Duckworks
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The Online Magazine For Amateur Boat Builders


Quick and Dirty Stitch and Glue

by Steve Lewis

Here is a quick pictorial assisted lesson on Stitch and Glue construction… My way. (click thumbnails for larger views)

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This is what we are building…Fisher 10. A 10 ft motor skiff designed for fishing.
 
Here is the boat hull “kit” or parts. These were plotted from offsets, then connect the dots and cut the parts. Everything was cut with a circular saw.
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Making the panels. Buttblocks on the bottom and fiberglass on top. Look carefully and you will see both side panels and both bottom panels (which are stacked on the floor).
 
Once the panels have cured it is time to start assembly. First we stitch the bottom together. Face the two bottom panels together and drill holes for the stitches in the keel edge. Stitch the holes together, leaving some slack in the wire or wire ties so you can unfold the panels.
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Here we have the panels unfolded, showing the increased curve or forefoot in the bow of the boat.
 
Now we stitch the sides to the bottom. Here I started from the rear transom edge, lining up the corners of the panels…simple!
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I spread the panels and braced them (sort of ), then stuck the transom in there and screwed the side panels to it.
 
I then got control of those floppy side panels by stitching the bow together.
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Here we have finished stitching the side panels to the bottom and have attached the transom to the bottom and side panels a little better. Starting to look like a boat.
 
Filleting and taping the hull. First you wet the joint with epoxy, then smear thickened epoxy into the corner of the joint, then smooth with an epoxy wetted brush, soaking the surrounding wood too. fiberglass tape is then laid into the resin and fillet and soaked with resin then let to cure.
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Cut and fit the seat panels and fillet them in. These are “tack fillets” to hold things.
 
Here we have the seats filleted and taped in and the tops going on. Now the structure is rigid.
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Now we flip the boat over and tape the seams. I like to do this dry, with a few staples to hold things in place.
 
Then we epoxy the seams. Here I soaked the wood prior to laying the bottom cloth on as I was doing both in one shot.
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6 Oz fiberglass put over the still wet tape and then soaked with resin.
 
Here we are with the gunnel epoxied on the inside of the boat resined and the seat tops curing their first coat of sealing resin.
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Well I’ll be damned…She Floats! Using a 9.9 hp motor, she subsequently planed nicely with two rather hefty men (about 425lbs) at the first Iowa Messabout.

Fisher10 offsets are available for free at

https://angelfire.com/ego/lewisboatworks

Go ahead…don’t just fantasize about building something, DO IT!…you really CAN. And yes…I got the panels backwards when I cut them…Still FLOATS though!