Building the Hull Bottom

The hull is built with layers of poplar hardwood board, milled to 3/4" thick. This is what was available from Ace Hardware. The bottom piece is cut from one board.

The original outline of the hull bottom is below in a 72 dpi GIF file. The final ship is more rounded on the hull sides as I sanded it with a belt sander after adding the layers of wood.

Measuring from the bow, the distance to the hull edge is as follows:

Distance to Bow
Distance from centerline to hull edge
0"
0"
1"
1 3/8"
2"
2 1/4"
3"
3"
4"
3 3/8"
5"
3 5/8"
6"
3 5/8"
7"
3 5/8"
8"
3 5/8"
9"
3 5/8"
10"
3 5/8"
11"
3 5/8"
12"
3 3/8"
13"
3 1/8"
14"
2 7/8"
15"
2 11/16"
16"
2 1/2"

Draw the hull shape on paper and cut out to mark on your board. Don't make a full hull, but just make one half and flip it over to ensure both sides match.

Cut the board with a sabre saw or bandsaw at an angle of about 12 degrees. The exact value doesn't matter, but it will determine the shape of the ship as you add additional layers. You will need to re-set your saw to this angle repeately, so if needed, cut a chunk of wood and keep it around to help with future adjustments. (Note - you might want to increase the angle on the bottom layer, then decrease it as you move up to get more curvature.)

At the end of construction, add some felt pads on the bottom of the ship to help it slide around on floors.