For those first venturing into sailing, it can be overwhelming since the experience is thick with jargon and skills that don’t often show up in life ashore. With endless choices, including monohulls versus catamarans, fiberglass versus wood, fractional versus masthead rigs, and sloops versus ketches, a new sailor risks doing something like single-handing a staysail schooner when they should have started on a Bermuda-rigged dinghy without a spinnaker. Luckily, there are some shortcuts to picking up the hobby, like the venerable Sunfish or Hobie ships. It’s also possible to build a simple sailing vessel completely out of materials from a local hardware store, as [Cumberland Rover] has been demonstrating.
[Cumberland Rover] has a number of homemade vessels under his belt, from various kayaks and rowboats. His latest project is a 12-foot rowboat, which has the option to add a mast and sail. The hull is made from two 1×12 pieces of lumber, bent around a frame and secured. Plywood makes the bottom, and a few seats finish out the build. He’s also using standard hardware to fasten everything together, which helps with maintenance. It came in handy when he recently added some height to the bow of the boat to improve seaworthiness.
For sailing, the mast is made out of two pieces of 2x lumber glued together and then worked into a more cylindrical shape. It’s unstayed, reducing complexity, and although he broke one in extremely high winds, it is more than strong enough for most of his sailing. The ship is gaff-rigged, with a square sail hoisted up the mast by a wooden spar. All of these design choices make it quick and easy to set the sail up when the wind is good or pack it away fast when it’s time to row.
Although there are paid plans available on his website, the methods used in the video show how simple it can be to get into rowing or sailing with a minimal cost. You’ll still want to learn the basics of sailing before taking one of these out into open water. DIY speedboats are also possible and accessible as well, but there’s the added complexity of a motor here to think about, as well as registration requirements that often accompany powered craft.
Three words for anyone who thinks boating is daunting or has a high barrier to entry; puddle duck racer.
came to the comments to say this, so happy you beat me to it and it’s the first post
oh and three more words: stitch. and. glue.
Yeah! The PDR!
Also all of Dynamite Payson or Jim Michalak books :)
That’s not a gaff rig; that’s a balanced lug. A gaff’s forward end is pivoted on another spar — usually the mast, though in the case of a lateen it’s the boom. A lug sail’s upper spar (the yard) lies across the mast. If the boom also crosses the mast, it’s a balanced lug; a standing lug has its boom pivoted at the mast like most other rigs.
Such balanced lug rigs are quite popular for boats that prioritize simplicity. They have fewer strings to pull than gaff rigs (just one halyard); they can get away without any mechanical fittings like goosenecks or jaws, they’re well behaved in a jibe, and they can perform reasonably well if properly handled (look up Mik Storer’s writings on the subject if you want details).
with todays paints and epoxys it is easier than ever to seal up wood. Heck you could literally build that out pressed cardboard and have it last with vacuum bagging any more. So using common hardware store wood really isn’t as impressive as it sounds.
that being said i love boats and he did a great job on building one it appears.
My high school physics class had a competition every year way back in the day. Each student was given a bunch of half in by half in (width/thickness) plywood, with the amount based on weight and paper. The student supplied paint.
The task was to build a boat you could paddle across the pool. Fun project. Many made it, many did not, but the paint provided enough water proofing of the paper for a one time use.
Look up “Voyage of The Paper Canoe” by Nathaniel Bishop. He paddled a canoe made of paper and glue/sealant from Quebec to the gulf of Mexico, around two thousand miles. In the early 1870s.
Back in my day, we hollowed out logs with flint axes…
Sheer… bloody… luxury!
Seriously though. People have been doing this for a long time. I built a rowboat from plans in a magazine, using plywood and bronze ring-shank nails, lo those many years ago when the IBM 1130 was in its glory days.
The old Duckworks site used to be the DIYBoataday equivalent with plenty of designs like this to drool over. The new site consists mainly of purchasable plans and sadly the interesting articles are no more.
Pallets need to be standardized with no gaps such that they can be modular cells for construction.