Epoxycraft
Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Epoxy Basics
  • How To
    • DIY
    • Artists
    • Board Sports
    • Woodworking
    • Boat Building
  • Trade Secrets
  • Projects
    • DIY
    • Artists
    • Board Sports
    • Woodworking
    • Boat Building
    • Motorsport
    • Aviation
    • Architecture
  • Meet The Maker
  • News
  • Contribute
  • Contact

How To: Steve Goodchild explains how to build a wooden dinghy (Stornoway 16) 
4th December 2019

Steve Goodchild explains how to build a wooden dinghy (Stornoway 16) 

In part one of this series of how to build a wooden dinghy Steve Goodchild takes us through choosing a design, and making a jig for his Stornoway 16. 

“I’m essentially a fair–weather sailor,” says retired land surveyor Steve Goodchild. “The trouble is, the weather doesn’t seem to know that.”  

Nevertheless he decided to combine his two passions of wood working and sailing and build a beautiful cedar-planked Stornoway 16. Based near the picturesque harbour of Paignton in Devon, Steve had planned to become an active member of the dinghy cruising association, so wanted a design that would be easy to sail, but roomy enough to camp in overnight. He found his ideal project from the pen of Paul Fisher at https://selway-fisher.com.   

The Stornoway 16 from the drawing board of designer and artist Paul Fisher. He has a huge portfolio of boat designs ranging from steam launches to ocean going yachts. 

Now enjoying retirement in Devon, Steve Goodchild ran a joinery shop in South Africa for a few years which made him a competent woodworker. This was to supplement his land surveying business when it was hit by the political unrest of the 1970s.  

 

Cedar strip method 

Although the Stornoway 16 was intended to be built with hard chines, essentially made from wide planks of plywood, Paul Fisher’s design also allowed for the cedar strip method. 

“The rounded hull shapes that can be made using this technique appealed to me,” Steve says. “Paul has added the necessary mould plans and written a book entitled ‘Strip Plank Boat Construction.’ This has rapidly become my bible.” 

Thin strips of Western Red or Yellow cedar are machined with a convex curve on one edge, and a matching concave curve on the other. They are then bent around a set of formers and interlock to create the hull. 

“Selway Fisher Designs provided me with CADD (Computer Aided Design Drawing) ‘dxf’ files for the 13 formers,” Steve explains. “I have used CADD professionally for years and also have an AO (841mm x 1189mm) plotter. This allowed me to print the plans at full size and glue them to some plywood sheets salvaged from an old floor.”  

As Steve was concerned about the small deviations of a jigsaw cut he added a second line to guide the router for a more even finish. He also added vertical and horizontal reference lines so he could use a laser to perfectly align the finished formers.  

After the paper plans were glued down Steve made the first cut using the jigsaw slightly wide of the mark… 

…And ran a router along a pinned-down bead to achieve the final shape. 

 Formers made and mounted 

When all the 13 formers were made and marked, they needed to be mounted on a frame called a ‘strongback’ to support the build. It had to be rigid and perfectly square to avoid any twist.  

“I made mine from old 25 x 230mm shelving, along with some rough pine of 50mm x150mm and 50mm x 50mm,” Steve says. “I drilled holes along the bottom and added adjustable DIY bath leg screws. Once assembled I levelled the entire structure using a Bosch laser as a guide.”  

The formers were placed in their correct locations following the plans. A Bosch DIY laser was used to drop a reference line both vertically and horizontally across the formers for exact alignment with the strongback, and each other. The former in the picture will be moved until the vertical laser line touches the edge of the notch at the top of the and the outside edge of the beam at the bottom. 

“My next task was to plane the edges of the formers to the correct angle so that the strips would lie in a fair curve,” Steve explains, adding that this part of the jig process caused him the most concern. The idea was that the outer edges of each former would present a flat surface to the strips as they were laid down, but this meant slightly different angles on each one. How to make the curve consistent? He solved the problem with an ingenious solution. 

“I made a jig that attaches to a very old Record rebate plane,” Steve explains. “An arm then runs from the plane to an adjacent former. One side of the jig runs against one side of the former being planed and the rebate fence runs against the other. This serves to keep the arm square to the former.” 

Steve points out that this isn’t mathematically correct (as the cedar strips won’t always be at exactly 90o to the former) but after a few fine adjustments the jig has worked far better than expected and answered many of his worries about how to build a wooden dinghy. 

 

Building the keel 

With the strongback and frames ready to go Steve turned his attention to making the ‘spine’ of the boat. He started with the bow piece.  

