Any Coracle Makers Here?

[Mael Coluim]

Glad it was helpful. I'll contact the folks who put on the Welsh Festival where I took the photo and see if they can put me in contact with the person who made it. I'll PM you the contact info if I am successful. Hopefully that person can help you bring it to reality.

[Chas]

Couple of quick thoughts -

I see no reason why plywood should not work. It has more than adequate strength for the job. Some might think that it might de-laminate. That would only happen if it got wet. Make the frame first and then coat with preservative, again and again. Then add the outer skin.

The original coracles were designed for the single paddler to kneel in the bottom. If you are going to add a bench seat be aware of the centre of gravity. If it is too top heavy, you will spend all your time,wet, climbing back in.

Third thought of the couple - A little cheat, tie a rope from the bow (like a painter) and pass it under the hull to the stern and tie off. Quite tight. It will act like a keel. Not the best in the world, but certainly 100% better than no keel at all.

Regards

Chas

[Pleater]

It doesn't have to be wood - I was thinking of alternatives and wondered if a thick plastic bottle could be cut into a spiral and then warmed so that it could be formed into the correct shape and then left to set.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[TheBrus]

Chas, I'll incorporate the painter-keel into my plan.
Anne, that's an interesting thought. If I'm going to be possibly using a poly skin, why not make the structure from synthetic materials as well... you could go super primative or you could go completely man-made, and everything in between. Perhaps some kind of vinyl would work--you need an 6' - 8' length, I believe, to make the ribs.

Now I wish I hadn't sold my papasan chair back in '04. I could have covered it with a skin and set off down the river. ;)

[Mael Coluim]

The Colmcille pictured below was made by historic boat building group in Ireland as a curragh in the 6 century would have beenbuilt. Two big changes; the oak for the frame and ribs had to be obtained from the USA. Instead of skins this boat's hull had three layers of canvas and pitch. You can see more photos of it in the St. Columba Voyage link in signature block here.

[Pleater]

You could always use plastic curtain rod material, saw a drainpipe into strips - there are any number of things which are possible coracle ribs when you think about it -

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[TheBrus]

Update: I'm going to need to test the flexibility of this, but the local builders yard carries a 5 millimetre birch underlayment that might work just fine when it's cut into 1.5 inch widths. While a synthetic material might offer certain advantages, not least of which is the MacGyver factor, I think the semi-traditional look of the wood will be best. Now, if I could just find a way to sail this to Scotland...

[georgeetta]

hello

sorry any boat or water related escapade is serious business ..follow all water saftey rules .
I like boat buidlng soory about long gab here ..safety is paramount .

look here : http://www.berkshireboatbuildingscho...lightcanoe.htm

boat wood note grain issues and rot resistance and strength/rupture ratings ie boatbuilding .

I know they're small maybe make some prototypes experiment stay safe ..note where the stresses really show up ..a skilled maker way back then ..would have still worked thru trial and error ..pretty much stadard design technique till after WW2 designing came in ..engineering ..

never made one ..structurally funny much like the eskimo kayak most morn version is what they call geodesic boats using strips and a version of ..Dacron .

wood ..how a wood grew there vs how same wood would grow HERE in US would have very difft results ..meaning grain and strength ..refer to a boatbulder ..tons of hobby build sights and materials ..epoxy related being very common also called stitich and glue also see geodesic boat build sites .

see Mandan indian native american bull boat or hide boat .

Irish have a Currach ..a canvass and wood row much like geodesic idea ..
all boat patterns have lines to build note all geodesics follow these lines structurally at least to me at this point ..there are many geodesic builders who'd help you ..and give you greta advice on what wood in US to USA ..safety is 1st !

think inverted open umrella for stresses ..this is a challenge I'm sure I saw a modern boat buider do this ..maybe western USA ..under salmon whatever ?????

