Squirt build, in northern Norway

[Fred Østli]

Hello!

Finally got our plans for the Squirt, so it i time to make a topic for the project. This is the first boat we build, so we start with a small boat. We really like the design and it will be used by my 13 year old son at the nearby lake. This is also a father-son project.

We are going to use lokal materials as much as possible. We have some treess on our property, and some materials my father in law have collected the past 40 years. The materials i mainly spruce, fir and birch.

I have posted about the posibility usin strip planking for the hull, instead of plywood, viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9989 but I have not desided. I am doing some testing and making templates to find a proper way of doing it. The reason for doing it this way is poor acess to marine plywood, and a desire to use our own materials. We know this means more work!

This project have som competition in work, kids football, making new bathroom and other activities, so be patient for updates. We will start with making space in our workshop (my father in law used to build stairs, and have a workshop for it ) and find some good lumber for stem, keel and frames.

Regards

Fred and Ruben

[Fred Østli]

Hello again.

Some questions I hope you can help with before we start with our build:

We want to extend the Squirt to 11" but I want to hear som opinions on it and get some advices:

In norway kids aged up to 16 years is not alowed to drive more than 10 hp outboard, and we want to know if that is enough to make an 11" Squirt go plane. I see most of Squirt builders use 15 to 25 hp. How many mph can you expect from it using 10 hp? (with one person aboard)

I guess the extension for 11" must be between frames 1,2 and transom. If anyone have the measures for me (used with success) I will be happy.

Little bit more about materials We intend to use: Fir is the most commond wood used traditionally for boatbuilding in Norway. It has relatively good rot resistance. I will use this for frames and keel. It is a friendly wood to work with, and smells really good (imo) It is often used for wood-carwings and furnitures too. In the north of Norway spruce is also more common traditionally in boat building because of accessibility. It has a straight grain but harder and smaller knots than fir. it will bond to epoxy wery well, so it is good for strip-planking and laminations. Birch we have a lot of here. It has nice contours, but the grain is sometimes tvisted and hard to work with. I consider making veeners of birch, and use it on deck and dashboard, just for the look of it. Birch is not very rot resistanse, so it must be well coated in epoxy.

Any feedback is good feedback!

Regards

Fred

[BayouBengal]

With only one light passenger and a modern 10 HP (rated at a full 10Hp to the prop), you could probably push it close to 20, but I doubt over 20. This low power set up will work, but may be quite frustrating in many ways.
- You'll have to run full out most of the time.
- You'll need to keep the boat extremely light. No electric starter and associated battery. A minimal 3 gallon fuel tank.
- Build the base boat without adding hatches, veneers, additional hardware, stereos, wiring, etc.
- I'd probably stay with the 10 footer if powering with 10Hp

I'm not aware of any rules like this in the US, but I do know that some people will modify the cowling on the motor to show a lower horsepower on lakes that have horsepower limits. Of course, if closely inspected, the authorities would know the motor is larger than a 10Hp. It would be up to you if you want to take this chance.

If you decide to lengthen, you can view my previous post discussing this here - viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8701&p=57717&hilit=extend#p57717

I expect that Strip planking directly over the frames without plywood will will add a tremendous amount of complexity to this build and I don't think the results (over time) would be what you want. There's too much stress without the proper batten and frame structure to support a stripped planked boat. The boat might look good while under construction with no stress, but you'll have a hard time maintaining the finish without strips buckling out of place once the boat is used. You could plank it with plywood and then add a veneer, but that will add weight and if you stick with the 10HP, you're going to need to cut every ounce of weight possible.

Congrats on deciding to build a Squirt and we all look forward to following your build online.

[Fred Østli]

Thanks Bayou, that was wery usefull!!!

The rules we have in Norway for driving boats is just two years old, and they came as a result of many boat accidents. When you are 16 years you must take a boat certificate too to drive boats with more than 10 hp and larger than 30". This new rules is widely discussed here too, and not everyone follow them. In my opinion its a difference if you have a 10 year old driving a speedboat with 100 hp, while the parents are partying in the marina, or if you have a 13 year old driving a Squirt with 20 hp with some sober parents in another boat in the area! Most 10 hp outboards here is aktually modified 15 hp, and a lot of them is modified back to 15 hp. I also think underpowered boat is less safe than a boat that is properly powered in many cases. It is temting to stay with 11" and find a 15 - 20 hp oatboard, despite the rules we have here...

