Micro Catboat

design by Paolo Lodigiani, Matteo Costa and Enrico Macera

DESCRIPTION AND GENRAL FEATURES

The design of the boat comes by request of a customer who is already owner of a catboat of Charles
W. Wittholz and who wanted to have a beautiful tender for his yacth. We designed, therefore, a
small dinghy of only 2.6 meters with simple and elegant lines, which can be armed with the
Optimist rig and sail.
The boat has a round hull and is made with the modern technique of Strip Planking. With the central
thwarts in the cockpit, the Micro Catboat can be used as sailing dinghy.

GENERAL DIMENSIONS
Length OA
Deck beam
Weight
Displacement (in navigation)
Sail area sqm

2,60
m
1,25
m
40
kg
120/180 kg
3,2
sqm

The plans of KIS 4.2S chine include the following documents

Presentation of the boat and general features
Building instructions
List of materials and technical specifications
DRAWINGS
Sheet 1
Sheet 2
Sheet 3
Sheet 4
Sheet 5
Sheet 6
Sheet 7
Sheet 8
Sheet 9

General views
Lines plan
Building jig
Molds and Bulkheads dimensions
Bulkheads reinforcements
Hull-Deck reinforcements
Centerboard and Rudder
Cockpit sole, Thwarts and Deck
Deck and Sail plan

1:20
1:10
1:15
1:10
1:10
1:10
1:5
1:10
1:20

This design is the copyright of B.C.A. DEMCO KIT. The purchaser of the plan is entitled to build
one boat only. To build more than one boat please contact the designer.
For further information contact

B.C.A. - Demco Kit

via Ricciarelli 21
20148 Milano
ITALY
tel
web
mail

+39 0248708331
www.bcademco.it
bcademco@gmail.com

Micro Catboat
MATERIALS LIST
HULL PLANKS
N 80 wood strips 3 mt length, 6x18mm of West Red Cedar or Mahogany
DECK, BULKHEADS, THWARTS, CENTERBOARD and RUDDER
1 sheet of Marine ply 6 mm, 3,1x1,6 m.
1 sheet of Marine ply 12 mm, 3,1x1,6 m.
BULKHEADS
B 1 (6 mm) aft face 842 mm from bow;
B 2 (6 mm) aft face 846 mm from bow;
B 3 (6mm) aft face 1430 mm from bow;
B 4 (6 mm) fore face 2376 mm from bow;
TRANSOM (6 mm) fore face 2709 mm from bow
BUILDING JIG
Molds
Poor quality wood, 15 mm thickness
Longitudinals
2x Fir 40x40 mm, length 2,3 mt
Cross beam
9x Fir 40x40 mm, length 760 mm
Legs
9x Fir 40x40 mm, length 400 mm
Remark:
To help the amateur boatbuilder on construction, we suggest to use an appropriate workbench to
increase the height of the building jig.

REINFORCEMENTS
Fir or Mahogany high quality wood
2,5 m
20 m
1,5 m

18x90 mm:
18x30 mm:
18x18 mm:

R1
R2,R3,R5,F
R7

RESIN AND FIBERGLASS

Completely sheathing the exterior of the hull with fiberglass cloth:
-

2 packs of resin 1+0,5 kg;

1 pack of additive powder 1,5 lt
8 m of fiberglass tape of 200 gr/sqm, width 10 cm;
5 m of fiberglass cloth 300 gr/sqm, width 127cm;
6 m of peel-ply cloth; (optional)

Micro Catboat
BUILDING SEQUENCE
1.

BUILDING JIG ASSEMBLY

See Strip planking general instruction.
Draw molds for building jig on poor quality plywood or hardwood, 15 mm thick.
See dimensions on sheet 4.
Install Transom on the jig.
Install stem. See sheet 3 for details.

2.

INSTALL KEELSON
Install keelson on the jig from the stem to the transom.
Cover the mold edges and notches with packaging tape to avoid the wood gluing to jig .

3.

STRIP PLANKING OPERATION

Bevel molds and stem edges to accept planks.
Glue the wood strips and start from sheer line to bottom hull symmetrically in both side. See
Strip planking general instruction.

4.

LAMINAZIONE DELLO SCAFO

During the gluing operation eliminate immediately the resin epoxy surplus. When the strips
are glued start with finishing to fairing the hull.
Install the skeg with charged epoxy resin. Complete gluing with an adequate epoxy fillet
bonding on the corner between hull and skeg.
The skeg installation can be done also after hull sheating. In this case dont cover the area
for skeg gluing.
Apply the fiberglass strips without epoxy to check right alignment and dimension.
Note, the fiberglass strips must be overlying about 30-40 mm. See Strip planking general
instruction.
Apply the epoxy resin over fiberglass.
Apply Peel Ply if required.
After 24 hours remove Peel ply and sand the hull with sand paper n400.

5.

CUT THE CENTERBOARD CASE HOLE

The fore face of the centerboard case is set at 1275 mm from bow.
See sheet 3 e 7 for details.

6.

TURN UPSIDE DOWN THE HULL

Assemble the slip way for the hull. Use Mold 2 and 6 dimensions to draw outside hull
shape to support
the boat when will upside-down.

7.

DRAW BULKHEADS OUTLINE ON THE PLYWOOD SHEETS

See dimensions and layout on sheets 4.

8.

CUT ALL PARTS

9.

BULKHEADS REINFORCEMENTS
Apply the reinforcements and doublers to bulkheads. See sheet 5 for details.
After 24 hours bevel all edges to accept the hull planks..

10.

INSTALL THE BULKHEADS

See sheet 3 for details.
Sheating a fiberglass tape 8 cm width along the bulkheads perimeter.

11.

INSTALL LONGITUDINAL REINFORCEMENTS

Apply R2, R3.
Apply R5 from the transom to the central thwarts.

12.

CENTREBOARD CASE AND BLADE

Draw all the parts of the centerboard blade and its case (see sheet 7). Centerboard case must
be assembled out of the boat.. Resin coat all inside faces of centerboard case. Before closing
the case check that the centerboard slides freely inside the case.
Let the centerboard case protrude through the bottom.
Trim the excess after the glue has set.
Apply R7.
See sheet 7 for details.

13.

APPLY LOCAL REINFORCEMENTS

Apply hardware reinforcements R6.
Apply the mast step. See sheet 5e 6 for details.

14.

INSTALL THWARTS
Cut all parts. See sheet 8.
Check thwarts dimensions on site.
The central thwart has the centerboard hole.

15.

APPLICAZIONE DELLA COPERTA

Draw the deck outlines on site (over the hull). See sheet 8 for details.
Glue the deck panel below R2 and to bulkheads 2.
Cut the mast hole.
Before gluing the deck, install mast partner M2 (PVC tube 60/65 mm diameters).
Apply a wood cap to the deck edges. See sheet 6 for details.

16.

INSTALL THE COCKPIT SOLE

The cockpit sole is made from hard wood limber, 12 mm thick and 12 cm width, held
together by floors. See sheet 6 e 8 for details.

17.

INSTALL RUDDER AND RUDDER CASE

See sheet 7 for details.

18.

INSTALL HARDWARE
See sheet 9 for details.
On the Micro Catboat, OPTMIST dinghy rig and sail can be use.

Micro Catboat

SCANTLINGS AND DESCRIPTION

HULL PLANKS
P

Strip planking
6x18 mm West Red Cedar / Mahogany

PLYWOOD PANELS
D

Deck
6 mm Marine plywood.
D1,D2 Thwarts
12 mm Marine plywood.
All thwarts are covered by Fir/Mahogany 6 mm thickness.

BULKHEADS
B1
B2
B3

B4

Bulkhead 1
6 mm Marine plywood, solid, behind mast.
Bulkhead 2
6 mm Marine plywood, solid. Below the deck at the end edge.
Bulkhead 3
6 mm Marine plywood, strengthen the centerboard case and hold up the thawart
central panel. A doubler is glued to the aft face for the cockpit sole.
Bulkhead 4
6 mm Marine plywood, solid, close the aft thwarts ahead.
Transom
6 mm Marine plywood.

REINFORCEMENTS
R1
R2
R3
R4

keelson
Fir/Mahogany 18x90 mm, from bow to transom. It has the centerboard case notch.
sheer clamp
Fir/Mahogany 18x30 mm, from bow to transom. Its glued inside the hull top edge.
Rubrail
Fir/Mahogany 18x18 mm, from bow to transom. Its glued outside the hull top edge.
Stem
Marine plywood 60x24 mm, placed between the mold1 and a triangular
reinforcement. The stem is joined with keelson by notch. See sheet 3 for details.
B.C.A. Demco Kit
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Micro Catboat
pag 1 of 3

R5

R6
R7

R8
R9

VTR

M1

M2

Thwarts stringer
Fir/Mahogany 18x30 mm, glued inside the hull, 40 mm below the deck line. It run
from stern to the Centerboard case bulkhead. (exactly 140 mm beyond the bulkhead
fore face).
Local reinforcement
Marine plywood 12 mm, triangular, glued between the transom and planks.
Thwarts reinforcement
Fir/Mahogany18x18 mm. Glued to the centerboard case side panel hold up the
central thwart.
Glued from the transom to Bulkhead 4, hold up the aft thwart.
Skeg
Marine plywood 18 mm. Glued along the keel line.
Deck reinforcement
Fir/Mahogany 12 mm, curved. Its glued below the deck edge. It increase the bonding
surface for the deck cap (3x35 mm).
Bulkhead doublers
Marine plywood 12x40 mm. They are glued to the bulkheads faces to increase the
bonding surfaces. See sheet 5 for details.
Fiberglass reinforcement
Fiberglass tape 10 cm width , 200 gr/sqm.
N1 layer of fiberglass cloth +/- 45 300 gr/sqm, outside the hull.
Mast step and Mast hole collar
Marine plywood 12 mm, square 80x80 mm with the mast hole. Are glued to the
keelson and to the deck outside.
The mast step hole (hole center) its placed 65 mm from Bulkhead 1 (aft face) 65 mm.
Mast partner
PVC or aluminum tube, glued between R1 and the deck. The inside diameter is 5 mm
bigger than the mast diameter.
Cockpit floors
Mahogany 18 mm thickness.

CENTERBOARD
C
C1
C2

Centerboard
Marine plywood o Lamellare di Fir/Mahogany, 24 mm thickness.
Centerboard case side panel
Marine plywood 12 mm.
Centerboard spacer
Fir/Mahogany 18x36 mm.
Centerboard bumpers
Polyurethane foam 40 Kg/m3. they are glued to the centerboard case spacers. See
sheet 7 for details.

B.C.A. Demco Kit

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www.bcademco.it - bcademco@gmail.com

Micro Catboat
pag 2 of 3

RUDDER
T
T1
T2
T3
T4

Rudder blade
Marine plywood or laminated Fir/Mahogany, 18 mm thickness.
Rudder case side panel
Marine plywood 6 mm strengthen by 1 layer of fiberglass cloth 300 gr/sqm.
Rudder case spacers
Fir/Mahogany 18x22 mm
Tiller
Fir/Mahogany 30x22 mm, glued inside the rudder case.
Pin
Stainless steel 5 mm

RIG and DECK HARDWARE

See sheet 9 for details.
On Micro-cat, Optimist rig and sail can be use.

B.C.A. Demco Kit

via Ricciarelli, 21 - 20148 MILANO - ITALY
www.bcademco.it - bcademco@gmail.com

Micro Catboat
pag 3 of 3

STRIP PLANKING
INSTRUCTIONS

B.C.A. DEMCO - Kit

via
Ricciarelli,
21
20148 Milano - ITALY
+39.02.4870.8331
www.bcademco.it
bcademco@gmail.com

STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

STRIP PLANKING
CONSTRUCTION METHOD

INDEX

003

Introduction

007

Step by step building instructions

030

Materials and tools

035

Final suggestions to the boatbuilder

page 2

STRIP PLANKING

1.

INSTRUCTIONS

INTRODUCTION

Strip planking is an increasingly popular method of boat construction (over half of all our new
design work is for strip planked craft). It enables the amateur boat builder to produce a beautiful
round bilged hull without having traditional boat building skills. It is certainly an easy method of
round bilged hull construction and one which produces a very tough one piece monocoque hull
shell which will require little maintenance and which will last far longer than a conventionally built
wood hull.
Strip Plank construction gives a smooth hull, avoiding the hard lines of S&T and CP. It also gives
an immensely strong monocoque structure which can take some very rough handling.
Strip plank boats are built by gluing strips of wood - usually Western Red Cedar edge to edge
of moulds which we can supply. When the shape of the hull is complete, the hull is sanded
completely smooth, any gaps lled, and then coated with glass in epoxy. Done well enough, the
hull can be nished bright, and look stunning. Once the outer hull is covered, the boat is turned
and the inside glassed. The hull can then be tted out.
Strip planking is a form of carvel planking. The hull is built over forms using strips of wood, edgeglued, and edge fastened together. The strips are kept narrow so that there is very little shaping
required. Strips are usually a minimum of 1/2 thick, with a maximum width of 1 1/2 times the
thickness. With modern epoxy adhesives, it is the glue and not the fasteners that holds the hull
together. Strips can be cut from wider lumber and tted to the previous plank as required by the
curvature of the hull, or they can be bead and cove. Bead and cove is somewhat like a ball and
socket. One edge of the wood is concave, the other convex. This method eliminates having to
t each plank to the previous plank. Ideally, planks are long enough to put on in one piece, but
it usually doesnt happen that way. Longer planks can be made by scarng two shorter planks.
Scarng involves cutting the ends of the planks on a long bevel, lapping them, and gluing together.
The length of the scarf should be at least ve times the thickness of the plank. Scarf joints should
be glued on a at surface and allowed to thoroughly cure before installing on the boat. Making
bead and cove/buying bead and cove.
If a design calls for 1/2 thick planks, the planks can be ripped from 3/4 material. Bead and cove
bits are available for shapers and routers, but if you intend to shape your own, it is best to rig up a

