Guideboat progress

Billm

Canoes & Guideboats
The last plank is finally on the guideboat. It seems like it's been under construction for years. Oh, wait.. it has been years. I'm hoping for an mid-August launch.
 

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I got the lumber about 25 years ago from a friend who owned a saw mill. He had previously worked in a boat shop so whenever he got a good, clear log, he sawed it with as much vertical grain as he could. Then he offered it to his boat building friends.
I ended up with a number of 12 and 14 foot boards, 10 inches wide, some of which were perfectly clear. They've been stored in my barn ever since.
 
The gunwales are on and the shear strake is trimmed.
 

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I used patterns from several different boats. The ribs are from Grant's Ghost. The original Ghost was 16 feet long so I eliminated some ribs from the center to come up with a 13' boat. The Ghost plans are available from the Adirondack Museum store. The stems are from a Vasser. I used my Warren Cole bottom board pattern. The sheer line is from my eyeball.
I guess you could call it a Heinz 57 design.
 
Question on planking

I used patterns from several different boats. The ribs are from Grant's Ghost. The original Ghost was 16 feet long so I eliminated some ribs from the center to come up with a 13' boat. The Ghost plans are available from the Adirondack Museum store. The stems are from a Vasser. I used my Warren Cole bottom board pattern. The sheer line is from my eyeball.
I guess you could call it a Heinz 57 design.

Bill-
I am thinking about building a traditional guideboat and understand it will be a challange for an amature. I was wondering how you do your planking patterns? Also was wondering if you drilled the holes for the tacks? If so what size bit do you use? Thanks
 
JHomer,
I encourage you to get started on a guideboat. Yes it will be a challenge, but a very satisfying one. There are a lot of amateurs, including myself, who have been successful in building guidboats. I recommend that you read Kenneth Durant's "Adirondack Guide-Boat" and Dr. Gordon Fisher's "Tale of an Historic Adirondack Guideboat and How to Build One".
I usually lay out my plank lines on the ribs after the ribs are fastened to the bottom board. The shape of the lines is based on the sheer line and the width of the planks is determined by the number of planks used, usually 7 or 8. One could make a full set of plank patterns based on the lines laid out on the ribs. More often, after a completed plank is hung, stock for the next plank is clamped in place and the mating edge is scribed onto the stock. This is one of the trickier processes in guideboat construction.
Yes, each tack hole must be drilled. The size of the drill is based on the size of the tack which is based on the thickness of the planking. I think I'm using a #60 drill for #2 tacks in 3/16 planking.
 
JHomer,
I looked at your thread on the McCafferty boat you had. I would take the patterns of of that. It would make an excellent boat, and appears to have all the informatiion that you need.
 
Thanks BillM for the information. I have built a strip guideboat from the lines we took from a McCaffery. It came out great. I do have the planking from the old boat but they were in very bad shape. Someone put alot of fiberglass reapirs into it. Just have to collect all the wood to build it now.. As far as the bevils, how do you make yours? I was thinking of trying to make a hand plane like Grant had.
 
JHomer,
I looked at your thread on the McCafferty boat you had. I would take the patterns of of that. It would make an excellent boat, and appears to have all the informatiion that you need.

Chris-
Yes, this is the boat I bought from Charlie. The challange for me is the planking and how to get them to fit properly. I have heard about a ruler that is used for planking called the boston rule. Are you familiar with it?
 
Chris-
The challange for me is the planking and how to get them to fit properly.

There is a standard boat building technique for getting out the shape of planks called "spiling." Most good books about traditional boatbuilding discuss the process. Greg Rossell's "Building Small Boats" is a good place to start. Traditional spiling uses a narrower spiling batten and compass or dividers. Geoffrey Burke and I are working on a book about building lapstrake boatbuilding and will be describing "direct spiling" where the shape of the next plank is directly traced onto the spiling batten.
 
John, Yes I am familar with the "Boston rule". It is a fractional ruler used to divide something into equal divisions. I'm not sure that I can explain it here.But here goes. To divide into 8 equal segments, lay out a batten into 8" segments. Each segment will represent 1". ie: 8"=1". Divide each segment in half,each division represents a half inch. Divide in half again= 1/4". Keep dividing by halfs= 1/8s, 1/16s, 1/32s ect. Measure your run against this and read it directly. If the run is 24" than it will read as 3". 18" will read as 2 1/4". 20 3/8" will read as 2 35/64" and so on. This is the width of each plank for 8 equal width planks. For 7, use 7" segments, for 5 equal divisions, use 5" segments ect.. I use this all the time.
 
BillM
Was wondering how the guideboat was coming along? Any more pictures to share?
 
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