This 23-foot John Boat is a stable and fast

river craft capable of carrying great loads.

By John Lammers

ANYONE who has ridden a John Boat similar to Tesiin on swiftand shallow river waters will not deny its advantages. It has

the stability of a flat-bottomed rowboat, handles with the ease of acanoe, beaches like a landing craft and carries loads like a barge—all with minimum power. It can be rowed, sculled or poled withremarkable ease and a great deal of control. Because of its design,it shines in rapids. The long and slender hull doesn't bob up anddown in the troughs—it rides a series of waves instead.

Tesiin was built four years ago and has been in use on Yukonrivers since. With a Mercury Mark 6, it moves at speeds judged up

128

TESLIN carries four with room for several more. That's a six-hp motor!

Mechanix Illustrated

to 15 mph with light loadsand still has enough pushto freight heavier loads up-stream in a 5- to 7-mphcurrent. A speed demon isin for a real thrill if he usesup to 25 hp. He need onlybe sure to have enoughweight in the bow.

Construction is simple.The main point is to cutthe frames accurately. Alldimensions and bevels areset forth in a table keyedto letters and frame num-bers on the drawings. Startwith frames two through12, shaping the bottoms

SCOW-TYPE lifted bow crests the waves, is good forbeaching. The hull crests several waves, rides level.

SECOND STEP—MARK OFFEACH END AND CUT

first. Mark dimension A on the center-line of the bottom side of the 2x3-inchstock. Note that dimension A does notdetermine the maximum width of eachbottom piece—the pieces are wider atthe top and extra length on each endshould be allowed for the maximumwidth established by angle C.

Bevel D, on the ends of each piece

establishes the fore and aft taper of thehull. Using a miter gauge set to theproper angle with a protractor, mark offthis bevel at each end on the bottom faceso that the lines pass through the ter-minal points of dimension A. All bevelsshould be measured from the forwardsides of the frames. The table shows thatthese angles vary from above 90° toward

131

BOTTOM curves up at stern, too. Room and stability make boat fine for group fishing.

LARGE-SCALE PLANSinclude a bill of materials, completetext and photos. Send $3 to MI PlansService, Fawcett Building, Greenwich,Conn. Specify Plan No. B-242, Teslin.

the bow to below 90° toward the stern.Thus the bevels will always be in theright direction even though they are allmeasured from the forward face.

Angle C [Continued on page 136]

Build Teslin[Continued from page 132]

establishes the flare of the sides. Mark iton the forward or aft side of the piece, de-pending upon the maximum width estab-lished by the bevel D lines. When all thepieces are marked, they can be cut at angleC and beveled at angle D.

Bevel E establishes the rise of the bottomat the bow and stern. Note in the table thatE is 90° for frames two through five, mean-ing that these frames actually have no bot-tom bevel. Again, measure the bevel fromthe forward face.

With the bottom pieces shaped, cut thestringer notches in the bottoms of framestwo through eight. These notches are nineinches on centers, each centered 4-1/2 inchesfrom the centerline of the boat. Next cutnotches for the half-lap joints with the sidepieces, making sure to allow for the bevelon the sides.

Cut the side pieces an inch or so longerthan indicated for proper fitting at thejoint with the bottom and to facilitate fit-ting of the planking later. Next notch eachpiece for the joint, cut off the surplus woodat the bottom, taper each to an inch and ahalf at the top and plane it to the correctbevel on the outside (bevel D). Then theframe members can be glued, clamped,bored and bolted together, making surethat the bolts aren't in the area of the chinenotches yet to be cut. The chine notches aremarked with a piece of 1x2-inch stock andcut after assembly. Note that the widestside of the chine faces up.

Frame one is a special and constructionof the bottom piece is shown in a three-partdrawing. Two sides of the 4x4 fir stock arefirst beveled lengthwise at an angle of 132°.Then the angles at each end are markedand the cuts are made. Last, notches arecut to receive the side pieces and inch-deepterminal notches for the chines and string-ers are chiseled out.

The sides of frame one are beveled,notched and installed in the same manneras the other side pieces, except that longercarriage bolts are used. The bow plate isthen cut to cover the front, allowing forthe bevels. This plate is fastened withwaterproof glue and l-3/4-inch, No. 8 flat-head screws spaced three inches apart.The edges are then beveled the same as the

136 Mechanix Illustrated

Build Teslinside and bottom members of the frame.

Frame 12 is used to outline the piecesfor the laminated transom. One side ofeach piece of plywood is roughened andthey are joined with waterproof glue andthe indicated screws. Then the laminationis glued and bolted to the frame. Bevelingthe edges to the same angle as the framecompletes this part of the job.

The first step in preparing the chines cannow be made. If you can't get long enoughpieces, join them as shown. One side ofeach chine is beveled at the same angle asframes two through seven (122°). Then,when the chines are later installed, mostof the beveling has been done and the restcan be done on the boat.

