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We all know about Flirt, my Sea Sprite 23.. but I have a new boat to play with.. after I finish building it!

I picked up the plans for a Chesapeake Light Craft's Expedition Wherry and this morning picked up the Okume to actually build it. Next week my sister and my two nieces are coming to visit for 2 weeks (or more) so I know I will be spending a lot of time in the basement building it

Art Haberland wrote:We all know about Flirt, my Sea Sprite 23.. but I have a new boat to play with.. after I finish building it!

I picked up the plans for a Chesapeake Light Craft's Expedition Wherry and this morning picked up the Okume to actually build it. Next week my sister and my two nieces are coming to visit for 2 weeks (or more) so I know I will be spending a lot of time in the basement building it

Pictures. If there ain't no pictures, it ain't real!!!!

well.. it is a pile okome plywood and a rolled up set of plans at the moment

Art Haberland wrote:well.. it is a pile okome plywood and a rolled up set of plans at the moment

I have one of those in my basement as well. Although in my case is the foundation for the Piney Grove and Dunlooken Railway

You asked for pics... here you go!

First up is the table, 16 feet by 3 feet wide. Just two feet shorter than the wherry itself.



Building it was fun. It's half inch ply on 2x3s. I used sawhorses as legs by screwing them into the frame of the table. Yes, I am intending on building more than just the expedition wherry.

Now for the wherry itself, I remember that my local lumberyard (not Lowes or HD) told me they could get okoume and Sapele. When I was at Chesapeake Light Craft's open house and "Okoumefest" a month ago, they told us that they get all their wood from a place in NJ. Well, I live in NJ and I am willing to bet my local yard gets the same wood from the same place..

So rather than spending almost $1400 for the full kit. I spend $100 for the plans and another $500 for the wood. I already had the tools.. and hopefully the knowhow.

So, the first stage is to get the wood home (I need to find that pic). I strapped it to the top of my landrover and drove the half hour from the yard to home.. then, once in the basement, I laid out the plans over the sheets of 6mm (you also need 4mm and 9mm for the wherry)



Best way to get the plans from paper to wood is to prick them through, putting a small hole in the wood below.. then you play "connect the dots"



And eventually you get a full transfer from paper to wood.



Then it is just a matter of cutting them out...

Thanks

I have always admired those people who can turn a hunk of wood or metal into something useful and beautiful.

This looks like an article for Small Craft Advisor.

I forgot to add something... cut out bulkheads!



Because I cannot leave well enough alone.. my Wherry will be quite unique when I done. Not only will it have a strip planked deck.. but after talking to John Harris at CLC boats.. I am going to make it into a "take apart" by doubling up two of the bulkheads and cutting it into three pieces that can be assembled and disassembled at will. This will aid storage, transportation, and getting it out of my basement

Just to prove I cannot leave well enough alone.. Plans call to build the Wherry out of Okoume.. I went out and got a sheet of Sapele to make the transom and "seats" prettier.





I am about to start building a jig to scarf the plywood to make the hull itself.. so hopefully soon I can start posting up progress pics of a boat looking thing

Way to go Art, I enjoy watching some build as well as doing It myself. Plus it is easier. One thing you always learn some thing new because there are multiple ways of doing things. Then I go why didn't I try that.

I found from building the SCAMP that you are never really done. There is always some thing to change or improve.

sorry for the delay.. family visits by my sister then turned into family visits by my aunt and uncle (isn't living near water grand?) and then emergency intestinal surgery for my Father.. July was a hell of a month!

a couple of days ago I got my scarfing jig built...

Some nice oak "ramps" to give me a nice 8:1 ratio on 4mm plywood.



I then screwed them into a 2x2 sheet of MSD and added a piece of 1/2 inch play to screw my router too.



Finished off with some more oak "stringers" to keep the plywood from bowing and I was ready to torture some Okoume



The first couple of scraps I cut did not fare well until I figured out cutting speed and how to secure the ply so it did not move around... but after I got the hang of it, this turned into a job that was far easier than I expected.



So now my scarfs are expoxied and drying..