RowCruiser Build Log from a Newbie
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 11:33 am
Hi folks, I'm one of the participants in the RowCruiser workshop in Feb 2015. I went into the workshop having never built a boat, and not done any fancy woodworking or building outside of a few personal furniture projects and renos.
I'm starting a thread here as a way to share lessons learned (and help keep me motivated to finish) while completing my RC. I'm hoping my naivete, inexperience, and general clumsiness will serve to be a helpful tool for others who are not already experienced boatbuilders-- if you want to learn how to do it the right way, read the kit manual and look at Marty's build log on rowcruiser.com; if you want to learn how NOT to do it the wrong way, this may end up being a useful resource
My ambitions are to use the boat for weekend & longer trips in the PNW/BC Coast, and perhaps longer trips as I gain more experience and confidence. I've done a few bike touring trips and kayak trips before, which fills me with a probably unwarranted amount of confidence that I can pull off the kind of trips I have in mind... (Somewhat hilariously, however, I've never actually rowed a sliding seat boat)
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The workshop was fantastic, and I never felt like I was in over my head, thanks to the helpful guidance of Marty and Colin, as well as the fact that they had all the appropriate tools and gear at the ready. Our progress was quick, and we ended up working together as one big group on each hull individually during the hull panel stitching process, which made things so so much easier than trying to do it with 1 or 2 people, and ended up with a lot less wasted time fighting to get boards in position. This is evidenced by our progress by the end of day 2:
The CNC kit is super well put together and things like registration marks for placing bulkheads without having to measure makes things gobs easier. There were a couple recent changes to the design of the deck pieces which made some of the instructions redundant or required some adjustment to other parts (eg the curvature of the fore and aft hatches), but this should all be sorted out by the time the next batch of kits and updated manual are hammered out.
One of the most complex next steps (after filleting hull planks, glassing the inside of the hull, and filleting the bulkheads) was the flotation chambers. Things went together well, but it was quite fiddley work. After tacking on the chamber mini-bulkheads, here's what it looks like to epoxy 20 pieces of wood together at the same time:
.. 27 clamps used (never have too many)
After gluing and filleting the flotation chamber panels, constructing the curved hatch covers, building a makeshift rack for the car, and cleaning up, that was the end of the workshop:
More photos from the workshop here: http://rowcruiser.com/RowCruiser%21/Row ... tos.html#0
I'm starting a thread here as a way to share lessons learned (and help keep me motivated to finish) while completing my RC. I'm hoping my naivete, inexperience, and general clumsiness will serve to be a helpful tool for others who are not already experienced boatbuilders-- if you want to learn how to do it the right way, read the kit manual and look at Marty's build log on rowcruiser.com; if you want to learn how NOT to do it the wrong way, this may end up being a useful resource
My ambitions are to use the boat for weekend & longer trips in the PNW/BC Coast, and perhaps longer trips as I gain more experience and confidence. I've done a few bike touring trips and kayak trips before, which fills me with a probably unwarranted amount of confidence that I can pull off the kind of trips I have in mind... (Somewhat hilariously, however, I've never actually rowed a sliding seat boat)
---
The workshop was fantastic, and I never felt like I was in over my head, thanks to the helpful guidance of Marty and Colin, as well as the fact that they had all the appropriate tools and gear at the ready. Our progress was quick, and we ended up working together as one big group on each hull individually during the hull panel stitching process, which made things so so much easier than trying to do it with 1 or 2 people, and ended up with a lot less wasted time fighting to get boards in position. This is evidenced by our progress by the end of day 2:
The CNC kit is super well put together and things like registration marks for placing bulkheads without having to measure makes things gobs easier. There were a couple recent changes to the design of the deck pieces which made some of the instructions redundant or required some adjustment to other parts (eg the curvature of the fore and aft hatches), but this should all be sorted out by the time the next batch of kits and updated manual are hammered out.
One of the most complex next steps (after filleting hull planks, glassing the inside of the hull, and filleting the bulkheads) was the flotation chambers. Things went together well, but it was quite fiddley work. After tacking on the chamber mini-bulkheads, here's what it looks like to epoxy 20 pieces of wood together at the same time:
.. 27 clamps used (never have too many)
After gluing and filleting the flotation chamber panels, constructing the curved hatch covers, building a makeshift rack for the car, and cleaning up, that was the end of the workshop:
More photos from the workshop here: http://rowcruiser.com/RowCruiser%21/Row ... tos.html#0