Anyone built there own little Ply boat before ? Good or bad idea ?

Never built one but from the plans you will need
13 6mm sheets and 1 9mm
Quick look as robbins is £49 and £62 a sheet respectively which starts you off at around £700 in materials + all other bits plus outboard plus plan plus paint .....

If you are short on cash i would have thought it would have been worth considering a second hand job and give it a coat of paint - obviously it wont be as rewarding but could be a lot cheaper
 
If you have enough space, it's a good idea. The technical skills needed are fairly simple. I'm just finishing an Eastport Pram, and it's been enjoyable. Naturally there's frustrations, and I've chosen to make some modifications, but if you choose a design that's in kit form, and the kit has been sold in large numbers, you should be fine. If you have the ability to cut the parts from plywood sheets then you may prefer to do that as you will save a bit, but the job will take longer.
 
on building boats

I have built two

14 foot and 16 foot

it was a good six months hard work in the garage

I really enjoyed making them both

but if the aim is to get afloat cheap...

don't do it

costs for the hull alone....maybe £1,000

there is wood, glue, poxy, tools, heat for the garage

then there are fittings and sails/engine.

if getting afloat is the aim then keep an eye on boats and outboards - something will turn up there

plastic, with a trailer (a stout boat on a stout is an ideal camping trailer

- dad can I bring my bike? Yes

can I bring two tents - yes, can I bring my goal mouth - yes no probs son)

so if you want to built a boat for satisfaction...,. do it

if you want a cheap way of getting afloat

buy an old plastic one and a pot of paint if you care about the cosmetics

Dylan

phew - pleased to get off the subject of noise
 
I agree with Dylan.

Building your own is great fun (I have built 2 from plans and a kit), but it is much cheaper to buy something used.

If you have basic (and I mean basic) woodworking skills (you can use a saw, a plane and a chisel) then a plywood boat is great fun. Fantastic winter project and you will love the end result.

However, if getting out on the Fal quickly and cheaply is paramount, buy something GRP.
 
I built a chine dinghy (11') in the garage last winter. Cost was £500 but would have been 300 if I hadn't sheathed it in kevlar. I build all my boats in GRP sandwich which is strong, light and above all quick to build. In ply you will spend many hours fairing joins before assembling panels, even with stitch & glue.

A second hand boat to refurbish will almost always end up cheaper that the materials to build from new.
 
Some lay-ups in ply can be exceptionally strong.
In the late 50's right through to the early 80's it was very popular with an Italian firm callled Donoratico.
They cold moulded with thin vaneers in three directions. This was/is also a popular method of making certain Italian speedboats.
Aircraft fuselage and small yachts were also made in the U.K. in a similar way by the company Fairy.
With todays resins etc a lot is possible. However, cheap ply is not good and you need to do some research there I reckon.
West Systems do some good courses i believe Parsifal of this parish may know more. ??
Overall I think you will find the costs high but if done well very rewarding.
 
kgwanchos said:
I was thinking something like this for plans

http://www.selway-fisher.com/Mcup16.htm

The Power 14

Want to use it for puttering and fishing on the Fal in Cornwall. Im pretty short on cash at the moment and need a winter project. Yes you guessed it I have young children !

Any thoughts advice appreciated ....
Click to expand...

Paul Fishers plans and good and he has always answered my questions promptly, there is also a lot of fun to be had in the building if you like that sort of thing but don't underestimate the cost and time it will take. I'm on my second build and and thinking about the third.

If you want to get out on the water cheaply and soon then go and buy a cheap runabout from ebay and maybe give it a lick of paint. If you want to build for the fun of it then use your boat then go for it. There are some great resources online such as the SF design forum, the UK HBBR forum and many others.

Good luck making a decision and if you do decisde to build take a look at as many designs as possible before you decide - that's half the fun :-)
 
Agree with everyone. If you enjoy the work, it's great, but certainly not a cheap option.
I know of a Tarpon ply dinghy (14 ft I think) complete with trailer and 7hp Evinrude, all now in great condition which the seller (my brother-in-law) would like near to £1000 for, but knows he won't get anything like that.
 
andygc said:
If you have enough space, it's a good idea. The technical skills needed are fairly simple. I'm just finishing an Eastport Pram, and it's been enjoyable. Naturally there's frustrations, and I've chosen to make some modifications, but if you choose a design that's in kit form, and the kit has been sold in large numbers, you should be fine. If you have the ability to cut the parts from plywood sheets then you may prefer to do that as you will save a bit, but the job will take longer.
Click to expand...

andygc, I got Fyne Boats to build mine for me. Here 'tis..

Pram028.jpg
 
give it a go!!

Selway fisher are easy to build with the stitch and glue method, and they advocate using bog standard wbp plywood, and painting with household paint. using thickened epoxy for the filleted joints means the joints dont have to be that accurate. so shouldn't be that expensive and will be a great project.IMHO go for it!!
good luck
 
nickd said:
Never built one but from the plans you will need
13 6mm sheets and 1 9mm
Quick look as robbins is £49 and £62 a sheet respectively which starts you off at around £700 in materials + all other bits plus outboard plus plan plus paint .....

If you are short on cash i would have thought it would have been worth considering a second hand job and give it a coat of paint - obviously it wont be as rewarding but could be a lot cheaper
Click to expand...

Exterior grade ply is £12 - 14 FOR AN 8X6 6mm sheet. That would make it cheeaper to build and using the WEST system give you reasonable life.

So if you like messing about in the workshop then yes it is a satisfying thing to do and use BUT if you just want to get on the water how about this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MARINA-SP...6727921?pt=UK_Power_Boats&hash=item1e6530fbf1

Don't forget the cliche " Fools build boats for wise men to sail."
 
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Wow thanks for all the replies everyone I had forgotton how helpfull folks are on here !

Certainly food for thought regards the cost I would need to keep the cost to arround 500 and I already have a 5hp outboard and various other bits. The cost of the wood is a big factor of course. Could I really get away with using standard outdoor ply ? would it not last that long ? I assume its down to the treatment applied to it too. Will look into the " West system" ...

I certainly would get the buzz off a build tho.....

Thanks again everyone
 
kgwanchos said:
Could I really get away with using standard outdoor ply ? would it not last that long ?
Click to expand...

Exterior ply is made with the same glue as 'marine' but less attention is paid to surface finish and you may find patches where the surface layer is missing and it's patched up with a filler. If you plan to paint that's no problem but you may have to be selective with your cutting is you plan to varnish. Rather more seriously, exterior grade sometimes has gaps in the inner veneers which can mean tunnels running through the core. Exterior may also be made with fewer thicker veneers. 6mm in particular will have one thick layer between two thinner ones.
 
While the self build option is by far the most satisfying it is also by far the most expensive. If you refurbish a good plastic boat there is a reasonable chance you may be able to sell it on later for not much less than you pay for it though you may have to write off the refurbishment costs. Unless your home built ply boat is a classic, built to an obviously exceptional standard, you may never be able to sell it at all.
I know you intend to keep your pride and joy for ever when you have built her, but life does not work out like that very often.
It is a widely recognized but strange phenomenon with boats that the more you spend on them, the less they cost you. ( At least I have managed to convince my wife of that)
 
If you decide to go for "exterior" ply, bewary of voids. I've just replaced the floor of a box trailer with it and rejected thirty sheets for obvious voids within the ply. Admittedy ten of them had obviosly delaminated bigtime, but having found them on the top of the pile in the woodstore it was a lot of work heaving them about and going over the rest with a rubber mallet, listening for problems. I might just have got a bit paranoic over it by the end of the exercise, but the sheet I eventually selelcted proved good.
 
kgwanchos said:
I was thinking something like this for plans

http://www.selway-fisher.com/Mcup16.htm

The Power 14

Want to use it for puttering and fishing on the Fal in Cornwall. Im pretty short on cash at the moment and need a winter project. Yes you guessed it I have young children !

Any thoughts advice appreciated ....
Click to expand...

I appreciate you might want to build it, but I saw a 3/4 finished one on ebay or boatsandoutboards yesterday.
 
I built an 8ft dink out of 6mm exterior grade ply. By the time it's been coated in epoxy and a household paint for UV protection, it is pretty durable. However, 6mm wbp ply is pretty crappy stuff (as somebody else said, thin outer veneers / thick middle with quite a few voids) and I'd suggest you go to 9mm at least for something of the size you're planning. usually the timber merchants will let you go through their piles of ply and let you select some with good surfaces on both sides
 
Don't waste your time and money - there are loads of unloved small GRP boats out there just waiting for your investment, which will repay your efforts much better, and offer some hope of a financial return for your endeavour. If you build a ply boat, unless it is spectacularly good, (which means hardwood rails, stringers, knees and thwarts, pukka marine ply and West epoxy, not forgetting metal keel strips, so would cost 3 - 4 times your budget and would also need the kind of expert craftsmanship rarely found in a first-time builder), you will never be able to sell it when the 'love affair' evaporates. Which, sorry to say, sooner or later, it will.
 
greenalien said:
Don't waste your time and money - there are loads of unloved small GRP boats out there just waiting for your investment, which will repay your efforts much better, and offer some hope of a financial return for your endeavour. If you build a ply boat, unless it is spectacularly good, (which means hardwood rails, stringers, knees and thwarts, pukka marine ply and West epoxy, not forgetting metal keel strips, so would cost 3 - 4 times your budget and would also need the kind of expert craftsmanship rarely found in a first-time builder), you will never be able to sell it when the 'love affair' evaporates. Which, sorry to say, sooner or later, it will.
Click to expand...

In the final Analysis I think you are on the mark there greenalien. It is something I would love to do one day .... but yes unloved GRP it should be for now I think....

Thanks for all you thought folks ... much appreciated
 
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