Thread: Building the Flint

That is very true. I put down a deposit on some Marenti ply yesterday, hope to pick them up at some point this week end.

Folks,

Here is the text of a post I put on the "Seagull Vs MSD" thread on the "Plans and Designs" section, in answer to a comment made by a member. It has relevance on this thread: -

Hey Al,

Thanks very much for the kind comments you made (I'll send you the money next week), especially about the website and plans.

Magd will be the first one to try the 17.5ft stretch that I drew based on the original Flint drawings. What I have done is to increase the overall length from 14' 7-1/2" LOA to 17' 5" on the same sections. However, the expanded panel shapes are not a straight expansion - due to the geoetry of the panel-expansion process, and the fact that a straight expansion would have resulted in the angle of the transom increasing from its existing 12 degrees. On the 17.5' version, the transom has been kept at 12 degrees, so in proportion terms, the bottom length has been increased more than the topsides.

When discussing the proposal with Magd, I spent hours working over a totally different internal arrangement, so as to make it feasible to have tandem rowing as an option. The problem is that you have to consider: -
single oarsperson
single oarsperson and a single passenger
two oarspersons (people?)
two oarspersons and a passenger
one oarsperson and two passengers
two oarspeople and two passengers; etc., etc., etc.
The only way to ensure decent trim in all situations is to employ a pair of longitudinal stringers with movable seats, as Phil Bolger did with his [I]Stretched Light Dory[I] design - and even then you have to have a large number of oarlock locations.

In the end, we decided to go with a standard [I]Flint[I] layout - width of thwarts expanded proportionally, but the actual distance from aft edge-of-thwart-to-oarlock-and-foot brace kept in absolute units.

The resulting boat should be even easier to build than the original, but will consume more materials.

Ross

Due to a call received from a customer in New Zealand, I thought I'd reiterate a warning regarding plywood quality.

In the instruction manual which I send out with Flint plans, I make specific mention about the need for high quality plywood, and the poor standard of some of the Asian imports.

There is a lot of bending and twisting going on in the forward sections of the bottom panels of Flint - I recommend that the stitch spacing be reduced to 50mm/2" from the stem back to BHD#1, and that you always use good quality plywood.



There have been a lot of Flints built to date, and I'm happy to say that the vast majority have gone together fine. But - it is very important to follow the building sequence laid down in the instructions.

Ross Lillistone

I'll second the quality plywood issue, having had the ply delaminate on my rowing skiff in three places, pulled apart by the twisting forces in the hull ... and mine wasn't elcheapo rubbbish ply either (though it was pacific maple).

Richard

all delaminations repaired, but I'd rather not have to

As I first mentioned, I scored a couple of sheets of gaboon, the appearance of which suggested it may not have been stored properly. These sheets were used for the bottom panels and unfortunately I think there were problems with more than just the appearance. From previous photos you can see I have managed to twist the sheets sufficiently to bring it all together but it was a lot of mucking around to finally get it there. When I finally turned the hull over I noticed some cracking around the stitch holes. The point of this post - there is a significant amount of force acting on the bottom sheets so yes, use the best quality ply you can afford.

While I'm here I should post some more progress photos. Its been a while since I posted any photos - I now have to remember how to do it.

Here is the commencement of the 'tack' filleting on the transom - I am finally getting my hands dirty with the thickened epoxy and am somewhat surprised at how easy it is to use - well not easy but certainly not as difficult as I thought it would be.

One point I'd like to make here is the transom should have strengtheners glued along the top and bottom - I only had the bottom glued at this stage. I added the top strengthener after I had attached the transom (fillet and tape). The reason for this was I felt it was easier to do the fillet and tape first (and it was). The bottom strengthener is a strip around 19mm x 42mm - in hindsight I would have made this go all the way to the bottom of the transom - it would have made glassing the join so much easier (and neater) - see the 4th and 5th photo.

Here are a couple of shots of the bow fillets/taping plus a before and after of the bow profile.

I still need to setup that flickr account.

Wow, I can't believe its been 6-7 weeks since I last posted an update. Time flies when your having fun eh? I originally hoped to have the build completed by Easter, but once I realised that wasn't going to happen I backed off to make sure I didn't make any stuff ups. Also, a new job in April and winter here in Melbourne (that's freakin cold) has taken its toll time wise.

Anyhow I setup a photobucket account that means I can simply post images directly from there without having to play around with image sizes etc. This should be a big help with keeping this thread up to date - that's the plan anyway. Just have to get some up to date photos.

My last post left of at filleting and taping the hull panels, transom joins (seems like an eternity ago). Since then I have installed all the bulkheads - and taped all but one. This turned out to be a pretty painless exercise. The only real problem was where the fibreglass tape went over odd shapes (transom strengthener, side frames). From now on I need to make sure I'm more precise when I prepare the tape.

This is what things look like at this point:

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...t/100_1822.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...t/100_1821.jpg

I was hoping this images would appear (rather than just be links). I need to work this out.

While I'm at it, here are a couple of shots of cracking I experienced (a subject of some discussion re plywood quality).

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...t/100_1894.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...t/100_1892.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...t/100_1891.jpg
http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...t/100_1890.jpg

Obviously I still haven't sorted out the inserted image issue - turns out the images are too large (something I thought I didn't need to worry about by using photobucket)

Anyway, I'm of the opinion these cracks are specifically related to the quality of the plywood I used (freebies). They don't present a problem - I'll make sure I saturate the area with epoxy before I tape the keel join.

Hopefully I have the photo problem sorted. Here's the updated transom - this consists of two 9mm pieces glued together. I used a number of flooring screws to secure it, then removed them and filled the holes with thickened epoxy. Its quite surprising how forgiving working with timber and epoxy can be - a screw hole here and there - no problems - just fill with epoxy. The "measure twice, cut once" saying (whilst a worthwhile conviction) seems less significant.

Hi Newey
That is going to be a nice looking boat
Tom

Firstly, I'm very happy to report that recently a number of Flints have been built, or have had successful hull glue-ups, and it appears that my supposition that the cracking problems were due to poor-quality plywood was correct. One of the Flint jobs which has really given me a lift is that of Bob .......... , from Wisconsin in the U.S.A.

Back in January Bob told me that he was starting out with no previous boat-building or oar-building experience, and over the months he has peppered me with good-natured questions. Just yesterday I received this note from Bob, along with some nice photos of his completed wooden boat: - Hello Ross - My Flint project is done and I want to thank you for all the help you provided when I had questions. I love the design, and it rows with ease. Attached are some pictures. Warmest Regards, Bob

My hearty congratulations to Bob for such a well-finished project. I really like Flint because the boat is so very quick to build, and yet is shapely, fast, and functional in use. The way Newey is going, I'm sure his will turn out just as well.

Ross Lillistone Bayside Wooden Boats Ross Lillistone

I'd be pretty happy to end up with the same result as Bob from Wisconsin - and to be honest I think I will. I have had a few issues along the way but nothing too serious. I have been waiting for some decent weather here in Melbourne with out luck - its pretty cold at the moment. Its not the fact that epoxy is hard to pump or takes forever to go off, its just not pleasant working in a steel shed when its around 5 degrees.

When the weather improves I'll be fixing the seat/tank tops in place, then all that's left are the elbows and keel and then preparation for painting. Maybe I'll venture out to the shed today.

Well I did manage to get something done today - epoxied the front tank top into place. Pretty straight forward really given I dry fitted dozen times with an adjustment each time. I ummed and ahhed for while over whether to fix the tank top strengthener to the tank top or to the hull first. I ended up fixing it to the tank top as per the plans.

Here are a few shots of the tops: