Tips From A Shipwright

Get ready for Season 3 of Tips from a Shipwright with Louis Sauzedde! Enjoy this introduction to our new shop and plans for the coming year. More boats, more woodworking, more videos! Join Lou on another adventure as he sets out to build his elusive v-bottom skiff!

This week we're headed out to Cornwall CT to visit our friend Duke at New England Naval Timbers and purchase some lumber for the 23' V-Bottom skiff we're building. We've rented a big truck because we expect to come home with some really large pieces. I really enjoy this, getting out to the source and selecting my lumber so that I know it will be right for what I need.

In this episode Lou breaks down the lumber he purchased and explains to use how its priced per board foot and other details. He then shows us how he sets up and uses his skill saw to rip the pieces he needs for the 23' V-bottom skiff he is building.

This week Lou sits down at his drawing table to begin producing the lines for the original flat bottom work skiff from our first series. Learn about how a boats shape is conceived and then also transferred onto paper as the lines drawings. Set up your own board and draw along or get ready to build as we will have plans for the work skiff available in the near future. And stay tuned for more on my panhead motorcycle in an upcoming episode!

This week we head to the mill to saw up our knees using a chainsaw. Lou shows us his tips and tricks for sharpening and ripping with a chainsaw in the field.

Change of plans, the knees we cut out looked so nice we're not gonna wait to enjoy them, they're going in the 18' foot skiff!

In this episode Lou shows us how to make one of the most used tools in his shop, the saw horse.

We're getting close to springing our 23' V-Bottom skiff together. This week Lou shows us how he built the transom from six layers of 7/16 inch white oak epoxied and vacuumed bagged together.

In this Episode we're fitting the side planking together as we are getting ready to spring our V-Bottom Skiff together. Each plank is still over 25 feet long at this point so it is quite a long edge to fit. We're going to do it on the floor so we can keep the planks trained down and use the planks themselves to plane the edge at 90 degrees. We will also have to do a saw cut with our modified skill saw before spot fitting the pieces together again with our planer. This will give us the full port and starboard side of the boat and they will go together. It won't be long now before we set up our transom and stem so we can bend our chines around a mold and connect them all together.

Now that we have our chines in place it's time to hang our frames. We're going to get them out of pieces of white oak left over from the chines and other things. Once we have our stock we can divide up the boat and find where we're going to place our frames. We then hang them with a single screw and use a hanging string to plumb them perpendicular to the waterline and then clamp them in place. Then we can drill and sink our screws through the plank and into the frames inside. With the frames in place we can then go inside and drill and screw a second fastening into them. Lastly we're going to apply a batten to the top of the frames to coordinate the boat at the shear. This makes sure we keep the proper shape before our next step, putting on the sole! Stay tuned for that next!

We're getting close to planking up our 23' V-Bottom Skiff. This week we are finalizing the set-up by taking dimensions off the model and then using them to create molds to bend our planking around. We're also going to set up our stem where the planks will attach to the boat at the bow.

We’re back working on our 23’ V-Bottom skiff, but before that we’re taking a trip back to New England Naval Timbers to see our good friend Duke about sourcing an extremely large flitch for the keel on our ORCA rebuild. Stay tuned for more videos and big announcements coming soon!

Our V-Bottom skiff is really starting to take shape and this week is a big moment because we're installing the chines. You remember we sourced these at the lumber mill and then processed them in my front yard and now they're going in the boat. The chines are very important pieces in the boat and that why we went through a lot of trouble to get just the right lumber. They need to be fit inside the bottom plank and up against the stem in the bow and then bent inboard back aft until they can clear the transom and then bend back against the back of the plank. We have to be very precise here so we don't cut them too short. We also want to take a moment to bevel the forward end of the chine to accept the bottom planking and that needs to be done off the boat because it would be hard to work on in position without damaging other parts of the boat.

We're making great progress on our V-Bottom skiff and with our frames in it's now time to lay down the sole. This will be the layer that you stand on when the boat is flipped over. We're using 1 1/8" edge-grain white cedar for our planking and attaching using a temporary system of nails and washers that will allow us glue the sole down and then remove the fastenings after so we can plane the surface of the chine and first plank down to accept the bottom planking.

We're getting pretty close to putting on our bottom, but before we can do that we need to install our keelson. This is the long timber that runs from the stem to the transom and accepts the bottom planking from the chines. In this episode we're going to show you how we create the slot in the transom with a chisel to accept the keep and also how we create a glue scarf between the stem and keelson at the bow.

In this weeks episode Lou shows us how he installs the keel and how the bottom layers and fiberglass all come together on the center line.

