“Limber” is a nautical term for drains in longitudinals or cross members to allow water to flow to the lowest part of a boat. They’re usually thought of as being used along the keel, but they should be used anywhere water is liable to be entrapped. Most trailered boats design the limbers so bilge […]
THINK BEFORE YOU FIBERGLASS You are ready to apply the fiberglass covering to the boat you are building. All of the screw holes and imperfections have been filled and sanded smooth. You even took great care to minimize sanding over the Douglas-fir plywood surface as you knew that would accentuate the grain and cause […]
Plywood is wonderful stuff. It’s lightweight, stiff, strong and readily available in most areas. However, it is limited as to the shape it can be formed. Sheet plywood requires a developable surface or it won’t bend in place. The designer uses a method often referred to as “conendric” development. This uses a segment of a cone […]
One of the many fun parts of building your own boat is to make changes to fit your own needs, particularly on your boat’s cabin floor plan. In most cases, unless a major weight is shifted, such changes are quite doable. One caveat to this, however; you may not have the space that you think […]
Most have never heard of Sam S. Rabl, a naval architect, author and innovator of small boat building methods. Sam was at the height of his career back in the mid-forties, when he wrote several books and numerous boatbuilding articles. Most of his works are now long gone, so why should you care about this […]