“I had a stock of 2mm strips of mahogany veneer left over from a project started by my Dad and decided to put it to good use. I made three templates out of 18mm scrap ply into which I could shape the strips into beautiful curves. Each strip was bonded to the next with WEST SYSTEM epoxy. This picture shows templates 1 and 2 being used to laminate the outer section of the bow. Each 2mm strip was cut 54mm wide, with 14 of them bonded together to create a thickness of 28mm.” 

“Using templates 1 and 3, I bonded another 22 strips of veneer 23mm wide with a curve which exactly matches the inner face of the first section. I then machined it to give parallel sides on a 50mm wide bow.”  

“By combining the first laminate with template 3, I made a piece 24mm wide with a curve which exactly matches the inner curve of the first laminate. At 22mm thick, it will be bonded to both the plywood forward structure and the front section of the laminated bow.”  

Steve’s timelapse video of how to build a wooden dinghy is just part of his great website where he documents his projects. 

 

Read how Tim Loftus built a  a lug rigged Guillemot dinghy 

https://epoxycraft.com/westsystem/willow-the-guillemot-dinghy/

 

Find out about how Keith Callaghan built the Hadron H2 dinghy 

https://epoxycraft.com/westsystem/hadron-h2-dinghy/ 

 

Read about Gary Breeze building a small Mouse pram dinghy  

https://epoxycraft.com/projects/constructing-a-watertight-pram-dinghy-with-the-help-of-epoxy/ 


Share on


Back to top-tips-best-ways-to-use-epoxy

Subscribe to our newsletter
Our unique epoxy knowledge and experience, delivered straight to you

Events

Future dates TBC

What is epoxy?

Epoxy Projects

UK Chandleries Open – January 2021

As England, Scotland and Wales enter another lockdown, you may have started work on those home projects. Whether it’s boat maintenance and repairs, a restoration or a brand new build,

Creating an Artisan Gold Ring with Canadian Maple and Epoxy

You may be surprised to learn that the UK is home to some of the finest gold around. Mark discovered this as a child when his father, Edward, would take

Heritage 9.9

Castagnola Launch Heritage 9.9

Castagnola Shipyard has launched the elegant, custom-made Heritage 9.9. Able to reach a cruising speed of 34 knots, the 10.91m custom-built luxury yacht is a fine example of what happens

Nick Zammeti Gets Creative with Epoxy and Liquorice Allsorts

What happens when you give Youtuber Nick Zammeti lots of epoxy and bags of Liquorice Allsorts? You get one incredibly funky table! Nick is well-known and loved in the industry

Meet the Maker – The Resin Reserve

Resin artist, alchemist, resin-gineer. Kate Ede of The Resin Reserve has always kept us in awe of her marvellous and beautiful creations. Inspired by patterns in nature, Kate is a

Split Film Festival Trophies

Creating the 2020 Split Film Festival Trophy

The Split Film Festival is one of the oldest film and video festivals in Croatia, showcasing new films and radical works of all styles, themes and genres. The festival celebrated

Hot Box

How to keep your epoxy warm in winter: build a hotbox

Winter is a challenging time for epoxy products. Warmth is needed to keep the resin fluid enough for dispensing pumps to work well and cold ambient temperature can greatly reduce

How to Work With Epoxy in Cold Weather

The frosty mornings and dark evenings are drawing near. There are projects that need finishing, but what do you do when epoxy and cold weather don’t get on too well.

Mas Snowboard

Snowboard Enthusiasts Taking On The World With Incredible Designs

To many a holidaymaker, Turkey is a haven of golden sand beaches, historic landmarks and party towns. However, it’s not just those looking to top up on their tan that

Class Xero Yacht

Class Xero Combines Coffee and Epoxy in Sustainable Yacht Design

Image credit: Alec Smith - https://www.imagemundi.com Craig Palmer, based in Worthing, is looking at opportunities to bring the marine industry together in a collaborative way. In the middle of building

Craobh Woodwork

Bringing a New Lease of Life to Reclaimed Scottish Timber

Tucked away in the highlands of Scotland is the small village of Culbokie, home to Craobh Woodwork and artisan Bruce Neill. Specialising in producing bespoke timber products from the highest

Final Bar Design

Cheers! Leeds Furniture Maker Creates a Bar Worth Celebrating

James McKay has been a creator since his early years. His fascination for creativity guided his interest into art, design and technology during his school years. James went on to

  • Home
  • Epoxy Basics
  • Projects
    • DIY
    • Artists
    • Board Sports
    • Woodworking
    • Boat Building
    • Motorsport
    • Architecture
    • Aviation
  • Trade Secrets
  • How To
    • DIY
    • Artists
    • Board Sports
    • Boat Building
    • Woodworking
  • News
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contribute
  • Contact
West System
Pro-Set
Entropy Resins
Subscribe to our newsletter
Copyright © 2021 Epoxycraft | Website by MAA