Build a Boat Out of a (Single) 2x4
July 31, 2015 12:15 PM Subscribe
Needs an outrigger at least.
posted by sammyo at 12:26 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 12:26 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
A single 2x4, a million clamps, and the most important thing: assistance of the cat.
(This was awesome. People are so weird and interesting.)
posted by rtha at 12:29 PM on July 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
(This was awesome. People are so weird and interesting.)
posted by rtha at 12:29 PM on July 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
Proof that you can never have too many clamps.
posted by ghharr at 12:33 PM on July 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by ghharr at 12:33 PM on July 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
Festool envy here. I wonder what that white loose piece of fabric or whatever was in the business end of the driver tool. Something to help change bits maybe?
posted by exogenous at 12:38 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by exogenous at 12:38 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Impressive, even if a bit misleading.
I notice he used an actual 2x4, meaning a board measuring two inches by four inches, rather than a typical 2x4, which is only 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.
People like this make me happy.
posted by bondcliff at 12:43 PM on July 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
I notice he used an actual 2x4, meaning a board measuring two inches by four inches, rather than a typical 2x4, which is only 1 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.
People like this make me happy.
posted by bondcliff at 12:43 PM on July 31, 2015 [12 favorites]
I wonder what that white loose piece of fabric or whatever was in the business end of the driver tool.
My guess is it was a depth marker so he wouldn't drill too deep.
posted by OmieWise at 12:46 PM on July 31, 2015
My guess is it was a depth marker so he wouldn't drill too deep.
posted by OmieWise at 12:46 PM on July 31, 2015
I like the concept, and the execution of the boat frame itself was nice. Not crazy about the way he skinned the boat with visqueen, but it isn't my project. The visqueen itself is OK, but his methodology for attaching it looks expedient rather than good.
That said, while I enjoyed the shop video/Festool porn, the initial launch was tough to watch: street clothes (wearing jeans?! - WTF, does he want to drown?), awkward entry into both boat and water, very tippy, etc. And then in the followup video, the outrigger he builds to help stabilize its flotation looks like it's attached to the boat with twist ties and hope. I approve of his boat frame, but I would have made some different choices after that...
For an alternate boat made with a similar artificial constraint (single sheet of plywood instead of a single 2x4), check out this Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-BO-AT-Single-Sheet-Plywood-Boat/
posted by mosk at 12:48 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
That said, while I enjoyed the shop video/Festool porn, the initial launch was tough to watch: street clothes (wearing jeans?! - WTF, does he want to drown?), awkward entry into both boat and water, very tippy, etc. And then in the followup video, the outrigger he builds to help stabilize its flotation looks like it's attached to the boat with twist ties and hope. I approve of his boat frame, but I would have made some different choices after that...
For an alternate boat made with a similar artificial constraint (single sheet of plywood instead of a single 2x4), check out this Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-BO-AT-Single-Sheet-Plywood-Boat/
posted by mosk at 12:48 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
the outrigger he builds to help stabilize its flotation looks like it's attached to the boat with twist ties and hope.
It's the quintessential home project: spend months of labor lovingly building something elegant and then slap together a half-assed fix when it doesn't work.
posted by ghharr at 12:51 PM on July 31, 2015 [28 favorites]
It's the quintessential home project: spend months of labor lovingly building something elegant and then slap together a half-assed fix when it doesn't work.
posted by ghharr at 12:51 PM on July 31, 2015 [28 favorites]
OmieWise: "My guess is it was a depth marker so he wouldn't drill too deep."
Nah, it's on a driver drilling a screw, not being used as a drill (link to source time in video). It appears a few times.
posted by exogenous at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2015
Nah, it's on a driver drilling a screw, not being used as a drill (link to source time in video). It appears a few times.
posted by exogenous at 1:01 PM on July 31, 2015
It's like 'tips from a ship wright' meets red green.
posted by Poldo at 1:10 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Poldo at 1:10 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's somewhere between a half canoe and a coracle---it was going to be tippier than a bucket from the get go. An outrigger is the only way it was going to be usable with his hull profile, which is much like a log canoe after all. Even a small central spline along the bottom would have helped.
Neat idea though. I was afraid his frame was too slight to take the side pressures when he got in, that it would fold up on him. He seems to have had enough structure (and West system epoxy) though. Overall a success.
posted by bonehead at 1:12 PM on July 31, 2015
Neat idea though. I was afraid his frame was too slight to take the side pressures when he got in, that it would fold up on him. He seems to have had enough structure (and West system epoxy) though. Overall a success.
posted by bonehead at 1:12 PM on July 31, 2015
2" by 4" by what?
posted by jeffamaphone at 1:35 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by jeffamaphone at 1:35 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
Seems like he lost patience with the project at about Pareto.
posted by rhizome at 1:37 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 1:37 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
2" by 4" by what?
Exactly. Looks like about 12 feet.
Going on that assumption, I can't wait to introduce you all to my entry in next year's Creative Woodworking 2x4 Competition, which will be entitled "1,152 cubic inches of sawdust and several hours of swearing." I've been working on small demo versions basically my whole adult life.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:49 PM on July 31, 2015 [11 favorites]
Exactly. Looks like about 12 feet.
