March 1, 1999 Issue

My Pressure Treated Comet

By Finn Wilster

The only reason that I bring my restored Comet #252 to your attention is that she is now completely encapsulated in pressure treated pine. I'd be very interested in your readers thoughts on using pressure treated pine in this manner. Perhaps I'm just an old geezer who should devote himself to cable TV and the internet, but maybe further experimenting with pressure treated pine is indicated. It is certainly cheap, may last forever and, according to Professor Jagels of WoodenBoat fame, it expands and contracts only half as much as non-treated wood.

By way of background, I built a 17' flat bottom rowboat (Whisp) and, to pro-tect her from the rocky bottom of our TVA lakes, and trailering damage, I covered her bottom and all edges with pressure treated pine. She spent one season either afloat or Iying on rocks, depending on TVA's mysterious daily lake levels. She survived okay and still looks great, a feat that ply-wood covered with fiberglass would be hard pressed to match. Next I built a 20' fantail launch and for the deck laid down l/4" plywood, then ripped 1/4" strips from pressure treated 2xs and laid them down on a bed of resorcinal glue, butcher block style, then heavily varnished it. After two years, the deck remains stable and looking good.

Encouraged by this, I decided to redo an old, sick Comet that had been covered with fiberglass to no avail. Her bottom was a mess, but what the hell, she was about 60 years old. I tore the western cedar off, replaced/sistered some frames with pressure treated pine, then laid 1/4"" plywood. I planed some Ix 6 pressure treated down to 1/2", then laid it down on a bed of 3M5200, with stainless steel screws run through the plywood into the frames. The sides weren't too bad so I sanded off all traces of fiberglass and planked over the western cedar with pressure treated pine, as with the bottom. I did the deck again in butcherblock style The sides and bottom were painted with polyurethane oil enamel. The combination of plywood planks and 5200 ensures a leakproof surface. Just for camping, and such, I built a removeable cuddy cabin.

One very important note: At our local lumberyard I pick through the wood selecting only choice pieces and always kiln-dried ground contact pine stamped "Durapine". I did notice that one 2x4 seemed very heavy but I used it anyway, and now have a few strips that rock and roll rather than lay quietly like all the others. Damn! Oh yes, I used resorcinal glue (no screws) as the can claims that it works with pressure treated pine. A good connection and overnight cunng is essential. I used 5200 with the planks as it is reputed to be a strong adhesive sealant that remains flexible as the plywood and planks work against each other.

It seems to me that pressure treated wood provides a huge source of a very stable, inexpensive durable material, made in the USA. While I wear a mask when extensively sawing & sanding or planing, It cPewc to me that workmg with pine is a whole lot more pleasureable than messing with fiberglass and epoxy.

Finn Wilster, 363 Ogden Ln., Piney Flats, TN 37686

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March 15, 1999

Just Add Water And Sail

The Original Instant Boat Pitch
By Dynamite Payson

Take two sheets of plywood, stir up a little glue, drive a few nails and presto, you have built yourself Teal, an "Instant Boat".

Exaggerated? A little, but not by much. Instant Boats are designed by ace marine architect Phil Bolger and the proto-type is built and tested by me, for the sole purpose of making it possible for any average handy man or woman to build and launch just such a smart and handsome sailer as Teal in 40 working hours or less.

Why so easy? For one thing, all the complex drudgery of lofting lines and building a jig has been designed right out of every Instant Boat. Phll has done all the lofting for you. Nor will you have to build two boats to get one, which is just about what making a jig turns boatbuilding into.

Instead you start right in cutting ply-wood parts to pre-drawn patterns, and almost before you know it you will be fastening them together. You don't have to be an expert at anything. You don't even have to know the name or the function of any component you are working on. Instant Boat plans number each part, and link it to a like nunber in the building sequence instructions. Furthermore you need only simple basic tools, and the materials are available anywhere. As long as contractors use plywood and house framing, there will be an unlimited supply at competitive prices.

As of the time of writing, the Payson-Bolger Instant Boat fleet totals 20 (36 now in 1999) . Of these these, the 12-foot Teal, strikingly handsome double-ender that performs extremely well under both oars and sail, just about tops the list for ease of building.

Simple straight cuts are all it takes for the sides, which you buttjoin and then bend around a permanent frame and two temporary frames. You pull in these sides with a Spanish windlass (a rope twisted like a tourniquet) and fasten them to the stem and stern posts. Then step back and take a look, Already those flat-as-flat pieces have magically transformed them-selves into a shape called boat, and taken on lovely curves in the process.

Chine logs go on next. You cut four of them from a single 2x 4, two at a time. They're glued together in pairs, clamped onto the outside of the hull and fastened with nails from inside.

Then you fit the bottom, piecrust fashion. Simply lay two buttjoined ply-wood pieces on the bottom of the hull and trace its shape by marking around the chines. Now watertight the chines with 3" wide fiberglass tape, and you're ready to put on the 1-1/2" square shoe which runs full length along the bottom.

A helper is handy here (a spouse will do nicely). With the boat upside down bore holes about six inches apart up through the bottom along the centerline with a 5/64" drill, which will make a tight fit for the anchor or ring nails you'll use Your helper will keep the shoe weighed down solid to the curve of the bottom while you drive the nails from underneath.

Turn her right side up, install the gunwales, the mast step, a simple cross-wise mast partner and the after thwart. With foot braces and the moveable seat for the oarsman, the rowing version its done.

The mast is close to 16' long, and is 1-3/4" square at its greatest dimension; the sprit that sets the sail is 9' by 1 5/8" square. Both can be cut from builder's lumber (for my Teal mast, I cut two pieces 7/8" x 1 3/4", and glued them together length-wise). Pick the clearest and best-grained wood you can find; no need for Sitka spruce, Teal won't mind.

The other units required by the sail rig are easy enough. You can cut your rudder from two pieces of 1/4" plylwood glued together; same for the leeboard, or you can use 1/2" solid as I did. For gudgeons to hang the rudder on you can use ordinary screw eyes, with a rod for the pintle, or you can go for the fancy store-bought kind in brass or bronze.

I'm often asked if it's necessary to shift the leeboard over for every tack. No, it isn't, you can leave it on either side. It isn"t worth the effort, and so far I haven't heard of anyone breaking one that was left on the windward side. Incidentally, lee-boards have two great virtues. You can see and easily free anything that gets itself hung on them, and they don't take up any sitting room in your cockpit. They sure beat a stuck centerboard too.

You'll find the sail rig quite forgiving of first-time sailors. The loose-footed sail sets high enough to give a clear view of what's in the offing, and you're not going to get your head whacked by a swinging spar. Best of all, the rather bendy mast absorbs sudden gusts, spilling excessive wind instead of flipping you into the dnnk.

For the relatively small investment in a couple of sheets of plywood and a few hours of your time, you will probably have enough left over to splurge on a champagne launching.

When I was busy launching the test-prototype Teal, I heard a bystander say, "I don't have any mechanical skills at all, but I think that even I can build that one."

That's what building an Instant Boat is all about, you can test your skills without going bankrupt, and you can enjoy the pleasure of success without the benefit of hardearned experience.

H.H. Payson Co., Pleasant Beach Rd. S. Thomaston, ME 04858

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