HC12 England

[bigyellowtractor]

A little bit of history............

About 10 years ago I found Bateau.com and got urges to build a boat. I couldn't decide which so bought the plans for GV11, SC16 and V12. At the time I had quite a big workshop space a bit of spare cash but it turned out, absolutely no time to build a boat.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago and my urge to be on the water was re-kindled. Now I do have a bit of time but a much smaller work area and no money so small and human powered it's got to be.

It is often noted that all boats have a designed displacement and that small boats in particular do not behave as intended if they aren't loaded. There's no point my having a 20ft canoe if want it to be able to be paddled by a couple of nippers or just myself. The HC12 looks like it should fit the bill perfectly.

I downloaded the plans and have already needed to seek some advice on here but am now ready to go.

My local timber merchant is getting a couple of sheets of BS1088 in for me and I should have them in a day or two. I have been in the carpentry/joinery/building trade for too many years now and know that the quality of ply these days is horrendous so do not have high hopes.

I have a source for epoxy that I've used before for bike related projects. It mixes as a 2:1 ratio which makes life easy and that is on it's way.

I'll order some tape tonight.

I am truly amazed at the projects that I see underway on here so I doubt many people will be overly interested in an "ickle" canoe build but I quite enjoy jabbering so I'll chatter away anyway.

I marked out some 6mm MDF today and cut templates for the panels and molds. The boat is symmetrical so it'll make things easy

[pee wee]

Thank you for volunteering to post a record of your build, and good luck with it.

[narfi]

I am glad to read any build threads here.
Hoping to start on my own HC14 within a week or two. (nearly ready to start but now that my checklist is nearly done it seems the honey-do check list has grown immensely)

[bigyellowtractor]

Cheers chaps,

I cut these yesterday but for some reason I deleted the picture

Epoxy arrived today but still no sign of the ply yet. I am expecting a pair of wheels to turn up for my Stinkwheel and I'm afraid that when they do they'll will take priority because I'm at an event next weekend.

[narfi]

What are the big holes in the center of each panel for?

[bateau-webmaster]

Narfi, these are templates, not the hull panels, presumably those are just for moving/gripping etc.

[narfi]

Ah i see now, that makes sense.... I was hoping to just use my first cutout of each as my templates, will that cause me any issues?

[bigyellowtractor]

Narfi, these are templates, not the hull panels, presumably those are just for moving/gripping etc.

They're drainage holes to let the water out if the boat gets swamped

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I figured that because the square ends of the panels are really small, it'd be easy to be a little bit out and over 12 feet, that could be quite a bit at the ends. I have marked an alignment line on the templates that can be transferred to the panels so that when I am joining them I can put a straightedge on the line. The holes are so I can "tick" the end of the line onto the panel and not need a 13ft straightedge.

I was hoping to just use my first cutout of each as my templates, will that cause me any issues?

That would've been my plan too but I had a bit of time, no ply but some MDF so thought I'd plot out the dims on that. The MDF was knocking about so if I cocked things up it'd be no loss and it'll make it really easy when I have the ply

[Eric1]

Drainage Holes!! That's Rich!!

[bigyellowtractor]

I cut out the molds today and went to pick up the ply. It was stamped up as BS1088 but was only three plys and the outers were about half a mm thick. Right or wrong, I have rejected it and ordered some bloody expensive ply from a known to be reliable source.

Also found a odd lump of windowboard in my junk rack to use for the portage yoke. It's plantation grown "Red Hardwood". It's very lightweight, the grain is swirly and it's a bugger to work. In the UK it's used for cheap front doors and trims. It's pants but to be honest, probably the only sort of hardwood that is sustainable.

I do have a couple of bits of mahogany that I was considering using for the seats but I may well just go with cleated ply as per the plans.

My wheels are back so I'll be working on The Stinkwheel this weekend.