This week Lou takes us back in time with his V-Bottom Work Skiff and Sport Dory. Learn how to properly dock your boat and take a look back at the series that lead us to the here and V-Bottom and our next project and biggest build yet, ORCA, coming soon!

It's time to install our longitudinal stringers. These are the pieces of lumber that will span the space between the bottom of the boat and the sole. Each piece needs to be scribed on the sole, cut with the skillsaw to that angle and then progressively planed down with the electric plan so that it exactly spans the gap between the chine and the keelson and allows us to fasten down our bottom planking.

This week we're putting on our first layer of bottom planking. It's hang-over and cut off with a twist.

We're getting ready for our first layer of fiberglass but we still have a little more planking to go. In this episode we're going to take a closer look at what's going on underneath the deck before we close her up for good.

It's time to fiberglass! This is a a very important step in the construction of our V-Bottom skiff. The boat is a wooden boat at heart but the bottom will be a composite construction utilizing fiberglass for strength and rigidity. In this episode Lou shows up his method for prepping the surface and then applying the fiberglass to the hull. We're using TotalBoat 2:1 High Performance Epoxy and thinning a little bit with alcohol so it will soak into the first later of wooden bottom planking.

We're having a blast working on our V-Bottom skiff and things are really starting to come together. It's time for us to put on our second layer of bottom planking. We're going to use the same material as we did on the first layer but the fastening process is going to be quite different. We're using TotalBoat 2:1 Epoxy with the medium hardener and for our process we've found mixing up about 24oz gives us the right amount to put on a good number of planks before the epoxy starts going off. So we add our resin 16oz and then our (medium)hardener 8oz and mix together. Then we're going to pour some off into another smaller pot and thin that around 10% with alcohol to apply to backs of the planking. The remaining epoxy is then thickened in the original pot and applied directly to the first layer of fiberglass on the hull. Then using a combination of duplex nails, nuts and washers as temporary fasteners, we nail the planks down and let the epoxy go off. We can then remove the nails when the epoxy has dried and sink our final screws in the holes.

This week we're going to show you how we remove the temporary fastening used to secure the second layer of planking and use those same holes for our final fastenings. This way we can bury all our screws into both layers, after they've been glued togethere, with no risk of splitting the ends of the bottom planking or breaking off any screws. Once all our screws our sunk, we are going to fill the holes with TotalFair, a 1-1 Epoxy Fairing Compound from TotalBoat. We're now all ready to put our final layers of fiberglass on the bottom and then we can flip the boat over.

It's time to put the final two layers of 1708 fiberglass on our V-Bottom Skiff. This is a very important part of the construction as it was designed with the intention of keeping the look and feel of a classic flat bottom skiff but while adding the strength and rigidity of a fiberglass bottom. We're using TotalBoat 2:1 Epoxy with the slow hardener. The reason for that is because we have such a large area to cover we don't want the epoxy going off on us before we've had a chance to get both pieces of fiberglass fully saturated and on the boat. The other big thing we're out to do it get a nice corner on the edge so I've decided to nail down some battens with plastic in between them to pull the fiberglass down tight around that edge. Stay tuned for our next episodes, we'll be flipping our V-Bottom over and sawing our log to get the keel and more for ORCA!

It’s time to fair the hull of our V-Bottom skiff, but before we can do that we need to sand and prep the surface. We created a new vacuum system for our sander to help with any fiberglass dust. It has two vacuums, one of which is suspended above the boat to allow for easier movement of the sander and hoses. The final step is to mix and apply Totalfair, we’re out to fill all the low spots so when we apply our barrier coat we will have a nice fair surface on the hull and first side plank.

We’ll we’ve faired it and we’ve sanded it and it’s time to apply Totalprotect 2-part epoxy barrier coat to the hull of our V-Bottom skiff. This will act as a protection for the fiberglass and also helps continue to fair our out any last remaining imperfections in the hull. We’re going to thin the epoxy approx 10% and apply two coats with sanding in between. Our next step will be rip some additional lumber for the rails, in whales and few other pieces we’ll need, as well as our center runner. That’s the piece that will run down the center of the boat and helps with directional stability and also gives you a strong platform to help spread the load when you’re jacking or moving the boat as well as protection for the fiberglass.

In this episode Lou shows us how he's contructing the large wheels he's going to use to roll the boat over, right in place. In order to do this he need to find the exact center and how it relates to the boats shape so that there will be enough room between the ceiling and the ground for the boat to make it.

