Building the Otter
I don't know about you,
but I am not Bill Gates. Anymore, the cost of pontoon boats for
fishing requires that you own a company listed on the Nasdaq
exchange. I, for one, wasn't ready to fork over that kind of dough.
That's when I ran across Bateau.com.
They have dozens of plans for building plywood stitch and glue
boats. They even have a free set for a 7'10" pram called the
D4. I went ahead and bought the plans and the epoxy kit for about
$275 and the plywood cost about $75. That's about all you need,
besides the tools (power saw, sander and drill).
I began by ordering the
plans and the epoxy and flotation foam kit. The epoxy covers the
boat to keep the plywood safe from water and adds strength to the
structure. The kit also include fiber glass tape for the seams
between the plywood panels, wood flour for building fillets and the
flotation foam. The foam is added beneath the seats and makes the
boat unsinkable.
Once I was in my new
house and had taken care of an infestation of moving boxes, I purchased
the plywood, or rather tried to. Apparently, A/B plywood in the
thicknesses required has not made its way to Nevada. Maybe the new
Transcontinental Railroad will improve this situation when it is
built...what they finished that about a hundred years ago? Then
what's the #@%&* deal? I finally settled for some
expensive 1/4" oak plywood and some crappy 3/8" Douglas fir
rough faced siding. I am guessing 3/8" plywood is an
endangered species east of the Sierras. Nice! Guess
who gets to sand those smooth!
I did, however use the
message boards at Bateau.com
and got some nice suggestions. One was an outfit called Edensaw.com.
They can get some really nice marine plywood to you for a reasonable
cost. A bit much for this little project but not to bad if you
were building a bigger boat (luckily the D4 can be built with just about
any decent plywood product). Other suggestions included special
ordering from your local home center/lumberyard and one I can't mention
on these family oriented pages (just kidding).
