Download Fuselage Frame Boats A guide to building skin kayaks and canoes S Jeff Horton 9780615495569 Books

Product details Paperback 156 pages Publisher Kudzupatch, Inc., The (July 9, 2011) Language English ISBN-10 0615495567

Fuselage Frame Boats A guide to building skin kayaks and canoes S Jeff Horton 9780615495569 Books Reviews

• This is a great intro to fuselage boats, the pictures come black and white which makes the instructions on the coaming a little hard to follow. The information is well explained, I purchased the Firefly plan and it came with large engineer print outs, and a book that explains everything. If you really want to build a boat, I would recommend getting the plan package from Jeff. It'll save you time by not having to do the offsets. There are some things that I've learned from the boat building process.
  
  4x8 Marine ply $65 Most common for boat building, maybe a few pounds lighter than Baltic Birch. Has great rot resistance when stored, and varnished periodically.
  
  4x8 Okoume $145 Originally from Africa, this is a hard wood common for boat building. Has a lot of heft, has great rot resistance when stored, and varnished periodically
  
  5x5 Baltic Birch (from Washington or Oregon) $44 - Slightly heavier than marine ply, know for it's aesthetics, easy to shape, good screw holding ability. Good for small boat building.
  
  When joining stringers, Jeff mentions using a pre-cut jig, I would also draw guidelines on the stringers because scarf joints can slip when clamped. You'll want to make sure the alignment is consistent. To provide some building advice, for new builders
  
  -Draw guidelines, and reference points constantly to measure distance of your members.
  -Make sure your planes (especially Japanese planes) are level. I found out my 65 mm Japanese plane was slightly off, so I went back to level my stringers.
  -Don't drill holes to make relief cuts for the jig saw, it'll throw the blade off at an angle.
  -For the keel holders, using a coping saw is much better than a jig saw. Hand tools have the advantage in tight spots.
  -Avoid filing, or additional handwork when possible. Hand filing may lead to trimming off too much. Use guidelines, or jig guides for consistent alignment.
  
  For FRP specialists, the temptation is always to coat everything in epoxy, I've originally thought about using colloidal silica with West Systems to coat the fuselage frames, but ended up not doing it because boats need to have maintain its ability to absorb bumps. Epoxy stress cracks are difficult to detect, and that will create a water entry point for wood to rot even faster if not caught right away. Some boat specialists may differ, but for me, wood is elegant, and lively, so I'll enjoy its natural beauty.
  
  You'll need the listed hand tools in the book, if you want to rip your own stringer accurately from a lumber yard, you'll need to have a good circular saw, table top planer, and router are essential for consistency. Ripping stringers with a hand saw leaves room for misalignment, and errors. So before you start, you'll need to have the power equipment ready.
  
  The book provides offsets for read, the top number the increments of the fuselage as reference. The bottom numbers are hard to read, but it's the same as the top.
• I have this and the Morris book. This book is very practical with lots of straightforward advice and explanations. In some ways it is more helpful than the Morris book. The Morris book is wonderful as it explains general boat building and techniques based in historical context. But when it came right down to the tiny details of building my first sof canoe this book was more useful.
  
  I am a competent wood worker but had no prior experience in this sort of build in terms of boat building, steam bending, lashing, and skinning. I am building the Rushton IGO from Dave Gentry's plans (also recommended). I opted to go the steam bent ribs direction instead of the plywood frame, because I think it looks nicer and I wanted to learn steam bending (which turns out to be completely fascinating! Who knew wood turns rubbery).
  
  I will probably build the Vardo kayak from this book next. This book has plans and techniques for kayak and canoe.
  
  Cons the images are pixelated and difficult to make out the detail. Could be formatted better to differentiate the sections better, like switching back and forth between kayak and canoe.
• I caught the S.O.F. (skin on frame) boat bug years ago and it has worsened to a full blown infection in the past few months. While doing my research and trying to decide on a boat kit to build I found the www.Kudzucraft.com website and, wow, did I ever receive an education. I really enjoyed Jeff's' down to earth style in his how too videos. When I saw his book I had to get it and I was not disappointed. The book is written in the same down to earth style. He shares many great and helpful ideas and techniques that make it possible for even the rank amateur a boat builder. If you are thinking about going down the S.O.F. path I would recommend that you get this book but before you start reading it you go to the website listed above and watch the how to videos so that while you are reading you can have Jeff's great Southern drawl in your head. Do this and enjoy. I, very much, enjoy the technical type drawings and diagrams that are found in this book but others may like more "glossy" type pictures. A great book overall.
• I wish I could get the print edition, but this book is still a great value. I've looked at Greenland type skin-on-frame methods, but found building the frame takes just as much time as a stitch and glue boat with no advantage other than the weight. The author of this book gives you a time-tested method of building a lightweight frame that takes less time than a traditional Greenland boat and yet you get a lightweight boat that costs much less to build than even a stitch & glue kit boat. After seeing the results of the author's work, I'm impressed. You won't get the varnished beauty to brag about, but you will have a kayak that took less time and still will get you envious looks. If you want a kayak or canoe to get out on the water for very little money without the mess and expense of fiberglass and epoxy, then by all means give "Fuselage Frame Boats" a try.
• BEWARE!! This book will destroy your free time, spare money and alienate you from your big boat friends. These boats are so easy to build and so fun that you'll ind yourself desperately struggling between building boats or out paddling. Jeff is a down to Earth man who does a good job of detailing the process. If you run into snags he can be found on various boat building forums as well as facebook. If you want the best combination then buy this book, study up then visit his website and order a set of full size plans to make the build even easier!
• The fuselage frame book by Jeff Horton was really well written with a good deal of information in case your interested in building a kayak. I've built a plywood kayak before which was great and just wanted to know how to build a skin on frame.