What are some basic supplies needed for building a scratch boat?

[jingalls007]

I would like to design a cat from start to finish, just looking for wood type; thickness, tools, epoxy, clamps, etc. etc. anything you can think of that I will need. I've never built a boat from scratch, my own plans, my own design, all that jazz.. thanks in advance for the assistance!

[minigazz]

Hey!

It really depends on what scale you want. I like to use ply ribs with balsa strips to connect them and then a thinner ply on top - the ply ribs give a nice firm base to build on, the balsa strips are nice and flexible for creating curves and the thin ply allows curvature without worrying about grain directions. For a 500mm cat I used 3mm ply, 12x3mm, 6x3mm and 3x3mm balsa strips and 1.5mm thick ply to plank the frame. Pictures of this build are available at http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...uilt-Balsa-Cat

Hope this helps!

[siberianhusky]

A fret saw, small plane and a set of hobby knives with assorted blades will build you almost anything from a boat to a guitar.
If you think it's going to be a one time thing I'd try to keep the tool purchases to a minimum. If you enjoy building things and can envision a small hobby shop then some small stationary machine tools can really speed things up but not build you a better model. Those are skills that take a bit of time and learning, but it's fun.
Materials really depend on the size of boat and intended speeds, IMO balsa has no place in a fast boat for anything structural, small 2 or 3s boats it's fine, once you get up around 50 mph the impact forces from hitting the water in a crash are too much for balsa, then it's plywood and basswood.
There are a number of free cat plans available, take a look at them for some ideas of materials required in certain areas and different design and building techniques.
I've never built a cat so I'm no help there but I've built a number of monos, riggers and a couple of scale hydros from scratch.
One bit of advise is don't overbuild it, a frame structure covered in a thin plywood skin, especially if a lot of the open areas are backed with foam for strength and floatation is very strong! I swear you could use my 1/10 scale wood over foam hydro as a bat! It's basically thin plywood templates glued to blocks of pink insulating foam, just sand the foam down to the templates and cover it with 1/16 plywood. It's 34" long and 14" wide.