It's time to flip over the hull of our V-Bottom skiff using our wheels! We've got everything set up, our wheels are anchored to the boat with wedges and are sitting upon our rollers on the ground, two for each wheel. The safety line will gather into a slot at the edge of each wheel until the boat has rotated 180 degrees. Once the boat is safely turned over, we need to jack it down much lower to the floor in order to get ready for putting the next side planks on to the boat.

With our V-Bottom flipped over upside right, it’s time to finish the planking. You remember we put the first two planks on when we were springing the boat together. We’ve got four more planks to go, two on the starboard side and two the port. The planks have already been fit together on the floor before we started so there’s no fitting needed at this point, they just need to be lifted into position and screwed onto the frames. We also add some polysulfide to the edges of the frames to act as a bedding compound before fastening the down. We’re using flat head bronze screws and putting three screws in each frame and a few more at the stem and transom. Stay tuned for our next episode, cutting the shear!!

We've got our V-Bottom skiff all planked up and now it's time to cut the sheer line! In order to do this I've had to modify my skill saw to cut as deep as possible because we're not only out to cut through the planking but also the tops of the frame heads. Once we establish the angle of the cut, which will basically mirror the angle of the transom where it meets the sides we need to set up a batten the length of the boat to follow with our saw. Then we'll make our cut, remove the excess planking that's been cut off and then also finish off the cuts in the frame heads with a 10-point handsaw. Lastly, we need to lower the transom a bit to match our sheer line, so we'll cut that with our skill saw as well. The top of the transom does have a radius so we really need to tend the saw to make that curve and not drift off the line. Our V-Bottom skiff now has her true final shape, next week we will be attaching the guards outside the planking at the sheer line and then we're onto the brea

We’ve decided to adjust our sheer a little bit, we’re going to bring it down a little bit at the bow but mostly our goal is to reduce the angle on the heads of the frames and the sheer plank by a few degrees. I’m using my progressive beveling circular saw that I’ve modified with a ratchet handle to change the angle of the saw as I cut. This let’s me give the rails a nice progressive line from the transom all the way forward. We’re then going to rip out our 24’ white oak guards and get them ready for assembly.

In this episode it's time to laminate our cutwater. This piece will run from the very top of the bow down the front of the boat and connect with that scarf we made in the keel. We're using thin white oak laminates and we're going to glue them together with TotalBoat 2:1 High Performance Epoxy with the medium hardener. The first step is brush each laminate with a batch of thinned epoxy so that it can really soak into and saturate the wood. Then we're going to mix up a batch of thickened epoxy and apply that to each piece as we re-stack them up in reverse. We'll then coordinate each laminate and carry them over to the boat and apply them in position using jacks and a series of props so that we can temporarily fasten the cutwater in place until the epoxy dries and then remove them and replace them with bronze screws later.

This week we’re going to shape our cutwater, stem head and fasten on our guards. But first we need to make some final adjustments to the boat, we’re actually going to plane back the outboard edge of the plank down a quarter of an inch before we attach our guard in order to help tip the guards in. Once on the boat we’re also going to plane a quarter of an inch off the outside edge of the guards a quarter inch from the top tapered down in order to make them plumb if they were to come up again a dock or another boat.

This week we’re shaping and installing our breasthook. The first step is to make a paper pattern from the boat so we have a shape to go from. We’ll then take that over to our breasthook and find the best positioning and trace our cutting lines. In addition we’re going to lift the angles on the sides of the boat so we know what angle to cut our breasthook at. Then it’s on to my Atlas Power King bandsaw to cut the piece on all sides including the large radius in the center.

We're getting close to finishing up our V-Bottom skiff, there's a little word work left to do but first we need to fair and prime the hull. The hull needs to be planed first to get any of the high spots that are found near the steeple grain. We're then going to use TotalFair as our fairing compound to fill all the screw holes and any other imperfections. Once that dries we can come back the next day and sand it down nice a fair so we can apply our TotalProtect 2-part epoxy barrier coat primer.

We're back from a short vacation and ready to put the final touches on our V-Bottom Skiff! This week it's time for us to get out our corners knees and our inwhales and caps. The knees are going to be resawn out of a single knee on the shipsaw so the opposing pieces will be book matched and ultimately laminated in the boat. The same lumber that gave us our keel for ORCA has some great 25' quartersawn stretches that are perfect for our inwhales and caps, so we're going to cut those out with the skillsaw. Lastly we're going to put a coat of TotalBoat Topside Primer on the hull over our Epoxy Barrier coat, this will give us good coverage and get us ready for a final coat of Wet Edge Topside Paint.

