Homemade plywood boats: materials and tools, drawings and layouts, hull assembly, gluing and painting. Folding boat for two How to make a folding boat out of plywood

First, hello everyone! In my dreams, this boat was a long time ago, - a few years ago I made a mock-up of this boat, but everything was somehow lacking in time. And then my "Ufimka" burst (it's high time, it has been since 1985), so much so that a meter-long hole in the side formed in the form of the letter "G". Believe me, if I wanted to, I could also repair it, but imagine how much material I immediately formed: both oarlocks, and excellent bottom and side fabric rubber, oars, etc. There is little left - to purchase sheet plastic. I considered aluminum as an option, but after getting acquainted with the properties of polypropylene (it is also lighter than water), I finally established myself on plastic. I’ll make a reservation right away, nothing came of the chapeau - about 1000 shekas one sheet, but I need at least two. I picked up a 3mm plastic with the main properties: not to crack under bending load and to keep the rivet line from destruction (very many samples cracked exactly along the line of rivet holes) at a price of 200 shekels per sheet. My initial conditions were as follows: a folding boat, with a maximum folded length of 1.5 m, a 2-seater boat with a carrying capacity of at least 180 kg, absolute buoyancy, i.e. not sinking even when full of water, stern, keel with the transition of the keel to the minimum at the stern, stable under waves, light when working with oars and with a small dead weight, with an option for a small electric motor and with useful accessories, such as a "chest of drawers" for accessories and boxes for bait under the seats, light stands for spinning and, of course, with minimal time for assembly and disassembly. I met all these parameters. Boat weight 18 kg. And now its dimensions: in working order, length 2.5 m, width 0.95 m, side height 0.3 m, total height 0.45 m; in transport condition: length 1.5m, width 0.3m, package thickness 0.08 m. The set also includes 2 seats, aft insert, frame stiffening tubes and oars. Now about how we had to achieve some parameters. Buoyancy - along the sides, strips of material similar to soldier's mattresses are glued (they do not sink and are moisture resistant), seats and feed are pasted over with the same strips, all frame tubes are plastic with plugs at the ends, which does not allow water to fill them, as a last resort, if this will not be enough (although it is unlikely), I have marked out on the bow and stern of the boat places for attaching 2 floats, like those that rescuers from the famous series). As a connecting material I used rubber strips from the bottom, and a stern flexible part from the side part of my "Ufimka", planted on glue with subsequent riveting. He carried out all the work in his apartment, in the absence of household members - fortunately, when they arrived, the whole system was easily hidden behind the sofa.








I indicated the weight of the boat -18kg. Cost: 400 sh - plastic, 100 sh - glue and rivets, 100 sh - pipe and couplings for the stiffening frame, 50 sh - connecting screws with wing nuts and fasteners for side plastic. Everything else: rubber and oarlocks from an old boat, plywood for seats and under oarlocks - trim, edging along the top of the side - trimming pipes for drip irrigation... And the rest is hands. And how much it can cost for sale, I don't know, maybe the fishermen themselves will appreciate it? As for the pressure on the lower seam, I distributed the main pressure (in the sitting position) to 3 seams, there is an option for a pipe connection and side seams for oblique supports in the same way as the keel part. As for the flooring, a 50x60cm wooden lattice is sufficient between the seats with two transverse ribs along the bottom outline. I also want to pull the umbrella fabric over the top with Velcro from the bow of the boat to the first seat in case of rain, to keep things dry. At first I wanted to make a 3-meter one, but I had to buy another sheet of plastic with a large residue after cutting. So I went to the minimum.

Shl. The cost of materials is indicated in NIS.

The production time, so, unhurriedly, is about a week. It took a long time to find the right plastic. I'm retired, so when my household left, I got everything from behind the back of the sofa and did it. I already wrote that the rubber, oarlocks and oars were from the broken boat, and the rest was a matter of technology. But first, I made a model of thin plastic 25 cm. And with this boat it was easier for me also because it is my second homemade boat. The first was a frame made of plastic pipes and thin tarpaulin. It was disassembled no longer than a meter. In short, a bag of pipes and a cover. I also want to do this. That was even lighter, and with the current choice of material, there should be shine.
As for the pattern, everything is simple. The width of the canvas is 30 cm, the short piece is 1 meter long, the bow piece is 1.5 meters. Depart from the bow edge 1 meter and bring two arcs to the middle. The photo is clearly visible. But, I advise you to start with a small model. There, instead of rubber, you can use scotch tape (duct tape). All possible options can be foreseen on the model, and it is much easier to correct errors. Honestly, I did not betray the name of the plastic. At first I was looking for polypropylene, since it is not brittle and lighter than water, but it has an exorbitant (for me) price. Then he began to select according to the principle: crumpled, felt, broke. The main condition is not to burst at full bend (this means that the body will not burst on impact), not to crack along the rivet holes. And I retained buoyancy in a flooded state due to additional side linings from a soldier's rug. Ordinary rubber glue, but the main condition for gluing: cleaning, cleaning and degreasing the surfaces to be glued, and the mandatory aging of min. 15 minutes after applying the glue, before bonding. And I also consider it very important to glue the edges of the rubber bands along the entire length of the boat with thin strips of rubberized fabric, like in factory boats.
About the changes. Already changed: the boat is designed for 2 people, but with one person, the center of gravity moves to the "bow" of the boat and it goes down, and the stern rises, the wave is overwhelmed, so the rower's seat was moved closer to the center of gravity, which is easy to identify by the layout -models. As for the board height, I proceeded from the maximum cutting of a standard sheet. but, for the future, I think that the width of the side of 40 cm, instead of 33, will still be preferable, and the stability will increase due to the increase in the total width of the boat.

The boat is double in terms of the number of seats and carrying capacity.
It is not necessary to beat anyone with oars, when two are in the boat, then the seat is inserted closer to the "bow" of the boat, and when one, then 30 cm to the stern. As for convenience, it is naturally more convenient for one, but, if desired, the boat will withstand the second. Good luck!

Folding boat for mercury 3.3

Homemade folding boat

InstaBOAT For Sale_Setup the Boat

Probably every fishing lover has thought at least once about how to make a homemade boat. This is not an easy matter, but it is still possible to make such a craft.

And you don't have to be an engineer, all that is required of you is a few hours of free time. And you will learn about how homemade boats are made from plywood from our article today.

Manufacturing difficulties

Is it really difficult to make such a design with a minimal set of tools? As practice shows, even with such equipment, a homemade inflatable boat (or plywood) is made easily in 3-4 hours. Due to the fact that it takes a minimum of time to complete all these works, you can make a boat even in the open air. Well, in case of a change in the weather, you can always cover it with a tarpaulin or a piece of plastic wrap.

What are good

First, plywood is lightweight, durable and warm enough. It is almost impossible to kill such a boat, and it does not weigh too much. Secondly, unlike rubber analogs, the space in a plywood boat is enough for several people (while inside, between the seats, you can fit all the necessary fishing tackle). In store options, there is a sorely lack of free space.

Thirdly, being in a wooden boat does not feel any discomfort at all.

Preparation of materials

The main material from which homemade boats are made is plywood. There are no difficulties in finding it on the market. Plywood is perhaps the most accessible and cheapest material for such works. And it is very convenient to work with her.

Let's get down to business

First of all, I would like to note that any work related to self-production any means (whether it be a tractor or something else, it does not matter) must be carried out clearly according to a given scheme. In this case, you should have drawings of homemade boats in your hands. In some cases, drawings can be replaced with a sketch drawing.

So, how is it done? To assemble the case, you will need to prepare dry boards with a thickness of 2.5 centimeters and a 6-millimeter sheet of plywood. The stern and side boards must be 30.5 centimeters wide. This is the most optimal size for a fishing boat. All other elements that are inside the structure (seats and spacers) are made of 2.5 cm wide boards. In this case, the length of these parts is 86.4 centimeters. It must be borne in mind that the dimensions of all these elements must be exactly maintained, since they are all attached to the boat hull only with self-tapping screws.

The manufacture of all parts and elements of this design does not cause any difficulties and difficulties at all. This is due to their simple geometric shape.

