JEM Watercraft

I'm completely new to boat building and decided to go for the Sabalo primarily for fishing and some diving. (I'm soon placing an order for the plans).

Having small workshop and not much place for storage, I was wondering if the Sabalo plans can be easily scaled down. I would think by 15%-20% to reach ~14 meters or less.

Is it OK just to take the plans and scale them down by, say, 15% or will it affect the boat design in a way that will make the boat dangerous for use?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Regards, izaks.

14 meters? Do you mean feet? lol...I hope you mean feet!

Yes, a couple Sabalo builders have scaled the length to get 14'. I know they frequent the forum. Hopefully they will contribute some thoughts. If you do scale the drawings down, be sure to only scale the length.

I've been thinking about a simple version of a 13.5-14' SOT. Perhaps I need to bump up the priority on that.

If you've never built before, a SOT may not be the best choice for your first project. That's not to say it can't be done.

But you may want to consider a set of boat shelves for your tools and as a good warm-up project.

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/proddetail.php?prod=Shelf7

Wow! That was a quick answer – my mouse was still hovering over the submit button…

I meant 4 meters of course, not 14 – this was a typo. Thank you for clarifying the scale issue – I thought I needed to reduce the width as well.

I have some experience with woodworking although never attempted curvature work but I have a well equipped shop and don’t mind making mistakes while trying…can you say what are the constructions difficulties and issues to beware about?

If you have plans for a ~13 foot SOT – that would be great! I'd really like that as it will enable me to build the boat in my workshop and store it where SWMBO cant complain about…

There's much more work with fiberglass, aligning parts, filleting, etc. with a SOT then with a canoe or "regular" kayak.

Large fillets and using too much resin are what add a lot of unnecessary weight to a boat. You get better working with these over time.

The simpler 13' SOT I have in mind won't have the shape of the Sabalo, so less performance if you're going through surf. But it will perform very well for flat water fishing.

Check out this thread viewtopic.php?t=278.

Thank you for the valuable feedback.

I need the Kayak for fishing in the Mediterranean so I will go with the Sabalo.

It would be great if you have sketches/ides I can borrow for the scaled down Sabalo.

Thanks, izak.

I scaled my Sabalo to around 14' in length. The B, C, and D panels can easily by scaled. I scaled mine to 15/16 scale. So instead of laying out the panels at 12" intervals, lay them out at 11 1/4" intervals. The frames were also scaled likewise in the same manner: scaled only in length. The A panel is a little more difficult. Unlike the other panels, the end is not parallel to the plywood edge, plus the unfolding of the panels from 3-D to the flat panel layout creates a little more error. I had cut out a complete hull and frame on cheap plywood so that I could make sure that everything would work out before ruining the expensive plywood. It worked well. I used it for templates to cut out the real kayak. I was able to reduce waste of the good plywood, with less scrap material remaining. It would probably be much easier for Matt to provide you with scaled drawings; however, it can still be done. I had redesigned the entire topside of my Sabalo, to better fit my desires. It just took more time.

Hi David,

Thank you for the detailed description - Its exactly what I needed to know and thank you for sharing the building process. Went over the pictures and it look like you are doing excellent job. Can’t wait to see it finished!

Izak.