"Too Knotty" -- A "Birder 2"

Click on the photos for a larger, uncropped version

This time, the boat is a modification of the "Birder 2" from B&B Yacht Designs. The intent is to use the panel shapes from the Birder 2 plans, but fabricate them from 1/8" Luan with 6 oz. fiberglas inside and out. The deck will be wood strip using primarily western red cedar. I'll be using wood from a tree that grew about 15 miles from where the boat will be based. The deck and inside will be bright finished, while the outside of the hull will be painted bright yellow.

Due to new job responsibilities, I've been putting off getting this one started, but I need to have it finished in time to take to the northwest this summer. Marking and cutting the pieces was straight forward, as was setting up a temporary table for layout and assembly. I cut clamped two sheets of wood together so that I could cut both sets of parts at the same time - it was faster, and they were equally accurate (or inaccurate as the case may be...)

When I started piecing the panels together, the first set of stern panels didn't line up properly. I thought of all sorts of ways to "correct" it, but discovered the easiest way was to cut out a new set using the correct measurements! These look more like I expected.

After the fiberglas patches connecting the bow and stern pieces to the hull cured, I was able to start stitching the hull together. I used the smallest size of zip ties since I had some in stock - 'sides that, the designer recommended them. I guess I might as well follow the instructions in one step anyway.

The boat starts to take shape with the help of the forward and aft bulkheads which serve as structure as well as the primary forms to determine hull shape. These, too, were made from luan that was glassed on both sides. (I seal coated all of the luan pieces before drilling and assembling - it seemed to reduce the number of splinters.)

After getting the bulkheads epoxied in place, the shear clamps went in to shape the shear line. In addition, one temporary brace went in the center to form the slightly rounded cross section. It looks like this one should track reasonably, but still be able to turn. I'm not going to add the keel strip they call for until after our first water trials. Since the boat will be used solo some of the time, I don't want it to track too stiff.

Between this step and the next one, I glassed the outside of the hull with 6 oz. material plus another 6 oz. up to about 2 inches above the chines. The inside got one layer of 6 oz. I know this is overkill, but I'm expecting nieces and nephews to use the boat, so I might as well plan accordingly.

About this time, my wife got back from her road trip to the northwest, returning with about 60 board feet of 1 x 12 western red cedar that was cut last year. I'd been dragging my feet a bit on this project because I wanted to use some of this wood for the deck on this boat. I ripped the vast majority of it into strips for future boat projects since I was running out of knotty wood to use on my "knotty" series of boats. While I tried to keep it in order, one bundle fell over before I got it wrapped, so that wood became the infill on the decks.

As has been the case with my other boats, I chose to strip this without staples. Additionally, I've stopped using bead and cove, deciding it was less work to use a rolling bevel to insure a good fit. Since this boat was originally designed to use a stitch and glue deck, I didn't have any forms for the deck. Using the existing bulkheads, I extrapolated and hot-glued forms into place about every 12 inches. Unlike my previous boats where I laid the shear strip first, in this case I started on the centerline with four matched strips and then started alternating between the shear and centerline strips.

Laying the deck went quickly, especially with that huge hole in the center. I wasn't sure what to do for seat backs, so I layed up a panel matching the deck camber that will be cut for seat backs. Seat bottoms will be carved minicell foam following the Joe Greenley school of thought. The deck will get two layers of 3.7 oz fabric on the outside, again because I'm not sure who is going to be dancing on it.

This is the biggest knot in the boat, placed intentionally, and spanning across five strips. Since I named the boat in advance, I needed adequate knots to justify the name.

In between layers of deck glass, I cut out the cockpit to the final shape. That alone makes it look a bit more finished. By the way, that's not the sabre saw I started the project with, but when my old B&D died, it made a good excuse to replace it with a professional quality tool. This one lives up to everything folks have said about it. Not cheap, but sure is nice!

Also in between the layers of deck glass, the boat got properly named. The timing worked out great. I got this far before leaving town for the better part of a week which will give the US Composite slow curing epoxy time to set up before I cut the hot glue spots that hold the deck to the shear clamps.

Next comes the coaming installation, sanding and glassing the underside of the deck, cutting and fitting the hatches, and installing the deck. Somewhere in there I'll get some seats carved so we can do "sea trials" before final installation of the seats and painting the hull. I've got a ways to go, but should have it done for its late July departure for the northwest.