Going on that assumption, I can't wait to introduce you all to my entry in next year's Creative Woodworking 2x4 Competition, which will be entitled "1,152 cubic inches of sawdust and several hours of swearing." I've been working on small demo versions basically my whole adult life.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 1:49 PM on July 31, 2015 [11 favorites]
With an infinitely long 2x4 you could build every boat ever made.
posted by blue_beetle at 1:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by blue_beetle at 1:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
When I was a kid and out on a long hike, my (Minnesotan) camp counselor told me a Sven and Ole joke that involved Sven and Ole building a house. As is traditional the joke went on forever, which helped take my mind off the endless hike, and it ended with Ole finally returning to the lumber mill for the umpteenth time to buy 2x4s for the house. The mill owner asks him: "How long do you want them?" and Ole says....
"Oh we want them a hell of a long time. We're building a house."
I was maybe ten? Laughed my little ass off.
posted by The Bellman at 2:06 PM on July 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Oh we want them a hell of a long time. We're building a house."
I was maybe ten? Laughed my little ass off.
posted by The Bellman at 2:06 PM on July 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
I too would only use a Festool to attempt this.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:06 PM on July 31, 2015
posted by humboldt32 at 2:06 PM on July 31, 2015
"1,152 cubic inches of sawdust and several hours of swearing."
fyi i would pay to view this installation
posted by indubitable at 3:00 PM on July 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
fyi i would pay to view this installation
posted by indubitable at 3:00 PM on July 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
What is the name of those neat handsaws that look like spatulas?
(It's hard to buy things you don't know the name of and I don't want to ask the gruff mustachioed men in the tool shop, who might pity me)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:27 PM on July 31, 2015
(It's hard to buy things you don't know the name of and I don't want to ask the gruff mustachioed men in the tool shop, who might pity me)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:27 PM on July 31, 2015
Give me a 2x4 long enough and a human to sculpt it, and he shall float across the world.
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:28 PM on July 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by RolandOfEld at 4:28 PM on July 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
P.S. Gruff mustachioed men loooooove to show you tools. They will talk your ear off if you let them. A lot of dudes who work in woodworking type stores do it because it's something they like.
Japanese saws (and planes) are really nice - better than the euro/american style ones in my opinion, just a lot easier to use. They're cheap, too.
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:44 PM on July 31, 2015
Japanese saws (and planes) are really nice - better than the euro/american style ones in my opinion, just a lot easier to use. They're cheap, too.
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:44 PM on July 31, 2015
Gruff mustachioed men loooooove to show you tools.
I would not personally pay to view that installation, but, you know, that's apparently why we have the Internet.
posted by The Bellman at 4:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
I would not personally pay to view that installation, but, you know, that's apparently why we have the Internet.
posted by The Bellman at 4:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
then Gilligan discovered that the glue dissolved in water but no one would listen to him...
posted by mattoxic at 6:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mattoxic at 6:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Gruff mustachioed men loooooove to show you tools.
In the land of double entendres, this may be king.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:32 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
In the land of double entendres, this may be king.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:32 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
As a gruff mustachioed man I am shocked - SHOCKED - that people took my statement a way other than intended.
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:39 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by RustyBrooks at 7:39 PM on July 31, 2015 [4 favorites]
This was interesting in that the maker was well up to the technicals and materials challenge and seems to have absorbed certain fundamentals of boat construction, yet at the same time designed such an unseaworthy craft and was himself not comfortable using it. He's a good woodworker but I think an experienced boatbuilder would have gone about this challenge in a different way (and predicted and probably avoided the design failures that demanded an outrigger and thus broke the initial constraint - a skin kayak would have been possible, I think). It's an interesting case study in design to purpose.
posted by Miko at 9:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Miko at 9:55 PM on July 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
I did this a few years back "wooden boat challenge" We built a catamaran that was OK but it was too hard to operate wit one person paddling in each pod, but it did not sink. 3 hrs and hand tools only. Some of these pheople had been doing this awhile and had foot powered saws and the like. The sheer number of cuts you had to make by hand was the biggest throttling point.
posted by boilermonster at 10:10 PM on July 31, 2015
posted by boilermonster at 10:10 PM on July 31, 2015
A sufficiently long 2x4 would circumscribe the world, obviating any need for a boat.
A community center had a competition in which you had to cross a swimming pool using a boat made out of newspaper and glue. My wife wouldn't let me enter after I planned to make a boat long enough to let me walk across the pool ...
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:49 AM on August 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
A community center had a competition in which you had to cross a swimming pool using a boat made out of newspaper and glue. My wife wouldn't let me enter after I planned to make a boat long enough to let me walk across the pool ...
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:49 AM on August 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
Build a Boat Out of a (Single) 2x4
then
at 5:52: This board is not part of the 2x4
I have been misled!
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:49 AM on August 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
then
at 5:52: This board is not part of the 2x4
I have been misled!
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:49 AM on August 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
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