I saw another corracle where they used ..maybe today maybe to near WW2 ..of old timers ..near Perth ??? netting salmon and still used this little thing to work their way across the strea, (or river) to help tend the nets or maybe even ..intermittently going out to remove the indivual salmon once netter and bring to shore ..leaving the net to remain cating more fish than ..haul in ..haul out over and over ..granda used a rod and reel ..! ok I'm pluggin Granda also caught the biggest salmon far as I know in UK in 1976 about 47 1/2" long / 41 1/2 lbs cothal pool on the river don in aberdeen .

boat wood ..typically in NY in the 1800's when you got primo boats built ..they used ..cedar ..WHITE oak ONLY "rot proof" for heavier ribs ..1900's I see steamed red elm ribs in finger lakes boats ..penn yan made and canoers used cedar steam bent ..Thompson boats ..in hobby boat making ..some guys laminate spruce to reproduce spruce crooks of roots no lionger available ..good old material is long gone and wood don;t grow that way anymore -period !! Geodesic guy in ..berkshires ..was doing something with willow for a geo build ?!? ..willow was used for civil war limbs ..light ..but also lousy fiber far as I know so why use it for a boat wood unless experiment ..or epoxying after the fact ..no idea ..tough springy woods realted to ech other ..try this ..white oak being heavy and pay attention to grain ..native american craft builders are all bout grain ..follow the grain or split the piece see longbow making for ultimate stresses to me anyway ..

grain can split due to genetic or disease factors called ..hmmmmm ...shake ..big in local hemlock ..might show up elsewhere adirondack guide boat makers now run into red rot in spruce they do find ..using red spruce roots to cut pattern following grain exacly ..disease and acid rain issues weaken the roots that in the climax 1840-1890's NY forests grew slow preferably on a flat site for best results ..not just grab any old stick ..and followed grain for rib pattern as exact as possible resultiugn stresses at given location would end up in a split broken piece ..and that might at worst mean a drowning at best a knee high wade in waters ..

white oak - red elm - white ash - hickory (rot properties ??) - steam bent northern cedar slats ..talk to nay boat yard restoration guys first ..then follow up wiht maybe ..exterior treatments ..epoxy paints varnish ..spar ..who knows with modern material s.. word riven comes to mind . I think Native American called Indian craft projects would be very revealing ..ask any packbakste maker or snowshoe maker or especially a traditiional birch bark canoe maker on his structural elements ..gunnels ..framework ..braces beams ..

I'll hush up another thing is ..when I was a kid common folk meaning my granda were scared of the upper class meaning anybody with a better job than they had ..seems funny now ..but it was dead serious in his time ..SO ..wood was precious ..and meant more to a landowner than how we'd spin round to home deopt and and buy this or that ..that's our great country ..SO wood of any type was rigidly controlled pal's dad form Germany was a Forester they rigidly controlled all harvesting of anything not nailed down ..so certain woods might be allowed by permission not attracting attention ..depending on your tme period ..an aspect of pre or post highland clan living worth pondering ..or respecting if in Scotland I'd imagine even for a craft project yo'd need exact permisison by a landowner to go cut this or that ..he may be enthusiastic he may say don't bother .

best of luck
d

[Tahshar]

Okay, a few thoughts have come to my mind here. Assuming you want to build thins thing to work, meaning get to from point A. to point B. without your having to swim and pull it behind you. I am also assuming that you are not particularly interested in the thing being an authentic down to the material sources replica. Some thoughts come to mind. First, Oregon and Washington grow tons and tons of hazelnuts, and cherries, apples, pears, etc. I would think getting lumber of hazel would be easy. (I get and use pruned limbs from all of those and many more for carving canes and walking sticks, pipes and small figures and such. But I live here in oregon so.. its easy.) Another thing which you might consider is simply using 2x(4,6,8,) white or yello pine, rip them to the proper thickness and soak them or boil them in peanut oil, or some such < how about used french fry oil from a fast food joint?) canvas on the outside and perhaps a lighter fabric inside, all covered with pine tar thined with turpentine.
Its cheap, been done that way forever and effective. Yes yes.. its also smelly, and dirty and you might have a hard time finding actual pine tar or pitch.
Or... you could invistigate using those PVC or wooden vertical or horizontal window blind slats <found for real cheap at your local building materials recycler,) and them get some of that very very cheap latex paint from some place like Home Depot or Lowes. You know the ones I mean, where people bring the paint back because it wasnt the color they wanted or something. You can use that on both in and outside. it is flexible enough < I think> to work if your canvas is put on in such a manner as to minimize movement. Bear in mind that I am simply thinking here and havent actually done what you are thinking about doing.

Anyway, I hope some of that proves useful. and PLEASE .. never underestimate my ability to be completely full of prunes.

Fair winds and following seas. Tahshar

[TheBrus]

Plenty of food for thought there. I thought coracles looked like upturned umbrellas, glad I'm not alone. Thanks!