The Steamboating Forum

Well done that man. Do you sleep?
Daniel

Not as much as i should.

Lionel

Have you considered just glass & epoxy coating, with wood showing through the epoxy on the outside of the hull? The wood is beautiful, and you can always paint it later if you wish.

One advantage of clear epoxy beyond the great looks on a well made hull is the opportunity to see if there is any water intrusion into the wood. On my boat I eventually painted the hull outside (it is not a beautiful strip-planked hull like yours), but have left the entire hull interior clear epoxy coated, so I can see if there are any water intrusion issues.

Yes I did consider leaving the hull with a wood grain finish on the outside. But I like the look of paint on the outside and bright work on the inside. Although I have decided to go with mahogany wood grain on the curved transom. I did go to some trouble to get the strip planking reasonably neat as a practice run for the second boat, just in case I change my mind and make the second boat with a full wood finish all over. Yes, I am making two, I purchased enough material for 2 boats from the beginning, and that is why I went to the trouble of making a good building jig. The second boat will be powered with an engine of my own design.

Lionel

Looking good Lionell,

I would definitely go with paint vs varnish. I seen a similar hull varnished and to me anyways, it didn't look right. Carvell planked (I know it isn't, but that's what they typically are or were)boats are generally wider planks with fewer endjoints and with all the different grain picking up the sunlight and short pieces, it just didn't look right to me. Maybe it was all my time living in a house with a hardwood oak floor ?

With the round bilges, she will be a little tender, but very seaworthy.

-Ron

Yes, I went for the most efficient hull design of this width that I could find, it was drawn by John King in the UK. Tender it will be, I have placed the engine and boiler as low a practicable in the design and I will be building in hard points to allow for the fitment of bilge keels if necessary. I don't really want to add to the wetted surface area by adding the bilge keels, so fingers crossed I won't need them.