Rice Lake Skiff Floorboards

[Juneaudave]

The Rice Lake Skiff gets floorboards. Apparently they were used in traditional craft to to protect the ribs and to make a flatter surface to stand on. According to the builders notes, "The 'floors' or the cleat under the boards that thold them as a unit will have to be laminated to the inside shape of the hull. Use the station molds a a form for laminating the floors. Use three layers of 1/8" x 3/4" hardwood (ash, mahogany, etc) for the floors and 5/16" to 3/8" softwood (cedar, pine, basswood, etc.) for the boards."

The builder notes go on and state:

"Hold the floorboards in place with wooden of brass turn buttons. Fasten to the keelson on the centerline. To hold the outside edge down, glue small hardwood blocks to the hull to attach the turn button"

There aren't any drawings on the plans...so here's some questions:

Laminating the floors: It would seem to be best to go ahead and laminate the floors now while the molds are up and before I start striping. How long should the laminations be? My first thought would be to laminate floor strips from waterline to waterline. That would give me a lamination about 38 inches long on the center mold and 20 inches on mold 13. Thoughts?

Attaching the floors: The Rice Lake Skiff has a keelson (which is like an inside keel) runnning up the centerline from inside stem to inside stem. It is 1 1/4 inches wide by 5/8 inches thick. Do the 'floors' straddle the keelson and lie on top of it? or are the floors laid right on the hull and butt up to the keelson rather than going over the top?

Boy a picture would be nice...Juneaudave

[Juneaudave]

You guys from HANBORB haven't been much help with this, but it has been an enlightening week!!! :D Let me explain. A small but overlooked item from the Builder Notes for the Rice Lake Skiff stated:

"If you need more information on fitting seats, and trimming small boats, see 'Building Small Boats' by Greg Rossel, published by Woodenboat Publications, ISBN 0-937822-50-7."

So I bought the book and must say that it should be manditory reading for anyone considering either the Rice Lake Skiff or the Stoney Lake Skiff. Here are my insights:

I naively thought that the Rice Lake was a modified traditional canoe, built to handle a motor during the period from the transition from paddle power to motor power...it is...but..

...building the Bear Mountain Rice Lake Skiff is an exercise in the marriage between modern cedar strip construction used for canoes and kayaks, and the ages old methods of construction for small boats like dingys, wherrys, and various other small boarts. While I can build the hull using all the skills I used to build last years Bob's Special, fitting out the boat has to rely on adapting a new set of learned skills based on more traditional boatbuilding tradition.

So.... before building the Rice Lake, go ahead and buy 'Building Small Boats' by Greg Rossel. You will have a whole new (and rewarding) perspective on this vessel...Juneaudave