Hello Michael and welcome to the forum.

I have the 17LT plans that I bought at the shop in Annapolis, so I'm not sure how exactly they compare to the ones for sale in Australia, but they should at least be very similar.

First, they do not need to be lofted. The panels are already developed, that is, the curved surfaces have been projected onto flat panels for you. All you have to do is transfer the panel dimensions to the sheets of plywood. This is usually done by making marks relative to a reference line and then connecting the marks together  using a fairing batten. This is the easy final step of the full lofting process. You do not have to deal with offsets, projections, angles, waterlines and multiple views.

Next, the few critical parts and parts that have dimensions that would be tricky to transfer from plans are provided at full scale. It's a nice mix - dimensions when you can, templates when you have to,

As far as dimensions go, mine are imperial. I don't know if export versions use the civilized system :-)

In terms of speed and convenience, I very much prefer dimensioned sub-scale plans to full-sized templates. They are incredibly more convenient to handle, use and store (you'll need them for future repairs in case you do something spectacular). I also find the process of transferring dimensions to wood much easier than tracing paper templates. Paper templates are also less stable - they shrink, expand and warp depending on humidity and temperatures. The main reason for their popularity is, I suspect, that in the USA schools have pretty much abandoned teaching shop classes (where you learned to read and use dimensioned plans). At any rate, I would not recommend changing boats only because of templates vs. plans.

Good luck,

Laszlo

Laszlo,

Thanks I have seen that you have been here on this forum for a long time, and appreciate your help.

I am also pretty sure that I will benefit from the many experts who have posted in past threads as well. I am quite sure this forum will be a regular source of advice over the coming build.

BrindiCruiser (aka Mick)

Hi Michael,

I'm a builder in NZ and have just about finished a 16LT from plans. I bought the plans and manual direct from CLC (it ended up being cheaper incl shipping than from Denman!) but I would assume these will be identical to what CLC provides as they just distribute on license.

On the plans I got, the dimensions are all in imperial measurements but if you buy/have a tape measure and combination sqaure that have both metric and imperial markings on it then this isn't an issue as you just work with those and pretend you are an american for a few days! Otherwise if you really want to work in metric it only took me an evening to convert all the required measurements to mm with a unit converter, I just wrote the converted measurements directly onto the plans. I would reccomend also going through the manual and converting all the required measurements in there before you start building as well if you go down the metric route.

The plans were all on A1 sheets of paper and all the dimensions for the main panels were drawn on one sheet giving you the offsets to transfer onto your sheets of ply, so all you need to do is have a refernce baseline on your ply, then every foot mark the required offset then connect them all up to get the panel outlines (it's really a simple process once you start, no lofting required just transferring the dimensions). The other items such as the cockpit coaming, spacers, bulkheads etc were all 1:1 scale on the other sheets and you can just trace these directly onto your ply.

Hope that helps!

Daniel

Hello Michael and welcome.  You have gotten good advice from the experts above.  The Ch17LT was my first build.  I went straight into it with no practice whatsoever.  In the end, it came out nicely thanks to filler and paint.  As soon as that boat was done, I built a 16LT for my bride, and it came out so much better.  The one practice item that I would add is to spend some time learning to use and sharpen your block plane.  That was a new skill to me and the rolling bevels on the shear clamps of both of my Chesapeakes were HORRIBLE.  Luckily, that is hidden with thickened epoxy and the deck.

A couple of other thoughts:

1.  I'd definately recommend painting the hull of your first build.  Paint and filler covers a multitude of defects.

2.  When it comes time to fillet the inside of the hull, do the bow and stern areas first.  This gives you practice in an area which won't be seen.  Use cake decorating bags (or just cut the corner off of heavy duty plastic bags) when you do the fillets.  This gives you better control than trying to spread with a spatula.

3.  When it is time to fit the bulkheads, you will find that they don't fit well in the prescribed location.  If you remove the spreader stick, they will fit much better.

4.  If you have not yet purchased the ply, consider using Sapelle for the deck.  It is much more beautiful than Okoume.  Also consider flush hatches.

5.  Both the 16LT and 17LT are great paddling boats, but if you will be paddling in waves 2' or higher, I would add a skeg.  With larger waves from behind, the boat wants to turn broadside to the waves.  You can counter this with your paddle (stern rudder stroke) but that slows you down.  With a skeg, you can keep the power up which will allow to to surf more.  Adding the skeg during construction is easier than a retrofit.

Enjoy the build!

Again thanks for the advice.

Mark - I am thinking again about the need to add a skeg or rudder. Good point.