In the course of work, pay special attention to the fitting of the abutting surfaces and the fringe of the boat. All abutting edges must be carefully fitted and have minimum gaps along the entire length. Either tinned or galvanized self-tapping screws are used as fasteners. As for the dimensions of these fasteners, depending on the place of application, they can be as follows:

The bottom of the boat is made of a 6 mm thick plywood sheet. But, since this part of the boat will be constantly exposed to water, for the boat's water resistance, additionally treat the hull and bottom joints with VIAM-B / 3 type glue and fasten with screws along the entire perimeter. If there is no such agent ("VIAM-B / 3"), oil paint is quite suitable as an alternative. Although it does not have good adhesive properties and characteristics, it gives a durable and waterproof coating. It should be noted that the distance between the screws should be about 4 centimeters. The outer seams should be carefully glued with cloth or percale using AK-20. In order not to collapse the bottom of the boat, a rack grid is installed between the spacers (the cross section of the rails is 5x2 centimeters).

The resulting liquid should be diluted with clean linseed oil. In this case, the calculation is made so that the boat can be painted 2-3 more times. According to its properties, liquid paint is better, it spreads more easily, and therefore gives a more durable and even coating. When applying this product to the boat, use wide, soft brushes.

Some enthusiasts use nitro paints based on their high quality finish. However, we do not recommend using them for such boats, since they do not provide the necessary durability to the wood (accordingly, the structure becomes less and less durable and unusable every year).

Important points

If home-made motor boats are made, then an additional drawing of special mounts for an electric or gasoline engine is made. However, a simpler and cheaper option would be to use regular oars. They are often made from 35mm birch planks. In this case, a spindle with a handle is installed at the end of the spindle, and brass linings are applied to the edge of the blade. Next, the paddle is primed and painted.

And finally, some statistics. As practice shows, the average service life of plywood boats is about 15-20 years. Neither plastic nor even rubber competitors can boast of such vitality.

Not every angler can buy a watercraft, because the products are sold at high prices. Also, not all models may meet certain customer requests. The most budget models are rowing or motorized rubber boats, but, as a rule, they are unreliable, and in case of damage during fishing, an unpleasant situation will occur. Meanwhile, fishermen and swimmers have increasingly begun to make homemade boats with their own hands from wood or plywood.

Features of a homemade craft

From modern building materials you can build a ship for 2-3 people. Homemade fishing boats can be equipped with oars or a motor. Some put a sail on the boat. It will not be difficult to install the motor on water transport, but you need to understand that if you constantly visit small lakes or ponds, then the presence of a motor will be inappropriate.

Craftsmen for making a boat with their own hands mainly use bars for the frame and plywood for sheathing the structure. If you are a fan of swimming in large bodies of water, then it is quite possible to build a full-fledged boat with a roof. This will also require plywood, timber and galvanized metal. To extend the life of the boat, treat the wood with antiseptics and paint.

The boat is equipped with a motor if the boat was made with high quality. Because when swimming at a solid speed, the structure can fall apart. However, a wooden boat is much better than an inflatable model. Fishermen often swim in difficult places with snags, and for a rubber floating craft, this can end up with a hook on the branches and a rupture of the hull.

Tools and materials

First, for work, find large room eg a garage. Secondly, if you work in winter, the room must be heated. Also, the room should not have a high concentration of moisture, otherwise the plywood will not dry out, but rot. As a rule, staining is done outdoors. To make homemade plywood boats for fishing, use the following tools and materials:

The most expensive are plywood and timber, the rest is much cheaper. Electrical equipment can be borrowed from neighbors.

Parameters and details for the product

The rowing craft can be built at your own discretion and your own dimensions. But according to the technology, the construction of a boat with your own hands will be made of plywood 5 mm thick, it is recommended to use the following parameters:

  • total width not less than 110 cm;
  • the length from the beginning to the end of the structure is 450 cm;
  • the depth is 50 cm.

All structural parts are attached to the keel - this is the basic nodal element. The back of the boat is called the sternpost, and the bow is called the stem. Due to these elements, the longitudinal rigidity is increased. These basic parts can be made from solid wood using a jigsaw. And the cut parts are connected with glue or self-tapping screws. It is not necessary to fasten the parts with nails; this is an unreliable method.

Frames are transverse load-bearing structural elements that form the hull of the boat. By connecting the sternpost, stem and frames, the sidewalls of the craft will be obtained. At the final stage, the ship's frame is sheathed with plywood. The inner part of the product is equipped with a slate - this is especially true for the bottom, which should be protected as much as possible.

Motor structures

The scheme of a motor vessel practically does not differ from rowing and sailing models. The only thing is the back of the boat, on which the propeller motor is attached. This part of the boat must be strong and reliable so that the motor does not break off the structure during sailing. Craftsmen recommend using a transom board for a boat motor.

The modernized vessels are equipped with additional elements - stringers, side stringers, cockpit and deck stringers. In order for the boat to be unsinkable and stable, it is necessary to create a layer between the outer side of the frame and inside... This void is filled with polyurethane foam. In the event of a capsizing of the vessel, flooding and sinking to the bottom will not occur. Therefore, experts strongly recommend using this trick.

Creation of drawings

Drawings are an integral part of the job. Because the whole process always begins with well-designed schemes intended for self-construction. If you find it difficult to draw sketches or do not want to, use the ready-made schemes, which are full on the Internet. When drawing up the drawings, be very careful and do not miss any detail. Make some sketches of the future boat according to the following rules:

The main task: to draw all the necessary details and indicate their dimensions. The third drawing is a sketch. On it, you must draw the appearance of the boat in order to have an idea of ​​what kind of watercraft will turn out at the exit.

Making a template

So, do-it-yourself drawings of a boat pattern made of plywood, and now you have to make a template that is designed to transfer the shape of the bottom to plywood. You will need to find sheets of cardboard and connect them with a stapler. Then, armed with drawings, you should draw the shape of the workpiece on paper. Then cut off all the excess and attach the made template to the sheets of plywood and circle it with a pencil or pen.

If the boat is made of solid wood, then the pattern should be copied not against the direction of the fibers, but along the fibers. In this case, possible defects can be avoided. For plywood sheets, the grain direction is random. Because this material is made by pressing wood chips. In simple language: the bottom can be marked in any direction. But the template is mainly meant if you are going to build a punt boat.

Sequence of work

As in any other business, the entire workflow is carried out in stages. The boat is no exception: in order to make a high-quality structure, you will have to adhere to certain steps. How to make a boat out of wood - technological steps:

As you can see, the workflow is time consuming, but it's worth it.

Phased assembly

Prepare all material and tools. Check that all electrical equipment is working properly. Also, when working with a tree, you must have protective equipment: gloves and glasses. Be careful when cutting material with the circular saw.

Frame installation

First of all, cut the blocks for the sidewalls - the footers. Then other bars are prepared, which will later form the sides of the vessel and the lower part. The bottom can be made using the ship building technology, that is, a rounded triangular shape, you can also build an ordinary punt. Then prepare the bow and stern bars.

In the next step, you need to make the nose. Take some spacers and two long beams. They must be connected with screws from one edge. Then a block is attached to the other side - this is the back of the boat. The part is also attached with screws. Then, in the middle of the back block, attach another block vertically.

The boat frame you made needs to be shaped like a bullet. Take a couple of spacers and fasten them across near the bow. Then the frame is turned over with a bar upwards, which was fixed on the backdrop and lay an axial bar, which will serve as a supporting part for the footers - stiffeners.

To do this, fix one edge to the bar, which is on the backdrop - its height will be 50 cm, and put the other edge of the bottom bar at the nose of the frame. Now screw two short bars to the sidewalls and the central bar, stepping back from the edge about 70-100 cm. You need to bend the fixed edge of the bar to make it arched. Then it must be screwed on at the bow of the frame.

Securing stiffeners

So, the frame is done and now you need to install the stiffeners. For these purposes, you will have to use spacers, one spacer is installed for each pair of stiffeners. This is necessary so that the sidewalls are rounded. As a rule, the bars are used of small diameter, capable of bending without much reinforcement.

Work starts at the stern. Screw the first bar to the sidewall, and then the second to the other side of the future boat. Now a spacer is installed between them and two ribs are fixed to the central bar. Try to bend the material carefully, otherwise fracture may occur.

Stiffeners should be installed in 30 cm increments. When you get to the bow of the boat, do not remove the installed spacers yet. Measure the depth of the boat by 20 cm. Place marks on the two sides. You need to screw two long beams along the sidewalls, which will connect the stiffeners more firmly. Then install several spacers between the two along the passing parts. Remove the rest of the spacers.

Now you need to strengthen all the joints. Use metal corners and self-tapping screws. In the bow, step back 50 cm from the edge and screw the jumper. Also, the nose must be strengthened and a hole drilled at the very edge with a drill, and then tighten the structure with a bolt and nut. After that, we can assume that the skeleton of the ship is ready.

Sheathing the frame with plywood

In this step, turn the boat upside down and start sewing the sidewalls. It is necessary that the applied material is completely adjacent to the stiffeners. Plywood is fixed with self-tapping screws. There should be enough material to reach from the top of the sidewall to the bottom of the boat.

