Plywood often make the best material for boat building. That’s why I’m always on the lookout for good plywood boat plans as this material is the most commonly used and the easiest to procure when you want to build your own boat.
You must consider several factors before building a plywood boat.
Design
The design will obviously be according to your plywood boat plans and should be compatible with your skillset in crafting and shaping the boat. You’ll most probably be working on a small boat when starting out so be sure you use the plans suited for a small plywood boat. The plans have to guide you, in the most simple way to achieving the design you want.
A good set of plywood boat plans will instruct you in a step-by-step fashion which eliminates costly mistakes and frustrations. You won’t be left wondering what to do next because you will have all the information available to hand and it should be easily understandable.
The Build
There are various ways to build a plywood boat. One specific method will teach you to build the frame of the boat first and thereafter glue the plywood to the pre-built frame. This method is called play over frame (very original).
The other method is much easier. It is called stitch and glue. This requires shaping the plywood (by cutting) as shown in the plywood boat plans. Then, once cut, collect all the necessary parts together and simply glue and stitch them together.
The stitching is normally done using a copper wire while an epoxy is used to glue the seams. Gluing the seams is child’s play because the seams are covered with fiberglass strips which are then coated with resin.
Although there are other methods, this is the best and easiest way of building a plywood boat.
Additionally, you need to choose which boat building technique you are going to use to build your boat. The easiest boat building method to build a plywood boat is stitch and glue. This is one of the most cost effective as well. With this method, you’ll only be needing copper wire for stitching, epoxy glue for gluing and fiberglass to add some durability to your boat structure. For this method of boat building, it is quite imperative that the plywood is cut accurately.
Budget
Even an experienced boat builder will use plywood more often than not, simply because it’s the cheapest boat building material.
Make sure you polish and finish it correctly as those final touches will give it a long lasting lease on life. You also need to make sure you keep it under maintenance to avoid any undetected potential holes creeping up. Be sure you set yourself a budget before you start otherwise you could end up spending a lot more than you initially desired when looking at some of the other plywood boat plans.
Out of the 3 factors above (Design, Build and Budget), the most important one is definitely design. I can’t stress the importance of getting a good set of plans before you start work, even if you have to pay for them. It will save you a lot of heartache in the middle of the project.
If you are serious about getting out on the water then you need your very own set of plywood boat plans as you can follow them with ease and get going as quickly as possible.