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STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

long table on both sides of you shaper as the long thin pieces can be difcult to handle. Alternately
you can purchase the lumber already milled. The lumber used in the project shown below is bead
and cove Western red cedar.

1.1

TO NAIL OR NOT TO NAIL

With epoxy, nails are redundant. If you are building a boat with 3/4 thick or thicker planks, nails
can be a great help in construction, allowing you to hold the planks in place without a lot of
clamps. For thinner planks, you may nd yourself abandoning fasteners as they are difcult to
drive straight in the time allowed by the glue, and many of the nails will come out one side or the
other. Galvanized nish nails are frequently used but may not hold if the wood is soft and there is
a lot of twist in the plank. In such a case it is best to use ring shank boat nails or clamps. If using
thickened epoxy, the purpose of the fastener is to hold the plank in place until glue sets.
Here a cleat has been temporarily attached to the planking to facilitate clamping. Washer blocks
are also shown. Squares of plywood are laid on polyethylene lm, nailed through to hold planking
to the form. The planking can be clamped to the form if cleats have been added to the perimeter of
the form.

1.2

FORMS

All of our strip planked boats use temporary forms without permanent frames. If forms are meant to
be temporary, the edges should be covered with polyehtylene to prevent the planking from sticking
to forms. It is important that the planking strips be held tight against the form in order to eliminate
a lot of unnecessary fairing. It is usually necessary to use temporary fasteners into the forms or
clamps to keep the hull shape. If the forms are plywood (usually the case) it is best to glue strips of
wood around the perimeter of the form and trim to the form contour. This allows you to fasten into
wood or provide a place for clamps to grip. If there are to be permanent bulkheads in the hull, the
planking can be glued and permanently fastened to them. Protect the surfaces of any permanent
bulkheads with polyethylene lm, as there is a lot of glue dripping.

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STRIP PLANKING

1.3

INSTRUCTIONS

PLANKING

Planking can begin at the keel and work toward the sheer or vice versa; or in the middle working
toward the keel and the sheer. Any of these methods work, but some may have advantages on
specic designs. If the hull is to be nished naturally, the planking procedure should be chosen for
appearance. Natural planking looks best when run parrallel to the sheer. If natural, carefully select
planks so that opposite sides match and keep joints tight.
When starting at the sheer it is easier to t the rst planks, which is an advantage for rst time
builders. The bottom planks become more difcult to t, as longer and longer tapers are required at
the keel. Luckily, with thickened epoxy, exact ts are not absolutely neccessary.
Planking from the keel toward the sheer almost insures that the planks will run off; that they will
not run parallel at the sheer. If the hull is to be painted this may not matter, however, if the hull is not
berglassed, the planking pattern will most likely become visible through the paint.

1.4

FAIRING

In the case of a strip planked hull, fairing is a process of smoothing out the hull to give it a smoother
(fair) appearance. When the hull is viewed from either end, there should be no visible bumps or
depressions. Be careful if using soft woods like cedar. Cedar is very easy to fair away, and it is
difcult to judge how much you are removing. During the planking phase, it is therefore important to
keep the planks tight against the form so that you wont have to remove too much to make the hull
fair. This is why clamping strips are installed on the forms; so that stubborn planks can be pulled into
place.

1.5

A WORD ABOUT FIBERGLASS

Traditionally planked boats cannot be successfully berglassed. The planks will move and something
has to give. Strip planking avoids this by using narrow strips with rigid glue bonds. For berglassing
to be successful, the inside of the hull must be well sealed.

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STRIP PLANKING

2.

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP BY STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS

These notes will describe step by step how to build a boat in composite strip planking.
Appropriate wood for strip planking is western red cedar (hereinafter written WRC) but you may use
also other woods (such as yellow pine, paulownia, etc) provided that they are light and glue well.
You must use epoxy resin, not polyester or vinylester. You may use polyurethane glue for gluing
each strip tio the next one (never for laminating the berglass) but we strongly suggest using only
epoxy.
We will describe what is commonly called the open mold method. Once you master the open mold
technique, you can graduate to vacuum bagged or infused hulls.
We will focus on the techniques specic to composite strip planking. You may refer to general boat
building books for details about building steps common to all methods such as strongbacks set up,
bulkheads alignment, outtting, etc.
We recommend The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction.

2.1

OVERVIEW OF THE HULL BUILDING METHOD

The fundamental steps of the procedure are:

- creating a hull shape around a wooden jig,
- berglassing the outside,
- ipping the hull,
- removing the jig and berglassing the inside skin.

After completion of the hull, the internal components will be added.

Those familiar with plywood stitch and glue method will recognize the procedure.
The differences in building methods between plywood and composite strip planking sandwich result
from the difference in stiffness between the two materials. Plywood is stiff and will require less
molds. In plywood cored composite, the frames and bulkheads can often be used as molds.
WRC strips are more imsy and must be supported by a more dense structure with closely spaced
molds. Frames and bulklheads may be used as molds but in most cases it is more convenient to use
only provisional molds in order to have a naked interior once you ip the hull.

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STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

A major difference is the lamination schedule. The berglass skins used in foam sandwich are much
thicker than in plywood sandwich.

2.2

STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE

1 build a jig
2 plank with WRC strips
3 berglass the outside
4 ip the hull
5 remove jig
6 berglass inside
7 install internal structure
8 build superstructure
9 nishing and painting

We shall focus on the building of the hull, deck and structural elements. For the accommodations,
systems installation and paint please refer to specialized books and suppliers technical
documentation.

1 BUILD THE JIG

Materials and jig types.
The specications for the jig such as the number and spacing of molds depend on the thickness of
the strips used and are specied in the plans.
You can use plain rectangular planks or bead and cove strips.
Bead and cove requires either pre-shaped strips or strips with the bead and cove cut by the builder
on a router or shaper. This option is much more labor intensive. In addition to the increase in labor,
there will be a waste of expensive material.
A faster, easier and less expensive method is to use plain rectangular section strips.
Planking with WRC strips has its own requirements. WRC is not as stiff as plywood and will sag
between widely spaced molds.