As a rule, sheets are produced in sizes of 150 cm, so there will be at least two joints on the boat. The bottom-most edge of the boat will look like a rounded triangle. Along the entire length, you will have to fix a strip of zinc at least 50 cm wide.

After the outer casing, take some cylinders polyurethane foam... It is necessary to foam the interlayer to the width of the bar. Sing in all places and leave no voids. Then make the inner lining. So that the boat is not too heavy, use chipboard sheets for the inner sheathing - they are thinner and lighter than plywood.

Pasting joints and painting

In the end, you will have to glue all the joints of the outer case. The seams are filled to the extent that the glue begins to flow out. For best effect, apply a layer of silicone sealant to the joints. This will protect the structure from water penetration.

At the last stage, the watercraft is painted with water-repellent paint. But before that, check the case for chips and cracks. If there are such defects, then they need to be covered with putty. Some craftsmen glue the entire body with fiberglass, and then paint. The primary primer is applied and the secondary is colored.

Now the motor is installed and it remains to wait until the structure is completely dry, then check the homemade product by swimming on it on the lake. If you find any malfunctions, then fix them.

Attention, only TODAY!

A boat on the farm may be needed not only for fishing, hunting or water recreation. In sparsely populated regions with a developed network of waterways, a boat is an essential item, and in populated areas, production and rental of floating craft profitable business... How boatmen make money in resorts, everyone knows that. However, in commercial classifiers, small boats do not belong to goods for which pricing is subject to regulation. Therefore, the question: is it possible at all, and how the boat is made with your own hands is quite popular. The answer to the first question is unambiguous: yes, and much simpler than commonly believed. A good, roomy, reliable and seaworthy boat can be made far from the water without a boathouse and slipway, in any room of a suitable size. And how - this article is about this.

In the preparation of materials for this publication, great help was provided by the books "300 tips on boats, boats and motors" Compiled and scientific editor G. M. Novak L. Shipbuilding 1974, "Boats, boats and motors in questions and answers" Handbook ed. G. M. Novak. L. Shipbuilding 1977 and "Kurbatov DA 15 projects of ships for amateur construction" L. Shipbuilding 1986. The author expresses deep gratitude to the authors of these informative manuals. Further in the hints to the illustrations, they are designated "Н74", "Н77" and "K.", respectively. As for the years of publication, have the waters and winds changed since then? The current ships are built and sail according to the same laws, only modern materials and computer technology allows them to be used more fully.

Organizational issues

The reader must have already asked questions: is it really that simple? Build - and swim? With your wife, kids, passengers, at sea in a storm? Depending on the circumstances, you may need a trail on a rigid hull boat. documents and supplies:

  1. A boat just for yourself, a small non-navigable body of water - sales receipts for used materials in case you need to prove that they were not stolen. A small body of water is considered a body of water in which the distance from the coast is possible no more than 500 m, and the boat is only for one person;
  2. A boat for yourself, a navigable pond of any size - an additional certificate for the right to operate a small boat (analogue of rights to motor vehicles) and a certificate of its registration. Both are issued by local transport (water) inspection authorities. On board the boat, its registration number must be indicated in the prescribed form;
  3. The same as in PP. 1 and 2, the boat may have free passengers - except for the documents under paragraphs. 1 and 2 also a lifejacket for each person on board and a mandatory minimum set of supplies, see below;
  4. Everything is the same, but passengers or cargo are paid - in addition, a license for the right of passenger or cargo transportation by water;
  5. All according to PP. 1-4, sailing or motor-sailing boat, incl. with a complete emergency sail - in addition, a yacht helmsman's certificate or other certificate for the right to operate a sailing vessel;
  6. The boat was made for sale, not a serial one - a license for the right to manufacture small craft.

I must say that in non-navigable water bodies, violations under paragraphs. 1-3 are massive, and in sparsely populated areas - indiscriminate. The water inspectorate has neither legal nor organizational and technical capabilities to get there. Therefore, claims against the owner of the vessel arise or his criminal prosecution begins only on the fact of the consequences of the accident.

What yes and what no?

The designs of small boats are countless, however, for the amateur-beginner when choosing a prototype you need to follow the trail. considerations that a homemade boat must satisfy:

  1. The boat should be built according to a proven design and / or with full consideration of the vital provisions of the theory of the ship, the rules of shipbuilding and navigation, see below;
  2. The boat must be reliable, i.e. strong, durable, stable, capacious in weight and volume, seaworthy enough for the given sailing conditions and at the same time controllable on waves, current in a river and in a shallow overgrown reservoir;
  3. The boat should be light enough so that the owner can pull it ashore or launch it alone, and with an adult, physically moderately developed assistant, load it for transportation;
  4. The boat building technology should not include operations requiring special qualifications or production equipment, but should forgive the beginner's mistakes and the replacement of standard materials and manufacturing methods available in the given circumstances;
  5. It is desirable that the boat be able to walk well and stay on the wave on the oars, under the engine and sail - to save fuel and good rest;
  6. The cost of building a boat should be kept to a minimum;
  7. If the boat is kept away from the body of water, it is highly desirable that it meets the requirements for kart vessels, i.e. allowed transportation on the upper trunk of a car.

In terms of the totality of qualities, in addition to the price of materials, a plywood boat will be the best choice for your first vessel. The boardwalk will cost approx. half the price, but it will be as much heavier and will last much less, except for the version with a steel thin-walled bottom, see below. Homemade fiberglass boats are expensive and difficult to build, although reliable and durable. Taking into account all these conditions, the following are not considered further:

  • All-metal welded and riveted boats.
  • Planing vessels.
  • Small pleasure catamarans.
  • Styrofoam boats, plastic bottles, boats-pontoons and planks of rectangular shape in plan, etc. exotic.
  • Inflatable boat.

The grounds for such "truncation" are as follows. All-metal self-made vessels by the transport inspection bodies are not surveyed and not registered due to the fact that it is technically impossible to ensure their proper reliability in artisanal conditions.

Building a speedboat is not a business for a beginner. The standard dynamic loads on the planing hull are high, and you can tackle it, making sure that your first boat still floats well. Although, I must say, having some experience, at home it is quite possible to build a go-kart boat that goes on planing on a small wave under an engine of only 3.5-6 hp, see eg. track. video.

Video: an example of a homemade speedboat and its tests

A small catamaran, it will be known to the reader, is easier to build than a boat of equal capacity, and the restrictions on the choice of materials for it are softer; eg foam can be used extensively. On the catamaran bridge (the platform connecting the float hulls) you can stand, walk, somersault as you like, there you can put up a tent and even cook a barbecue. However, a catamaran is not a boat and the question of homemade catamarans requires separate consideration.

Boat exotic made of scrap materials is simply dangerous. For example, a single-hull foam boat will turn out to be either something extremely fragile, suitable for sailing only in a “paddling pool”, or an almost uncontrollable raft, highly susceptible to drift by currents or wind.

As for inflatable boats, the enthusiasm for them is explained, in addition to being able to carry them, by the fact that in order to register a purchased “rubber” boat on a navigable water body, it is enough to present a manufacturer's certificate, and even then the water inspection turns a blind eye to it. However, this does not in any way apply to homemade inflatable boats.

At the same time, it is enough to look at the patterns of the simplest inflatable boat (see fig.) To make sure: it is much more difficult to glue its seams in artisanal conditions than to build a more capacious and reliable boat with a rigid hull, and quality soft plastic boat materials will cost a lot more than the best plywood and epoxy.

But most importantly: without special equipment it is generally impossible to reliably (without the possibility of inspection) glue the safety bulkheads into the cylinder. The self-made "rubber band" will be one-cylinder: suddenly there is a hole, and you are not in a life jacket, it is far from the shore, or the reservoir is heavily overgrown - you will only have to mentally summarize your life. For its end is near.

Note: if you certainly want not to build your boat, but to glue it, then it is better to make it from ... scraps water pipes... Such a boat cannot be blown away and hidden in a backpack, but it will be unsinkable. How is a boat made from PVC pipes, see the video below.

Video: an example of a homemade boat made of PVC pipes


Which one to do?

There are also many designs of plywood and plank boats that do not require production conditions for the construction; people have been swimming since time immemorial. Let's try to figure out how to navigate this variety for a novice shipbuilder-navigator. For example, boats such as canoes (pos. 1 in the figure), kayaks, canoes or domestic shrimps are very popular, very seaworthy and at the same time are not afraid of overgrown shallow waters. However, to manage them you need not only experience - great art. In terms of the number of drowned people among newcomers, canoe-type boats are firmly in the top of the rating among small boats. In addition, such rigid-skinned boats are technologically complex, because their contours are double curvature.

