The Free Boat Plans Blog

Skills Needed To Build Your Own Boat Using Free Boat Plans

Using free boat plans to build your own boat is an economical way for you to create a boating lifestyle for yourself, not to mention the satisfaction and enjoyment you get from doing it all yourself.

My objective here is to assist the first time amateur boat builder decide if building your own boat using free boat plans is right for you. A common first question asked by someone facing this decision is “What woodworking skills do I need to build my own boat?

This is a very normal questions and what better way to answer it then by drawing from the experience of a reputable boat plan supplier like Bateau with the information they supply to the first time amateur boat builder.

So in response to the question “What wood working skills are needed to build a boat?” Bateau makes this information available about building a boat using one of their plans.

The answer is none. This is because with the exception of a few they do not design wooden boats. Most designs use wood or plywood as one of the materials, the building of the boats does not require wood working skills. You will of course need to be able to cut sheets of plywood or wooden strips according to a full size pattern or from dimensions given on the plans but there is not any beveling or fancy assemblies and therefore no need for special tools. The tolerances are wide (3/8″ / 10 mm are acceptable) and these gaps, covered by fiberglass are better than a tight joint. The fiberglass is structural.

The tools needed include a jig saw, sander, etc meaning all boats can be built with hand tools. No need for a plane, chisels, table saw, band saw, planer, miter saw and other routers or jointers. Wood when used in combination with today’s resins, fabrics and fasteners, it is a major part of the building technique but it is used in an essentially different way. With modern materials easily available, it does not make sense to limit the use of wood to old assembly techniques relying on difficult to use glues, elaborate assemblies and outdated fastening systems.

Plywood panels for small stitch and glue boats, plywood or strips as a composite sandwich core may be part of the structure but the designs and engineering is fundamentally different from wooden boat building. Instead we use proven fiberglass boat engineering: tabbed stringers and bulkheads, fiberglass keel and chines. Wood is an excellent material when used as part of a modern composite, it is a unidirectional fiber product, easily available worldwide at a moderate price. Plywood is a composite: multi directional layers of fibrous material bonded with modern resins.

Some builders have used their wood working skills to produce very classic looking boats with nice varnished trim, fancy breast hooks and other great details but a smooth and fair fiberglass finish is aesthetically very pleasant too. You have the choice.

In larger boats, these optional wood working skills can be used on the cabinetry but unskilled wood workers can build these parts just as strong and finish them with some easy to install prefabricated moldings.

The engineering rules for composite boat building are well documented. This leads to another difference between wooden boats and composite boats: wooden boats are designed using rule of thumb scantlings but composite boats are engineered. The building may be easier but not the design.

I hope you find this useful information if you are questioning what level of woodworking skills you need to build you own boat.

Kev

i need to find a good website for free model boat plans?