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STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

How much the WRC will sag depends on the type, thickness and width of the strips.
Keep in mind that while the planks may look fair at rest, you will be pushing on them while wetting
the berglass fabric with resin.
Wide and thick planks will be stiffer than thin narrow ones.
Hull shapes with little curvature in section will allow the use of wider (= stiffer) strips but that may not
be sufcient to take care of the sagging problem.
In addition to good fastening between the planks, there are two ways to keep the WRC strips from
sagging:
- reduce the spacing between molds
- using thicker strips
Molds spaced about 18 (45 cm) are generally sufcient to support WRC 1/2 thick or more for
moderate curvature shapes.

STRONGBACK
The rst step for building the jig is to build a strongback to support the molds. All boat building books
describe how to build a strongback and level it.
The strongback is a ladder type frame usually made from heavy wooden beams but some builders
use steel framing for bigger boats.
Figure 2.1 - Strongback setup
timbers

spall

page 8

STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

On the strongbacks you will mount the molds. The strongbacks must be levelled. This is extremely
important but easy to achieve. A hose water level is the best tool to level a strongback. It is a simple
clear plastic tube lled with colored water.
To use such a water level is simple: attach one end to a wall with the water approximately at the
level of one corner of the strongback. Put the other end against the corner of the strongback and
measure the difference. Lets say that your strongback is 2 below the colored water level. All other
corners must be adjusted to be at the same 2 below. This is much more accurate than any mason
level or laser system.
The strongbacks must not only be level but square. Compare the diagonals, if they are equal, the
strongback frame is square.

MOLDS
Molds can be made from solid sheets of plywood, chipboard or custom wood, or they can be
assembled from timber planks gusseted together. Custom wood or MDF is slightly more expensive
but is by fat the most popular with professional builders because of its stability, ease of working and
ability to hold nails and screws without splitting.

Figure 2.2 - Setup molds on the strongback

page 9

STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

The frames must be clearly marked with a centerline and at least one datum WL to allow accurate
setup on the strong back and in the case of the gusseted plank frame the cross framing should be
at he same height on each frame to assist with vertical alignment.

Figure 2.3 - Mold frames alignment.

Construction should be strong enough to provide a stable platform throughout the hull construction
process keeping in mind that any bending relatively stiff planking onto the mould can impart signicant
loads on the mould.

The recommended minimum sheet thickness for solid frames is 5/8 (16mm) with 3/4 (19mm) to 1
(25mm) recommended for bigger boats.
In some cases, CNC cut molds are available. For all our composite strip planking boats, a DXF le
showing the stations full size is available. A DXF le is a Drawing eXchange Format le, a CAD le
compatible with all systems. All blue print shops and plotting services can read DXF les.
Our DXF les can be used by a plotting service to print full size patterns. Mylar should be used
for patterns because paper is not dimensionally stable. You can also cut your own molds from
the dimensions given on the plans. All our plans for composite strip planking sandwich show the
dimensions for each mold.

page 10

STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

FABRICATING THE MOLDS

If you do not use full size patterns extracted from our DXF les, you must draw the molds on a table
or oor made from plywood sheets.

Denitions
Before we proceed, lets in introduce some notions that we will use: stations, waterlines and buttocks.
Those are sections through the hull used to represent the 3 dimensional shape in 2 dimensions.

The WATERLINE (WL) are just what the name says: lines produced by sections parallel to the water
line.

Figure 2.4 - Waterlines sections.

Figure 2.5 - 3D Waterlines rappresentation.

page 11

STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

The STATIONS are transversal cuts.

Figure 2.6 - Stations sections.

Figure 2.7 - 3D Stations rappresentation.

The BUTTOCKS are longitudinal sections perpendicular to the waterline (vertical)

Figure 2.8 Buttocks sections.

Figure 2.9 - 3D Buttocks rappresentation.

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STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

We will use the STATIONS lines to draw the molds.

Boat building books describe different methods to transfer the station lines to the molds material.
All these books require the builder to draw the outline of the molds full size on the shop oor or on
a large plywood platform and transfer that outline to the molds material.
Note that this is not lofting. Lofting is a much more elaborate task during which the lofter draws the
all the boat lines, WLs, buttocks and stations full size and corrects drafting errors due to scaling
problems.
Boats designed in 3D CAD do not require lofting. The dimensions extracted from the 3D models are
much more accurate than what can be achieved through lofting. There may be more stations and
the diagonals are not always shown.
The designer can show the station dimensions in different ways. The traditional method use a table
of offsets instead of dimensions.

HOW TO READ THE OFFSETS

Reminder: no drawing is necessary if you use Mylar templates or have your molds cut by a CNC
shop from our DXF les. In that case, skip this paragraph and go to the molds set up.
A table of offsets is simple to use. All the points used to draw the curves are located either on a
waterline or on a buttock. The table gives either a width or a height for each point.

Figure 2.10 Lines Plan of Paloma 6,50 BCADemcokit

Figure 2.11- Table of offpage 13

STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

The picture above shows a traditional table of offsets. Each column shows points on a station. For
example, column 5, row WL1 is 21.92 (557mm). This means that on station 5, the intersection of
waterline 1 is at 21.92 (557mm) from the centerline.
We use another type of offsets drawings. We supply one drawing per station and show each point
on that drawing.

Figure 2.12- Drawing of molds.

If the boat has 20 stations, we provide 20 drawings as above.

The drawing is in millimeters (metric)
The grid lines have a constant spacing and their position is dened by their distance to the baseline
or center line.
The baseline for the waterlines is the DWL (Design Water Line calculated on the basis of the
estimated displacement of the boat). The WL are numbered starting from the lower one (usually
correspondent to the bottom of the hull).
We also supply with our plans a traditional table of offsets which is useful for checking but generally
is not used for building as the spacing of the molds is given in the plans and for dening the hull
shape precisely it is enough to draw and cut the molds and to position them correctly on the jig.

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STRIP PLANKING

INSTRUCTIONS

STATIONS OUTLINE
To draw the molds from a table of offsets or from our stations drawing, the rst step is to draw the
grid on which we will mark the points.
Start by setting up a drawing board. This is usually sheets of plywood.
Our grid will correspond to the WL (waterlines, horizontal lines) and Buttocks (Vertical lines) show
on the plans. On that grid, we will mark all the points that dene one station and join them with a fair
curve.
Note that you will probably use this drawing to cut not only molds but bulkheads and frames. It
is much easier to draw the lines once and take all outlines from the drawing instead of taking the
dimensions of bulkheads and frames dimensions from the inside of the hull after it is built.
Taking dimensions from the drawings is also more accurate. While it may take you a day to draw all
the curves, later you will save you several days of work when building the inside.
If the designer takes it in consideration (as we do), the stations will be located as much as possible
at the main bulkheads and frames.