The Russian fofan boat (pos. 2) is no less legendary in its reliability than the American dori (see below), but it is very stable, roomy, and a green salaga can drive it. The curved contours in the bow make the fofan well viable on a wave in full load, and together with the "pot-bellied" hull, gentle contours in the stern and a recessed transom, it is capable of quite quickly, up to 20 km / h or more, to go under a sufficiently powerful motor in a transitional (semi-displacement ) mode. But, as we can see, the contours of the fofan are also double-curved, and it is heavy: to turn the fofan, you need at least 2-3 strong men.

The Russian Tuzik recreational and fishing boat (pos. 3; Russian because there is also an American Tuzik dinghy boat, see below) is light, but again with double curvature lines. The same applies to the sea sailboat, pos. 5, although she is steadily keeping on course on a 4-point wave under sail, and it is possible to pull her ashore alone.

Bend once!

So, we have decided on one more requirement in a homemade plywood boat: its contours must be single curvature, i.e. the surfaces forming the body must be curved planes. For small quiet inland waters, the best choice would be a skiff-type punt boat, pos. 5. Scythians in such conditions have established themselves as the most reliable ships. In addition, skiff boats are cheap, easy to build, lightweight: a 4-meter skiff with a galvanized bottom can be lifted and loaded by one person. An additional advantage for these sailing conditions is that the Scythians are excellently controlled on the current and in overgrown reservoirs. Water or algae simply have nothing to grab them.

Note: contrary to popular belief, a skiff boat can sail perfectly, see below. But - only on calm water! In the excitement, the skiff, like any shallow-draft punt, becomes dangerous - the wave hits the bottom, knocking the ship off course and trying to overturn.

In somewhat more difficult sailing conditions, on waves up to 2-3 points, a dinghy boat will be optimal. In appearance, the dinghy is easy to recognize by the bow transom-forspiegel and the keeled (as they say, having a transverse V) bottom, pos. 6. The latter makes it easier for the dinghy to rise on the wave, and the forespill makes the ratio of capacity to overall dimensions and its own weight almost a record. Thanks to this, dinghy is the most popular weekend boat among residents of places far from the water: 2-3 seater dinghy on the upper trunk fits into the dimensions of a car, and can weigh less than 50 kg. Technologically, a dinghy is even simpler than a Scythian - it can be assembled by sewing plywood (see below) just on the floor in an apartment.

The dinghy under sail (pos. 7) is quite safe, but very versatile, and therefore an excellent vessel for initial sailing training. I learned how to manage this - you can safely go to the tiller / steering wheel and sheets of a large yacht. In the USSR, the Golden Fish dinghy was widely used to train teenage cadets in yacht clubs.

Note: in coastal areas, it is not uncommon to find seaworthy dinghyes. Outwardly, they look like a fofan squeezed along (pos. 8), but in fact, the hydrodynamics and mechanics of their hull are almost the same as those of a dinghy with a forespiegel.

Finally, if you live by the sea or a large inland lake, know big water and want to finally build a boat for it with your own hands, then the choice should be stopped on Dori. Dori boats are truly ocean-going. Newfoundland fishermen used to catch and fish with them 280 and even 400 km from the coast. The seaworthiness and reliability of the Dori are phenomenal: there are many cases when large reliable ships were wrecked in a severe storm, and the Dori then returned home safely in the same waters.

Dori boats are known in 2 modifications: pure rowing bank and sailing (pos. 9). To manage a bank dori, you need to be a salted sailor through and through from childhood, because their static stability is low. Sailing dori are not so capricious, a beginner who knows the basics of the movement of a ship under sail is able to learn how to fly it. In addition, it is possible to install a motor in a well on a sailing dori. Equipping a boat with a motor well is, of course, more difficult than reinforcing the transom under the motor (see below), but the motor and propeller will be better protected from damage, and repairing the motor on the water will be possible without fear of drowning a part or tool.

Alphabet truths

To make a boat correctly, you need to choose a project that is technically competent and suitable for the given sailing conditions and available resources. To choose a project, you need to know at least the very basics of ship theory, small shipbuilding, navigation and maritime practice on small vessels. So let's start with theory.

Walking speed

The speed of a displacement vessel is determined by the Froude number Fr. Physically, it means that with an increase in Fr, the bow wavelength of the vessel grows rapidly, see fig.:

In this case, most of the power of the engine or the thrust of the sails is spent on maintaining it. The motor goes into the "fuel burn" mode, at the same time quickly burning up its resource, and the sail, as a rule, is not able to pull the ship by Fr> 0.3. Hence the important conclusion: do not try to increase the speed of the boat by placing an overly powerful motor on it. You will only make sailing more dangerous and you will burn the money for fuel in vain. If the recommended motor power is not indicated in the boat project, it can be determined from table. on the trail. rice.

Movement at a Fr value that is too large for a given hull is also dangerous: the boat may appear to be hanging on the crests of adjacent waves, or it will tend to move back from the bow wave and bury itself astern into the water. If, frightened by the wave that has risen in front of the bow, the gas is thrown off sharply, the boat will be flooded from the stern by the oncoming wave: once formed, the waves move according to their own laws.

The consumption of energy driving the ship for wave formation depends not only on the length, but also on the height of the waves generated. It can be reduced, firstly, by increasing the ratio of the ship's length to its width (the “length runs” rule), but at the same time its lateral stability and controllability decrease. Secondly, the rational construction of the hull contours: its front line along the frames (see below) should be as flat as possible. Thirdly, with a back-to-back sheathing (see pos. 2 and 4 in the figure with the types of boats). The ribs singing in the skin turbulize the boundary layer of water, preventing the nasal wave from swelling too much. This, by the way, is one of the secrets of the excellent speed of the combat boats of the Viking Drakkars and augers. Unfortunately, backed cladding is technologically complex, susceptible to water leakage and therefore requires regular inspection and maintenance.

Stability

The stability of the vessel is distinguished between static (at rest) and dynamic on the move. The stability of the vessel is determined by the interaction of the overturning moment, the force of which is applied to the center of gravity, and the restoring moment, the force of which is applied to the center of buoyancy C - the geometric center of the submerged part of the vessel.

The value of stability is determined by the elevation of the metacentre M above the center of gravity G (see Fig.). A vessel with a large excess of M over G will be very stable, but also very roll, with a sharp roll, i.e. overly stable. With a continuous increase in the roll angle Θ, the metacentre first "runs" upward from the center of gravity, and then moves back. When M is below G, the overturning moment will exceed the recovery moment and the boat will capsize. Corresponding the angle Θ for decked ships is called the sunset angle. The critical heel for undecked ships will be that at which the ship scoops sideways. Then Θ is called the pouring angle.

The stability rules are subject to the square-cube law. On the one hand, this is bad for small vessels, because a small craft turns out to be less stable than a large one of the same proportions. If a 5-meter boat goes with a critical list, then the roll of a 20-meter schooner in the same wind will not be dangerous, and a 70-meter barque is almost invisible. When in the old days the captains of sailing ships, trying to escape from the storm, ordered "to set sails as long as the masts can withstand," they knew what they were doing. But, on the other hand, for the same reason, the dynamic stability of a more or less correct small displacement vessel will be more static. In order for the boat, which is stable in the parking lot, to capsize on the move, its designer will have to try very hard in the opposite sense.

Controllability

It is wrong to think that the ship is turning from the rudder. The vessel turns obliquely against the oncoming flow of water, and the rudder only helps it to be substituted under it, see fig. on right. There, however, with all due respect to the author of the original source, an inaccuracy crept in: what is designated as the center of gravity of the CG is in fact the projection of the center of rotation of the CV on the main plane (see below). Hence, there is also an important conclusion: if the boat is poorly controlled, do not sin on a rudder that is too small. Its optimal area is approx. 3% of the cross-sectional area of ​​the hull amidships, i.e. across the widest part. Check and, if it matches, then either you did something wrong, or you chose an unimportant project.

The position of the CG is determined by the interaction of the moments of forces applied to the CG and C already horizontally... In a perfectly steerable, non-bankable vessel, the CG is located exactly above C, which is what the designers are aiming for. Hence another important conclusion: do not get carried away with the roll. Romantic but also dangerous because the boat's controllability decreases, which aggravates the danger of capsizing.

