My Boat Building Projects
My Boat Building Projects
Gregg Carlson
Tulsa, Oklahoma
On some dingies, I don't mind quick-and-dirty plywood boatbuilding. Gluing and stapling to chine logs with an air stapler (Stanley/Bostich S32 SX 1/4") is easier, in my opinion, than stitch-and-glue. For "experimental" boats, I've had good success with 'PL Polyurethane' single-part, foaming, waterproof glue (wear gloves!), and routing and finishing the outside chines with 3' fiberglass tape and polyester resin.
On more deserving projects, I use epoxy, 3M 5200, and better lumber. West System always works well, but Fiberglass Coatings in St. Petersburg, FL has better prices and more variety, including some nice pre-thickened epoxy. The newer fast-cure 5200 is geat, since regular 5200 never seems to finish off! Of course, one benefit is that the glop on the end of the tube stays soft for days and days... Apparently, Senco offer S.S. staples if you can find them.
Of course, I enter all my hulls into my Hulls program and plot them out - Tyvek when they're big, or directly onto plywood when they're small. Last year, we built a water-jet cutting table, which was complex but a lot of fun. We're thinking of setting up a router table instead.
A New Dolphin Rig
We built this new cool mylar sail and 31 sq. ft. reacher on a sprit for this Dolphin Senior, ghosting along under a light breeze on Grand Lake near Tiajuana, Oklahoma, August 1999. The sprit is a 1.5 inch aluminum pole, slotted to slip over the bow handle, and pulled back against the mast (so that it catches on the handle).
Bolger Light Scooner
Yeow - this boat is fun! This is our maiden voyage in April 1999 on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here's the full building sequence from early 1999.
Whitehall Wherry
I took some lines in 1998 for this little frameless Whitehall Wherry from a 16 footer drawn by Platt Monfort. I entered it into the Hulls program, creating a multi-chine version and shrinking to 12 feet. Built over temporary frames of 1/4" luan and epoxy/glass both inside and out. Mahogany gunwhales and thwart seats stiffen it right up. Light enough at about 65 lbs, rows fast and tracks well with the small skeg. There is no real stem; I epoxy-filled and sanded the segmented/chined stem into a nice curve.
Her only fault on initial launching was a tad low freeboard (my fault), although she shed waves well with 2 adults under a 2 hp kicker, stayed dry, and looked beautiful.
Since first launching, I made several changes. I added 1-1/2 inch mohagany inwhales, which improved the freeboard just about enough. I also opened up the centerboard slot through the thwart seat and added mast partners for a 10' mast and full-battened lug rig. Just ahead of the mast is a sealed box of almost 1 cubic foot providing about 50 lbs of flotation. Foam under the seats also.
Having never tried a balanced lug, I was very pleasantly surprised. The rig provides plenty of power and speed with a low center of effort, scooting the boat along quite quickly. The full-length battens seem to greatly improve the weatherliness; the sail sets well even on the" wrong" tack. Raise and lowering the rig takes less than 5 seconds, and the whole rig stows in the boat. No boom, no gooseneck, no sail track - utter simplicity.
I positioned my rig well forward to keep the boat open, but wanted to keep the centerboard within the thwart seat (the rowing postion) for simplicity. With this much lead, the sailing rig is not technically perfectly balanced, but with the right centerboard and rudder, control is excellent. More weather helm could be added with a small mizzen, a longer foot, or by pushing the rig and centerboard closer. I haven't found a good solution to seal the centerboard slot when not sailing, so the better solution might have been to move the slot just forward of the seat.
Recently, I added some benches to the sides to make sailing easier. We'll see.
With its faults, this little boat really does motor, row, and sail well, though it should for its 12 feet. I've been thinking about building a new model, moving the board forward, increasing freeboard, and combining a recessed deck and seats in one. However, unless a way could be found to channel the water down the decks and out, maybe a real deck makes more sense for sailing. At the same time, I think the keel panel needs to be flat to give you somewhere to rest your feet...
Bolger Pirogue
The Bolger Pirogue is obnoxiously tender except on dry land! Even under this squatty gaff, we have a death-grip on the gunwhale trying to keep from sliding downhill. 1997 on Keystone Lake on the Arkansas River near Tulsa, Oklahoma.
