I've long been interested in the Peapods, the small double ended rowboats with a reputation for good sea handling.
I'm also realistic about my building abilities so I looked around for a stitch and glue version which might give me a challenge but also a realistic chance of a finished project and a useful boat.
Searching the net I found the Pacific Troller by Paul Butler. This is a 16 foot by 48inch beam double ender (4.9metre by 1.2metre). Over at his website, "Butler Projects" there were a host of photos and several builds.
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| PB rowing his Pacific Troller? |
Paul provides a useful plan guide which contains all the mark up details and a good blow by blow assembly instruction with a great many tips and tricks. Only US$60 for the downloadable plans via Duckworks and you are on your way. http://www.butlerprojects.com/boats/pacific/index.htm
It was still pretty cool in my shed - and certainly too cool for epoxy (July in Tasmania), however there was plenty of time for a start. So panels of marine ply were purchased and the marking and cutting began. The idea was to have the panels ready for assembly and glue up in Spring.
I don't have enough room "in shed" for the panels so I slung a couple of pallets upside down on my trailer. This made a useful marking table and eventually a cutting table. I used a circular saw to rough cut and then planed the panels down to their lines. As the boat is symmetrical the panels can be cut and shaped in pairs, with some care to keep the "good" sides together.
As soon as the panels and strakes were done and the weather improved I assembled the pairs with butt blocks as specified in the plans and then precoated with epoxy.This is again a good recommendation from the plans.
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| Precoated bottom of the bottom |
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| Garboards - buttblocked and precoated |
Precoating done it was time to start stitching. I used zipties as my stitching media and the image below shows the garboard planks loosely stitched to the bottom assembly
The panels align quite well except for a gap at bow and stern. This is less if you use the same thickness ply for the bottom and sides but I have chosen to make the bottom panel from heavier ply (for resistance to rocks and oysters). The designer expects us to fill this with thickened epoxy and shape back after the hull is turned. I plan to insert a stem and stern laminated sandwich much as I have done in an earlier kayak build.
The molds are there temporarily to assist getting the top strakes in and help maintain symmetry. I check this with a builders laser and a string line.
The top strakes are loosely stitched at the ends and then offered up. This went Ok but advice in the plans suggests an alternative which I wished I had taken. This involves precutting only one end and then remarking the other. I precut both ends and lost an opportunity to better adapt to minor errors. Its not a disaster as I always have intended to create an inner and outer sandwich at stem and stern.
Adjusting to optimise the fit meant more stitching cutting and restitching during which I made small bevel adjustments to the panels as per the plans. Again I felt that the bevel did not need to be heavily pronounced and wished I had been more conservative. And again as noted in the plans - this won't matter as the build is finished up.
As epoxy is applied to bond the bottom,garboard and strakes we can start removing the zip-ties. Then with some 100mm tape applied over the bottom to garboard joint the hull is looking more like its finished form. At this stage the temporary forms have been removed to allow a straight run of tape. (The sheet draped over the mid-ship is to protect the hull from the direct sunlight from the skylight above.)
This is also a good time to consider how the flotation and storage compartments should look.
To be Continued in 2022
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