Sailing

Yachtsmen sometimes say: a sailing yacht is an airplane, one wing of which is in the air and the other in the water. In general, this is correct. Diagrams explaining the principles of vessel movement under an oblique sail, see fig. From there it is also clear why you can sail against the wind. The first thing that is important here is that the CPU and CLS are highly spaced vertically, which creates a significant heeling moment. Hence the conclusion: if the sailing armament is not provided for by the boat project, do not put a "samopal". As a last resort and under perfectly favorable circumstances, you can build an emergency sprint sail from a pair of oars and a cover or clothing. For example, the engine is dead, it is far from the shore, the rowing is exhausted, but the wind is weak and the excitement is insignificant.

The interaction of the sail's thrust forces and the lateral resistance of a properly designed vessel also creates a moment tending to bring it to the wind, i.e. turn your nose exactly against the wind. On the one hand, this is good, because if the ship turns out to be uncontrollable, it will receive the wave on the bow, which is the least dangerous. But on the other hand, if the CPU moves too far forward from the CLS, the ship will become difficult to control or even uncontrollable: it will be driven to the wind, no matter how the tiller turns; it's not far from here to disaster.

The matter is complicated by the fact that when the course changes with respect to the wind, both the CPU and CLS shift. If the CPU is behind the CLS, the vessel will begin to roll away into the wind ("wants" to become stern to it), which threatens a catastrophe. Hence the most important conclusion: without proper knowledge of maritime affairs, do not experiment with sails! You risk making an “overkill turn” in a gentle wind on calm water!

So that a vessel without a large bottom deadrise and contours specially designed for sails could carry sailing equipment, lifting keels - centerboards - placed in centerboard wells are used, see Fig. on right. If the project has a sail, but there are no centerboard drawings, we reject, illiterate. Then, some amateurs try to adapt a flat-bottomed boat for sail, stuffing false keels and longitudinal steps from boards on the bottom, incorrectly called bottom stringers (which are actually parts of the hull set). Technically, this is the same as clipping the wings of an airplane or trying to adapt them, the tail and the jet engine to the bus.

Outlines and drawings

The main dimensions and characteristics of the vessel are given in pos. 1 fig., And in pos. 2 - the main planes of his theoretical drawing. The midship plane is indicated by a special squiggle icon. Pos. 3 shows how the theoretical drawing is constructed. Cutting with diagonals and constructing fish are used in drawings of large enough vessels, performed on a small scale, to check the coincidence of lines. On the theoretical drawings of small vessels, instead of fish, they often give a combatant along the frames, see below.

Already by looking at the theoretical drawing, one can estimate at what Froude numbers a given ship is capable of sailing. For example, a boat at pos. 5 - semi-displacement. Next, you need to check the coincidence of the drawing lines:

  • The distances from the DP to the water lines of the overhead line on the half-latitude projection must coincide with the distances from the DP to the frame lines on the hull projection, respectively. levels from the OP. Taking into account the scale, tk. the projection of the body, necessary for constructing patterns and templates of frames, is most often given on an enlarged scale (see pos. 4).
  • The distances from the base to the buttocks should be equal to the distances from the base to the lines of the frames and waterlines on the same secant plane parallel to the base, also taking into account the scale.

Next, you should evaluate the sailing performance of the vessel: using the trapezium method, the cross-sectional areas of the underwater part are determined by the frames and the segments, respectively. the lengths are laid along the vertical axis, see fig. The distance between the segments (on the same scale) is one space, i.e. the distance between the sections along the frames. The envelope of the segments, the so-called. marching on the frames, should form a semi-contour of some streamlined body.

Forming a combatant on frames is similar to the application of the area rule in aviation. But, firstly, in incompressible water, its action affects any speed, and not transonic. Secondly, the ship's hull is only partially submerged in water and therefore excites gravitational waves in motion, not pressures. Therefore, the combatant on the frames should not look like a drop, but the body of an ogival shape, like an artillery shell. The flatter the frontline on the frames, the more salable the vessel will be, and the wide frontline indicates its good controllability. The "tail" at the back indicates the ability to walk at significant Froude numbers, and the "beak" at the front - about good germination on the wave, but at the same time about the propensity to yaw.

Note: in addition to the frames, according to the theoretical drawing, the true bypass of the inclined transom is built, see fig.:

Materials (edit)

Wood and plywood

The basic materials of construction for the boat require some preprocessing... In order for a wooden boat to last as long as possible, wood materials must first be abundantly impregnated with a water-soluble wood preservative (biocide). Not oily, it will not be in the air!

Plywood, incl. waterproof, impregnated in several steps with intermediate drying in order to avoid delamination. In the latter, only the glue is waterproof, and the veneer is wooden as it is. Further, in order to fix the biocide and reduce the swelling of wood, the material is impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion in the same way 2-3 times. Unless otherwise specified in the project, the thickness of plywood for the sides of the boat up to 4 m in length should be taken from 4 mm, for the bottom from 6 mm and for the transom from 12 mm; boards, depending on the type and quality of wood, three or four times more. The method of gluing wooden parts correctly and the permissible bending radii of the boards are given in Fig. above. They differ from the construction ones!

Plywood sheets larger than 1550 mm are difficult to find, so they are pre-glued into strips of the required length with a mustache connection, see Fig. It is impossible to learn how to accurately and accurately cut plywood from descriptions, so practice on scraps. One can only advise to round the mustache with a rough planer, and finish it with a grinder or an even bar wrapped in sandpaper. The sheets are glued with epoxy glue. The quality of the burr is checked by the trace. way:

  • Cut a strip with a width of approx. 10 cm. This is almost always possible because curved details will be cut out.
  • The strip is brought into a ring and pulled together until the plywood bursts.
  • If the joint is of good quality, the plywood should crack anywhere other than it.

Type-setting boat hulls are assembled on red-copper nails (holes must be drilled for them), galvanized or tapered screws. Red-copper nails are bitten and riveted in washers; galvanized bend. Holes are drilled for screws; for their sizes, techniques for working with nails and fastening tables, see Fig.

Note: Recently, quite a few amateurs have been assembling boats on furniture screws-confirmations, using the same technological methods as when assembling cabinet furniture - cabinets, kitchen corners etc. For the time being, these boats are floating, but not for long in order to judge their reliability for a long time.

Fiberglass

Epoxy glued glass cloth is widely used in small shipbuilding. But there are a lot of complaints about her: they say, he didn't swim until autumn - it started flowing. The reason is the paraffin that is used to cover the fiberglass before spinning and weaving it. Paraffin from glass fabric is removed by boiling in water. You cannot burn out, the fabric will become fragile! The fiberglass is boiled in a clean dish for at least half an hour, then the dish with the contents is allowed to cool completely, the paraffin crust is removed from the surface of the water, and only then the fiberglass is taken out.

Techniques for working with fiberglass on fiberglass and wood are shown in Fig. Bonding of parts of a set made of extruded EPS EPS - effective method to increase the rigidity of the wooden hull, slightly increasing its weight, and the assembly of a plywood boat by sewing on epoxy glue is technologically simple and gives a completely reliable vessel. The staples are made of copper wire with a diameter of 2-3 mm; the step of pairs of holes for them is 40-60 mm. Looking ahead, the technology for sewing boats from plywood on epoxy is as follows:

  1. Cut out parts without an allowance;
  2. The edges are rounded to form a wedge-shaped joint with a width of 1.5-2 mm at the base;
  3. If the bottom is keeled, staple its parts with staples, put the blank on the keel blocks (see below) and sew the sides. The flat bottom is immediately placed on the tragus, the sides are sewn on;
  4. Expose the body along the contours (also see below) and fill the seams with glue from the inside;
  5. When the glue hardens, the seams are also sealed from the inside with 3 layers of fiberglass (see the picture above). It is not necessary to remove the staples: firstly, the seam with them will be stronger, and secondly, the filled holes from the staples are a potential source of water flow;
  6. When the last gluing has hardened, the transoms (transom) are glued in the same way;
  7. Remove the body from the keel blocks (tragus), bite the staples from the outside flush and paste over the seams with 3 layers of fiberglass outside;
  8. Frames, a centerboard well, banks (seats), a breastplate (see below), a gunwale, a fender, etc. are glued into the body, which is needed according to the project;
  9. They carry out additional equipment and finishing.

How to make a boat?

We sew

In the projects of boats, kartop dingis and skiffs, patterns of their parts are often given. In this case, the boat is assembled by sewing (stitching) on ​​keel blocks or tragus, see fig. Sewn on a dry body is exposed along the contours using templates and temporary mounting spacers. The seams of the sheet biting, as the most durable, are placed closer to the nose, as the most loaded and prone to damage.

