First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Phishtech
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by Phishtech »

If I remember correctly, Herb didn't use fiberglass on the bottom or the inside. From what I could see on his boat, the only place he used it was on the joints where the ribs connected to the rails. He put some clear resin on the outside bottom, prolly let it set a while to soak, then rubbed the excess off with newspaper (I think this is what he said). Herb only weighs in at about 150, I've got an extra 100 on top of that, so I'm going with 6 oz. on the bottom, prolly none on the inside. I'll be starting soon, I had to recover from a medical emergency first so I had to put it on hold. Great work on yours !!

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olshovel
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by olshovel »

Thanks for all of the input. I was wanting to put the seat up on a couple of "slider" rails that run parallel to the long axis of the boat and sit on top of cross rails, (that run across the width) that sit on the top edge of the lower stringers if any of that makes any sense! I was going to do this to keep from point loading the floor where the seat rails sat, all the weight in the seat would transfer to the frame itself. But after sitting in it the first time i guess I was a little worried about raising the seat approximately 3" above where my butt was planted this weekend! Based on the experience you guys have do you think the 3" would make that much difference or is it more about spending a little time in it and gaining my balance?
Phishtech
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by Phishtech »

No matter where you put the seat, you'll eventually get used to it, like riding a bike. Herb prolly sits about 3" off the bottom with the seat he uses. Don't know what you have, but you can raise it with some of that 4" flex drain pipe from Home Depot. That's what I put under my seat, just lashed it down tight with cable ties. If you look close you can see how I did it in this pic.

Image
olshovel
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by olshovel »

my seat is one of the $14 fold down jobs from Academy. What type of seat is that that you have in your boat. I like the looks of your boat as well, is it a plywood shell with an inner and outer hull?
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bowgarguide
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by bowgarguide »

The boat looks great.
Just a couple thought that might help the handling and tracking of a boat like this. You have a ton of rocker on that boat ,now that makes it turn well and quick but takes away from the tracking stability and speed of a boat. With that much rocker you really have about a 8 ft boat ,as you added weight the boat sat deeper increasing the length of your boat . I would consider changing a couple things , drop the front rocker to no more than 2 1/2 inches and the rear rocker to 1 to 1 1/2 inches, this will really increase your speed ,tracking and stability and still be a boat that will turn well.
Ron
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acm2117
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by acm2117 »

i have a few questions
1) how much epoxy did you use?
2) did you glass the inside or out?
3) how are the chines sealed? do you seal the metal to wood connection with epoxy?
4) what is the build order? something like?:
a) make ladders
b) attach trim coil
c) join ladders together at bow and stern
d) attach bottom
e) seal with epoxy?
olshovel
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by olshovel »

@ bowgarguide - I may have to keep that in mind for the next one, I am pretty sure I epoxied my thwarts in place! @ acm2117 - I didn't really keep track of the amount of epoxy I used. I don't feel like it was a lot. The only portion of the boat that has glass on it is the joints in the bottom piece of plywood, the bow and stern and the bottom edges where the sides meet the bottom. The metal is attached to the wood using gorilla glue. You have the order pretty much correct.
1)build the ladder sides
2)attach the metal skins to the frames
3)build your stations so that you can rest the boat upside down to attach the bottom(I had 3)
4)place sides on the forms and glue together the bow and stern
5)attach bottom
6)paint everything with epoxy
7)install thwarts and decks
8)work out the seat, which is where I am currently at.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions about how I did it.
olshovel
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by olshovel »

I looked at my thwarts and saw that I had not in fact epoxied them in. I am looking forward to pulling them out and changing up the lengths to adjust rocker and see what effects that has.
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acm2117
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Re: First attempt at boat building - a Herb Cottle pirogue

Post by acm2117 »

hows the boat working out for yall? i still havent gotten around to buildin one yet.. still in mind though.
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