New Boat Build Project - (Totally Rebuilding An Older Boat)

[jamesmusslewhite]

With my boat I have been keeping a rough estimate of costs and expenditures so far to date. This includes the initial cost of the boat, transporting to the water and towing the boat over to our island. The tearing down the boat to the solid hull board and transporting the hull board to our farm. The cost of all bamboo, plywood, boards, nails and epoxy. Cost of clear epoxy and epoxy 'white' pigment primer.

 

cost of original boat............................... 10,000 php

transportation-towing and tear down........6,000 php

new building materials...........................15,000 php

------------------------------------------------------------------

cost to date...........................................31,000 php

 

All that is left is the materials to finish the painting of the boat which requires 3 gal epoxy primer, 3 gal base paint, 3 which should cost less than 8,000 php. I will also be building a removable canopy w/ storage box which I have no idea of the total cost for the completed canopy project, but I expect it to be less than 6,000 php.

 

so when done I will have approximately 45,000 php wrapped up in this boat once in the water. Now I do not have any labor costs involved in the rebuild of the boat. But if I had all the materials on hand at startup I can safely say that two experienced boat builders could easily turnkey a boat project like mine in under 3 weeks from start to completion. So members can use these figures to determine the financial obligation they will be taking on if they want to build a similar size boat. I have taken my time, used quality woods and used quality materials throughout the build but I am also lucky because I am located where the wood is readily available and I have boat builders in my family. In areas like Cebu or Bohol one could easily spend 65,000-80,000 php for a well built 34 foot boat (without motor).

[Kuya John]

Once again James many thanks for a excellent detailed post.

I am so interested and asking my wife questions she can't answer so.......

The bamboo "floats" I see on boats of the same kind; Q; How doe's one bend them?

Hope I'm not jumping to far ahead here, regards John

 

 

 

5 Star Thread

[Jake]

Once again James many thanks for a excellent detailed post.

I am so interested and asking my wife questions she can't answer so.......

The bamboo "floats" I see on boats of the same kind; Q; How doe's one bend them?

Hope I'm not jumping to far ahead here, regards John

 

 

 

5 Star Thread

Hey Kuya,

 

Yep, I just gave this topic a 5 star also.  I'm also wondering how that is done -- curving the bamboo to accommodate the rough seas?

[Kuya John]

Yep, I just gave this topic a 5 star also. I'm also wondering how that is done -- curving the bamboo to accommodate the rough seas?

My guess Jake is bending under steam produced over an open fire...but we will have to wait to find out from James on this.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Once again James many thanks for a excellent detailed post.

I am so interested and asking my wife questions she can't answer so.......

The bamboo "floats" I see on boats of the same kind; Q; How doe's one bend them?

 

 

 

 

5 Star Thread

 

 

 

Once again James many thanks for a excellent detailed post.

I am so interested and asking my wife questions she can't answer so.......

The bamboo "floats" I see on boats of the same kind; Q; How doe's one bend them?

Hope I'm not jumping to far ahead here, regards John

 

 

 

5 Star Thread

Hey Kuya,

 

Yep, I just gave this topic a 5 star also.  I'm also wondering how that is done -- curving the bamboo to accommodate the rough seas?

 

 

 

 

Yep, I just gave this topic a 5 star also. I'm also wondering how that is done -- curving the bamboo to accommodate the rough seas?

My guess Jake is bending under steam produced over an open fire...but we will have to wait to find out from James on this.

 

 

You all have each requested information on how the bamboo outriggers are bent to the desired shape. So I will workup a good post on the subject and post it later this afternoon, soory for the late reply but I have been busy for the last few days and have not really had time to write up a decent post on the subject. 

[jamesmusslewhite]

The bamboo outriggers will need to be bent so they can support the buoyant bamboo wings. I did cover this subject in post # 18 and #19 on this tread, but I will repost the information from #18 & #19 here with more details which will allow me to go into more depth on the subject. The bending of the bamboo is really an easy process, but first there is some fundamental information about bamboo which needs to be covered. This information will greatly help anyone desiring to use bamboo outriggers and buoyant bamboo wings to choose the right bamboo for the right task as there are 62 known species of bamboo found here in the Philippines. You will hear the common term 'Chinese Bamboo' used by the locals when referring to the bamboo used for outriggers. So we will cover 'Chinese Bamboo' first.