We build

The construction of a sharp-chinned boat with a larger than sewn capacity with single-curvature lines begins with the manufacture of the stem (see below) and the assembly of the frame frames. The frames of sewn boats are often simply cut out of plywood (there are only 2-3 of them), but in this case it is so uneconomical - too much rather expensive material will go to waste. The frames are assembled on the plaza, i.e. on a flat plane, onto which the projections of the theoretical drawing are transferred at a scale of 1: 1. If the outlines of the boat are simple, and there is little space, only the projection of the hull can be transferred to the plaza. Methods for assembling frame frames, with increasing strength, complexity and weight, are given in Fig. Keel grooves and stringers are pre-selected.

Further, the frame frames are placed on the frame (pos. And on the next figure), set vertically, by contours, a keel bar, stem (see below), fenders and stringers are attached. After that, the set of the body is milled with a flat bar (pos. B). The purpose of the malkovka is, firstly, to create cuts in the keel beam, along which it will be trimmed to a given dead-lift; secondly, check if a double curvature section has been worn in somewhere, and so on. trim the bottom edges of the floorboards. Then sheathing is applied, starting from the keel (below in the figure). After that, the body is removed from the frame, completed and equipped.

Note: some amateurs after malkovki trash against the rules of shipbuilding, removing the cutting of the casing from the mild set on sheets of packing cardboard. Then there is no need to suffer with the geometry according to the theoretical drawing, and the boats are nothing, they float.

Nose

Forteven is the most loaded and responsible part of the hull set. One of the immutable rules for the safety of navigation says: if the danger cannot be avoided, it must be taken on the bow. Therefore, the manufacture of the stem of the boat should be taken with full responsibility.

The designs of the bow boats are shown in Fig. Solid, non-rotting wood waterstop plugs prevent water from seeping into the hull. In terms of reliability, all these designs are approximately the same. The false bow stem is used in kart boats with a narrow forespigel.

On excitement and when hitting obstacles, the stem experiences large dynamic loads that tend to expand the body, therefore it is reinforced with an insert-bristle. It is often neglected by amateur boatbuilders or does not know at all what it is; this is one of the essential reasons that homemade boats last much less than the terms stated in the projects.

Stern

Another rather important part of the kit, especially for a boat designed for a motor, is the transom. Transom design for motors up to 10-12 HP is given in Fig. on right. Overall, with reinforcement, transom thickness - from 40 mm. Possibly More: Some outboard motor alignment clamps do not converge by less than 50-60mm.

Unsinkability

An unsinkable boat is a radical way to avoid the severe consequences of accidents on the water. It is quite simple to make a non-decked vessel with a displacement of up to 0.5 tons unsinkable: foam blocks are glued under the banks and on the sides from the inside; then, in the bow and stern can be fenced off acc. forepeak and afterpeak and fill with foam. The volume of unsinkable blocks in cubic meters m is calculated by the formula V = 1.2W (1 + ρ), where W is the displacement in t, 1 is the density of fresh water, ρ is the mass density of the foam. For example, if ρ = 0.08 tf / cu. m, then for a boat with a displacement of 0.25 tons, 0.324 cubic meters will be needed. m or 324 cubic meters. dm of foam. It seems to be a lot, but in a dinghy boat 3 m long, such an amount is accommodated without a noticeable deterioration in habitability.

Supply

The minimum set of obligatory equipment for a pleasure and fishing boat consists of oars, lifejackets for human capacity, an anchor on a chain or cable, a mooring end and, in case of sailing in the dark, a white bow or masthead (on the mast) navigation light of all-round visibility. The latter is often neglected, which is unforgivable in our time: now on sale there are standalone LED lamps the size of a child's cam with a built-in solar battery and battery. The anchor deserves special attention from this set.

Anchor

Joseph Konrad called the anchors "honest pieces of iron", and no wonder: the anchor may be the last chance to save the ship and the people on it. Small boats are most often supplied with cat anchors, but this is far from the best option. First, cats often get stuck on rocks. On sale there are cat anchors with paws that fold back with a sharp jerk, but they are unreliable: the ship can spontaneously de-anchor just when you need to keep on it tightly. Secondly, a cat, like a classic Admiralty anchor, becomes dangerous in shallow water: the vessel can land with its bottom on the anchor leg sticking up.

Hall, Matrosov anchors and Trident lightweight anchors of increased holding power are also produced for small vessels. They are quite expensive, but you won't be able to make them yourself, you need cast parts. You can independently make a Kurbatov welded anchor (see figure), it is suitable for boats up to 5 m long.If it is impossible or undesirable to weight the anchor with a chain, on rocky soils, a load is lowered to it along a cable on a pin (thin cable or thick fishing line) - ingot in 2-3 kg.

Suddenly, Kurbatov's anchor will get stuck in the stones, the pig must be lifted before releasing it. The anchor, which is completely stuck, is released with a strong sharp jerk by the cable. This may damage parts 4 and 8, but in most cases they can be corrected right there with a hammer and pliers.

About anchor attachment

In the butt of the anchor, it is necessary to thread an eyelet during manufacture - a steel ring freely dangling in it. The rump is also supplied with the gum-tack - the attachment point for the anchor cable / chain to the ship's hull. The eyelets significantly reduce the wear of the cable / chain and the likelihood of their sudden breakage.

Zhvaka-tack is attached from the outside to the stem. You need to fix the gum-tack lower, above the waterline itself. In this case, the boat at anchor will play better on the wave, not to bury itself in the water with its bow, and the probability of the anchor getting stuck is much reduced.

Examples of projects

There are enough good projects of kartop boats, dinghy and Scythians in Runet and in general on the Internet. Therefore, we will dwell on boat projects more extensively.

Scythian

The appearance, data and design of a skiff boat developed by D.A.Kurbatov, suitable for transportation on the upper trunk of a passenger car, are shown in Fig. Her distinctive feature extremely cheap: the main material is boards, and there is a small size on the bottom, i.e. monkeys. If you choose the right planks for the bottom (highlighted in red in the next figure), then the plank bottom will be quite reliable. Moreover, today the seams between the boards can be caulked with a construction deformation cord (used to seal cracks in concrete) and silicone sealant... Of course, the bottom of this boat can also be made of plywood, then its weight will be reduced to 70-80 kg.

On the trail. rice. the drawings of the details of this boat are given and the method of its assembly is shown, which is also very economical: on a simplified slipway according to templates. The transom is amplified under the motor as described above.

Further in Fig. shows the sailing equipment of this boat and the drawings of the oars for it. The sail is raked (emphasis on "o"), you can learn how to handle it in half an hour or an hour, completely without knowing the theory. But - do not put this sail in a fresh and stronger wind! The CPU of the rack sail is significantly higher, it heels the boat more strongly, and she is a punt!

As for the oars, it is better to make them exactly according to the drawing. Scythian boats do not go very easily with oars, therefore, in order to save the muscular efforts of the rower, the configuration of the oars and the profile of their blades are of great importance.

About the iron day

Scythian boats are sometimes made with galvanized iron bottoms. Such a boat, firstly, with plywood sides, weighs only approx. 50 kg or less, i.e. you can turn it around as you like alone. Secondly, a boat with a steel bottom turns out to be much more durable in reservoirs with an acidic reaction of water, of which there are more than enough in the Russian Federation: ions of even very weak acids spoil the glue and protective coatings. There is only one drawback for home-made boats with a steel bottom: it is useless to submit them for inspection for the purpose of registration, and they will not look.

Dory

The same author also developed a project of a sailing boat dori made of plywood, see fig; according to the table of plazovy ordinates, the sheathing is cut, but, see above. In shallow sea waters with a short steep "evil" wave (Azov, north of the Caspian Sea, Markizovaya puddle in the Baltic), this boat has shown itself better than a sea boat or an Azov launch.

Below in Fig. a structural drawing of the boat is given, the method of its construction on the slipway, the design of the stem and the method of inserting the longitudinal parts of the set are shown. Wood must be used of high quality, without knots and defects, because the wooden parts of the set are prestressed during assembly.

On the trail. Figs are given drawings of the sailing equipment of the dori. Since the dori can sail in a fairly strong wind, it is envisaged to take one reef on sail. Observe the specified dimensions exactly: Dori boats are very critical to mutual disposition CPU and CLS!

This time the pages of the section "Built by amateurs" were provided by the editors to the authors of the original portable watercraft simplest design... Any of them can be made by each reader with his own hands. You will not have to spend a lot of time looking for the necessary materials or premises for assembly: several meters of rubberized fabric, duralumin pipes or wooden slats, the help of a wife who owns sewing machine, - and the boat is ready.

