In reply to "Copying Existing Drift Boat", posted by Windknot on July 9, 2001:
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>Until I got the subscription to your site, I had planned on flipping the boat upside down, snapping a line down the center line and then making serial measurements down the length of the centerline thus giving me the exact (within reason) size of the bottom. I would then flip the boat upright and make similar serial measurements down the sides getting the exact shape of the sides. I also was going to make several gunwale to gunwale measurements to determine the width of the boat as it progresses bow to stern. I thought with these measurements I would be able to recreate the boat at a later time in wood.
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Yes, exactly. What you have just described is all you
need to do to document a small boat. The best way to turn
those measurements into a boat again, at some later date,
is to make a set of "adjustable ribs," as described in
the plans. No matter how carefully you make your
measurements, you'll still find you need to tweak things
ever so slightly: the curving line formed be the chine
will have a wow or two in it, as will the gunwale, etc.
With adjustable ribs, you can change the side angle,
bottom width or distance across the gunales by a 1/4"
here or an 1/8" there, util everything looks just right.
Then you glue it together, cover it with (transparent)
epoxy-fiberglass, install gunwales and seats and then
it's a boat.