Stitch and Glue Boatbuilding Demo night was well attended and we had a good time putting together an 8' pram. Below are some photos from the Demo that illustrate the process of stitch and glue boatbuilding.
Stitching the boat together, We used zip ties to speed up the process for the demo.
The boat stitched together from above, it took about an hour to stitch it together.
Looks like a boat already!
"Tack welding" the seams with Quik Cure Epoxy in u-TAH cartridges.
Clipping the zip ties before filleting and taping the inside seams.
Applying epoxy putty to make the seam fillets. We're using System Three
EZ Fillet in this case.
Wetting out the seam tape on a scrap of cardboard.
Tape applied, note that it is covered with peel ply to provide better finish.
Outside of the boat draped with fiberglass fabric.
Applying epoxy to the outside of the boat.
Spreading the epoxy around and letting it work through the cloth.
Lamination complete.
Stitch and glue boatbuilding is a great way to build a boat quickly and using materials that will last a long time and require minimal maintenance. It is also a technique that is scalable allowing everything from these small prams to 40' + boats to be built. There are many books on the subject, my favorite is "Devlin's Boat Building, How to Build Any Boat the Stitch and Glue Way" by Sam Devlin available from us for $19.95.
If you weren't able to make this demo or would like to come we are considering doing another one in the fall so give us a call or shoot us an e-mail if you're interested and we'll keep in contact.