So, the TriRogue! I designed a couple of 5' pontoons with 80 lbs bouyancy matching part of the sheer line of the main hull. Plotted on 1/4 plywood, cut, and assembled in a couple hours. The beams are 2 by 2's with three 1/4" laminations added, staggered in length, all bolted down. (All fits inside the cockpit). We also built a new 35 sq.ft. bat-wing throw-away sail which set nicely. Much better. Grand Lake O' the Cherokees near Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Bolger Sneakeasy
The Sneakeasy was fitted with a beautiful new mail order bimini from my friends at Bluewater Sailing Supply. Cool even though the Bayliners try to turn their noses up at us! Masthead Marina on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees near Tulsa, and the confluence of the Verdigris and Arkansas rivers near Muskogee, Oklahoma. Nov. '97, we travelled the 104 miles between Tulsa and Sallisaw, OK. and back with the new Envirude 25 - 3 locks and a lot of beautiful scenery.
Bolger Brick
The Brick is an exercise in pure function. It's an amazing little boat - easy to build, works very well, essentially theft-proof. The rig here is actually the mizzen from the Bolger Micro - a little too small. 1996 on Kerr Lake on the Arkansas River near Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
Bolger Micro
The Micro is a big little boat - a big cockpit and lots of interior volume in only 14 feet. Almost no draft - pull up on the beach and step of into ankle-deep water. Self-tends itself to windward over about 6 or 7 knots of breeze. Believe it or not, our racing version with retractable bowsprit has done over 10 knots with 4 nervous adults aboard - creeeaak, groooaann! Sadly, we're thinking of offering her to a good home one of these days to make room. 1995 on Grand Lake O' the Cherokees near Tulsa.
Keel I enlarged the lateral area of the lead and potted-in #8 lead shot with polyester. Even this wasn't enough volume, the ballast ending up short. I added an iron shoe, 1/4 by 2 inch by 14 feet by 25 lbs, to the bottom on the keel. Still light, the keel was enough to right us after a knockdown in about a 25 knot breeze. Turning it over with the ballast in place just about killed us!
Mast I ordered a 25 foot piece of VersaLam, which is essentially Douglas Fir plywood, 1-7/8 by 11-1/2 inch by whatever length you want, normally used for architectural beams. I ripped two pieces (killing one circular saw) and glued and screwed the mast with Weldwood plastic glue and temporary sheetrock screws. I finished by band-sawing the taper and router-rounding the corners, producing a rigid and strong but heavy spar. Scraps built a strong mast partners.
Sprit The bow sprit is a 2 by 2 by 100 inch spar going through a square hole in the bow transon and another in the first watertight bulkhead. Rigging inside the cabin extends and retracts it, and a martingale line between the end and the bottom of the bow transon guys it under use. Easily deplayed/doused from the cockpit, the reacher will quickly plane the boat, while the crew scramble aft to prevent plowing and water gushing in the bow transom steps.
Sailing Car
The Sailing Car is a lot of fun if you can find a flat place to run it (the harder the surface the faster). The full-battened rig runs loose since the side-stays are connected to the 'sprung' axle arms. At Carlson Design in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
We built the car in an afternoon of 1" by 2" by 1/16" mild steel rectangular tubing and a little MIG welding. The rear axle arms come off to fit in a pickup bed, originally sprung from springs hung from the back of the seat. After stretching lots of springs, we changed this to a compressed 2" stack of natural rubber, which also helped keep the rig tighter. We added also one spreader facing forward to strengthen the forestay. The sheeting tension and rig tension gets pretty high when you go fast.
Bolger Bee
Looking for some pictures...
Freedom 44 Cat-Ketch
Garry Hoyt's Freedom 44 is obviously the most beautiful yacht of all time. 'Principia' is number 25 of 26 built, sailing under main, mizzen, and staysail. From Kerr Lake on the Arkansas River, we traveled down the Arkansas and Mississippi to New Orleans summer fall of '96. 1000 miles. Beautiful!
Lil' Tim Tune an' me at Ingraham Bayou near Pirate's Cove, Alabama in Principia's tender. Send comments or suggestions to: Gregg Carlson, gcarlson@carlsondesign.com
Copyright © 2004 G. Carlson
