First paddle steamer - PS Pevensey, plans from floataboat

[thwaitsey]

Hi everyone,

Thought I would say G'Day! I have just finished marking out frames for my PS Pevensey. Have not built a scale boat before so any help along the way would be great!

So far im using marine ply for the frames, western red cedar (3mm by 9mm) planks for the hull which I may beef up with some fiberglass on the inside.

Not sure what to use for keel, and if grain direction matters...

Going with electric power, deal with that later.

If anyone has pics of their build, i would really appreciate it!

These forums are great to read and am happy to now be a part of them.

Cheers

thwaitsey

[Oldsmokey]

Hi thwaitsey
A warm welcome to the forum. 
I hope your build achieves all your expectations.

[Spankbucket]

Hi there

Re your keel...what length?

I would definitely recommend keeping the grain along the keel as if you have it across there's likely to be curvature introduced during building? ... and after.

For my boats at around 3 feet I have been using obeche successfully but if you are going for something larger then you might want to consider a metal(aluminium?) keel or keel components. My next one will have ali for the rudder end, skeg etc. Somewhere on here there are some pictures showing another member doing something like that but possibly with brass.

My picture galleries show how I have done things. I have only built 2 paddlers so far and I have posted some build pictures...both balsa however.

Have fun....Bernie

[thwaitsey]

Cheers for the reply's!

Going with cedar for keel also.. Will upload some pics when I have time.