# how did you make your a pattern for cutting plywood decks??



## Old Bill (May 21, 2008)

After many hours of pleading, begging, and doing many household chores...my dear wife said I could have $25.00 to buy a sheet of plywood for my boat's front deck! :roll: :roll: 

I have an idea on how to measure the front deck area to cut the right curves for the decking...but, I'm sure the membership here has much better proven methods of doing this correctly. :lol: 

So, how did you measure, mark, and cut the plywood for your bow deck?


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## Fish-On (May 21, 2008)

Is it a V-hull or Jon boat? I did my Jon boat decks by measuring the width at the beginning and at the end of where the deck is going.Then maybe a couple more width measures in between if a longer deck.Then did a dot to dot line.The carpet hides any slight imperfections


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## bcritch (May 21, 2008)

I lined up the sheet on my center line and let the plywood overhang the outside edge of the boat. I then marked the outside edge with a sharpie. I then had one more straight cut down the center line.


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## Old Bill (May 21, 2008)

Thanks guys!

I should have said the my boat is a V-bottom with a pointed bow.


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## FishingBuds (May 21, 2008)

cardboard cut out :wink:


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## Old Bill (May 21, 2008)

FishingBuds said:


> cardboard cut out :wink:



OK, tell me how you would go about making the cardboard cut out...step by step!

Hey, remember, I'm old and dumb! :shock:


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## ky_madman (May 21, 2008)

What I did was made a grid on a piece of paper. First I measured the center line from the point of the bow to the ending point of the deck and marked this on my paper. Then I measured the width in 2" increments for the length and marked each measurement on my paper. After this was done, I transferred these measurements to my plywood. I first marked each measurement with a pencil and then used a chalk line to mark the plywood and keep the width straight. Lastly connect your marks and cut out. Clear as mud, huh :lol:


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## Old Bill (May 21, 2008)

ky_madman said:


> What I did was made a grid on a piece of paper. First I measured the center line from the point of the bow to the ending point of the deck and marked this on my paper. Then I measured the width in 2" increments for the length and marked each measurement on my paper. After this was done, I transferred these measurements to my plywood. I first marked each measurement with a pencil and then used a chalk line to mark the plywood and keep the width straight. Lastly connect your marks and cut out. Clear as mud, huh :lol:



No, that is very clear! And, it sounds like something that I might be able to accomplish.

Thank you very much!


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## Ron42261 (May 21, 2008)

Bill
Sorry I just seen your post
I dont know how the other guys did theirs 
I did mine by making a templet. I used scribes to make my templet.
Scribes are a compass looking thing carpenters use to fit something to an uneven surface.
A compass will work I even used a wood block and a pencil.
The idea is to stay paralel to the surface .


Get you some cardboard and tape - I used like 10in wide strips of card board 
You need to know where your floor line is - when I did my bow I would hold the strip of cardboard agisnt one side at floor line. Set the scribe at the wides gap between the cardboard and the boat. Now stay at about 90deg from where the scribe touches the side and draw your line on the cardborad. 
Play with it youll see how to do it.Fit a side and work your way around tape the cardboard together. It doesnt need to fit perfect and needs a bit of space to wrap the carpet over the side and staple it on the bottom.

You may need to cut the patteren and re scrbe a few times each time it will get better , I had to do it twice on a few cuts of the patteren (rivets &laps ) 
Another reason I would not try to fit it to tight the bevel of the sides leave your self an 1/8 in or maybe a little more gap. Carpet will take care of small gaps
Its easy I have fit loads of cabinets over the years
Ron


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## Old Bill (May 21, 2008)

Hi Ron,

That sounds fairly easy to do. I even have an old school compass that might still work!

I'll have to ponder on the easiest way for me to proceed.

Sometimes I make things a lot harder than they need to be...but, then again, like today, I'm learning new ways to do something!! 

Anyone else have any suggestions?


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## Waterwings (May 22, 2008)

The methods described above work well. Don't cut wood until you have the template just the way you want it to fit. One-half of the template should fit the other side as a mirror image once you have the centerline established. As the the old adage goes, "Measure twice, cut once". In my case I measure multiple times before cutting, and still do some trimming afterwards, lol :roll:


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## Jim (May 22, 2008)

Waterwings said:


> The methods described above work well. Don't cut wood until you have the template just the way you want it to fit. One-half of the template should fit the other side as a mirror image once you have the centerline established. As the the old adage goes, "Measure twice, cut once". In my case I measure multiple times before cutting, and still do some trimming afterwards, lol :roll:



Me too, then I ruin the wood and have to make a second trip to Home Depot for more wood/supplies. :LOL2:


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## sccamper (May 23, 2008)

I used cardboard for a templete and a compass to mark. I cut the cardboard on the outside of the lines, then trimmed to fit. After cutting the plywood, I still had some final trimming to do.


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## Ron42261 (May 24, 2008)

> The methods described above work well. Don't cut wood until you have the template just the way you want it to fit. One-half of the template should fit the other side as a mirror image once you have the centerline established. As the the old adage goes, "Measure twice, cut once". In my case I measure multiple times before cutting, and still do some trimming afterwards, lol



Unless your boats like my old dented tweaked beater.

Hows it goin Bill make any head way?

