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Thread: Building a skiff

  1. #21
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maple Syrup Actual View Post
    The old Johnson is in pretty decent shape, all things considered.
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  2. #22
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Seriously though, you’re an inspiration.

  3. #23
    Site Supporter Maple Syrup Actual's Avatar
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    Back when that motor was built, boat transoms (that's the back wall, I've been in the boat game for so long I no longer know what's common knowledge) were generally lower.

    As such, the "standard" motor shaft length was fifteen inches.

    Standardization wasn't really complete yet though, and that motor has a shaft about eighteen inches long.

    I resisted the impulse to describe it as "my three-inches-longer-than-a-standard-shaft Johnson" and yet still there was no escaping the phrasing.

    I guess in retrospect I should have just plowed straight into that hole. Since I knew we'd all end up there together.

    WHILE MAKING EYE CONTACT.
    This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff

  4. #24
    My only boat so far -- a stitch & glue version of the Osprey. I'm considering trying a skin-on-frame this winter.

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    Panels stitched, first seam fillet in place.

    Name:  Osprey-garage-1.jpg
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    Glassed and varnished.

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    Sea trials. The seat is high because it was just clamped to the gunwales while I figured out the fore-aft location.
    It's actually a bit big for me as a solo, but the beam and low freeboard make it a good dog boat. The dogs can lie down and easily see out.

    For folks interested in this type of construction, a couple of the big kit suppliers are:
    http://www.clcboats.com/
    http://www.pygmyboats.com/

    If you just want to get on the water, there's the "six hour canoe" :
    https://www.amazon.com/Building-Six-.../dp/0961039671
    http://cabbs.org/six-hour-canoe-boatbuilding-class/

  5. #25
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    My son and I built the six hour canoe, or some variation on it, years and years ago at Mystic Seaport one weekend. Fun and a really simple project.

  6. #26
    Site Supporter Maple Syrup Actual's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    My only boat so far -- a stitch & glue version of the Osprey. I'm considering trying a skin-on-frame this winter.

    Name:  masking-fillet-1.jpg
Views: 450
Size:  60.7 KB
    Panels stitched, first seam fillet in place.

    Name:  Osprey-garage-1.jpg
Views: 464
Size:  49.3 KB
    Glassed and varnished.

    Name:  Tess-canoe-2.jpg
Views: 455
Size:  57.5 KB
    Sea trials. The seat is high because it was just clamped to the gunwales while I figured out the fore-aft location.
    It's actually a bit big for me as a solo, but the beam and low freeboard make it a good dog boat. The dogs can lie down and easily see out.

    For folks interested in this type of construction, a couple of the big kit suppliers are:
    http://www.clcboats.com/
    http://www.pygmyboats.com/

    If you just want to get on the water, there's the "six hour canoe" :
    https://www.amazon.com/Building-Six-.../dp/0961039671
    http://cabbs.org/six-hour-canoe-boatbuilding-class/
    Rich wood tones are so dangerous for me; I find it almost impossible not to finish them bright. That canoe is a perfect example: as soon as the epoxy goes on the wood colour is too seductive to cover up. But then you have to deal with boating around in a work of art.

    What can I say, it's a struggle.
    This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff

  7. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Maple Syrup Actual View Post
    Rich wood tones are so dangerous for me; I find it almost impossible not to finish them bright. That canoe is a perfect example: as soon as the epoxy goes on the wood colour is too seductive to cover up. But then you have to deal with boating around in a work of art.

    What can I say, it's a struggle.
    Absolutely. Paint makes a lot more sense and is far more practical. If it had to live outside or had harder use it’d be painted. Since it hangs in the garage most of the time I can get away with leaving it bright.

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Maple Syrup Actual View Post
    I have plans for Brian's Great Alaskan, actually. I have a bit of a collection of boat plans because you always learn something from them...Brian includes a huge amount of information in the Great Alaskan plans. But yeah, that's a time commitment, all right.

    My last boat was pretty small and still managed to eat up a lot of time.

