Building a Squirt

BarnacleMike · **Posted:** Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:00 pm

A day after reading Art Atkinson's superb blog on building his Squirt, I ordered the plans to build my own. I received them yesterday & in keeping the "blog spirit" I've started one of my own. Not much to see yet, but here's the link... http://www.buildasquirt.blogspot.com/

I'm certain I'll be posting a lot of build questions soon!

vupilot · **Posted:** Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:21 pm

Excellent, I sure enjoy following other builds. Im sure someone will be inspired by your blog sometime soon too.

fergal butler · **Posted:** Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:41 pm

Great start to the blog, when you have your boat built and have a beautiful young model standing on her wearing only a pair of shoes make sure they are deck shoes :lol:

Vlad · **Posted:** Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:08 pm

BarnacleMike wrote:

A day after reading Art Atkinson's superb blog on building his Squirt, I ordered the plans to build my own. I received them yesterday & in keeping the "blog spirit" I've started one of my own. Not much to see yet, but here's the link... http://www.buildasquirt.blogspot.com/

I'm certain I'll be posting a lot of build questions soon!

Right blog spirit! Could you start two Squirts simultaneously?

BarnacleMike · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:54 am

After combing through virtually every board in the bin at my local Lowe's, I finally found a couple with the desired vertical grain. Add a couple of glasses of Guinness (in your honor, Fergal

) and I got the first couple of pieces cut over the weekend. I'm going to have to purchase a jigsaw before cutting the next pieces, though.

BarnacleMike · **Posted:** Wed Nov 02, 2011 2:07 pm

Got the jig saw & cutting is going much smoother. I cut out the deck beam for Frame #2 last night. I've been using Monterey Pine (Rotary Pine) on the pieces so far. The boards seem straighter and lighter than southern yellow pine, and with no knots.

The Boatbuilding with Plywood book advises avoiding White Pine, but does not discuss Monterey Pine. Looking around on the internet, I've seen conflicting opinions about this wood. Some mention that it's fine for beams on smaller boats, and that it holds screws very well. Others mention that it tends to swell and contract considerably.

Have any of you used it for frames? To me, it seems reasonable for such a small boat as the Squirt, but I thought I'd get some additional input before continuing.

jprice · **Posted:** Wed Nov 02, 2011 2:22 pm

I feel that pine in general is too soft, and while I'm not an expert, I don't think it's well suited to marine applications.
Personally, I'd steer clear of the Lowes/HomeDepot stuff for your lumber. Your much better off if you get a decent hardwood (like white oak or mahogany). Even if you have to drive a bit to a lumberyard, or pay to get it delivered, it will be worth it in the long run.
...just my 2 cents.

rjlemay sherman ct · **Joined:** Tue Dec 15, 2009 5:17 pm **Posts:** 399

Hi Mike!
I agree with jprice, stay away from Lowes and H.D for your lumber source. Do use mahogany or white oak for your frames, the longevity of these woods will far outlast any pine. Pine is a soft wood, while the other two are hardwoods. They also have natural rot inhibitors, like cedar does, for a long life outdoors. Being a carpenter for the past 30 years, I can't even imangine the amount of rotted pine I've had to replace on the outside of many homes. Good Luck with your build!!
Bob Lemay

BarnacleMike · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:54 am

Guys, thank you for your frankness. I did find a local supplier for Mahogany boards. Since I haven't cut much from the Monterey Pine so far, I may cut my losses and re-start with Mahogany regardless of the cost being 4-5x higher. I'm a single father of two, and budget is a major issue here. However, taking a step back from the project, there aren't all that many boards I'll need to buy...

Iggy · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:35 pm

You might find white oak less expensive. The important part of the lumber for frames is how its cut. Quartersawn (or rift sawn).. basically a vertical or near vertical grain when the number is laying flat.. is what you need for the frame parts, particularly the bends, but overall for the proper strength.

I used Sapelle... A mahogany 'family' member... which was not terribly expensive but I did order it from out of state (or in my case another province).

However, even with shipping it was not a bad price, and I got my plywood from the same supplier and they even planned it to thickness and gave me 1 straight edge so it was ready to run on my table/band saw.

Unless the tree's are local to you, there is always shipping, built into the price. The trick is to batch it together or go pick it up yourself.

Also, rough cut, random width, random lenght (ie: random/random) is probably the best way to get the proper kind of boatbuilding lumber. You can splice for the big pieces, and some yards will let you hand pick/sort from the pile.

Its a big step, but an important one for piece of mind. Worth the time shopping arond now.

BarnacleMike · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:59 pm

Iggy, the same local supplier for Mahogany also carries White Oak, but it's about the same price. If I wind up spending that amount, I figure I might as well get the Mahogany.

The Boatbuilding with Plywood book speaks fairly well of Southern Yellow Pine (which grows like weeds around here). I almost stared with that, but it tends to have a lot of knots in it. However, budget-wise, I may need to revisit it as an option. I'm not trying to create a masterpiece or heirloom here, but I don't want to make it out of junk either. I will look into Sapelle, too... I'm not familiar with it, so I don't know if it's available around here or not.

fergal butler · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:45 pm

BarnacleMike wrote:

After combing through virtually every board in the bin at my local Lowe's, I finally found a couple with the desired vertical grain. Add a couple of glasses of Guinness (in your honor, Fergal

) and I got the first couple of pieces cut over the weekend. I'm going to have to purchase a jigsaw before cutting the next pieces, though.

I'm not sure if there are any machine shops near you but for a lot of my frames I was able to scrounge in the bin of a local staircase manufacturer and got some good bits of mahogany they don't have too big or wide for the frames so you might be lucky

You are off to a good start with the GUINNESS :lol:

BarnacleMike · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:55 pm

What type of wood does this look like for the frames? These photos are from Ron Bonner's build http://www.glen-l.com/picboards/picboard15/pic787a.html

Fergal, that's a great Guinness Ad! There are several cabinet shops in the area, as well as a couple of millworks shops. I'll call around...

Roberta Hegy · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:05 pm

I think for a boat like the Squirt, your pine will be OK. Bonners' boat appears to be pine and DF ext. Plywood. Try to find the best grain, do a neat job, encapsulated everything with epoxy resin, and build on and enjoy. Get the kids involved.

Roberta

jprice · **Posted:** Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:46 pm

BarnacleMike wrote:

Iggy, the same local supplier for Mahogany also carries White Oak, but it's about the same price.

This is interesting. I wonder if their white oak is overpriced, or the mahogany in underpriced.

When I was getting ready to purchase my lumber, I was planning on using mahogany, and priced it out at about $1300-$1400 (that included all the ply too).
When I got to the lumber yard, they were pretty much out of mahogany, so I decided to switch to white oak. Didn't even ask the price. I was there and wanted my lumber.

Anyway, when I went to check out I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the grand total came out to just under $1000.

I don't remember what they were charging for mahogany, but I just checked my receipt, and the quarter sawn WO was $4.20/bf, and the plain sawn WO was $2.54/bf.

Glen-L.com

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