: Rehd,

: Search for those pictures of Mike Hanks plywood version of the Walrus. I
: think he built it for under $150, and in record time.

: First get George Putz's book if you don't have it already.

: The construction is wood and chine. On a fabric covered boat the fabric is
: stretched over the chines, which are held in place by the ribs. With a
: stitch and glue there are no ribs, but the panels must be cut with great
: accuracy and assembled with care. With wood panels over chines you have an
: excellent compromise on building speed and cost, but you will sacrifice a
: bit in weight. Do you really care is the boat weighs 42 pounds instead of
: 36?

: There are only five or 6 basic building frames, and these are all made of
: straight cuts, so you can cut them quickly with a circular saw. You can
: lay out these parts right on your plywood (or particle board) with a
: straightedge and a pencil. No fancy drawings or tissue patterns.

: After the frames are cut the chines are attached to them with brads. You rip
: some plywood panels to a rough size and use a few clamps to hold them
: tempoarily to the chines. Trace the overhang with a pencil, remove them
: and trim with a bandsaw. Remount them -- this time with screws and glue.
: Or mount your oversize panels with screws and use a router with a laminate
: trimming setup to cut the panels to fit the chines exactly. then add a few
: more screws to keep things in place until the glue hardens. You can use
: epoxy if you wish. If you want to get a bit fancy, use a cloth gasket at
: each seam. Paint the chine, while the paint is wet lay on a strip of
: canvas, then paint that. while the whole thing is still wet, apply the
: plywood panel. as you tighten the screws you'll squeeze out a bit of the
: paint, and tighten the panel against the chine, pinching the
: "gasket" tightly. it is a cheap and fast way to seal out water
: at seams in wooden boats. For a high tech update of this technique,
: substitute glass cloth and epoxy resin for the cotton fabric and paint.

: use 1/4 inch lauan for the hull bottom. if you can get thinner stuff you can
: use it for the sides and deck if you wish, or, to keep the costs down, use
: 1/4 inch lauan for the whole thing. It will be a few pounds heavier, but
: cheaper.

: If you want to cover the exterior seams with fiberglass tape, or cut off
: glass cloth scraps, and some ply or epoxy resin, go right ahead.
: Otherwise, fill any cracks with a decent paintable caulking compound and
: paint the hull with a nice, colorful polyurethane or spend your excess
: pennies on boat paint.

: Sanding is minimal -- the plywood panels are flat. Glas cloth on the exerior
: is not necessary. neither glass on the inside.

: Putz goes into details on putting in floorboards, and trestling to support
: the chines. Since he is working with a cloth skin, he needs such things.
: When you use solid plywood over his frame you are replacing the open
: bridgework with a solid part. Klepper does this on their very fine folding
: boats, so the idea has been used for decades. the solid plywood bottom
: provides a solid base for a seat, or you can just glue in a few wedges
: shaped strips, to support a flat piece of 3/8 or 1/2 inch plywood in the
: cockpit area, and plop your seat cushion on that.

: Cockpit and coaming construction is the same as on a stitch an glue. Maybe
: someone can give you some tips of doing a quick and cheap method for this.

: forget the foam. It is expensive. For bulkheads, you just cut off the tops of
: your building forms and glue them into place. They should fit perfectly,
: but some shims glued around them will do the trick. Or, buy some float
: bags )(best option) or just get some mesh bags filled with soda bottles
: (cheapest option) and stuff them fore and aft to displace as much water as
: you can.

: Hope this helps.

: Paul G. Jacobson

Hi Paul, and all who gave ideas to check into. I like the idea of the skin on frame for ease of constuction, and speed, but, I am a woodworker first, and the idea of the ply on frame sounds very interesting. I remember Mike's account of the building of his Walrus with the plywood skin in the near past and this sounds like the avenue to take for My play boat. I did a quick search last night and didn't find the pics, but, have emailed Mike to get some further input from him. I will order a couple of books mentioned and take a look-see and find whatever boat tickles my fancy and try it the PoF method. Sounds like an interesting project that can be done in a timely manner. I don't think that the trade off of a couple extra lbs. will make a difference. I'll save the extra lbs. on the Great Auk in the fall and make up for it. :) Thanks for the comments and ideas, and Paul, thanks for the reminder.

Rehd