READING THE DIMENSIONS

While the drawing shows two sides for clarity, we will only draw one side and use it to draw the other
side. To join these points, use a batten and weights, or nails. The batten can be wood or plastic.
Once we have the station, we can draw the mold outline.
Most of the time, the station shows the outside of the hull but the molds must t inside the hull
material. The mold is smaller than the station. In our plans the dimensions of the mold is given inside
the planking (not that the traditional table of offsets is based on the hull shape. In other words it is
outside planking). The planking thickness deduction is made by the design software.
Almost all designers draw the stations as sections through the outside surface of the hull.
There are good reasons for that: the designer doesnt know what exact size of mold battens will be
used if any and there may be material thickness options.
In the case of composite strip planking, the molds will be on the inside face of the planking and we
must offset the outline of the mold by the thickness of the foam plus the average thickness of the
outside skin.

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Planking thickness

Inside Planking

Outside Planking

Figure 2.13- The Planking thickness deduc-

Now that we have the mold outline, we must transfer it to the mold material.

TRANSFER OUTLINE TO MOLDS MATERIAL

The Gougeon book shows four methods of transferring the stations outlines to the molds. We like
the tracing paper method.
Copy the line to tracing paper (translucent bond) and transfer from the paper to the mold with a
pounce wheel. You can either make one copy per mold or better, make a copy of several molds on
a large piece of pattern paper and transfer from there to the molds with the pounce wheel.
Another valid method is the nails system. This works well with particle board molds. Line up a row
of nails with their heads along the outline of the mold then press the mold on the nails. The nails will
mark the material and you can draw a line through those points.
Last but not least, instead of drawing on a separate table and then transferring to the molds, it is
valid to draw each mold directly on the mold material.
Whatever method you used to draw and cut your molds, each mold should have crucial lines clearly
marked: centerline and baseline, sheer line and DWL if shown on the plans.
Molds can be made from solid sheets of particle boards, plywood or framing wood. For large boats, it
is often necessary to have access to the inside of the jig, this may require to cut large holes in molds
made from full sheets of particle board.

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SETTING UP THE JIG

There is more than one good method to install the molds on the strongbacks but think of how you
will align the molds during the set up.
You will have to move your molds in 3 directions: back and forth, sideways and up and down.
The fore and aft alignment is easy: mark the location of the molds on the strongbacks and check with
a plumb line. We like to put some of the strongback cross beams at a mold location. The centerline
alignment can be checked with a plumb line dropped from a steel cable running above the jig or
better, with an inexpensive laser pointer. The same laser method can be used to level all molds to
the baseline.

plumb line

plumb line

Figure 2.14- Molds alignment.

Drill small holes to check alignment; a laser beam must run through all the holes if the molds are
correctly set up.
One hole on the centerline at the same height for all molds is a good start but two additional ones
on the same waterline and at the same distance from the centerline are perfect. If your laser beam
passes through the 3 holes, your jig is perfectly lined up.
We have found that a 3/8 diameter (10 mm) hole is ne for a precise alignment.
Molds should be braced after alignment.
Important note: the distances for the set up of the molds from the origin point (bow of the hull) are
given in the plans.

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Figure 2.15- Jig completed.

These distances refer to the position of the relevant section of the hull. To avoid the need to bevel
the frame edges, the frames forward of the broadest section should be set up on the aft side of the
setup line and the frames aft on the forward side. You apply the contrary rule in case you bevel
the edges (which is not necessary in most cases). In this case the frames forward of the broadest
section should be set up on the aft side of the setup line and the frames aft on the forward side.

2 PLANK WITH WRC STRIPS

STRIP WIDTH
The width of the planking strips depends on the curvature of the hull. In at areas, wide strips can be
used, in others, the planks must be narrow to produce a smooth curve. Our plans specify the width
of the planks. Which is generally the same in all the parts of the hull. It may be between 0.78 (20
mm) to 1.37 (35 mm).
Dont be tempted to use wider planks to minimise the time required for the planking operation. In
reality the strip planking process is relatively fast and easy compared to building the rest of the boat.
Wider planks will require more fairing work and more bog to achieve a fair surface, and will increase
the likelihood of print through due to movement in the planks. Cut some short strips at various widths
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and try them on various curves of the mould frames. If the plank is resting on the frame in the middle
and there is half a millimeter gap between the plank and the frame on each side, then you will need
half a millimeter of bog all over to fair the hull. A gap of one millimeter is about the maximum that
should be tolerated.

STRIP FASTENING TO MOLDS

The strips will be fastened to the molds edge from outside with screws. The molds edges are
covered with scotch tape or similar to avoid the possibility of gluing the planking strips to it.

Plank to plank fastening

Some builders glue the strips together with spots of hot glue, others tie them to the molds with straps
(masking tape) and spot weld with fast cure epoxy glue in between, other use nails (or preferably
wooden toothpicks) to keep the strips joined and aligned. Different systems may be used together. In
most cases if the spacing between the molds is correct screwing the strips to the molds is sufcient
to keep them aligned.

Planking sequence
As a general rule you always should lay the planks parallel to the tightest curve. Never try to twist
them around the curve. A master plank should be laid along the point of tightest curvature rst. You
dont have to start planking at this point - you can measure down to the gunnel an equal distance on
each frame and start your rst plank parallel to the master plank so you dont have to taper planks
when you get to the bilge curve. A little patience here will save a lot of painful fairing trying to get a
fair hull later.
Another common method consist of planking from the sheer up to where the chine curvature starts
and then start at the keel, proceeding towards the chine.
The planks between those two areas must be cut to t as you progress.
These are the most common way to lay out the planks but other methods are valid.
In most cases, the transom will be left open to provide access to the inside of the jig but it is not an
absolute requirement.

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Figure 2.16- Planks from Keel.

Figure 2.17- Mixed planking: from keel and bilge.

