Building a Work-Boat for Ponds and
Lakes
A boat for only €/$110 (£80)
Stage 3.
I chose to mount all the framework externally. This created a square system of rubbing strakes to protect the ply laminations and on which the boat could be dragged. They also formed good grips for general handling.
The wood I chose is general purpose sawn finish roofing batten. Cheap to buy and treated against wet, insects and rot by the now well proven method of 'tanalisation'.
You could use a bench mounted mitre / cut-off saw. They are quite cheap to buy these days. Some of the lengths could be a bit unwieldy for one person to line up though. I just used the circular saw like so. Using good safety goggles, lift the base safety guard against the spring return, then you can see clearly where the blade is going to cut. Lower the saw onto the wood while it is running.
The next photos will be fairly self explantory for how the frame was put together.
I used the 30mm screws straight through the ply and into the 25mm profile without any pre-drilling. The 50mm were for putting two 25's and ply into a sandwich or for going through the ply into the 50mm profile.
Any external laps and joints were sealed with polyurethane adhesive and cleaned up later with a chisel. The glue sets in 30 minutes only, so quick assembly and can be achieved, if everything is lined up and ready.
See www.screwfix.com
