Pram build - Step 8 - Exterior finishing

Once the interior was finished I flipped the boat back over and finished the exterior.

The first task for the exterior finishing were the runners. I made these out of 3/4 x 3/4 strips of spruce. I used the dimensions on the plans to space them out, applied epoxy and screwed them into the frame pieces.

Once the epoxy cured I used a plan to share the front edge of the runners so that they slopped flush at the front edge.

I finished up sanding, filling, sanding, filling and more sanding until the bottom was fair and smooth.

I applied the same primer and yellow boat paint to the bottom of the boat. I used 3 coats of paint.

I applied a name to the back (because every boat deserves a name!) using black paint. I chose the name Mâthos since my sailboat is named Salammbô and Mâthos was her lover.

Once dry I fitted the remaining hardware (cleats and oarlocks) as well as adding a bump rail to the gunwales. For the bump rail I used 1" rope tie wrapped to the gunwales.

I am exceptionally happy with how Mâthos turned out. She is a very good rowing boat, pulls very well behind the sailboat and is remarkably stable. I can fit my family of 4, our dog and a days supplies in her and still have 6" or freeboard (approx 645lbs). I wouldn't want to go out in rough water with that much weight though! I've had her with one other person in heavy waves with no issue at all. A very dry tender.

I have also purchased a small 30lbs thrust electric motor to use on the back of her and it works very well for ferrying us out to the mooring with no effort.

I would highly recommend John Gardner's "A plywood Pram". The instructions in his book are a little sparse but the boat comes together well. If you attempt a build of the boat and have any questions about how I did something, please ask. I'll answer the question as best I can and update these pages as appropriate as well.

I would also welcome additions/amendments to my instructions. This has worked out well with my loft bed plans. Collaboration with a couple of builders has made the instructions much more useful.

Pram build - Step 7 - Interior finishing

Once the seats and gunwales were dry I set about cleaning up the interior. I used thickened epoxy to fill in any gaps, voids or holes. Everything was sanded once the epoxy set.

I also used this opportunity to install a ring on the bow. This will be used for towing the tender so I wanted it to be sturdy. I was also impatient on a Sunday and didn't have access to a real piece of hardware. I used an old shackle and epoxied it in place. Seems to work well.

Once everything was cleaned up reasonably well I finished the interior with a coat of oil based primer and oil based boat paint.

I wanted to finish the interior first so that I wouldn't scrape the bottom paint later on in the process.

Once everything dried I flipped the boat over for exterior finishing.

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Pram build - Step 6 - Seats and Gunwales

Once the epoxy work was completed on the outside I unscrewed the boat from the supports and flipped it over. I removed all of the extra bracing and build forms. The boat sits well on the 2x4 building jig so I've continued to use that as a working platform.

The next step was to complete the seats and install the gunwales. First the seats:

I used 1x4 stock that I had previously ripped out of 1x6 spruce to frame the seats.

I built the simple frames as shown in the pictures.The front and back seats were built off of the existing mold pieces at station 1 and 5. There were built to be filled with foam and sealed. The middle seat was built open so that items could be stored underneath.

For foam I used primarily some pool noodles. I cut them into shorter pieces and crammed them into the spaces as tightly as I possible.

The top of the seats are made out of 1/4 plywood. Everything was glued with epoxy.

Before assembling the seats I liberally applied wood preservative to the inside surfaces. Since the inside of the seats might get damp I thought it would help prevent rot.

The gunwales were very simple to assemble. I simply used 1 1/4"x1" strips of spruce. These were fastened with screws and glued with epoxy. I glued the gunwales on longer than necessary and then cut them off after they had dried.

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