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Gluing and Fastening the Planks

The rst step is to set up a gluing table beside the hull so that the thickened epoxy glue can be
applied to the planks at a comfortable working height. Several planks can be buttered at one time
but the exact number will depend on the number of people working, the length of the hull (planks)
and the gel time of the resin which will itself be a function of the temperature. Some sort of clamping
arrangement should be used to ensure the planks stay tight against each other during the buttering
process.
Once the planks have been positioned on the mold they may need some intermediate fairing strips
to assist the alignment between the frames. This is very important as any misalignment will increase
the amount of fairing work to be done later on.
The fairing strips can be made from 50mm (2) wide strips of 3mm ply and these are placed across
the planking as required to keep the planks aligned. Plastic strips are placed under the fairing strips
to prevent the fairing strips becoming glued to the hull.
The strips should be prepared before the planking begins and they are fastened to the planks with
crown head staples and a staple gun. If more force is required to align the planking a soft batten can
be used on the inside of the hull, and the fairing strip pulled tight down onto the batten with a screw
and electric screwdriver.
All fasteners should be removed and the holes lled with epoxy putty before nal sealing of the
surface and glassing.
After the planking has been completed and the surface sanded and all visible holes lled, it needs
to be coated with epoxy to thoroughly seal the surface before glassing begins. Any unsealed timber
surface will tend to blow small air bubbles into the laminate.
The rst sealing coat should be thinned to allow good penetration of the epoxy and it is best done in
the afternoon when the timber is more likely to be breathing in instead of out.
When the outside of the hull is faired and nished you ma apply the outside berglass skin.

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3 FRIBERGLASS THE OUTSIDE

You start with a priming coat of resin over which you apply the layers of glass specied by the
designer.
We prefer to work wet on wet. This is applying one layer glass and epoxy over the other while the
rst one is still wet or green. Green means not yet hardened or cured.
Wet on wet has many advantages. In particular this method will produce a laminate with a higher
glass content (this means stronger) and we avoid potential amine problems and sanding between
coats.
There are two problems that could keep us from working wet on wet: exothermic and exing of the
planking.
Exothermic problems result from heat produced by the epoxy cure. Fortunately, epoxy has a much
lower exothermic than polyester and only very thick laminates require you to do the layup in several
steps. For those hulls, the lamination will require several days anyway.

We prefer to use full lengths of glass. On large hulls, it may not be physically possible to apply the
berglass lengthwise. In that case, the glass can be laid up across the hull but pay attention to the
ber orientation.
If wet on wet is not possible, depending on the resin type and temperature, you may have to scrub
the resin amine blush between layers of epoxy.
You may use a nishing veil to reduce the need for fairing. This is a last layer of glass, a very thin
one, installed after a rough fairing of the previous layers.

All fasteners should be removed and the holes lled with epoxy putty before nal sealing of the
surface and glassing.

All the hull fairing should be done while the hull is upside down.

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FIGURE 2.18- APPLYING LAYERS OF GLASS.

FIGURE 2.19- KEEL TOTALLY COVERED WITH GLASS LAYER.

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4 FLIP THE HULL

Roll the hull over which ever way you want. Since you will need a cradle to support the hull while
upright, it makes sense to build it now and use it to roll the hull over. This is not difcult thanks to the
light weight of the hull at this stage.
The shape of the roll over cradle and how it is fastened to the jig will depend on the boat but two
external frames parallel to the molds with bracing are sufcient.
One or two persons can turn over a large hull this way: lift one side with jacks until the hull is
balanced on a corner of the cradle.
Use a hoist (come along) to control the roll until the hull is at 90 degrees to the oor
repeat for another 90 degrees until the hull is resting keel down, open side up.
Some builders use a cradle with rounded corners to facilitate the roll.
This arrangement simple provides for the two supporting mould frames to have chamfered corners
which allow the hull or deck component to be rolled from one side to the other to allow easy lamination
of the internal surfaces or installation of internal components. I have seen mould frame rolling cradles
with six sides and eight sides.

FIGURE 2.20- ROUNDED CRADLE.

rounded corner

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5 REMOVE THE JIG

With the hull right side up, add more support frames as necessary and check diagonals and level.
Once the outside is well supported, before removing the molds, transfer some important measurements
to the inside of the planking: baseline (or a waterline) and some main station locations. Those marks
will be visible through the resin. This will help us align frames, bulkheads, sole etc.

6 FIBERGLASS INSIDE
Your plans will show those local reinforcements and specify the lamination schedule.
The inside lamination is done the same way as the outside skin.

7 INSIDE STRUCTURE
Interior reinforcements are usually put in after the hull is formed
Interior reinforcements may be:
- longitudinal reinforcements of the hull, such as stringers, sheer clamps or gunwale, which
follow the curve of the hull. Generally in strip planking construction there are very few
stringers
- longitudinal reinforcements of the deck or of the cockpit double bottom, generally straight
pieces going from a bulkhead to another
- bulkheads, in plywood
- frames, usually perpendicular to the axis of the boat, wich follow the curve of the hull
- beams, which support the deck and follow the curve of the deck

The curved pieces may be bent in situ or, in case the curvature radius is reduced, pre-bent laminating
different pieces of wood or laminated in situ.
Longitudinal elements t inside the openings of the bulkheads (and of the reinforcement battens
glued to the faces of the bulkheads) as specied in the drawings.
Beams t inside the sheer clamp.
The interior reinforcements are attached with epoxy and held in place with provisional screws from
the outside. The screws are later removed and the holes lled with thickened epoxy.

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All at parts like bulkheads, frames, sole etc. should be built outside of the boat in plywood or
laminated wood as shown in the plans.
WRC sandwich used in composite strip planking is a very stiff material and requires much less framing
than traditional wooden boatbuilding. In most cases, interior components are used as structural
framing and very few if any additional stiffeners are required. Transversal and longitudinal bulkheads,
stringers or engine girders, sole and deck will all become part of a monocoque structure.
The way those components are bonded to the hull is critical. A plywood stiffeners edge should
never push directly on the inside of the planking as the load has to be transmitted on a wider area.
Bulkheads (or other plywood stiffeners) must be tabbed into the hull along both front and back
faces and around their entire perimeter. Tabbing is made by a llet bonding with epoxy putting and
lamnination of berglass cloth. Specications of the tabbing are given in the plans.

