Archive for the ‘Lutra Laker’ Category

SEATS AND DECKS

The beach seats in Laker and Little Laker provide water tight storage and flotation but it’s important to keep the boat from getting too heavy, particularly with Little Laker. I used 6 mm on the seats in the original Laker but that is probably not strong enough in most cases so use 9 mm. In Little Laker use 6 mm but increase the number of deck beams. Because Little Laker is meant to be car-topped keeping the weight of the boat down is very important.

I used 5/8 X 3/4 cleats that I glued to the inside face of the bulkheads. I also struck a line on the hull by laying a straight edge on the top of the bulkheads. This gave me a reference point to place the deck blocks.

Lutra Laker

Now epoxy the deck beams to the under side of the cleats. I left enough space between the cleat on the bulkhead and the cleat for the hatch to slide the deck beam.

Lutra Laker

If you are using 6 mm for the seats then space the deck beams about 8 inches apart. With 9 mm seats, 4 deck beams or 12 inches apart will be plenty. On the forward deck, particularly if this will be used as a casting platform, be sure to space the deck beams close together…about 6 to 8 inches.

LOCKERS

The lockers are water tight but there needs to be a way for water in the front part of the boat to drain aft. I accomplished this by putting a tunnel through the locker. I have drilled a 1 inch hole in the bulkheads. A larger whole would work but be sure it doesn’t get into the hatch cleat. A rectangle could be put in the bulkhead before they went in the boat. If that is done just keep them free of epoxy when you put on the bottom.

Lutra Laker

Lutra Laker

Once the epoxy has hardened put the top on the tunnel and epoxy it in place. Also, use plenty of peanut butter thick epoxy so you can be sure it will not leak water into the locker
Be sure that the top will fit between the bottom cleat on the hatch and the top of the tunnel. The time to work this out is not after the all the epoxy has set up.

HATCHES

I made the hatch size to accommodate the camping gear I’ll carry on Laker and Little Laker, but the size is not in concrete. Should you change the hatch size just check that the hatch cleats will work with that size.

I built the hatch frame work to the size I wanted plus the two thickness of 6 mm ply. That is I wanted a 9 X 20 hatch, so I built the inside of the frame to 9 1/2 X 20 1/2 — when I added the 2 pieces of 6 mm or 1/4 inch ply to each side I had a final inside dimension of 9 X 20. I built the frames after the boat was planked in and turned over. I epoxied them in place and cut the holes with a trim router. Again, the size is not important but you will be limited somewhat by the height of the bench and the fact that the bigger the hatch is the harder it will be to get it water tight.

Lutra Laker

Lutra Laker

Lutra Laker

The hatch on the forward deck/casting platform was done before the deck was epoxied in place and has the same frame work as the hatches on the bulkheads. The hatches at the bow and transom are different. These areas didn’t need easy access so I used a lid screwed to the frame and gasket material.

Lutra Laker

Lutra Laker

The lids were cut by screwing down a piece of 6mm and using a trim router and flush cut bit. The access hatches on the transom are done the same way and they hold the small dry cell batteries for the running lights and fish finder.

Lutra Laker Here are some details about my latest boat, Lutra Laker. As her name would suggest the design was influenced by the big cargo canoes from the Grand Lakes region. Basically I took Flyfisher, stretched her to 17′ 6″, increased the beam to 48″ and put a transom on her. The bottom at the mid point is 36″ wide and at the transom it is 33″. Of course, the free board was increased as well. She is stable to about 80 degrees before she wants to capsize.

With two people, nearly 400 pounds in the photo, she draws approximately 3 1/2″ to the bottom of her skegs. It takes 120 pounds to push her down an inch. Loaded as in the photo, a 9.9 four stroke pushes her at 18.5 mph (wide open throttle), as measured by a hand held GPS. If I re-proped her I could squeeze out 21 or 22 mph but I don’t feel it is worth the expense. At 18.5 mph she is steady and true and at 3/4 throttle I’m able to make hard over turns with Laker being very stable, no skipping, and no unexpected behavior (I have no reason to believe this wouldn’t be true at WOT but I have not done that yet and probably will not, as this seems like poor seamanship).

Lutra Laker On her maiden voyage we took her to the Texas coast (Corpus Christi area) and she proved to be an excellent flats boat. Her very shallow draft (almost that of Flyfisher) and light weight, approximately 130 pounds without the motor, make her a dream to pole across the flats. Even in water less than 3″ she rides on her skegs and I was able to slide Laker across mud and sand without having to step out of the boat.

Texas bays are wide and shallow, most of the bays will have a majority of the water 2′ and under, with 4′ and 5′ considered deep. This means any chop is steep and close, which makes for a rough ride. The days we were there the wind blew 10 to 15 and one day the wind was calm to light. Laker handled the chop from 10 to 15 winds very well and without excessive pounding. Given her flat bottom I was surprised how little she did pound, probably no more than the flats boats with just a small amount of deadrise. When we slowed down she took it all in stride.
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Lutra Little Laker

Author: David

Here is a sneak peek of Little Laker, our car-toppable powerboat! Stay tuned, as additional details and more pictures will be revealed very soon.

Lutra Laker