Building a cabin

[Mezaire]

Hey all,

Well my little boat is safe under a huge tarp until I get the house with the shed in September.

Took all her measurements and pretty ahppy with it all excelt the shape of the cabin, well more the best method to build a shape that looks good and works well.

My best two options as I see it are these;

1. Couod molded cabin.
Pro's - Looks good, no interior beams and strong
Con's - ALOT of work. If built on the boat the inddie is a bugger to finish

2. A 5 sided cabin with a top, two sides and two angles, similar to the way the Redfin 22 does it
Pro's- Easier to build. Flat top makes it easier to mount hatches and hardware
Con's - Maybe doesn't look as good. Internal beams,

What does everyone think? Bear in mind my boat building experience is limited to helping ScottyK.

And does anyone have any plans or good pics of option 2?

Thanks in advance

Mez

[PAR]

You could do a cored build, which will save weight, eliminate beams and you don't have to fool around with veneers. Unless you're doing a "blister" style of deck structure, I wouldn't mold it with veneers.

[rob540]

Mez, beams are fun...laminating is such a useful skill and a real confidence booster once you've done a couple of beams. The skill will then make doing other stuff easier, like tillers, sister ribs etc.
You could make a really simple bit of formwork/mould for them, clamp your laminates, let it go off and use the same form for each beam. I should also add that laminations make it possible to use up off-cuts or recycle nice stuff into bigger stronger pieces.
The skin could also be laminated from a couple of layers of 3 or 4mm ply and that makes nice curves possible with lots of strength. I'd go for 9mm ply sides vertically flat but not necessarily vertical, covered with a compound curve from 2 x 4mm ply. Two layers is really easy. The first layer is cut oversized, dry fitted and then used as a pattern for the second layer.

Doing the cabin is a great way to equip yourself for bigger challenges later, so I'd squeeze every useful boatbuilding technique possible into it!

[Mezaire]

Mez, beams are fun...laminating is such a useful skill and a real confidence booster once you've done a couple of beams. The skill will then make doing other stuff easier, like tillers, sister ribs etc.
You could make a really simple bit of formwork/mould for them, clamp your laminates, let it go off and use the same form for each beam. I should also add that laminations make it possible to use up off-cuts or recycle nice stuff into bigger stronger pieces.
The skin could also be laminated from a couple of layers of 3 or 4mm ply and that makes nice curves possible with lots of strength. I'd go for 9mm ply sides vertically flat but not necessarily vertical, covered with a compound curve from 2 x 4mm ply. Two layers is really easy. The first layer is cut oversized, dry fitted and then used as a pattern for the second layer.

Doing the cabin is a great way to equip yourself for bigger challenges later, so I'd squeeze every useful boatbuilding technique possible into it!

Thanks Rob. Got no hassles with laminating beams, done a bit before and got a mates tiller to practice on

Should of been clearer, I am a bit scared of a full moulded cabin top, like ScottyK did and that is why I was thinking about the flat panel one!

[Daddles]

Should of been clearer, I am a bit scared of a full moulded cabin top, like ScottyK did and that is why I was thinking about the flat panel one!

If you do it like Rob suggests, a nice curved roof is as easy as a flat one, the only difference is the curved beams ... and curved looks a lot better too.

Richard

[PAR]

Curved roofs are a good bit stronger for the same weight of a flat roof too.