    Attachment 62434

    I building boats is like writing...either you can't stop yourself from doing it, or you can't bring yourself to do it, in the long run.
    I own a set as well. I keep them in a desk drawer like an old copy of Playboy. My problem is that there is no way for me to complete the boat in the summer season, so it's going to require a heated shop. Heated shop will cost me $50K and time to build it. My current shop is full of stuff that makes me money, so I can't move that aside.. There's a guy local to me that will build build one to my spec for $75K and that's with a motor and some electronics. But if I have $75K for a boat I'd just buy another mini-excavator to make me money.. then the cycle starts again

  9. #29
    Site Supporter Maple Syrup Actual's Avatar
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    Yeah, I understand that equation, all right.
    This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff

  10. #30
    Site Supporter Maple Syrup Actual's Avatar
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    Aug 2011
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    Back to work on the little outboard.


    The carbs on these things are almost absurdly simple. There’s a low speed circuit on the top, which is controlled with a needle valve that screws in through the air cleaner. It’s a single passage with a couple of holes in the top of the throttle body that drip fuel down under vacuum. There’s no adjustable brass jet, you just screw the needle in or out. Factory setting was something like 1.25 turns out, maybe 1.5. There’s a high speed jet that’s a single passage off the carb bowl. Single brass jet. Dead simple. A rebuild kit was around $25 and took me an hour or so to install, and was probably completely unnecessary: after I took the float bowl off, I discovered that the passage to the filler tower in the float bowl was totally blocked, so the main fuel nozzle was probably bone dry. I let some acetone sit in the bowl for a bit, then poked a super tiny drill bit through the passage and gently cleaned it all out. Off to the races!


    When I put the carb back on, which is a two minute job, I was feeling pretty confident. I pumped up the primer bulb on the fuel line and gave it a rip. The starter pawl skipped and the motor did nothing. I fed the rope back in and gave it a gentle pull. No, the pawl was jumping over the teeth on the flywheel. Annoyed, I went inside to find out where I could get a new starter pawl. I found lots, in the US, for around $5 a pop. Shipping was $30 for the cheapest option. Very aggravating. I kept searching and ultimately found a two-pack for $12, with $14 shipping. Okay, good enough.


    Back to the motor: rather than continue to use the old metal tank, I popped an OMC fitting into one of my 25l Sceptre tanks. I have two because while I occasionally use one for the kicker, mostly I just wanted the ability to get 50l of fuel at a time from the gas station without pulling my boat out of the water all summer last year. But now I don’t really need that ability since I’m not commuting by water every day, so one of the tanks was demercurized and enjohnsonated. Now I really felt confident it would run.


    Like most small outboards I’ve known, the old Johnson has an emergency backup rope start ability, you just have to wind the rope on with every pull. I have a ton of rope lying around, so I wrapped a couple of turns on and gave it a good hard pull, and it coughed a bit and died. Very close. So I primed up the bulb again and wound on the rope and pulled, and nothing. I did it again, and nothing. I stood there for a solid half hour just winding on rope and pulling it and trying to figure out why it wasn’t even trying now. I pulled the plugs to see if they were really fouled from all the starting attempts but they were sparking fine. I sprayed more Seafoam into the carb and tried it again and it ran, but quickly started to die as it used up the burnable fuel in the cleaner. I cracked the throttle open on the carb and it roared, but stalled as soon as I backed off. At least that gave me the idea that the high speed was getting fuel, but the low speed might not be, so I quickly pulled the carb again and hit the low speed circuit with compressed air from every direction. The carb went back on, I wound the backup rope around the flywheel and hauled off. Instant start! It was a bit sensitive to choke but the air cleaner wasn’t on; that might calm it down some as it smooths out the airflow into the carb. Lots of two-strokes are a bit sensitive about the shape and volume of the air box.. I put elastics on the butterfly valve linkages to hold the choke closed and let it run for a bit. There’s nothing like old two-stroke ring-ding sound...except WOT two-stroke powerband sound!


    This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff

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