Very few men or boys are capable of planning, drafting, laying down and building a round-bottomed boat. Even if you are expert enough to do this, the finished product will not compare to a boat built by a professional and it will cost far more, especially if time and satisfaction count for anything, than a readymade craft or one built to order.
There are many reliable firms which furnish patterns for all sorts of boats, from canoes and skiffs to schooner yachts and big power-cruisers. By means of these patterns and the directions which accompany them, any person who has patience and is handy with woodworking tools can build a boat. It is only necessary to mark off the patterns on the proper lumber, work the planks and timbers to shape and put them together according to directions, but even then you’ll find some difficulties to be overcome.
These same firms also sell “knock-down” boats which have all the planks, timbers and other parts sawed and formed, and by purchasing these it is a very simple matter to build a boat. Full directions accompany these knock-down boats and even the nails, screws, rivets and other fastenings and all the hardware and fittings are furnished if desired.
If you really must build a boat, the best plan is to look over the catalogs of these firms, select the model and size that suits you and then purchase the patterns or the ready-cut materials. You will no doubt obtain a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction by thus constructing your own boat, but your first attempts will not approach the boats built by men who have spent years at boat-building and have learned every little “kink” and trick of their trade.
In most places the cost of a readymade boat will be very little, if any, more than the one built at home by an amateur, but the fun of making it, the experience gained and the knowledge of using tools which you will acquire may make it worth while.
As a rule, however, it is not advisable to attempt to build a large, or even a medium-sized, boat and your first efforts at least should be confined to boats less than twenty feet in length. Even in craft of such small dimensions you will find there is plenty of hard, heavy work to be done. Planks and timbers must be steamed and bent; tough, hard oak must be cut, planed, chiselled and worked accurately and neatly. Many of the processes used in boat-building are different from those employed in any other form of carpentry and as a result a previous knowledge of woodworking may be of little value when constructing a boat.
But there are many boats which any handy man or boy can build easily and cheaply and which will prove safe, seaworthy and excellent sailing craft. These are the flat-bottomed boats, known as skiffs or sharpies, for a sharpie is really nothing more than a large skiff provided with a centerboard and with dimensions and lines designed to adapt it to sailing.
Before commencing to build any sort of a boat, however, you should have the proper tools with which to work, for without good tools it is impossible for a person to build even a simple flat-bottomed boat.
The tools required for building a boat are neither numerous nor expensive, but only tools of high grade should be purchased for a cheap or poor tool is an abomination and is almost as bad as none at all.
Of course, many people will have most of the required tools on hand, but for the benefit of those who do not the entire list is given as follows: A large ripsaw; a coarse crosscut saw; a fine crosscut or panel saw; a compass saw; a tenon saw; a hack saw.