell, hurricanes, and high prices. It'll always be worth the cost, as it always was.

John Teale, boatbuilding tips

• The center of buoyancy should be just aft of half way between bows and stern.

• Flat-bottomed vessels need slightly more centerboard area; round bottomed ones can get away with slightly less.

HV Sucher, boatbuilding tips

• The beam of a flat-bottomed boat should be no more than half the length; if it is to be rowed or sailed, the length should be two and a half to three times the beam.

Phil Bolger, boatbuilding tips

• In wall-sided boats, making the curvature of the sides equal to the curvature of the bottom ensures that the water pressures at each surface are equal, and reduces eddying and wake, and therefore drag.

• Expense: Never use expensive materials to build a boat designed to be cheap; also, it is bad business to design a cheap looking boat that will be expensive to build

T Harrison Butler, boatbuilding tips

• Do not concentrate ballast amidships in a ballasted boat, or the craft will move unpleasantly, but do not spread it too far, as that will turn it into a diver. A happy medium is likely to be to distribute it over about the middle third of the distance from stem to stern.

• In small and medium-sized cruising vessels, make the least freeboard about a tenth of the LWL.

• Suitable beam in a round-bottomed cruising boat should be found from the formula square root beam = cube root LWL.