2 Complete Boat Builds: Row Boat & Canoe

In this video I compiled my 3 videos of the 2 boats I built:
The 15' Ranger canoe completed in November 2018
and The 13' 9" Rice Lake Skiff completed in May 2023

GO BUILD A BOAT!
both plans available here:
thank you

Patreon here

[MrMARKKIND]

My brothers and I built a sailboat with our mom in the 70s. It was heavy and dangerous. Fun memories though. She passed away earlier this month. RIP.

[Z-Bart]

In 1985 I helped my dad put a cabin on a 21' Lake Superior fishing skiff. It's now in a museum in my home town. Great memories building that with my dad. Thanks for sharing your builds Jimmy D.

[eb]

“I don’t think it’s safe as it already isn’t” is a great line and has probably been said on many a job site

[ShamWerks]

1:26:21 that Hand Tools Rescue cameo just made my day! 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

[pjamestx]

Jimmy, I've been watching your videos for years and years, and you've always impressed me with your skill and your ability to just get the job done and not get lost in the tiny minutia that can bog down a project. But this is an entirely different level, so impressive, and SO MUCH WORK! This is a lifetime achievement, I hope you're really proud with what you've made here, this is incredibly inspiring!

[chuckmarch]

Your deck boards remind me of the maple flooring my Dad and i salvaged from the old JC Penny store in Country Club Center (Sacremento, ca)back in the 60s. We used it to construct a flat roof over our commercial worm garden.

[tobymilo]

Absolutely beautiful! I can’t say this enough… I love to watch you make stuff! A wealth of knowledge and talent. The amount of patience you have is second to none.I always look forward to your videos. Thanks for sharing. I have learned so much from you.

[brentkelley]

My brother got me into boat building. Started with an 8’ dingy, and now we are on the back stretch of building a 14’ nesting sailing tender for his sail boat. It truly is a test of tenacity to finish these projects! Great work sir!

[goptools]

Beautiful work, Jimmy. The almost 2-hour video went by quite fast. Lots of good tips and techniques. You have a great knack for finding solutions to complex problems!

[LinauLee]

Jimmy, this was a nice way to spend the evening.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful world with us!
hUgz from Ohio, Lee

[ReenTheBean]

They are both works of art! Love that you used the reclaimed wood from the porch. I think your next challenge should be adding a sail to them! Outriggers, a rudder and tiller. 😁

[davidhewson]

This guys workmanship is almost surreal . Finish what you start ! . Thanks man, for this work of art . Regards from UK . Dave

[michaeljames]

Very cool. The part on the deck you call a wind screen is actually to deflect any water that may come over the bow off to the sides. Boats for white water have tall ones... sometimes curved, sometimes V shaped.

[stoneinthefield]

I love to upcycle too and have learned so much from you throughout the years. Sincerely, thank you.

[ninomaiorano]

Great build Jimmy. I think you agree with me that the scarf joints on those long strips could’ve been made longer so there’s more face-to-face area for the glue to grab better

[pjdambra]

Two Gorgeous works of Art. Jimmy is the Best.

[ИльдарЗиннатуллин-юч]

Джимми! Очень круто! Много лет смотрю твои видео и не перестаю восхищаться и удивляться твоим талантам, причем, во всех сферах жизни! За что бы ты не брался, все у тебя получается ладно и здорово - просто мастер «золотые руки». Удачи тебе и дальше, здоровья и благополучия тебе и твоим близким!🤝

[shaukeki]

Oh my God, I needed this. A 2 hour video. Life sucks lately, and any distraction is cherished.
Side note: when my wife worked in CT in 2022, I'd drive there from syracuse and always took the long way. I drove past the go kart property. I really wish I'd had a chance to stop and meet you, sir

[Herman-fm]

Very nice work. A few suggestions:

1) A normal scarf used in boatbuilding has a 12:1 slope, so a 1/4" thick plank would have a scarf 3" long. That's a clever idea using the miter saw to make the scarf joints, and it might still work with a 3" long scarf. That's a really good idea with the right length scarf.

2) It's best if the interior is finished before you fair the hull. The interior goes a long way toward stiffening the planking and overall shape of the boat. With the planking shifting around it's going to be impossible to get the hull fair. A fair hull is surprisingly important to having a fast efficient low-power boat, whether a sail boat or for rowing. And a fair hull looks very cool. People will think the boat looks really good without really knowing why.

3) Fairing the hull you will get much better, more professional looking results if you make a proper long board. It needs to be fairly flexible, enough to wrap over the curve of the boat and sand down the high spots and leave the low spots alone. If you can't bend the long board to the hull it's too stiff. Sanding with a RO sander is guaranteed to leave an uneven finish.

To make the long board I normally use a piece of urethane foam with a single layer of glass cloth laminated to one side. Then I either split a sanding belt at the seam and stick it to the fiberglass with contact cement, or get a roll of sticky back sandpaper and cut it to size. The sanding belt is nice because there are pretty aggressive grits available, and less aggressive grits available, and they last a long time.

When I've had very curved surfaces I've actually made long boards out of soft craft foam with a piece of thick Visqueen bonded to it with contact adhesive. It wasn't very durable, which was a pain in the neck, but it did the job.

The odd thing about a long board is that a lot of people can't figure out how to use them. They want to lay the board longitudinally on the hull and sand longitudinally. No. All you succeed in doing like that is sanding a long groove in the hull.

Lay the long board on the hull somewhat diagonally / and sand longitudinally <--->, or lay the board on longitudinally --- and sand diagonally. The idea is to let the board sand down the high spots while the high spots hold the board up so it floats over the low spots. Eventually you sand the whole thing smooth and fair and it looks great.

4) If you want to make sure the hull is getting very fair, lay your whole hand on the hull and slide it around. You have to have your palm on the planking to feel it properly. If you just use your fingertips you won't be able to tell if the hull is fair or not. With your palm on the planking your fingers can easily detect a few thousandths of an inch of deviation from fair.

5) It's normally best to put a coat or two of epoxy on the hull, and let it cure, before you add the glass. The epoxy will soak into the wood unevenly, which is a pain when you are trying to get an even layer of resin.

Overall this is really nice work for somebody with so little boatbuilding experience.

[marcmmclellan]

Xyla calls it botal toat! I can’t wait to see the motor on it! Always well done!