Bill depending on how you plan on doing the decking & carpet- Mine is removable and I wraped my carpet over the edges and stapled to the bottom. I cut a few to tight - once the carpet was on them , had to do a little trimng to get them to fit.
Just somethin you might think about 
Ron


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## FishingBuds (May 24, 2008)

Bill don't forget the thickness of your wood compared to the template.

I cut the cardboard temp out and traced it onto the wood. I used the cardboard as the bottom of the wood-angled the saw to the correct degree and cut. If I used the template as the top of the wood and cut  well then the wood would have been to short #-o


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## Old Bill (May 24, 2008)

My thanks to everone for the great suggestions and comments. I really do appreciate your replies.

I ended up using a combinations of things to make my pattern. I attached a piece of plywood, that I had marked a center line, and ruled off in inches, to the center line of my 2 x 2" framework.







I then measured each side from the center line and marked the inches on the plywood.






I later transfered the measurements onto some cardboard, marked the outline, and cut out the pattern. 






It still needs additional trimming, and no doubt the plywood cut out will need further triming to fit! 

I had planned on going to Lowe's this morning and buying a sheet of 1/2" plywood...but, family chores got in the way! :lol: :lol:

Thanks again,


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## Ron42261 (May 24, 2008)

Shell look fine and dandy Bill your half way there


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## evattman (May 26, 2008)

Looks great Bill. Thats the most tedious part. Now its cake! Right?


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## switchback (May 28, 2008)

Lookin good Bill. Can't wait to see the finished project. Where are you putting your seat?


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## Jim (May 29, 2008)

Good job Bill! =D>


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## tholdah (May 29, 2008)

bcritch said:


> I lined up the sheet on my center line and let the plywood overhang the outside edge of the boat. I then marked the outside edge with a sharpie. I then had one more straight cut down the center line.




I agree with this. We did ours ( https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2537 ) with 2 pieces of 4X8 plywood. We layed it over the boat with it overlapping in the middle and still hanging over the sides. We marked the curve of the bow with a pencil and cut it. We then put the two cut pieces back in the boat lined up with the curved side in position where it will sit, snapped a chaulk line in the middle and cut it. Also, remember...carpet will cover any gaps in the middle (up to a certain amount...)


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## Old Bill (May 30, 2008)

I'm really impressed with the many different ways to accomplish the same thing! And, the different ways are all good!  

However, I gotta say that I'm not impressed with my boat modification efforts! Nope, I'm sorry...but I haven't done a single thing since cutting out the cardboard!

i wish that I had been off playing with my other toys, but, the truth is that I've been building a rock wall along side a walkway at my home. Plus pruning some trees, mowing grass...you know the normal everyday stuff. :roll: :roll: 

But, soon, I'm sure!


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## bobessary (Jun 11, 2008)

i did min by starting with a large piece of cardboard and then i used some old boxes and just took strips of the cardboard and just kept taping more pieces on till i got the shape i needed pretty easy to do because if your boat is anything like my boat not all the curves and edges were the same.. i needed a custom piece to fit if you are still working on this i hope this helps


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## Old Bill (Jun 11, 2008)

Thanks Bob, for the information.

Sadly, I've been tied up with other home projects these past few weeks.

And, as you know, the wind here in Oklahoma has been blowing a gale for weeks and weeks! The strong wind sure doesn't motivate me to want to work on my boat. :shock: 

I may just buy some cane poles and go bank fishing! :roll:


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## Old Bill (Nov 26, 2008)

Well, here it is the day before Thanksgiving Day, and the simple project I started back in May is still a work in progress!

Talk about being old and slow! I'm sure there must be good reasons why this project stalled out...and as soon as I can think of any I'll let you know.

However, other than bolting or screwing the hull's side braces down to the newly made bow deck, and adding a trim board on the aft end of the bow deck, my bow decking project is finished! 

OK, it also needs a coat or two on the underside of the hatch,...and someday I might actually get around to splashing some more paint there!

About the only things I did different than most of the bow deck projects was the lesser degree of workmanshiip displayed, the opening at the bow for a anchor bucket, and the space left around the edges of the bow deck for ventilation. Oh yes, the deck will have a paint/sand coating...sooner or later.

Photo showing the anchor bucket opening:







Photo showing space with anchor bucket in place:






Photo showing the bow deck with hatch closed. You can see the hull side braces that need attaching. You can also see the finger hole I drilled. My middle name is CHEAP! However, my story is that the hole adds ventilation...and ventilation is one cure for dry rot.






And last, a photo showing the bow deck with the hatch open. I'm thinking about adding a 1 x 4 to the aft edge of the bow deck to hide the ugly ends of the bow deck. :roll: :roll: 






And that is it! Who knows...I might even be able to go fishing sometime in the future! I wasn't able to get the boat's hull wet one single time this past year!

But, I have great hopes for the future!


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## Jim (Nov 26, 2008)

Looking good Bill! =D>


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## FishingBuds (Nov 26, 2008)

Gettin her done =D>


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## Big Buck (Nov 26, 2008)

Looks really good Bill.


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## Old Bill (Nov 26, 2008)

Jim, FishingBuds, & Big Buck,

Thank you for the kind words!

They made me feel so good that I went out and added two more coats of red paint to the underside of the hatch!

But, now I'm so wore out i've got to take a nap! :wink:


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## russ010 (Nov 26, 2008)

talk about some carpentry skills!! That is an awesome setup!


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