This week we're going to show you how we saw up and laminate our knees. They're made from white oak laminates and will be over 2 inches thick when all glued up. Using the top figured knee as a pattern we're going to trace the shape onto our laminates and then cut them out on the band-saw. Then each layer will be taped together individually and then the whole bunch so that we can drill holes to coordinate them when we re-stack and glue them. We're using our TotalBoat 2:1 high performance epoxy with the medium hardener and we're going to thicken it a little bit so it doesn't run as we lay up our laminates.

Well you guys guessed it, those timbers are for our upcoming ORCA build, we’ll be showing lots more about the construction and design process very shortly, but first it’s time for us to install our quarter knees in our V-Bottom skiff so we can get her finished up and in the water.

This week we're installing the inwhales on our V-Bottom Skiff so we need to finish up our knees to accept them. The laminated knee and top figured knee have already been dry fit but they need to glued or at least clamped up in place. So what we're doing is we're going to mix up and spread our TotalBoat epoxy on the two pieces off the boat, then move them into the boat and pull both layers tight against the transom and side planking before then clamping them together vertically. This allows us to them remove the pieces from the boat so they can dry and then be re-installed as one piece. With our knees in place, it's time to saw our inwhales down to size and get them in the boat.

It's a Tips double header, two episodes this week and more to come! This week is a especially challenging step in our V-Bottom Skiff build, installing the inwhales. There is really no margin for error here and we're going to have to work to make sure we don't cut our inwhales too short. Ideally, we'll keep them a little long and saw-fit each end so we get the tightest best fit possible. But first we need to go around and make sure our inwhales are in exactly the right position. So we're created a little guage that we used on the starboard side and now we're going to mirror that difference between the guard and inwhales on the port side. Once we have them in exactly the right position we can begin with our saw-fit both aft and at the bow.

We're just about ready to put the caps on our V-Bottom skiff but first we need to prepare the tops of the in-whales and guards to receive them. I'm going to use a pencil to mark the edges of each piece that I DON'T want to plane down, that way I can focus on planing down each side with my number 5 planer until it starts to creep up on those pencil lines.

In this episode we're going to get out and fit the caps on our V-Bottom Skiff. These are white oak pieces of lumber that we specifically chose to help follow the curve of the boat. We cut them down to a rough size with a quick tracing and then more accurately traced the interior edge of the caps along the in-whale. Then we have to plane that saw cut from the band-saw out with a hand plane which can be very tricky on a curved piece like this so we have to use a few tricks to help us. Once that edge is good how we like it, we can use a small gauge to draw a line on the outer edge and then take that over to the band-saw and cut that also. We'll touch that up with the planer also, before putting it back on the boat and ultimately, we can make any minor final touch ups to the caps while they're in plane with a rabbit plane if needed.

This week we’re going to show you how I use my ship-saw and a rabbit plane to make the scarfs to connect the pieces that make up the caps.

We've finally come to the last bits of construction on our V-Bottom Skiff. This week we're out to glue up and fasten down our caps. This may seem like an easy step but it's actually pretty complicated and important that we get it right or we'll have spaces showing clear as day on top of our caps. The secret it to fasten it down from one end to the other and also prop the ends up when we drill them so there's a little space between them when we remove the prop causing the screws to pull the caps tightly against one another at the scarfs.

This week we’re going to show you how we create and plug the holes from our fastenings. We’re going to use the same material we used for the caps, in-whale and guards so they match in color and grain as best as possible.

We've got our V-Bottom Skiff all varnished up with TotalBoat Lust and she's looking absolutely fantastic. The next step for us is to cut down the transom to make it the right height to install our outboard motor. This is a very tricky cut and can really only be done in one way with a tough plunge cut using our circular saw. Check it out!!

The V-Bottom Skiff is going out the door! In this episode we put on our final coat of TotalBoat Wet Edge topside paint and also a final coat of Spartan Red bottom paint. This has been an amazing build and it's been so fun to share it with all of you. The boat is headed to the outboard motor shop to have the engine mounted on the transom and then we'll get her back, oil the interior and put her in the water for some sea trials in Rhode Island before delivering her to her new home in 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. We want to especially thank TotalBoat and everyone else who helped make this build possible. Next Project: ORCA!!

We've all been anxious for this moment, sea trials on our 23' V-Bottom Skiff! It's been 10 years in the making and to finally get it finished and in the water is a real achievement for us. We're not going to waste any time getting the boat up to speed and boy is it a thrill to drive. As soon as I get up on plane you could feel the weight of the boat, it rode smoothly even in light chop and stays on course almost automatically. It actually runs quiet and smooth and it turns very nicely, even at high speeds. This is an experience, even for me, you don't see this every day. And to have you guys along on the build just made it all the better, we couldn't more excited for our next project recreating ORCA from the movie JAWS.