Boat part template material?

Builder's Forum
1

What is an economical way to make boat part templates?

1 What material? Plywood from big box store? Melamine? What thickness?

2 One forum post indicates using a router flush trim bit to cut straight from the lofting batten, using perhaps a parallel second batten for the router base to ride on ... Is that an easy way to build templates.

3 With template made and stacked over the Okoume ply, is it best to pencil around the template and cut the ply using jigsaw/skill saw/Japanese pull saw, or is it better to, again use a flush trim bit on the router? Template above, or below ply to be cut (router bit with bearing above, or below)?

Thank you!

2

   Eric,

Most of CLC plans come with full size templates on paper. Making a template from wood is a bit redundant. There are several methods of transfering the paper template to the wood. Tacking it to the wood and then making tack hoels along the outline works well.

As for cutting, I am a big fan of hand tools and patience. The japanese pull saws cut the okume very cleanly and quickly, with minimal tearout. I use a high teeth count cross cut saw for the okume. Oversize the piece by 1/8" and clean it up with a small plane. Of course, there ar a dozen ways to do the samething in boat building.

Have fun. 

Joel

3

Hey Eric,

First, I agree with everyting Joel said above.  With that being said, I'm a plans builder who made a set of templates for both the Eastport Pram and the Passagemaker while I was cutting out the parts for the boat.  Since the boats went together perfectly, I know the templates are accurate.  It was easy to cut that additional layer at the same time. 

My rationale for making templates was that it would cut several hours of laying out the paper sheets, punching them with an awl, then connecting the dots.  I think that was about 20 hours per boat.  My plan was that if I ever wanted to build another boat, I could just lay out my template, trace with a mechanical pencil, rough cut with jigsaw (I cut out all original parts with fine-toothed pull saw), then route to the template with pattern following bit.

I used 1/4" tempered hardboard/masonite for my templates.  They're thin enough for storing all those parts between builds and strong enough to resist compression from the bearing on the router bit.  They are a bit tougher to cut through and harder on the saw teeth.  I went through two or three of those $11 saws from Harbor Freight.

I have router bits with the bearing on the top and bottom.  I find that for smaller parts, the router bit away from the shank is better to put into the router table so you can spin the part around with the fence removed and the starter pin in place.  For larger parts, I clamp the template/plywood assembly to the workbench, then using a bit with the bearing by the shank, I can trace around the exposed edge, then rotate the template as needed.  I have two routers, so one is in the table and one is for free-hand (I won the second router for my Instructable on building the EP).

You'll need lofting battens to connect the dots.  I used a 1/4" piece of oak with as straight grain as possible with no knots because that's what I had.  You can use pieces of molding from the big box store that are clear and bend smoothly to the eye while looking down them from the end.  After that, just cut on the line with a pull saw.  It tracks perfectly and can make the long graceful curves for the planks.

I don't know if/when I'll ever get around to making a duplicate of either boat since there's always a new/different boat to build.  I can see it would be cool to have two EP's to race with once my son gets older, but by that point I hope to be going camping with him in a NanoShip 3.0.  I also have never seen a discussion on what the royalty owed to CLC would be for a second boat that's anything less that buying another set of plans.

I hope this helps.  Good luck with your build!

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Here's a pic of laying out the parts on the masonite and cutting them out from my Instructable.

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The only downside I've found for masonite is that it's sensitive to humidity. If you are planning to hang onto the templates for years it's a good idea to keep them in a humidity controlled space. 

On my 17LT plans there's a note that each additional boat is $20. The plans & manual go for $69, so that's quite a good savings.

Laszlo

 

6

 

Thank you, Joel, CaptainSkully and Lazlo for the comprehensive responses; All much appreciated, indeed!

I’ve never before lofted a boat and although I want to do it, at least once (who knows, I might start liking it after I try), I wanted to do it on a simple boat with few curves and few planks. I understand CLC plans are full sheets and do not constitute “lofting.” I was enquiring about a non-CLC model. 

So far, I built a Chester Yawl and I am looking for a quick project until my next CLC; likely a SW Dory.

My rationale was, as CaptainSkully mentioned that if I am going to go through the trouble of measuring against stations, using battens to scribe a nice curve and thereafter cut and plane to the line, I am going to make a template so that should I need to replace a part, or build a second boat of the same type  (however unlikely that might be), I can do so without starting the process of lofting, over again. I would certainly have no problem paying the designer extra for a second boat. Cutting a template along with the actual part ought to save time. I will experiment on a small piece with masonite, and perhaps some cheap big box store ply and see what I end up preferring.

Thank you for the very helpful suggestions; We get spoiled with all this accurately CNC cut stuff. I admire all of you building boats from scratch and I am quite happy taking the shortcut where it makes sense. I still like a beautiful finish, though and would rather spend time, there than lofting and cutting parts on a regular basis.

7

My first CLC boat was made from 1/4" oak plywood from the big box store, not marine grade anything.  On the plus side, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford building that boat with the real stuff since my plywood was a third the price.  Since we just had a baby, I thought it prudent to be stingy.  But at least I got to build A boat.  It was kind of a prototype and experiment in plans boat building to see if I could actually pull it off.  On the negative side, that boat only lasted about 3 years, so in some ways that money was wasted and I really wish we still had it.  I will say that the oak looked great when finished bright, while I had to paint my okoume since it looked like poplar.

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Thanks for relating your experience with your first oak ply boat, CaptainSkuly. Perhaps I was not clear in my post: the big box store ply would strictly be to compare with masonite for templates, only. The actual boat will definitely be cut from BS1088 Okoume marine ply. 

9

I went to school for Mechanical Engineering, so I've done a lot of drafting, which I love.  I started with pencils and then taught myself AutoCAD and am dipping my toe into Fusion360.  I'm definitely down for a boat design that requires lofting.  I think that process would be very gratifying.  I also film all of my builds for YouTube videos.  I've done some serious research into my next boat, which might not be a CLC design, depending on the progress of NanoShip 3.0.

I love the look of clinker-built boats and love the concept of fitting the planks as you suggested.  I'm also considering a strip-built boat because that's a process I'd love to learn and it develops interesting looking hulls.  I also love anything with a bowsprit.

I'm also over on the Wooden Boat Forum sussing out these designs.  I'm currently looking at catboats and a couple of Vivier's designs (e.g. Ilur vs. Beg Meil).

Good luck with your project and keep us posted.

10

Eric, regarding your q#2 in the opening post, I’ve done exactly this and it works great. I built full-length, spliced hardwood battens in a couple of thicknesses -about 3/8”x1/2” & 1/2”x3/4”- and screwed a small strip to one edge of my router baseplate. With a top-bearing flushtrim bit, the strip acts as an outrigger.

I use 3/16” cheap doorskin ply for templates, but the edges/core voids need to be inspected/filled before use to cut parts.

I predrill holes about every 4” down the center (neutral axis) of the wide face of the batten, then use 3/4” x #6  FH sheet metal screws to place the batten exactly over the layout marks. Using screws and every other/every third hole, it’s easy to sight the batten for fairness and loosen/add a screw to get it looking perfect.

And yes, do pay CLC their additional fees for duplicate builds!