Preview: How to Build a Beautiful Skiff, Part 5 – The Strongback
* * *
OffCenterHarbor.com is a membership website with over 1,000 videos and articles
on boat handling, repairs, maintenance, boat building, dream boats and more.
Sign up above to learn more, and get 10 of our best videos.
* * *
July 28, 2016
Email this Video to a FriendA strong and precisely constructed strongback is a critical element in getting the skiff building project off to a good start.
Get Free Videos Start Free Trial Members Sign In
Comments, Thoughts or Suggestions?You can leave a comment or question for OCH and members below. Here are the comments so far…
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
7 Responses So Far to “How to Build a Beautiful Skiff, Part 5 – The Strongback”
or …
Gregory Corning says:
Why mark the two-foot centers? Would it work just as well to mark two-foot leading edges of the cross-members? Seems like when you use centers, you have the fiddly job of lining up cross-member centers with the marks, whereas it’s real easy to line up the leading edge of a cross-member with a mark. No?
alex lemon says:
Great video but how can you ignore that gorgeous boat behind you?? :)
Don Silsbe says:
Alex, I agree with you, But I got to visit the Broklin Boatyard last summer. They everywhere! Ain’t no thang!
Mike Wright says:
A better practice for marking the two foot centers is to hold the measuring tape on one at station one and mark all the other stations from the tape ( 2′-1″, 3′-1″, etc.) instead of individually with a framing square. The square will allow the station interval to grow, the tape will not.
John Hughes says:
Another possibility for those lacking a 14-foot ruler: you can take a piece of dark thread, and run it through a screw-eye at each end, so that it sits about 1/8″ above the strongback. You can then mark the centerline every 2 feet or so, remove the thread, and come back with a yardstick to connect the marks. It’ll be pretty darned straight (as you can check by putting the thread back in place). If you tied your thread to one screw eye, but run it THOUGH the other and down to a small weight, it won’t end up sagging on you. Also: you might want to use that same thread trick to straighten up the edges of the 2×4 before you glue down the particle board, and lay some “winding sticks” crosswise and sight along them to be sure that they’re all in the same plane. A twisty strongback is no fun. Last but not least: when you use that ballpoint to draw the stations…consider writing the station-names in big bold magic marker, so you’ll never confuse station 2 with station 3, etc.
Raymond Hurley says:
Any hint when the skiff plans will be available?
Steve Stone says:
Hi Raymond. Maynard is drawing them, and then tweaking as needed as we build boat number one so that we’re sure the plans are as good as they can be. Let’s say October 1st to be safe, but it might be sooner.