Four hands very often on Eastport Pram?

I suppose I should have asked this before ordering the kit but I'm wondering how often I'll be needing an extra set of hands? I got to thinking about that as I went through the photo gallery, but those are taken at a building class where it's just easier to assist each other occasionally. At least that's what I'm hoping.  
if there are various times where I'll need help would one of you kindly identify the part of the build and a rough idea of the amount of time needed please?


 

 

 

 

 

 


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RE: Four hands very often on Eastport Pram?

If you're at all handy with hand tools you ought to have no problems doing your EP by yourself. At just under 8' length & 62 lbs complete you may want someone standing by when it comes time to flip it bottoms-up, if only to make it easier on your body and the project itself as it stands at that time. A tacked-together hull doesn't have nearly the stiffness of one that's been fully filleted at the plank edges then coated with epoxy.

I started assembly of my Waterlust canoe early last November. Took me nearly 2-1/2 years to get the project past the box-of-parts stage but once I got going the only time I needed assistance was when it came time to flip the just-stitched-together hull upside down so I could complete installation of the Harken Lift I'd bought to store it up against my garage's ceiling. (That little accessory has proven invaluable several times since as I can hoist the hull up off the building frame then flip it over bottom-to-top and back entirely by myself.) At 17' long and north of 100 lbs (complete) even at 71 years of age I'm having no issues working on it entirely solo.

Granted there may be times when you want an extra pair of hands to keep something under control why you use your pair to perform some other tasks. Depending on your creativity in conniving various ways to hold things together temporarily (I'm a big fan of shims for bringing pressure to bear, hand screw and pipe clamps for securing things in general, even ratchet tie-downs to hold a distant end in place whilst I'm doing something six or eight feet away) with some thought put into how to accomplish certain tasks you might find yourself pleasantly surprised just how much you can do on your lonesome towards getting your EP launched! Good luck and have fun!

RE: Four hands very often on Eastport Pram?

I finished the pram about 6 months ago.  I needed help with two parts of the build:  

1. Flipping the boat.  This was infrequent during the assembly process, but very frequent during the sanding, painting, varnishing process. 

2. Moving the boat from indoors to outdoors for sanding.  While it's not that heavy, the shape makes it more awkward than a kayak to carry it by yourself.  Good luck and enjoy the build - it's a great little boat and lots of fun to build and use.

 

 

 

 

 

RE: Four hands very often on Eastport Pram?

I finished the pram about 6 months ago.  I needed help with two parts of the build:  

1. Flipping the boat.  This was infrequent during the assembly process, but very frequent during the sanding, painting, varnishing process. 

2. Moving the boat from indoors to outdoors for sanding.  While it's not that heavy, the shape makes it more awkward than a kayak to carry it by yourself.  Good luck and enjoy the build - it's a great little boat and lots of fun to build and use.

 

 

 

 

 

RE: Four hands very often on Eastport Pram?

I also recently finished the Eastport Pram.  In addition to help with flipping the boat over, I needed another pair of hands when screwing the skeg and runners to the bottom.  Someone to hold them in place on the outside while screwing in place from the inside is necessary.  I got help with the attaching of the mast step in the same way but this could possibly be done solo.

 

Cheers Dean. 

 

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