8 BUILDING THE SUPERSTRUCTURE

After all the deck reinforcements have been attached they are beveled to be prepared to the deck
installing.
First of all the shape of the deck panel has to be designed on the plywood sheet (or sheets if the
deck is too long or large to be taken from a single sheet).
The panel has to be put on the hull, provisionally xed with some screws and the sheer of the hull is
scribed with a pencil on the lower part of the panel.
The plywood must be cut along the scribed line keeping the cutting line a little larger in order to allow
for some error installing the deck.
After cutting the panels they have to be tried again in the nal position before gluing. If various panels
have to be joined to make the deck the scarng has to be made on a beam or on a bulkhead.
When everything is ready you apply unthickened epoxy to the bottom of the deck and thickened
epoxy to the sheer clamps, to the top edge of the bulkhead and of the hull. Next you position the
deck panel on the boat and clamp it down using clamps (you need many of them) or brass (or
copper) nails. It is advisable to drill pilot holes for the nails to go into. It makes it easier to nail them
all in nice straight line and there is less chance of the sheer clamp splitting.
You must nail the deck to the sheer clamp alternating sides and doing about two or three nails at a

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time.
As the gluing has been completed there shall be some epoxy squeezing from the seam. It has to be
removed before it hardens. You may after completing the gluing ip the boat over so that any drips
would not run down the hull. As the deck panels are cut about some centimeters too big all around
after the glue is dry you cut it off with a saber saw and plane or sand it ush. It is possible that some
gaps remain between the top edge of the side panels and the deck. To correct this you mix up some
thickened epoxy and spread it into any gaps before leaving it to dry.
This procedure is generally sufcient to give a strong hull to deck join. In bigger boats we also
suggest to tab the deck to the hull laminating outside a berglass tape (in this case the chine has to
be rounded before berglassing).
After completing the deck you may install the deck hardware through bolting it to the deck.
Chainplates, rubrails, cleats, winches and other hardware should be always installed on wide backing
plates. Using epoxy resin to install deck hardware strongly improves the resistance of the fastening
and reduces the risk of water entering into the wood.

9 FINISHING AND PAINTING THE HULL

We explain here how to fair and nish the external hull surface here but this can be done (especially
in larger boats) also before ipping the hull and installing the internal structure.
Before fairing, check that all surfaces inside and outside are coated with epoxy resin. If you are
satised with a work boat nish, a quick sanding and paint will be sufcient but most builders will
fair to a certain degree for a better nish. Fairing is a two step process. The rst step is fairing for a
smooth, fair hull. During that stage you correct the unevenness of parts of the hull, grinding down
high spots like the edge of the tape and lling low spots, along the edge of the tape. During that
stage, you will use coarse grit sand paper: from 40 to 80 grit. Gaps and low spots will be lled with
a fairing putty.
Use wide exible plastic putty knives to apply the putty.
If you make your own putty, mix your resin as usual and add llers to the desired consistency: make
a rm putty or a slurry depending on the job.

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Sanding
The sanding is usually done with a dual action random orbital sander.
After a few passes, your hull should be fair and ready for the primer.
The goal of fairing with putty is not to obtain a surface ready to paint but to eliminate all high and low
spots, to produce a fair surface.
The nal fairing will be done with sanding primer (also called high build primer).
The high build primer will cover sanding scratches, small imperfections but will not ll large low
spots. You have to decide when your surface is fair and ready for the primer.

Primer
The primer can be applied with a brush, a roller or sprayed on. Spraying is much faster but we
suggest for safety reasons to use a roller .You should apply several coats of primer before starting
to sand. This will build up some thickness to cover the imperfection.
Allow the primer to cure a few hours, not more than a day. The primer will become very hard in a few
days and we suggest to sand before it reaches that stage.
If there are still low spots after the rst thin layer of primer has been put the areas can be lled with
more primer.
As you progress, reduce the grit of the sanding paper.
An amateur builder will probably be satised with 150 grit at the primer stage.

The nal painting is straight forward. It can be done by brushing or spraying.

You can apply non-skid on the sole and foredeck: use masking tape to dene a non-skid area and
apply paint mixed with non-skid powder.
You can apply non-skid on the sole and foredeck: use masking tape to dene a non-skid area and
apply paint mixed with non-skid powder.
Non skid is some type of sand mixed paint. You can adjust the roughness by varying the amount of
non skid additive.
A nice touch is to use a slightly darker paint for the non skid and cut round corners.

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Boot Stripe
A boot stripe is easy to paint.
On a level oor, block your boat level and using a stick, mark the boot stripe every 10 inches.
Join the marks with masking tape.
Add tape along the other edge and paint.
The nal touch is to spray a few coats of Clear Coat over the whole job.
For a perfect gloss, sand between coats.

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MATERIALS SPECIFICATIONS

MATERIALS SPECIFICATIONS

Epoxy
In the stitch and glue method you have to use an epoxy system to do the gluing and laminating.
Polyester resin does not give the same results and it has to be avoided. The reason for this is that
nothing sticks as well to wood as epoxy. Many brands, such as WEST System, SP System, Epoxy
Three systems or others have a line of epoxy solutions that are specically designed for building
wooden boats. They generally include different kinds of resin and hardener, various additives and
sometimes pre-mixed lleting compound and pre-mixed fairing compound. Even if they are more
expensive pre-mixed compounds reduce mess, waste, and save time
Having 5 minute epoxy around can be helpful and speed up the building process when tacking
things into place.

Before applying the glue, we recommend to prime the plywood with liquid resin.
When we say liquid resin, we mean a mix of resin and hardener, not just the resin part.
Epoxy resin is always made by mixing two parts, the resin and the hardener.
Epoxy resin is easy to use. The resin looks like a thick varnish. You must mix the two parts, resin
and hardener, before application. Apply the mixed resin to the plywood or berglass and, after a few
hours, the resin will become hard and strong.
Epoxy glue (or putty) is liquid epoxy resin mixed with woodour or other additives to a peanut butter
consistency.
Do not apply too much pressure gluing two pieces together. Epoxy does not require a tight t, quite
the opposite. If you push all the glue out with too much pressure, the bond will fail.
Wait a few hours for the epoxy to cure, ideally overnight.

Epoxy products contain chemicals that are a safety hazard, especially if these chemicals come in
contact with the skin. It is strongly recommended that rst you educate yourself about the risk and
second that you work with the proper equipment and work cleanly. Resin suppliers often propose
also safety and hygiene supplies including tyvek suits, latex & nitrile gloves, and respirators.

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Fairing Putty, Comments and Recommendations

You can make your own fairing compound from epoxy resin mixed with a ller or work with a premixed
putty. The fairing putty must be made with epoxy resin. Polyester based putties are unacceptable as
they do not bond properly to epoxy, they will ake off.
Prepare your own putty using a ller made of a mix of micro balloons and colloidal silica. Silica cures
to a very hard nish but is required in the mix for thixotropy. Without it, the putty would run or sag
along vertical surfaces.
Premixed putties have advantages. Not only are they easier to use but they cure much faster than
home made putties and are much easier to sand. If you make your own fairing putty, you may have
to wait between 24 and 72 hours for a complete cure. You cant sand an uncured putty, it will clog
the sanding disk. Check fairness before applying putty. This is done by running a straight edge on
the bottom or bending a batten along the sides.

