Oars for the Mississippi River Skiff

Having never made an oar before we referred to Shaw and Tenney's beautiful oars for inspiration. On their excellent web site they indicate how to calculate the proper length of an oar for given row boat's beam.

Howard Chapelle's lines taken from an 1870's vintage river skiff indicate a maximum beam of 58.5 inches.  Taking this number and Shaw and Tenney's formula we arrived at 8.9 feet as  the proper length for the oars.

After sorting through our stacked lumber we finally found the ash boards.  (Rough cut ash and poplar look a lot alike.)  One of our two boards was not straight enough for oars so we were only able to cut three blanks.  This gives me a reason to call John again and get back to the lumber yard.

The blanks are cut to 1 & 3/8 ths inches square.  The next step is to order a larger round-over bit for the router. We are looking forward to making these oars.

The ash is sailing through the table saw.

Once you have a clean cut on it, it is a very familiar looking wood,

(every wooden baseball bat you have ever seen).

Setting the mast in the sailing canoe

The  canoe has been waiting in the rain for the past week while we worked on the skiff.

There was sun today so we installed the mast step and cross member.

The step is roughly a 5 x 7 inch by 2 inch piece of cherry.

We cut out a notch in its base so it sits over the end of the stem on the sole of the canoe.

Prior to installation, a 2.5 inch hole was cut halfway through the base then the hole was cleaned out with a chisel.  We then poured in a puddle of epoxy to create a smooth level bottom to the base.  The mast will rotate easily in it.

The surface of the canoe's sole was prepped and we epoxied the base in place

 with a colodial silica epoxy.

Next we cut a piece of Santos Mahogany to fit under the gunnels.

To place it, we found the center plumb over the base, then cut a slightly large hole in the mahogany.

This piece was installed then the mast was set.  To do this we blocked the canoe level side to side and fore and aft.  The mast was set plumb and the snug fitting collar was screwed in.

When the mast isn't being used, the base and collar make two excellent drink holders!

Mississippi River Skiff construction

Since the bottom of the Mississippi river skiff is "flat"  (it bends through only one plane,) is was super fast to finish.

Because of this we could use wide planks. The planks are 4.5 inch wide ship lapped cedar planks.
They are 5/8ths thick. We started with the bottom and are working down to the gunnels.

After the new poplar had thoroughly dried we planed the strips down to 3/8ths of an inch thick and started the hull's sides.  Working down on the form is different.  It is the opposite of our past projects but for this boat it is working well.

We are using edge clamps to press the strips together and additional clamps to keep the strips tight to the form.  The size of the boat meant it was going to require a trailer from the start.  This lessened the weight considerations and freed up up our choice of materials and thicknesses.  The transom is an attractive shape and we are going to cut it out of a cherry glue up.  It will be an inch thick.

The first hull we build will be set up as a row boat with two stations per the plans.  But the transom will be engineered to take the stress of an outboard.  This is always wanted around here. 

A sail version could be next.

A plumb bob is used to make sure the bow is not pushed out of alignment as the sides are built.

The bob is about 150 years old, and it still works!

Custom kayak paddle

A local boater ordered a custom kayak paddle.  He was looking for a looong paddle with no blade offset.
A typical modern paddle has the blades oriented 15 degrees off axis.  This presents less wind resistance on the return path, but it is not required and a paddle without this offset can be just as effective in crossing the river.

This particular paddle is 101 & 7/8th inches long (259 cm).
The shaft is a lamination of local Bass wood and northwestern Douglas Fir.  The blades also have cherry on the edges.

River life

The shake down cruise of the outrigger was great fun. 

Two foot wakes were no problem, and the flex in the iakos seemed just right.

The canoe tracked well and was easier to paddle than expected.  The iakos are spaced to allow paddling on either port of starboard.  The outrigger is on port.

The forward seat requires a shortened stoke on the outrigger side but it is easy enough.  

We had the storage compartment on the outrigger filled with drinks and ice. 
Unneeded ballast with no sail up.  Actually it was up to 97 before lunch so maybe it was needed.  It rode in fine trim with this weight but will have a lighter footprint with a smaller load.