My thought about strip planking is that it is a bad idea to strip plank on the frames as it is. If I choose using strips, it will be laminated with epoxy and glassfiber both sides. i might even try to make sheets out of strips and epyxy/glass, and then apply it on the frames as you do with plywood-sheets. I am doing some testing and making templates, so I will post results later. The main reason I want to use strips, is not the appearance of the boat, but the desire to use materials I already have(I know,,,I am a bit crazy... )

Regards

Fred

[Fred Østli]

Hello again. The workshopp is now cleared to start building, but we need some help with dimensions for the frames. I cannot find exact dimension for the frame thickness on the plans. I might be blind, but I believe some of you can tell me. On the material list online its says 3" but it sounds to be too much... I want to make it lightweight, but not weak

Regards Fred

[Fred Østli]

Well, reading some more in the forum, I understand the frames shoul be 1" but tell me if I am wrong

Today we started making the first part, the stem. We will make frames and stem before we build the form. It will make it easier to deside if we need to extend it to 11'

Assembling stem

Regards Fred

[Trackhappy]

Hi Fred,
It is most probably specified as 1" in rough cut timber, which cleans up to a dimension a little less from 3/4" to 7/8" depending upon the accuracy of the initial milling process. The 3" will be the width of the frame.
Cheers,
Glenn.

[Fred Østli]

Thanks Glenn. Now it is wery clear to me!

As you might see on the picture we have a big planer we use to make the right dimensions. We use differen sized materials we alredy have laying around.

Fred

[ArtA]

I built the Squirt in the 11' length and would recommend it over 10' length. It gives added displacement (for not much extra weight) which I think also helps with getting on plane. The boats proportions are better (imo). The Squirt is a small boat and very sensitive to the weight of the passengers, so the more displacement the better. You can always put on a bigger motor if the 10 hp doesn't go to your liking - but you can't stretch the boat later. You can check out my blog at http://artatkinson.blogspot.com
I'm running an older 20 hp Mercury whichs weighs 75 lbs. and need all of the hp when I have another adult passenger that is my size (or larger). Lighter women and kids are fine. Also, I didn't keep my boat as light as I would have liked as I opted for the look I wanted.

BTW, I tried an older Evinrude 9.9hp on my boat once and with just me on board, GPS said I was 21-22 mph if I recall. No problem getting on plane. With the 20 hp, I have clocked 28 mph by myself (about 4-5 seconds to get on plane) and get 24-25 mph with two adults on board (may take 10-20 seconds to get on plane depending on weight).

[Fred Østli]

Very useful comments Art I am building this together with my 13y son, and he is like a feather for his age ,so far. We build this for him to use, but I might try to have some fun with it too

We will try to keep the weight down, go for 11' and look for a 15hp. We have so much joy alredy with this project, working on frame1 right now!

Regards

Fred

Btw: I have alredy looked thru your blog and also the video. Your Squirt is absolutely amazing, especially the paint job!

[ArtA]

Glad I could help. You will definately have fun with the building of it and also when its done. You will be telling your son to go for a swim while you take the boat for a spin yourself. The Squirt is a fun boat as it seems faster than bigger boats as you feel the water more and the experience the sense of speed. It is easy to handle as it is small enough to reach out and grab the dock if the skill level is not high yet when approaching a dock.

As you probably read in my blog, the paint job is an outcome of fiberglass tape reinforced joints not being transparent. Also, I wanted to hide where the screw heads had been filled over along the sheer line. A fortunate outcome as the paint really highlights the wood sides and deck without obscuring it, gives the boat a lot of visual interest and a chance to connect the bottom color into the sides and with the seat upholstry. I worked with a graphics guy after doing some of the paint work and he gave me some 1/4" wide vinyl tape to use as a masking tape for the curved lines and it really was much better than narrow paper tape for getting smooth lines. Any paint ridges from tape edges are not important once it is out on the water as they are not noticeable. It was a no cost bonus that only took time as I already had the paint.

[Fred Østli]

Time to post an update. We have now build frames, stem and transom. Next step is to build the form. All is glued with epoxy. The transom is laminated fir, with fiberglass on the inside.

Frames

Regards Fred

[Riff]

Nice
Fellow norwegian here. I bought the plans for the zip, but I think i'm going to wait for the spring since it's getting colder here, and my garage is too open and would be a waste of money to try to heat it up.
But I've begun to look for mahogany plywood and plank, so that I don't have to wait too long

Kurt

[Fred Østli]

Looking at baatplassen.no there have been build some Squirt in Norway before us. Where do you plan to purchase plywood? Getting colder for sure. We can heat up the workshop here, but it takes time, so it will only be done in weekends.

Fred

[Riff]

Yeah, seen those Nice boats.
I'm looking at http://www.oslofiner.no/
My boss might have some other places that I can buy from. I work at Ekornes, so I have alot of people with great knowledge on materials

I'm saving up for new garage ports, that have closed frame so that I can heat up the garage.
I might begin cutting frames and such, as I can do that at work. We have alot of nice equipment there

Kurt