Pooduck Skiff Help

[mw_austin]

My son (12) and I started building a Pooduck Skiff last Christmas . We're making good progress working mainly on weekends and school breaks.

The only problem is trying to hang the garboard planks. There is excessive twist at the bow and the Hydrotek (1088 Meranti) plywood is extremely stiff. I've checked the molds and stem and everything is well within 1/16" from the plans.

Do I just use brute force and hope I don't break the plywood? Can I steam or soak the plywood to get it to bend into place? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.


Martin

[Dave Gray]

Congratulations on working with your son on a project he is sure to remember. It has been a while but I seem to recall having to horse the garboards, made of okoume plywood, into place. It didn't occur to me to steam them.

There have been posts about wetting and steaming plywood. I think those have been effective remedies but you may want to see if you can find them. A possible solution would be to twist the planks as much as possible, clamp them into place, and let them develop a 'memory' as to how they set until you can attach them.

[Lewisboats]

You can either steam or soak (in hot water)...steaming being the better choice.

[pipefitter]

Sometimes a different approach works also. If say you are trying to fit the easy part of the planks first and the torturing last, you might find if you attach the tortured end first and install in the opposite direction, it may be easier to work out throughout the plank.

[Steve Lansdowne]

You need to call in your local reinforcements. Not that we can help, but we want to see how far along you are ;-)

[oznabrag]

You need to call in your local reinforcements. Not that we can help, but we want to see how far along you are ;-)


+1:)

John T

[mwybo]

Hi, I built the Pooduck Skiff several years ago. It is a great design.

I did not need to steam the planks to fit them. I found I needed to start at the middle and work out in both directions to keep the planks from twisting away from the bottom (or from the previous plank in the case of the other planks).

There were moments when I did not think it would go. I clamped the middle sections tight and as I worked towards the ends I placed clamps as soon as I could get them around the plank and then used the clamps themselves to draw down the planks, again moving from the middle to each end. As you already know dry fitting it a few times and trying different approaches is the way to go before you apply that epoxy. By the way, I did it on my own so if you have a few extra hands it should go more smoothly. The great thing is that it will work, and even more amazingly, it will stay there!

I will also admit that the planks could have fit more tightly against one another than they actually did as my building skills are not at the highest level. So don't worry about it if it is not perfect, the objective is to go sailing with your son.

Finally, you might consider adding xtra thickness to the transom around the edges where the planks and bottom attach. I simply epoxied some 3/4 inch mahogony to the plywood to provide a bigger surface for the planks to fall on. The edge of the plywood is not a very big target when screwing the planks in and the extra surface area means a better and stronger bond with the epoxy.

One last thing, based on another builder's thread I made the mast one foot longer than in the plans. This brings the boom higher and makes it a lot easier to tack. If I need to replace the mast someday I will make it 18 inchers longer than called for in the plans. If your are tall you may want to do this as there is not much room in the bottom of that boat for a tall person.

Mike

[Steve Lansdowne]

When I stopped by to peek yesterday Wes showed me what you'd done and it looked OK to me, but that was with several nylon tie downs and various other clamps. Did you do all that before or after you started this posting?

[mw_austin]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Using Pipefitters suggestion, I started over several times first form the middle and then from either end. I finally got close using lots of straps and clamps. Every morning and every evening, I cranked down on the clamps a little more trying to coax the garboard into place. It's a bit nerve racking. I kept expecting an expensive explosion of splinters, but everything is still in one piece.

Tomorrow, I'm going see if temporary screws to the floor will hold. There is an in credible amount of stress on this plank. Having used Ockoume plywood in my last two boats, I am surprised by how much stiffer the Meranti is.

Steve, thanks for stopping by. As you guessed the straps came after my initial posting.

Mike, thanks for your suggestion on making the mast higher. Given I'm six foot and Wes is already 5'2'', I think a little higher boom is a great idea.

[frank pedersen]

Brion Rieff ( see article about him in latest issue of WB) says "don't let the wood talk back to you."