True, none of the presented designs resembles a "real" boat either in shape or in its seaworthiness; these structures can only be used on quiet rivers and forest lakes. They are attracted by such quality as the ability to carry in a backpack, which is important for hunters and tourists who hike along mixed routes - on foot and along the river, when it is simply difficult to carry a kayak weighing 25-30 kg. From this point of view, the idea of ​​the multipurpose use of a boat, which serves as a backpack, a tent, and a berth, developed by the Muscovite VA Strogonov, is interesting; to assemble it, you do not even need to take special slats with you - suitable thin trunks can be found in the forest.


Evaluating this structure from the point of view of a shipbuilder, one can note its quite sufficient stability for crossing a river or fishing near the coast, as well as the presence of a buoyancy reserve (in inflatable chambers) in case of damage to the fabric sheathing.

However, it is possible to do without rigid longitudinal struts altogether, if you let air play their role. For this, longitudinal inflatable balloons can be provided on the panel in place of the side sections of the casing: they are easy to make in the form of a strip of the second layer of rubberized fabric sewn from the inside of the body. True, this will require more careful work and the use of an airtight material. This does not appear to be a problem for the home boat builder; after all, the Muscovite V.P. Demyanov was able to make a portable inflatable catamaran, which, in terms of weight, is practically not inferior to the set of V.A.Strogonov, but is distinguished by even greater stability and better driving characteristics. V.P.Dem'yanov's conclusion is also correct that in order to increase the carrying capacity, it is, in principle, more expedient to increase the size of the cylinders than to take with you one more additional cylinder. Obviously, the increase in weight in this case will not be greater, and speed qualities and stability will increase immeasurably.


With a slight improvement in the outlines of inflatable floats and the installation of a centerboard, a Meduza-type catamaran can turn out to be a good tacker - this is evidenced by the positive experience of operating similar foreign pleasure craft.

The boat of A.P. Lisitsa from Kiev may be useful for a city dweller who goes fishing and does not intend to overcome vast water areas. Packaged in a flat bag, it does not differ from a portable suitcase and does not embarrass the owner at all when traveling by bus or train. The principle of expanding the soft shell can also be applied to larger boats of a different configuration, different from the box with an inclined front wall. The disadvantages of A.P. Lisitsa's boat include the low survivability of the structure and the lack of buoyancy. If the skin is damaged, the fisherman will have to swim to the shore. The width of the boat and the depth of the side, which should be slightly increased, are critical values. Emergency buoyancy in the form of thin slabs of durable PVC-type foam can be provided in the seat and footrest construction (for example, by gluing the foam to their bottom surface). It is enough to have 12-15 cubic meters. decimetres of buoyancy - and the boat will simultaneously serve as a reliable rescue vehicle. We do not recommend going out without life-saving equipment on such a boat even in low water.

Finally, a collapsible floating dacha tent designed by Muscovite N.P. Mittrakh provides very wide opportunities for recreation on the water. The owner of such a dacha is just as free in choosing a route as a kayaker, but he can sit on his boat with much more comfort and, moreover, is relieved of the daily worries of setting up a tent.

In the portfolio of the editorial office there are several more descriptions of the most similar (may their authors forgive us!) Primitive boats. Not all of them meet modern requirements for pleasure and fishing boats. But the very fact of the appearance of such self-made structures speaks of the existing shortage in the industrial production of small-sized portable boats - floating craft for fishermen and tourists. Apparently, the main need for them should cover the expansion of the production of inflatable boats - reliable in operation, technologically advanced in large-scale production and therefore inexpensive. It would be useful to release into the trade network and simply elongated inflatable cylinders of two or three standard sizes, using which, like a child's designer, it would be possible to assemble catamarans or even rafts of various carrying capacities.

One cannot turn a blind eye to the other side of the problem associated with portable boats. As a rule, these self-made vessels find themselves outside any supervision of navigational and technical inspections, although they often have a far from safe design. Serial production of tested and approved samples would do much to reduce the number of accidents on the water.

Tarpaulin boat

The foldable boat I made is convenient for transportation by any type of transport. Dimensions of the assembled boat - length 2 m, width 0.8 m, side height 0.35 m; when folded, the package has dimensions 1X0.35X0.15 m.

The main parts of the boat are two foldable longitudinal frames, cross-braces, including a seat and a footboard, and a canvas cover. Frames and spacers can be made of duralumin square or slats (waste from motorcycle packaging or furniture is suitable). For the cover you need 6 m of rubberized fabric or thin tarpaulin, provided it is impregnated rubber glue or other waterproof compound.

The ends of the strips for connection into frames are cut into a subtree. The seat and footrest are assembled from plywood, reinforced with slats, and attached to the frames on detachable hinges (hinges from the window are used, from which the pins are knocked out and replaced with a wire of a slightly smaller diameter).

The cover is made of two three-meter pieces of fabric, sewn together with the edges overlap by 6-7 cm. Previously, these places of gluing are cleaned with sandpaper, separating with a strip so as not to clean out the excess, then glued with rubber glue. It is better to glue together, so that there is no delay and distortion during gluing. Under the place of gluing, you need to put something hard or glue it on a flat floor. After gluing, the connections are stitched. A full-length strip of tarpaulin is glued over the joint.

The longitudinal frames are temporarily fastened with rails so that the boat is 80 cm wide, then the resulting frame is placed on a cover, laid with a rubberized layer down. Excess material on the sides is cut off, leaving only 2 cm per fold. It is better not to cut the tarpaulin at the corners of the frame, but to bend it, similar to how candy is wrapped with paper or boxes are made for them. The extra square, which is formed at the bends, is cut off, the joint is stitched manually. In this case, the tarpaulin should be pulled as tightly as possible.

To make it easier to pull the cover, loops are sewn to its upper edge - petals with holes. These loops are folded over the top of the side frames and put on metal hooks (medium sized, headless nails bent in the shape of the letter L). Then the boat is turned upside down and strips of tarpaulin 6-7 cm wide are attached along the longitudinal frames to protect the cover from wear.

The assembly sequence is as follows. The side frames in a bent position must be inserted into the cover, directing them exactly to the corners and immediately putting on the hooks the side loops sewn over the cover. Then, with a push, the frames are straightened to their full length. The upper struts are inserted, then the seat, footboard and crossbars along the bottom in the bow and in the rear of the boat.

The "idea" is elementary simple in design. I made it on my own at home from readily available materials such as old ski poles and thick tarpaulin. The frame is assembled from duralumin tubes 16X0.7 and 14X0.7 with a length of 450-1400 mm. Almost all tubes are straight; when assembled, they are simply inserted into crosses, elbows and tubular knobs. After assembly, the entire frame is pulled together along the bottom with two diagonal cables from corner to corner, and the board along the upper edge is tightened with a cable around the entire perimeter. Subsequent covering with tarpaulin and lacing it to the frame gives the entire structure final rigidity.

All knits and crosses are made using a wire-reinforced paste prepared on the basis of ED-6 epoxy resin (resin - 100 parts by weight, dibutyl phthalate - 20 parts by weight, hexamethylenediamine - 10 parts by weight, aluminum powder or sawdust - in ratio 1: 1 to the volume of the binder). To obtain a reliable connection, the metal must first be thoroughly cleaned with a file, degreased with white spirit; the parts to be connected are tied with a wire with a diameter of 1-1.5 mm, then a cement paste is applied and the assembly is kept at a temperature of 50-70 ° C until the paste has completely solidified. The tubes, if there are any slots in them, are filled with paper so that the paste does not penetrate inside.

Sheathing of the floating dachshund - a rectangular panel 2500X4000 with eyelets along the edges (step 200 mm) - loosely lacing to the tube bordering the upper edge of the bead. The underwater part of the skin is sewn of thick waterproof tarpaulin, and the sides above the waterline are made of raincoat-tent fabric. All joints are stitched with sewing thread No. 10 in two or three seams and impregnated with rubber glue (you can use a solution of 1 weight part of crude rubber in 2 weight part of B-70 gasoline). The weight of the finished sheathing is about 7 kg. Buttoned flap pockets for storing small items are sewn to the sides from the inside.

Covering the frame with tarpaulin in the corners requires some experience. The tarpaulin should be tucked so that the outer folds, which inevitably form at the corners, are directed from the bow to the stern - along the course of the water. On the inside, on the bottom, there are two sheets of corrugated fiberglass with a thickness of 1.5 mm, which are attached with belts to the bottom tubes. This deck is rigid enough to support the weight of people or cargo.

For shelter from the weather, there is a tent with gable roof, stretched on rafters-rafters installed in the sockets of the side crosspieces. The tent is made of soft PVC film MMP thickness 0.15-0.20 mm.

