The plans are full size, every part you need is there and drawn accurately. I've built the Wood Duckling and the WD Double from plans, both went together well. I did use scarf joints, they're no problem (and are what's drawn in the plywood layout in the plans)and a bit of fun woodworking with a good, sharp plane. I attached both decks with tape and it's really not a problem on the Ducks as the cockpit and hatches are so large. As far as cutting out the parts, making a template with MDF to router out the plywood is a lot of extra time. It's possible to cut out all the parts with a skill saw set at a shallow depth and a jigsaw. Just use a good low angle block plane to clean up the edges, stacking the pairs of panels on top of each other to make sure they're the same.

George K

I built my Eastport Pram from plans and was extremely happy with the drawings.  It was a couple of fine points in the direction manual that I'd like to see tweaked.

I lofted all the long parts onto masonite hardboard and put two sheets of 1/4" plywood good side to good side underneath, then clamped all three layers together with screws outside of the lines.  I then used a Japanese pull saw to cut out all curved parts.  The flexibility of the pull saw allows you to make thin kerf, large-radius curved cuts which worked out perfectly for the graceful curves of the CLC boats.

With that being said, I should be receiving my Passagemaker Take-Apart plans today!  Yoohoo!

Oh, here's a link to the beginning of the EP build:

http://www.boatpartsinfo.com/2014/12/eastport-pram-build-im-getting-a-little-dinghy/

Regarding your idea of using a shear clamp instead of filleting/taping the inside of the hull to deck joint, I am about to do just that on my WD12 hybrid, but for different reasons.

I have finished stripping the deck and have removed the deck to glass the underside and to remove the temporary deck forms from the hull.  Upon removal of the deck forms, the hull sides sprung inward considerably.  This means that the hull is now narrower than the deck and will not join up properly with it.  To solve this problem, I plan to epoxy on shear clamps to the hull and wedge a board of the appropriate length between them to act as a temporary spreader.  The shear clamps should distribute the load of the spreader and maintain a fair curve, while providing a surface to attach the deck to. 

The second reason the shear clamp idea appeals to me is that I am considering omitting the access hatch.  Without that opening, there is no way to fillet the deck to hull joint from the inside, aft of the bulkhead.  Someday in the future I may add the hatch if I find I need it for storage, but with my intended use of the kayak, I don’t see the need right now.  I would rather not cut a hole in the deck if I don’t need it.

Finally, while it is too late to benefit me, adding shear clamps earlier would have been beneficial.  I had a lot of problems keeping the temporary deck forms in place using hot-melt glue per the instructions.  If I had installed shear clamps, I would have notched the deck forms around them, which would have kept the forms securely in place.

I’d be interested in anyone else’s opinion on this route, but I will likely be committed to it by the end of the night tonight.  I am thinking of making the shear clamps 3/8” wide x ¾” high, but that may change when I start experimenting with them.  This will add about 1.5 lb. to the total weight of the kayak.

WA,

I was also dubious as heck about filleting and taping the deck to the hull on my WD12, and was seriously thinking of gimmicking up shear clamps but fortunately friends don't let friends do useless mods here. I was talked out of it by a gang led by George K and I'm glad they did.

It sounds harder than it actually is, and if you consider the work of  scarphing the shear clamps to length and planing them to the correct radius, I think you can make a case for the shear clamps being more work than filleting and taping. With the right tools on a stick, it was actually pretty easy (except for squeezing into the rear compartment).

Now that I've had the boat for 7 years or so, I'm really glad I didn't go with the sheer clamps. My knees fit much better without that bar of wood with a sharp corner running the length of the cockpit.

jpierce,

Everybody's deck springs back and needs to be refitted. That's just normal and doesn't need spreaders. Wire and shrink-wrap tape and an exterior fillet take care of it just fine.

As far as leaving the hatch off, that's unknown territory to me. Maybe you should run the idea by CLC tech support and see if they have any elegant suggestions.

Have fun all,

Laszlo