How to Stitch and Glue Boat Building-Glassing Butt Joints
In this video we’ll go over how we do butt joints for plywood stitch and glue boats. A butt joint is simply where the squared off ends of the panel meet and are bonded together as opposed to a scarf joint where the surfaces of the joining panels are tapered at a shallow angle to increase the bond area. To make the butt joint strong enough we use fiberglass tape over one or both sides (eventually when the boat is finished both sides will have fiberglass over them) to strengthen the joint.
Materials used:
12oz DB glass tape fiberglasssupply.com/12-oz-x-...
West 105/207 Resin fiberglasssupply.com/west-105... fiberglasssupply.com/west-207...
Peel Ply fiberglasssupply.com/pro-vac-...
Mixing Bucket fiberglasssupply.com/1-qt-pla...
Squeegee fiberglasssupply.com/4in-plas...
Plastic Film fiberglasssupply.com/release-...
Laminating Brush fiberglasssupply.com/2in-natu...
I now live in Indonesia and don't have access to a lot of the nice stuff like peel ply and fiberglass tape. We do have some very thick tape used for insulating mufflers but it's not really useful for stitch and glue projects. Instead I use a section of ply large enough to fill the space between the ribs and or inside the seat/ buoyancy box, which works pretty well. I've also found that cheap plastic document covers work well in place of peel ply or plastic to cut down on sanding as it lays flat and is reusable. Actually I enjoy the challenges posed by not having everything easily available and have learned a lot by watching local boat builders using very simple tools to quickly create very beautiful and strong working boats from basic tools and materials. Some of these guys even have KZhead videos and I get a big laugh reading the comments from Americans trying to tell them everything they're doing wrong, which always gets a ❤️ because they can't understand English and just appreciate the comments. But these boats are out on the water and stored on the river bank or beach in a tropical climate every day without any protection. Not to mention the materials cost roughly $100 USD for a 16 footer so imho you can't argue with that.
Good morning my brother. It's great to see a good and interesting video. Great job, I love your fiber boat building video. I hope that in this difficult time, we have the same spirit in achieving success together. Good luck to you and all the best and I look forward to your next visit.
Awesome tuturial 😎👍
Thank you! Cheers!
Sar very good jobs thanks 👌👌🙏🙏
Great video I have learned something today thanks
Glad to hear it!
Goodjob bos the sempl bot plywood 👍👍👍
I'm glad I found this video. I am getting ready to scarf panels for a river drift boat and was thinking of doing this method or the type of joint used by Dynamite Payson. This joint looks great and will work. Thank you.
Great Tutorial. Thank you for the extra knowledge and the time, the expenses and the toil I would waste building my stitch and glue plywood sailing dinghy!!!! Efcharisto (THANK YOU in Greek).-
You are so welcome!
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I have a new catamaran and/or trimaran hull design which has been in progress for the last 15 years. It is new/novel and therefore patentable. The hull is asymmetric. Though, for description purposes, it could be described as a variant of a conventional symmetric and a conventional asymmetric hull shape. Since, its shape is symmetrical above the waterline and asymmetrical below the waterline, the result of extending existing lines of a conventional symmetric hull at and below the waterline. This catamaran and/or trimaran hullshape is suitable for a range of craft from SAILING to small and medium POWER craft. SAILING: The hull's benefits for a sailing catamaran or trimaran are; *speed *pointing ability - VMG *no necessity for of dagger or centreboard *simple, flat panel design lines, ease of manufacture. POWER CRAFT: Benefits of an symmetrical hull shape without the negative characteristics such as; *speed of asymmetric shape *more balanced reaction to waves - less broaching *banks in turns To anyone with interest. Cheers
Can this be done with polyester resin? If so, any alteration in the process? Thanl you for the video very informative
Thanks. To anyone: if you do it with regular woven cloth tape, does the selvaged edges present a problem? Looks like Mathew is using bi-axial tape which I think is not selvaged. Thanks.
Do you ALWAYS Pre-Wet Fiber Glass Tape for every type of project? And if not, what determines your decision to NOT Pre-Wet. I'm just wondering if I should Pre-Wet like you did on my NON-Boating project (Converting Chest freezer into cold plunge)
Hmm got a question. Got some plans for a 20 foot Jon boat. It says it needs a butt and bulkhead every 4 feet. So this is the butt joint and then you use plywood and hardwood laminated together with epoxy and fiberglass atop this butt joint?
I am looking for plans to build a 20’ plywood skiff/dorry. Do you have a recommended supplier for boat plans?
We've had a lot of customers build Tolman skiffs and are very happy with them. The plans for them are a little different as it comes in a book form but there is a lot of very good information in the book and there are a lot of resources online from others that have built Tolman skiffs. www.tolmanskiffs.com/ and www.woodenboatstore.com/products/tolman-alaskan-skiffs
is the "peel ply" needed? or the two ends can be joined without the use of the "peel play"?
The peel ply is optional. It does make for a cleaner joint that requires less sanding.
Aloha, what kind of fiberglass tape is that? Has the joint ever come apart before the whole boat is glassed? Mahalo for posting this video!
12oz double bias fiberglass tape. Yes it has. We do a lot of demonstrations and I have had helpers of various skill levels. When that has happened it has been because they did not get enough epoxy in between the pieces of wood and/or didn't saturate out the glass tape enough, or had a void in the glass at the join line. We've 8-10 of this particular boat and have only had issues once.
I was taught to make 8 to 1 scarf joints in plywood to have a joint close in strength to the plywood. Is this not so anymore?
The scarf joint is going to have a higher strength than a but joint and most likely flex better. Butt joints are an option where the joint is not stressed highly or sufficiently supported by other structural features. In the case of this boat which is designed as a row boat or a displacement hull and has surrounding structural features like gunwales, keelson, and thwarts that support the areas where the joints are found the butt joints are acceptable and is easier to assemble than a scarf joint.
So no need to scarf?
Hi friend , how can l get that project thanks
The plans for that boat are here: fiberglasssupply.com/digital-download-ez-skiff-plans/
What kind of wood or plywood are you using?
Hi friend do you know the thickness of the plywood I have to use to make that boat . Thanks!!
Meranti marine plywood
9mm for the bottom and 6mm for the sides
What was the ear muffs for
Music
You don't scarf these sheets of plywood for this model of boat?
On this boat no we don't. The side panels are roughly 14" tall and have gunwales down both sides and the way the chine joint is reinforced it comes out really solid. The bottom panel joint ends up between the bulkheads and has a keelson down the outside. Given all that structure and the fact that it is a displacement speed boat the glassed butt joints are plenty strong for the use.
Do you have an IG page? Thank you
fiberglass_supply is our IG handle
ribet amat
Just getting the roids right and you're good to go 🎉.
The big gap looks like shit.