Now lay out the plywood for the bottom.Use an 8- and a 16-foot sheet with a buttblock glued and screwed across the widthbetween frames eight and nine on the in-side. The butt block should be at least teninches wide. Next draw a line down themiddle and make crosslines every two feet,marking the frame numbers. Then meas-

ure and mark the width of each frame ateach location. With a long batten bentaround the marks just made, the outlineof the bottom can be drawn. Then drawparallel lines, one each side of each cross-line, to establish the thickness of theframes. The bottom is next cut out andturned over so that all markings can be re-peated on the other side. Keep the excesswood for use as gunwale caps.

The building form is 24 feet long. Secureit to three or four sawhorses, making sureit is level. Then hang frames four throughten upside down on the form in sequence,spacing them two feet apart. Place thestringers in the notches of frames fourthrough eight and, beginning at eight, se-cure them to the frames. Use Kuhls AvioLiquid Marine Glue and one 1-1/2-inch, No.10 flathead screw in each joint, being care-ful to keep the exact spacing. Next applyAvio glue to the chine notches of framesfour through ten and clamp the chines se-curely to these frames. Do not fasten themat this time. [Continued on page 150]

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Build Teslin[Continued from page 137]

The bottom planking is now placed ontop and clamped to the seven frames. Thenpilot holes for l-1/2inch, No. 10 flatheadscrews are bored through to each frame atthree-inch intervals. On each side, one ofthe holes passes through the chine as wellas the bottom so that the screw will secureboth to the frame. The bottom is then tem-porarily secured to the frames with a fewscrews in strategic locations so that it willnot shift. Next, pilot holes for 1-inch, No. 6flathead screws are bored through the bot-tom into the chines. They're spaced twoinches apart between frames. Then thebottom is removed and Avio glue is appliedto the frames, chines and stringers. Thebottom is then replaced and fastened.

The assembled part of the boat is nowlifted (with help) and turned upright onthe building form. The bottom from framesfour to ten is screwed right down tothe building form between frames. Theholes made in the bottom to establish thisrigidity are later filled and covered overwith Fiberglas.

The next step is to secure blocks ofbuilding form width and proper thicknessat stations 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 on the build-ing form. They fix the upward curve of thebottom fore and aft. Frames one, two andthree can then be secured to the stringersand bottom in the same manner as the otherframes. The screws, of course, have to bedriven outside the blocks which establishthe rise. Screws in the area of the blockscan be driven later. The same applies forframes 11 and 12, though the stringers arenot involved. Be sure of frame alignment.Then temporarily nail battens from frameto frame along the insides of the side mem-bers to keep them aligned.

Now bend the free ends of the chines inand cut off any excess beyond the notchesin the bow and transom frames. Thenclamp the chines in place and bore pilotholes from the bottom for the one-inchscrews between the frames and the inch-and-a-half screws into the frames. Removethe clamps, brush Avio glue along thechine bottoms and into the frame notchesand then secure the chines with the screws.Finish off the chines by planing them tothe bevel of the frame sides, beveling the

bottom in the process.The side planking, preferably in one

sheet, is simply clamped on and the outlineis marked according to the dimensions.Two shorter lengths may be used if thejoints are reversed on either side. Just backup the joints with butt blocks betweenframes. Avio glue is used at all contactingsurfaces and the sides are fastened with1-inch, No. 6 flathead screws every twoinches along the chines. Along the frames,1-1/2-inch, No. 10 screws are used threeinches apart.

With the sides on, the inwales areclamped in place (bevel the frame sides sothey he flush) and holes are bored for thebolts. Then the two crosspieces, one atframe one and the other at the end of thedeck, are shaped and fitted. Next the in-wales are removed and the rear crosspieceis fastened between them, using water-proof glue and two 1/4x3-inch lag screwsand washers each side. The inwales canthen be installed permanently with thebolts. Countersink the bolt heads on theoutside so that they're flush with the sidesand cut and round the ends inside. Lagscrews are used at the bow and stern, withthe screws at the bow passing into thecrosspiece installed at this time. The gun-wales are then installed with waterproofglue and screws every three inches.

After chiseling out notches for the deckbattens, the plywood deck is installed withwaterproof glue and 1-inch, No. 6 screwsspaced three inches apart. The gunwalecaps are fastened in the same manner. Adrip rail on the deck finishes it off.

No seats were installed in the boat butrisers may be screwed across two frameson each side if permanent seats are desired.The bottom is flat, covered with Fiberglaswhich extends five inches up the sides, bowand transom. A drain plug is installed be-tween frames nine and ten. Oarlocks go inthe gunwales between frames four andfive. For average loads, the distance be-tween the transom bottom and the bottomof the transom cutout may be two to threeinches less than the transom height recom-mended for your particular motor. It's bestto experiment under power and build upor cut down the opening as required. Any

150 Mechanix Illustrated

alterations may then be covered over withFiberglas.

Neither a keel nor runners were put onthe bottom of the hull because either wouldadd drag and make it harder to get off sandbars or snags.

For a finish, all the bare wood is coatedwith Firzite. The hull gets two coats ofmarine enamel. The bottom gets two coatsof anti-fouling paint if the boat is to beused in salt water. Last, a pre-finished ply-wood floor is screwed down on the frames.Then you're set to cruise down—and up—the river. •

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