The crew (on campaigns it usually consisted of 4-5 people) is placed on folding seats, made in the form of a frame made of a 14X0.7 duralumin pipe, covered with a wide braid crosswise. It is very comfortable to sit on air mattresses, which are placed on the bottom along the sides and attached to the frame; they, of course, serve not only as a resting place, but also as a means of ensuring emergency buoyancy.

When disassembled, the floating unit fits into two relatively small packages - one with a diameter of 100 and a length of 1700 mm and the other with dimensions of 500X900. The entire process of assembling the vessel, from the moment of unpacking the bales and ending with the installation of the seats, is carried out by two people in 40 minutes. Disassembly takes even less - 25 minutes.

We built the "idea" 12 years ago. Since then, more than 3000 km have been swam on it along quiet rivers and lakes in the most remote, protected areas of the Ryazan Meshchera. On their first trip we went only with a pair of oar oars (and then covered more than 250 km). And when they hung a jet engine made from a bicycle "D5" on the "transom", the average ground speed increased to 5-6 km / h, "Zateya" turned into a floating "rest house" for a family crew.

It should also be emphasized that despite the primitiveness of the device (I'm not talking about the appearance that causes ridicule of experts), our "Zateya" is a completely reliable ship: underwater obstacles and waves are no more dangerous than, for example, for a kayak with a soft skin. For all these years, the tarpaulin case had no holes. Some mobility of the skin and the elasticity of the frame soften the blows when meeting with drifts, stones and snags. It is quite simple to push our "Inception" from a shallow or some other obstacle. By the way, the relatively low weight of the hull makes it easy to pull it out on land and use the floating house on halts.

No steering device is needed, since the "Zateya" is well controlled by oars or, moreover, by a rotary motor-oar.

We believe that this type of portable floatation has a number of advantages. In addition to the simplicity of the design, it is, for example, transportability and low weight (body 22 kg plus equipment 13 kg) with a large carrying capacity (over 450 kg) and usable area (3.0X1.5 m), insignificant draft (about 100 mm), high stability.

Catamaran in a backpack

For three navigations already served me a collapsible inflatable four-seater catamaran "Meduza", built with his own hands in small apartment(where, by the way, it is stored in winter and summer, without embarrassing anyone - on the mezzanine). Behind 26 hikes, including one-day walks along the rivers and reservoirs of the Moscow region (Oka, Ugra, Moscow, Protva, Desna, Uchinskoye and Pirogovskoye reservoirs). People of different ages, from 8 to 70 years old, took part in these voyages of the Meduza, and no one complained about the inconvenience. There were no accidents, thank Neptune.

The rowing catamaran weighs only 7 kg, and with a mast, rudder and sails - 12 kg. It takes only about half an hour to assemble and prepare the Meduza for swimming. Two of our friends, who have their own collapsible kayak, in those cases when the time budget is limited to Saturday and Sunday, willingly prefer Medusa to it.

The length of all rigid structural elements does not exceed 140-160 cm. A small bundle of such rails and tubes and a backpack barely half full - this is how a disassembled ship looks like, which can be transported by all types of transport, including a car and an airplane.

Making a catamaran does not present any difficulties, except for the search for light and durable material for floats. Two-layer aluminum fabric "500" ("silver", as it is called in everyday life) turned out to be quite suitable. A float with a capacity of 200 liters glued from it weighs less than a kilogram. Depending on the size of the crew, you can inflate not only two, but also three of these floats. In especially important cases (for example, going out on a hike in late autumn, and even with passengers who cannot swim), we had to use the fourth float: it turned out not a trimaran, but a raft with a carrying capacity of half a ton.

We tested a total of nine floats in different sizes and shapes. For short trips together, floats with a length of 2100-2400 mm and a diameter of 300-340 mm are best suited. If the trip is long, and the crew consists of four people, it is more profitable to take not three floats made of "500" fabric, but two larger ones and made of thick fabric, rubberized on both sides; it adheres well and allows you to give the float a more streamlined shape. With a maximum diameter of 400-420 mm, such a float has a volume of about 350 liters.

All floats are single-section with inflatable tubes (nipples) glued into the upper part, which allows air to be blown even afloat. The floats are inflated with homemade furs, like a beekeeper's smoker, and often just with their own lungs.

The rigid frame of the catamaran is assembled from 50X20 or 30X40 cross-sections using bolts with thumbs. The floats are attached to this frame by means of a wide band that wraps around them around the circumference.

Two cross-members, 1400 mm long, are made of an aluminum square: folding canvas seats on duralumin tubular frames can be attached to them, which can be easily reclined when switching to sailing.

The mast is composite, from three wooden blocks, tightened by bolts, or duralumin tubes on couplings. My tubular mast turned out to be less rigid than a wooden one, but it is convenient because a gaff and a boom (composite) made of aluminum ski poles are inserted into its two long links (1600 mm long) during transportation. Percale sails weigh no more than a kilogram.

Control of the catamaran under sail is carried out by the simplest balance rudder with an area of ​​6 dm 2, which is attached with a clamp to the stern cross-member. One of the oars can also be used for this purpose. The Meduza does not go steeply to the wind, although when installing the shverts, this is probably not excluded.

When rowing with short oars, like in a canoe, the catamaran develops a sportiveness of 5-6 km / h on calm water. It is true that we are lagging behind the kayak, but we are making up for lost time during the overhaul of dams and other obstacles. Under sail with a favorable wind, the speed reaches 8 km / h.

When going on a hike, I usually tie two air mattresses across the catamaran (they somehow have to be taken if overnight stays are coming). Of course, we don't take seats in this case.

Mattresses will not allow the catamaran to tip over and sink, and in the most extreme case we always have a waterproof bag with spare clothes (so far it has never come in handy). We always put a spare float, a bottle of glue and a piece of cloth for patches in the backpack.

Before difficult long hikes, we strengthen the frame with additional ties (two longitudinal and one transverse). From above, instead of a net, we stretch a tarpaulin cloth, add two more oars.

A set of equipment for the fisherman and the hunter

The proposed set of lightweight - weighing no more than 4 kg - equipment for the hunter and fisherman can be made at home within one or two days. It consists of only a few parts, various combinations of which turn into a backpack, tent, boat or bed.

The main parts of the kit are a panel measuring 2.7x2 m, two floats and a luggage strap.

The middle part of the cloth, which serves as a tent and a boat shell, is cut out of rubberized fabric, the side - from a raincoat-tent. To set up the tent, there are 8 eyelets (holes) and two straps for stretching the ridge of the roof. The cloth is attached to the ground with pins made of 2.5-3 mm wire (stainless steel); by the way, on a hike they can also be used as a tripod for a bowler hat.

The floats of the boat are two bags, sewn from any lightweight material, 1080 mm long and 480 mm wide, in which three inflated chambers from a soccer ball are placed. The tubes of the cameras are led out through the holes, swept with threads. The space between the chambers is filled with improvised material - reeds, hay, dry leaves, etc. Six canvas pockets must be sewn to each bag for the rails that make up the boat frame.

The slats of the boat frame and oars can be made of duralumin tubes, but where possible it is easier to cut them out of dead wood in the forest. Then you will need to take with you only two plywood blades and two oarlocks cut from thick rubber, for example, from a car camera.

Two longitudinal strips supporting the upper edges of the sides are inserted into special pockets 3, sewn to the panel from the inside (cutouts 4 for oarlocks must be made in the pockets); the ends of the rails rest against the fabric sockets on the covers of the floats. Two more slats with a diameter of about 25 mm are inserted into the same sockets in the middle of the side height and on the bottom. After assembly, the cord 5 is tightly wrapped, the entire structure acquires the necessary rigidity. At the same time, the edges of the panel hang inside the boat along the sides, and in the rain they can be pulled as a protective apron. On the bottom, you need to either make a light grate (slan), or just throw a few branches. The paddling seat is made from a rubber cushion enclosed in a fabric cover.

The boat turned upside down becomes a camp bed.

The kit is packed using a luggage strap with a removable leather handle (available from the store). The same straps are used for additional tightening of the two upper rails when assembling the boat, as well as stretching when setting up the tent.

I have been using such a set of equipment for several years on trips around the Moscow region, the Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions. It is very convenient for hunting and fishing in sparsely populated areas where it is difficult to get a boat.

A "hanging" bed, a tent and, in addition, a gauze canopy provide protection from both mosquitoes and dampness, even on wet swampy soil.

A slow-moving, but quite stable boat allows you to raft along calm rivers, sail on small lakes.

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