Amine Problems:
We recommend to work wet on wet (using epoxy resin on surfaces treated with epoxy before the
complete curing of the resin, i.e. within 12 hours, and this eliminates most amine problems.
Even if some resins are prepared with a low amine content with most of the resins you must take in
account amine blush.
Amines are part of some epoxy hardeners. During the cure, part of those amines may not combine
with the other components and migrate towards the surface.
As long as the epoxy cross linking reaction is happening, amines will continue to migrate to the
surfaces. The reaction (cure) can take several days depending on the temperature.
This means that you can apply a coat of epoxy on a previous coat that is hard but only a few hours
old without worrying about amine blush because the amine will continue to migrate through the new
coat.
However, if the cure is complete, lets say 2 days or more, there maybe a thin lm of amine residue
on the surface. That amine blush will prevent further layers of resin or paint to bond properly to the
substrate.
In that case, you should lightly sand the surface and wash the amine off with a wet rag or sponge.

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Amine blush feel and look like a light whitish greasy lm. It is very obvious with some types of
resins.
Again, if you work wet on wet or on one of our resins that is cured since less than one day, do not
worry, apply the next coat be it resin or primer without sanding.

Fiberglass
Most stitch and glue boats are sheathed on the outside with what is referred to as 6oz glass. 6oz
berglass cloth may be plain weave berglass fabric, which means that the yarns are twisted before
it is woven, or a at weave, meaning that the yarns are not twisted before weaving.
The one with the twisted yarns tends to wet out easier, especially when doing multiple layers and
does not seem to fray as easily. The other is less expensive, more difcult to wet out in multiple
layers, but lays a little atter and requires slightly less resin (depending on skill of course). Both
styles of glass are available in various widths (30, 38, 50, and 60).
For small boats such as dinghies and kayaks often just a light weight berglass tape is used. In
larger boats a knitted berglass tape is used. Suppliers refer to it as a biaxial berglass tape, bias
tape, or use nomenclature such as DB120 or DB1708. These are heavier berglass fabrics that
have all the ber on one plane orientated in the same direction and on the other plain turned and
orientated in another direction. For taping the seams of stitch and glue boats double bias, meaning
that the bers are orientated at +/- 45 degrees, is what is used. Knitted berglass fabrics however
have not been designed for use as a cosmetic fabric and often in areas where the seam will be seen
it is top coated with a lightweight berglass tape or cloth.

Peel ply
Peel Ply is a sacricial nylon, polyester or non-porous ply that is placed over the outer plies of a
laminate during lay-up. When the resin has cured the peel ply is removed. The results are a smooth
surface that is easily prepared for subsequent bonding or painting.
The use of peel-ply is not necessary but it helps to get a good nish and to remove the excess resin,
obtaining a lighter hull.
A cheaper alternative to peel ply in order to get a smooth nish is to apply a plastic sheet over the

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wet epoxy. Plain polyethylene is perfect. Use a rubber roller to press the plastic over the resin. This
will make the edge of the tape almost invisible and greatly reduce the need for sanding. The plastic
does not stick to epoxy and is easy to remove after the resin cure.

Stitching wire
Even if you may use steel wires we recommend to use copper wires for stitching the panels. Wiring
of the panels is easily accomplished with 3 (7,6cm) long wires and for the station wiring, you may
use 4 (10cm) lengths. The forms are easy to wire with copper wires (16 AWG 1.29mm dia). Steel
wires (18 AWG 1.024mm dia.), are stronger and cheaper. The narrower steel wires are also easier
to engage into pre-drilled plywood but are more difcult to thread in tight corners. We recommend to
precut a hundred wires at a time for efciency sake.

Wood
There are many types of wood that can be used in stitch and glue construction. Marine lumbers
must have certain characteristics: glueability, hold fasteners well, resistant to rot, relatively strong.
Mahogany, douglas-r, long-leaf yellow pine (old growth), cypress, several cedars and spruces are
good for boatbuilding. It is impossible to list all the woods that could be used. If you are going to
build a small boat that wont go out much, use any straight-grained hardwood. As long as it is well
sealed, dry-rot should not be a problem. Whenever you purchase wood for boatbuilding, look at the
edges. If the grain runs parallel to the surfaces, it is less likely to break than wood where the grain
runs diagonal to the surfaces. Straight-grained wood is always desirable for structural applications.

Plywood
Normally we recommend to use marine grade plywood.
You may use exterior grade plywood but it increases the chance of problems over the life of your
boat as it has core voids (gaps) in the middle laminations that may delaminate and/or rot. These
will need to be injected with resin. If you must use exterior grade plywood, try to ll as many of the
core voids as you can. If you use exterior plywood you have to choose ABX (exterior). The AB
designation means that there are no open knots on the surfaces.

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Marine grade is particularly important for planking; less for the transom, gussets, knees, stem, or
breasthook. Marine is important when the plywood will be bent as it has no voids running across
the panel. If you cant get marine, choose the best ABX you can nd (check edges for voids). Put
the best sheets in the forward sections. If you have a choice, use marine if called for. For planking
applications, AC is not desirable because of the open knots which allow water to enter the center
plies. To properly ll the knots (epoxy llers), is more work and expense than buying the proper
material.

Other tools
Other tools that will be needed are razor blades, squeegees, buckets, masking tape & paper, and
bubble rollers. These are found in all catalogues of resin suppliers. The plastic squeegees can
easily be cut to radius joints with a razor knife and sanded fair. For most applications a 1 x 3
bubble roller will work for smoothing glass into the joint and working the air out. The economy rollers
with the plastic head work well and if you forget to get the roller clean they can often be saved by
chipping the hardened epoxy off of the roller.

Safety & Hygiene Supplies

You always have to wear disposable gloves when using epoxy and a respirator when sanding a
surface treated with epoxy.
It is important before you select or use a respirator that you determine the following: the type of
contaminates for which the respirator is being selected; the concentration level of that contaminant;
whether the respirator can be properly tted on the wearers face.

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STITCH AND GLUE

4.

FINAL SUGGESTIONS TO THE BOATBUILDER

FINAL SUGGESTIONS TO THE BOATBUILDER

Works has to be accomplished in a logical sequence;
is very important to strictly follow the correct order of the operations.

Study the plans and read the instructions several times,

become familiar with them and try to imagine in your mind the operations.

Read also carefully the instructions relevant to the materials and to the tools you use.

Dress comfortably and safely when you work.

It is very important to work in a ventilated and well-enlightened place.

Is convenient to keep clean and in order the working place:

work quality and your health will benet.

Respect tools,
use them properly and keep them in good conditions of efciency.

Work relaxed and be careful.

Plan your work, and enjoy!

B.C.A. DEMCO - Kit

via
Ricciarelli,
21
20148 Milano - ITALY
+39.02.4870.8331
www.bcademco.it
bcademco@gmail.com

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