Canoe and outrigger

Together at last.
I picked up the Niangua canoe from our display at St. Louis Sail and Paddle.  It is time to fit the parts together.
After a rough placement, we stretched a string line from the canoe's bow to stern and measured off it to align the outrigger.  Tonight I will fit the iakos to the gunnels.
In the morning we are going to put in at Pere Marquette state park and paddle down river to Grafton, ILL.
Hopefully this weekend will see the installation of the mast and assorted sail rig components.
Check back.

iako design

I recently bought Gary Dierking's excellent book, Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes.
In it, he has three of his designs and general construction methods for this type of boat.  I wish I had found  the book earlier.  It made me revisit the design of the iakos for our boat.
They weren't graceful enough and the attachment points were too ridged.
So yesterday and today I re-cut and laminated a better design.  It now has a nice curve and the attachments will be more traditional with the use of line.
The outriggers pylons pass up through the iako and are secured with line.  The canoe end will also be fastened with line.
Here are pre and post varnish photos of the end of the iakos were they attach to the outrigger.

Shopping for wood

A friend works for a local College with large tracts of land.  John is director of their forestry department.

Recently he hired a portable mill to cut trees that they are culling.

Great timing for the River skiff.

Beautiful wood, staked up neatly on a ridge line overlooking the Mississippi river.

18 foot lengths!

In our shop we had four 16 foot 1 x 12 cedar planks we cut down to 4.5 inch widths.  Then milled to 5/8ths of an inch thick.  These will form the bottom of the hull.

From John we purchased 10 Tulip Poplar boards and a couple of Ash boards as well.

The Poplar is about an inch and a quarter thick.

We will rip it into half inch strips and re-stack to dry.  This will be used to form the chines.
The ash will be used to make a set of oars, (the white ash breeze).

On my next visit he is going to show off an ancient barn that is apparently filled up to the rafters with dry wood.

On the list of wood that is cut or to be, is black oak, red oak, poplar, ash, basswood, hickory, walnut, cherry......

River Skiff Bow

The skiff's bow is a portion of a circle with a radius of 33 inches.
We scribed it onto a piece of cherry and cut it out.
Next we doweled and epoxied a foot in place.

Station molds for the River Skiff

After calculating the height above the base line for each station, we cut hardwood blocks to the exact height for each one.  The stations are then set with a string on their centerline and clamped down.

This illustrates my connection method for the stations.  I like using steel for the strong back and forms.  You can't beat it for strength, straightness, and ease of clamping.

For the strong back we use a steel angle that is 6 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall by 1/4 inch thick.  This twelve foot section has two brackets that each sit in boat stands, so it can easily be raised or lowered by spinning the boat stand's tongs.

To add the additional length for the boat , we bolted on a 5 foot section of channel.
This is supported by a stiff leg.

Mississippi River Skiff

We are making great progress on the Mississippi River Skiff stations.  It will be our biggest boat to date at over 18 feet.
After our experience using steel stations for the Niangua canoe, we knew the advantages of the steel forms made it worth all the trouble to fabricate them.
For our next boat we were looking for something native to our waters and fell in love with Howard Chappelle's Mississippi River Skiff.   He took lines off a 1889 working wooden boat.  It is on page 97 of his excellent book  American Small Sailing Craft.
Here are the stations during fabrication:

Paper work: we are converting the offsets to inch measurements.  Also we are using some trigonometry to figure the length of the station from the chine to the shear. Click on the image for a closer look.

Here the stations have their centerline and are ready for a coat of acrylic spay to keep them from rusting.

The cherry chine forms are used to narrow the face of the station to accept the bending wood without deflecting it under clamp pressure.

The next posting will show the shape of the hull as the stations are spaced on the strong back.

Paddle Delivery

The four best paddles were delivered to St. Louis Sail and Paddle last week.
We have about six more in line for varnish.
This week we are welding up the station forms for our next boat project. Stay tuned.
Here are the paddles...

Ebonized wood

The current batch of paddles are made of Cherry, with accents of Santos Mahogany, Redwood and Western Red Cedar.  In past projects we have used the Amish trick of staining Cherry with white vinegar with steel wool dissolved in it.
This mixture goes on clear and within minutes turns the wood black.  It is like tray developing a black and white photograph.
It works great with Cherry and as we found out today, also works just as well with these other woods.
After two coats of the mixture to even out the stain effect, we let the paddle dry thoroughly.
At this point it has a flat dusty finish.  This is wiped down and it is ready for top coating.

Night work

We are working on standards and methods to give our paddles some amount of uniformity.
Uniformity is probably the wrong word at this point.
We just want them to look like cousins.
To that end we are cutting parts in series.
For the next 25 paddles, we are using some Santos mahogany for the handles.
The parts are cut in matching sets, taped together until the glue-up.
The same process is followed with the blades.
Because of the width of the blades there is the opportunity to book-match the grain or at least find complimentary stock.

New paddles

We are back in the paddle business this week.  Three blanks were glued up and here are some of the results:

 The paddle bench is a tall saw horse of steel legs and a hardwood top.
It really speeds things up.