 

There are only six varieties known here as 'Chinese Bamboo', these varieties of bamboo have extremely thick clum walls and big-diameter. It is the thickness of the clum wall which give it the desired tensile strength needed for quality outriggers. As irony would have it though only two of these six varieties of bamboo which all the locals refer to here as 'Chinese Bamboo, in fact originate from China; of the other other  four varieties one is actually from India, one is from Columbia and the other two varieties actually are native to the Philippines, All six varieties listed below are excellent for heavy construction projects, home building and certainly outriggers for boats. And all of these six varieties are called 'Chinese Bamboo' by the locals.

 

Bambusa bambos (India)

Bambusa oldhamii (China)

Bambusa utilis (Southern China)

Dendrocalamus latiflorus (native)

Dendrocalamus giganteus (native)

Guadua angustifolia.(Columbia)

 

 

 

Notice in the above photo just how thick the clum wall is in this cross-section cut view. This is what the locals refer to as 'Chinese Bamboo' and we are using this species for our outriggers. There is very little space for air to be pocketed in the core center of the bamboo pole. It is easy to see sheer thickness of the dense clum wall of this variety of bamboo. This thickness of the chum wall is what gives it the great tensile strength which is needed to support the buoyant wings as they move through the water and through waves. Chinese bamboo is excellent for strength but not so much for buoyancy to be used as the buoyant wings for the boat. For the buoyant wings which will be suspended by the heaver clum walled 'Chinese Bamboo' outriggers, and bamboo with a moderate thickness clum wall must be used. A bamboo with a much larger air pocket running through it's core center is more desired to use as buoyant wings

 

What needs to be mentioned is most other varieties of bamboo have rather thin clum walls which are not really suited for using as buoyant wings. Yes they have a large air pocket which gives them buoyancy, but the thinner clum walls lack the needed tensile strength required to endures the contact with waves and the pressure imposed by the outriggers during rough water. The thin clum wall could split, crimp, kink or snap which would allow water to seep into the core of the bamboo losing it's buoyancy. Thinner walled bamboo makes good cheap furniture but are lousy for outriggers as that are just two flexible and lack the needed tensile strength to handle workloads imposed on it.  One good wave and they can easily snap or fail and leave you in a world of hurt on a nasty day out on the open water far from land. The thicker the clum walls the better.

 

 

In the photo above you can easily see the difference in the thickness of the clum wall of these two of the pieces of bamboo, as the clum wall thickness is less than the species known here as 'Chinese Bamboo', it will still have the needed tensile strength and as you can see there is a much larger air space in the core center which runs the whole lenght of the bamboo piece. This is an excellent varity to use for the buoyant wings. These will be lashed using #120 nylon to the bottom of the outriggers. Unfortunately I could find two bamboo lengths at the diameter I wanted so I had to purchase four  smaller lengths. Two lengths of bamboo will be lashed to the outriggers. You can see the larger air space in the center core of each piece. This will allow me the desired buoyancy while the thickness of the clum wall will still allow me the needed tensile strength to remain durable.  Most varieties of bamboo have half the clum wall thickness as do the two lengths shown above, so remember this as it is important when building your own outriggers. Strength and durability is always key when making your choice of which to use.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well I explained some of the required attributes of bamboo that is needed for the outriggers. These lengths are about the diameter of 2 inch PVC water pipe. These are the Chinese bamboo which is the thickest lengths that will be used, so if you find yourself wanting to bend lengths to use in other projects it will be pretty much the same, of course thinner clum walled bamboo will be easier to bend. This special variety of bamboo is so thick-skinned that even though the diameter is about the same as big around as a 2 inch PVC pipe, the hollow hole that runs through it's core middle is only large enough to stick a small finger in. This variety has the strength and flexibility to take a pounding by the waves and still spring back. I have heard that bamboo has the tensile strength superior to steel. Some let me give you some silly facts about bamboo:

• Unlike wood, bamboo has no rays or knots, allowing it to withstand more stress throughout the length of each stalk.
• Bamboo’s sectional anatomy, both as a cane and on a microscopic fiber level, enhances its structural integrity.
• The high silica content in bamboo fibers means the material cannot be digested by termites.
• Bamboo contains different chemical extractives than hardwood, which make it better suited for gluing.

