What am I working on ?

**bagman** · 13th August 2009, 10:14 PM

Gooday All
I don't know how many others there are like me in this forum but I will admit to staying in the "no posting" shadows for over a year quietly working on my boat, whilst enjoying the wisdom of those who do post and drawing inspiration from those who display their fine work. I rather gave myself away when I was drawn to my first reply to Ricochet about boat names in his Seacraft restoration thread and I found I enjoyed relating my story way too much.
Ricochet asked me to post some pics and I thought I should also take the opportunity to see if anyone can shed some light onto what it is exactly that I am working on. I have little or no idea on age, design or builder.
When I got the boat it was a 14' long plywood, beamy open boat with a very short foredeck and three bench seats which must serve to stiffen the hull as the boat has a full keel but no frames. Four internal stringers sit on ribs to form the bottom of the hull and the plywood is skinned onto them and finished with four matching external stringers. The sides of the hull are strengthened with straight ribs spaced about 43cm apart with a timber batten affixed to them. The sides and the bottom meet in an internal chine with fastenings every 6cms. The boat has been constructed with some square copper nails but mostly with screws.
I do not have any "before" pictures but I do have some recent and current photos that show some of the features I have described above. When viewing the photos bear in mind that all of the epoxy coated wood, raw wood and floors etc have been added to the original. Any internal piece (other than the seats which were stripped) that is painted is original. Any ideas on what I have would be appreciated.

**rob540** · 14th August 2009, 09:37 AM

Thanks for coming 'out of the shadows' Bagman, I'm sure a lot of people will benefit from seeing your progress. Nice hull, it looks bigger than 14 ft is some shots. What will be the power source?

**bagman** · 14th August 2009, 09:57 AM

Thanks rob540. I have built up the transom to take an outboard motor of about 40hp which should move the boat along at a reasonable pace - I am looking to create a "gentlemans' runabout" style not a speed machine.
I ran the tape measure over her again and can confirm she is 4.35m long and 1.9m wide at the deck. I also thought she was much bigger when I was painstakingly stripping her down !

**rob540** · 14th August 2009, 10:02 AM

Yep, the perception of size is quite strange. But this is just a big 14 footer! What you have planned for her sounds great. She's lasted this long, and you're giving her a little dignity in her old age.

I hope someone on the forum can identify her origins for you.

**Darce** · 14th August 2009, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by bagman

Gooday All
Any ideas on what I have would be appreciated.

Looking carefully at your pictures, I say you are definitely working on ... (drumroll please) A BOAT!!

Seriously though, welcome to the forum, looks like some nice work going on there

**bagman** · 14th August 2009, 10:32 AM

Thanks Darce - you win the prize. I have been around this forum long enough to know that somebody would reply that it was a boat ! You are better than some of my friends and family though who said "what is that piece of #### ? " when they first saw it !

**m2c1Iw** · 14th August 2009, 08:55 PM

And a boat is..........a hole in the water you pour money into.

No sails so it's not a real boat though, nah looks great.

Have fun
Mike

**bagman** · 14th August 2009, 09:08 PM

Thanks Mike - I had noticed a slight bias towards sail on this forum but I'm glad you guys tolerate us here as well as on the water.

**Daddles** · 14th August 2009, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

And a boat is..........a hole in the water you pour money into.

No sails so it's not a real boat though, nah looks great.

Have fun
Mike

I've heard it said that sailing is akin to burning $100 notes while standing under the shower

Rowing is much more sensible than those boats with noisy, stinky things or those great flappy things

Richard
you may assume that I don't know what it is either

**bagman** · 15th August 2009, 04:34 PM

Daddles - have you seen how much those noisy, smelly things cost ? At the moment my boat IS a rowboat and unless the stock market keeps on rising it will be a rowboat for a good while longer !

**Rabbs** · 15th August 2009, 04:47 PM

Hi mate,

This isn't exactly the same but it's along similar lines I guess.

https://www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=324

**Daddles** · 15th August 2009, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by bagman

Daddles - have you seen how much those noisy, smelly things cost ? At the moment my boat IS a rowboat and unless the stock market keeps on rising it will be a rowboat for a good while longer !

I got a motor for Sixpence (see avatar) when I was still foolish enough to think I'd finish it quickly ... in 2005

It's the motor recommended by the designer (5 hp, long shaft) and it was going cheap which is why I bought it. Since then, with the boat plate regulations and other nonsense, there's a chance I won't be able to use it (the regs might force me to use a smaller donk, some daft formula you have to put numbers into) with a collection of other regulations such as foam in tanks and other stuff. I'm very tempted to just keep her a sail boat that I can row and forget the motor all together ... but we all know how resolutions like that get broken don't we. In any case, I need to sit down with an expert and work out what the requirements and costs are.

Richard

**Retromilling** · 15th August 2009, 06:30 PM

Well its a Hard chine , flat bottomed , plywood skiff , hard to say what the original purpose was but it looks as if it was a row boat / outboard run about of some kind . Make sure you put a mounting plate of some kind inside and out of the transom to take the motor.

**PAR** · 15th August 2009, 07:40 PM

Well, the fore deck looks to be massively framed out. You could do with a very light skin over those beams, say 1/4" (6 mm) and still be strong enough to dance on. If you're adding to the structure, be careful, as weight (too much of it) is the biggest performance killer of small craft.

She'll be fun in protected waters. Keep up the good work.

**Rabbs** · 17th August 2009, 10:06 PM

Mate I was just looking through ebay and found this add.

someone is selling an old newspaper clipping and it made me think of this thread

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1952-PLYWOOD-...3286.m63.l1177

again may not be the exact same thing but you never know lol

Thread: What am I working on ?

Thread Tools

Search Thread

What am I working on ?

Similar Threads

Am i working this out right ?

What is everyone working on?

Working dog

What I've been working on

What are you all working on ?

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions