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Thank you.

Thank you.

Please see www.classic-marine.co.uk/product/auklet-building-plans/

Thank you Michael.

Good point. Thank you for your comment.

This is probably true in general terms. Southern yellow pine is one of the hardest of the pine species. It can cope well with everyday use especially on the end grain.

Thank you.

Keith, Thank you for your question. This is an interesting one and there is no definitive answer. Southern yellow pine is one of the hardest softwoods around and is harder than some hardwoods. Softwoods tend to be more accommodating than hardwoods. You can see this if you try to drive a nail into the end grain of a hardwood. It will tend to split whereas softwoods accommodate the nail. It is a bit like that with knives into end grain. The softwood will mark but will tend to heal after being hit by a knife. Some say that the softwood is kinder to the knives. I have made boards out of walnut, ash, oak and mahogany-like woods but southern yellow pine is probably my favorite.

I've been making syp cutting boards for many years. Never had the first complaint or call back. Recommend not to use knots, or the pith of a board.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your question. The answer lies in strength and weight. The plywood used is only 4mm thick but still very strong. It is also relatively easy to bent into shape. In order to get similar strength in solid wood the strips would have to be three or four times thicker and hence much heavier. You would then have to steam bend to get them into shape as they would be quite stiff. Finally you have to take account of wood movement using solid wood. Traditionally this means nailing the planks together when dry and soaking them so that they expand and provide a seal. This clinker built tradition goes back a very long time and is something I would like to try some day.

Muito obrigado.

John, thank you for your comment. I put the stringers on just to make sure that the overall shape was just right and that I hadn't messed up in cutting the moulds. I did wander about showing them as I immediately removed them once I was satisfied that shape was correct. Well spotted.

I used 4mm thick marine plywood. It is very important that you use the best plywood you can get you hands on. I got mine from a specialist marine timber supplier. Try to find plywood with veneers of equal thickness. Avoid plywood that has very thin decorative veneers on the outer layers and inferior wood on the inside.

Thank you. I didn't coat it with epoxy but used Owatrol Deks Olje D1 Wood Oil. This is an oil finish intended for marine applications. It is easy to apply and looks great.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

@@appinwood my father was an old school boat builder and built a beautiful 16' sailing dinghy, but when us kids came around, my mom said no more boat because it was too small. So naturally, my dad went out to the shop and literally cut his beautiful boat in half, Built another 4 foot section, and I learned to sail on that 20' "dinghy"

Lovely story.

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Thank you very much. The boat is based on a design by Iain Oughtred from the Isle of Skye here in Scotland. This is the Auklet which is the smallest one that he sells. The plans are very comprehensive. He has published an instruction book that really helps. The boat is about 2.2m (7ft 2inches) long and 23kg (50lbs) in weight. The plan also contains the option to make it a sail boat.

Thank you so much.

Thank you!

Thanks 👍

Thanks!

Thank you for your interest in my boat. It is very difficult to estimate the price of building a boat of this type. Wood prices have been quite volatile. If I were to build another one of these I think that I would be budgeting about £400 (UK prices). If you decide to use plywood for the hull, use the best that you can find. Look for plywood with equal thickness layers. I started using marine ply from a builders' merchant, it delaminated and the outer layers of ply were incredibly thin. I finished the boat with Deks Olje D1 which was a pleasure to use. It took me about 3 months to build from start to finish. Some of this was me going through a learning process. Much of the time was spend waiting for epoxy to cure meaning that I could only do two strips per day. I suspect that I spent maybe 150 hours spread over the three months. Good luck with your boat build.

@@appinwood thank you for the reply. I'm sorry to hear that some of the layers delaminated. 400 is much lower than I expected.

Glad to hear that you are going to make one of these boats. Apart from the plywood used for the hull, all of the other wood was timber that I repurposed from pews from an old church. They were used as garden benches and after about 20 years they began to rot. I rescued what I could and used the recovered wood on this boat. Judging by the appearance and the smell of the wood, I think that it is pitch pine. I made the oars from new Douglas fir. Good luck with your project.

Thank you so much for your comment. It is my first attempt and was my Christmas project a few years ago. I would encourage you to have a go at making one. The things that I would recommend that you need are, patience, good plans, instructions books and the best marine plywood you can find. I started using inferior plywood and regretted it. Iain Oughtred's plans are very detailed and very high quality. The Little Auk may also be built as a sailboat.