This is going to be a copy of a 1950s (I think) bent rib strip planked row boat. The one I am trying to replicate is about 15 feet long, I will be adding a foot to this one. I have built a number of wood boats but this will be my first attempt at a bent rib hull. I do not have the original boat here, but spent a couple days last summer taking pictures and measurements, and making plywood patterns of the hull shape. My methods of construction will be different than they would if I were working from a set of blueprints, and being that I haven't built this type of boat before, I am kind of feeling my way through it. All of the bent parts in the original boat were steamed, and while I do have some experience with steam bending wood I have decided that I am going to laminate the ribs etc. in the copy. Partly because a laminated piece will hold exactly the shape of the mold used to make it, and also because getting long skinny parts out of a steam box and clamped in place on a mold in the short time I would have to do it would likely require more than the two hands I have. Also, the imprecise nature of steam bending is something I don't want to fight with. The first step is to set up a jig from which I can get the shape of all the individual ribs. The patterns I have were taken from the outside of the hull, what I need now is the shape of the inside of the ribs. A male pattern from the female one compensating for the thickness of the hull and ribs. Once this is setup and layed out with the additional foot in length added, and with the new transom, I can use it to get the shapes of all of the ribs. I made a (hopefully reusable) mold that I can set up in the jig, shape to the inside shape of a rib, and use to laminate the rib. With some minor reshaping I should be able to reuse the mold for at least most of the ribs. I have one rib made and it seems to be working pretty well.
upload all of your pictures, then type your words, then making sure that the cursor is flashing just after the last of the words, then click the "full image" that will put the pictures after the words
I have about 20 ribs made, still have quite a few left but I'm to a point where I need to start setting these up. The ribs in the front of the boat do not run full width like these do, they butt into the stem, so it's time to install and shape that. There are also two stringers that support these ribs, and two intermediate ribs that fit between each of these but are only as wide as the stringers. All of those need to be set up as well. If you look back to the previous pictures at the inside of the old boat you can see what I mean. Also if you compare the picture of the mold with the rib clamped to it to the current picture of it you can see how and how many times it has been altered.
I never gave a hoot about a row boat until we went to a wood boat museum on an antique car tour. I still don't want to own one but I have resect for the craftsmanship that goes into one. What kind of wood are you using?
Cool project are you going to build it on the strongback then flip her over. We built our boats the same way but used solid mahogany.
There will be a little work to do on the inside but most everything will be built upside down. Nice looking boat! Were you in the boat building business?
Yes I built mahogany speed boats for Grand craft . Cool project and great craftsmanship, will you be planking her with a cove joint or hand plane a tight joint.
On boats with wider planks I have a router jig I use to fit the planks, but with 1" strips I think cove and bead is going to work better. When did Grand Craft move to WI? I was at the Geneva boat show quite a few times back in the early 2000s. Late Sept in Wisconsin, but weather permitting, it was a good show. These pictures were taken there, I built this boat. Used to be a magazine called Classic Boat that was taking pictures there one year.
The full width ribs are made, still have lots of shorter ones to make. The two main stringers are installed. The inner sheer rail along with the two corner knees in the back and the breast hook in front are now permanent. Next will be to finish shaping the stem to accept the planking, then to make the rest of the ribs.
Do you have an illustration calling out all these parts? I can follow most of it, but it's not car talk, if you get my drift.
This is a slightly different hull type, but should help. The back ("aft" or sometimes "stern") of the hull is called a transom. The harp shaped piece in the front is called the stem. You may have heard the expression "stem to stern". The front of a boat is also referred to as "fore". The center fore-aft piece in the bottom is the keel. My boat does not yet have one of those. To either side of the keel is what I would call a "stringer", this picture calls it a strake This diagram is of a framed hull, where mine is a ribbed hull. The main difference is in the chine, or lack thereof. Hulls can be of either a "hard" or "soft" chine. A hull that has a hard angle where the sides meet the bottom, is said to have a hard chine, and will be a framed hull. These would typically be planing hulls, and will have a chine rail to tie the side and bottom planking together. A soft chine hull will have a rounded chine, and therefore no chine rail. Bent rib hulls are all soft chine hulls, as are most sail boats. The transition from the side to the top is called a "sheer" (sometimes a "gunwale", but pronounced without the w). The sheer rail either reinforces the top edge of the side or ties the side into the deck in the case of an enclosed hull. Knees are just reinforcing blocks that tie two parts together. In my case what I have called corner knees are tieing the sheer to the transom. The breast hook serves a similar purpose but ties the two sheer rails to the stem. Having build boats before, this is all clear in my head, if I've left any fog just let me know and I'll try to clear it up.
Thanks! I knew some of it, but could use clarification on others. Figured others might also. This will help us all. Heck, I used to own a sabot, but those are the most basic little things. The more complex you get, the more terms there are. It's good to know proper terms on stuff. I did some window screen repairs the other day. The little rubber tube that locks the screen in the frame is a 'spline'.
In the early 50s 2 of my uncles built a 15’ wooden boat in my great grandmothers basement. It was about 6” in any one direction too big to get it out of the brick basement. In the early 70s we cut it up for fire wood. It was a beautiful boat.
Ribs are all made and installed. Got the shape cut into the stem. Time to start milling out some strips for planking.
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