The very dense fibers in each bamboo cane give the plant extreme flexibility, allowing it to bend without snapping. In earthquakes, a bamboo forest is actually a very safe place to take shelter, and houses made of bamboo have been known to withstand 9.0 magnitude quakes. For thousands of years bamboo has been the go-to building material for most of the world.

 

So how is the bamboo actually bent to the desired shape, you ask? Well that is really rather easy and best to be done before the bamboo is actually cut. One bends the live bamboo gently over and lash down to stakes which have been driven into the ground or lashed to large stoves several time along it’s length. The bamboo is bent down level and remains anchored down for a period of one month, at which time the bamboo will then naturally maintain that shape. Then simply cut the bent bamboo stalk at the ground and carry it home as nothing will need to be done but let it dry for one more month than simply scrape of the green outer skin so it can be coated with a layer of clear epoxy and painted.

 

Well I have no bamboo that I can spend the time to bend down a month before I can cut it bamboo lengths? Well that is like almost everyone else. I have the bamboo growing on my farm but none were grown to the size I needed yet. So I had to go to a friend who cut some in the mountains for me. This means I have to bend it using heat. I really do not know if making a steamer works better than dry heat, and I have personally only seen locals use dry heat such as a torch. This may not necessarily mean using a torch works best, but since I know that this method works quite well it will be what we use.

 

Now an acetylene bottle and torch set at a high flame or a hand-held propane burner may be able to do the job and I wanted to build it traditional style, than for me it is ole Visayan jungle old-school . So here is how we got the job done. Torches made from fallen dried coconut branches. Now when you own close to 900 mature coconut trees finding lots of fallen coconut branches is really quite easy. Take about a dozen or so and roll the leaves around the stem and twist then with some cheap twine and you have a dandy troch with is both fast and cheap and burn for several minutes. The torches are about 6 feet in length and you have a couple of feet of dry handle helping to distance you from the rather large and hot flame.

 

 

We just found an area where there was a large thick root exposed and a handy notch in an old tree. A myriad of other options can be used. You simply need a place where the stalks can stand and still allow adequate space to be able to move a burning torch along both the front and back side of the area where you wish to make the bend. Once the applied heat make the desired area to become malleable than you can quickly move it to a bending frame, jig, hole in the ground or an old tree with a perfect nitch as we used.  You can go as high-tech or low-teck as you want. We went caveman and it still worked out nicely.

   

A torch is lit and the flame is held a few inches from the bamboo stalks and is slowly moved up and down in the area where the bend is to be made. This up and down motion is actually done to both the front and back side of the bamboo stalks. As one torch is almost spent it is used to light the next torch and is then discarded about a foot in front of the bamboo so it’s remaining heat can be still utilized. The outer green skin of the stalk will blacken and char but the heat is not allowed to remain in one spot long enough to start the clum wall to start burning, merely to only heat up. After about 10 minutes of this constant heat being applied to both sides of the stalks you simply reach up high on the stalk length to see if it is becoming malleable. You can feel it starting to soften, if it still feels stiff than simply keep applying the heat  I believe that it was probably 15-20 minutes or 8-12 torches to do the trick for us.

 

We did them in pairs as each of the outrigger sections have a slightly different bend needing to be done. after they became malleable we bent them over by we either lashing them to stalks and anchor rocks or weighing them down with lengths of stacked wood and weights and then let these lengths sit undisturbed for a period of one mouth to allow the bends and shapes to set..

 

 

.

 

 

 

It is just that simple, all that is left is to scrape off the outer skin, lightly snad and prep for paint using a coat of clear epoxy followed by two coats of epoxy enamel paint. Then lash two halves of the three sections togeter on the boat and then lash the two pieces of bamboo which will be used as the buoyant wings to the three outriggers once we carry it down to the river. 

 

Then it time to put around the little islands and do some long-needed fishing. :thumbsup:

Edited November 2, 2015 by jamesmusslewhite

[Kuya John]

Hi James

Clever people the "Indigenous People"

Yes we have the technology these days but ....Hope you put all this into print one day.

