This article originally appeared in the January 2013 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine. Classic wooden boat plans » banshee 14 runabout, Banshee is a custom designed 14 foot runabout with a beam of just under 6 feet. But overall, so is the idea of simply building a boat, however you do it. When an artist with an affection for boats suffered a heart attack, he was in the midst of a multi-year project of building a small outboard runabout. While I don’t have the space here to finish detailing the process, suffice to say it sounds pretty intriguing. Then fiberglass tape, conventional fiberglass or Dynal polyester cloths, and epoxy fillers and resin finish the job. High-grade marine plywood is usually involved as well as wire sutures to clamp together the various parts until they set. If you’ve already built a boat using conventional techniques, why not try stitch-and-glue construction, a technique developed by Sam Devlin of Devlin Designing Boat Builders ( Stitch and glue uses epoxy adhesives to bond and seal all the parts of a wooden boat, creating more of a one-piece feel. Instead, he advises, stop and ask for clarification. “But generally you can fix almost any mistake you make.”įinally, Jim Argites at Pygmy Boats ( suggests not trying to work around a problem that you don’t understand. “There are some things in boating that need to be precise for the boat to perform well,” she explains. Glen-L’s Brantuk says that too many of her customers get too caught up in trying to make everything perfect. “You’ve got to deal with lots of epoxy and fiberglass followed by hours of sanding. “Our kits don’t involve much woodworking, since we’ve cut out all the parts,” he says. Harris continues, again emphasizing that the key to success is patience. “We’re going to get anyone with patience through this process,” says John C. plywood electric boat Survival Videos, Lake Union, Wooden Boats. Additionally, CLC has as many as four experienced boatbuilders providing technical support by phone or online six days per week. Little Miss Sally rendition - Creative Ideas Elkins DIY Electric Boat.
For example, the folks at Chesapeake Light Craft ( offer a 143-page manual for building their Cocktail Class Racer, a small single-person racing runabout. Building from scale requires a lot of extra math calculations.Īnd then there’s product support-you want lots of it. That means the measurements are the actual size the construction calls for. You also want to make sure you get a full-sized kit or pattern. Witt, Brantuk’s father, started the company in 1953. “It’s important that you get plans from somebody who has been around awhile,” says Gayle Brantuk, vice president at Glen-L Marine ( “Have their designs been built before and have their designs been proven by builders?” Glen L. Let’s take a closer look at what you should-and shouldn’t-be looking for in a kit and/or pattern.