A Little Boat

The aim of this project was to create a small boat which could fit into the back of our car. Total length is 1.4m, width 0.8m and depth 0.3m.

The boat (called Appie ) was made from plywood leftovers and pallet wood. The bottom is 3.5mm ply, the sides 7mm ply. Polyurethane glue and latex house paint were used. After about 3 months one of the seams opened up. This was sealed with construction glue, followed by painting a strip of bed sheet over the chine. Total cost to date has been something like 20 dollars (NZ) for glue and some bits and pieces.

This boat could be built as a one sheet boat, although the bottom profile would have to be changed to allow thicker ply to make the bend.

Rowing performance is great! Very easy to get up to hull speed (due to the short length). Sailing performance is ok, with progress to windward being almost non existent. This is an area that is still being worked on!

More details (videos!) can be found on my website .