All great ,regards JB

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well the weather here has certainly been living up to its reputation. Dinagat Island has one of the highest annual rainfall rates here in the Philippines which is great for my coconuts but lousy if you are trying to pain a boat. We rigged up a canopy over the length of the boat using bamboo lengths, tarpaulins and rope which has allowed us to keep working on the final wood work and the painting of the boat.

 

Just as we did on the inside of the boat, so we did to the outside of the boat Our first step in painting the outside wooden surfaces of the boat starts the same. We applied two beginning layers of clear epoxy to the keel side of the solid hull board, plywood hull skin and to the deck tops of the boat. This allows the epoxy to soak and seep into the wood surfaces, seams and cracks which not only further strengthens the hull of the boat but also helps protect the wood from water contact and high humidity the boat will be subjected to during normal use.  Second we applied our primer coat using an epoxy enamel ‘yellow’ pigment paint. This was actually a compromise as I had originally intended on using an orange primer but our City Hardware store sold-out that color. They were not sure just how long it would be before the orange primer could be ordered and restock, so I opted just to substitute the yellow epoxy enamel in lieu of the orange primer.

 

 

 

 

 

Now all that is needed is to allow the epoxy enamel yellow primer coat to sit undisturbed for 24 hours which will allow adequate time to dry before we start applying the orange base color.

[jamesmusslewhite]

The next day we wipe the hull down with a dry cloth to remove any moisture or debris stirred up from the night's thunderstorm. The epoxy has properly sat and dried so we added the orange base color over the yellow coat which acts as a primer coat. When painting a wooden boat the primer coat covers and conceals the wood grains, epoxy coloration so these darken discolorations will not show through your base color. It should be noted that the color of primer coats do effect the final color of your base coat. Light color primers vs dark color primers are something to consider when deciding what final color you want to achieve of the final coat. Light color primers tend to lighten and soften the final base color in full sun where as darker color primers tend to deepen the base color in full sunlight.

 

I mention this as I had originally wanted a 'orange' pigment primer and found it to no longer be available. As I need to finish the boat and get it in the water I could not wait weeks or months for the orange primer to be restocked and had to choose a different color for my primer coat. Colors like read, green or blue can drastically change the final hue of the base orange coat when finished. I opted to use yellow as it would give the orange base coat a slight softened hue which I want rather than a boat that looks like floating danger sign. The yellow made a good choice as a primer color for the color orange as it soften the final color while still being able to cover all the discolortions and dark shadows caused by wood colors, wood grains and color wherever epoxy is used.. I like the lighter hue of the final orange base coat in sunlight and this will really standout once the final layer of clear epoxy is added over the orange base layer as a protective coat.

 

We now have to run a nylon string down both sides of the boat to use as a guide so we can apply a straight line of plastic electric tape down the whole length of the boat on both sides. This is so we can paint the waterline with the epoxy enamel blue coat, once the blue layers of epoxy painted on the plastic electric tape can be removed before the blue epoxy has had time to properly set and dry. Remember epoxy will bond the plastic electric tape permanently to the boat, so do not forget to remove it as soon as you apply the final coat. This is really quite simple and fast to do,

 

 

We use nylon wrapped around the aft hull board and made a simple loop at the desired height. This nylon loop holds the nylon that will mark the waterline on both sides of the boat hull. It is this nylon that will be used as a guide when using the plastic electric tape, The electric tape will give a clean straight line along the whole length of the boat between the blue waterline and the orange hull coats.  

 

 

On the forward bow of the boat we simply bend a piece of heavy wire that will act like a nose clip on the forward bow board and is were the nylon cord is tied off on both ends of the cord. This is simple fast to setup and even faster to remove once the plastic electric tape has been applied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trick is once you have the nylon string in place is to not touch it, simply by using your eye keep an even spacing between the plastic electric tape and the nylon string being used as a guide. Doing this helps prevent the string from riding up and not staying were you want it. You really do not want to waste unnecessary time having to redo what you have already done or having to untie and rerun your nylon guide lines. .

Edited November 8, 2015 by jamesmusslewhite