Ponderings on youth and the start of construction in ernst.

I remember distinctly as a child my father saying “Nah, I wouldn’t want a boat.  A boat is a big hole in the water a guy can throw his money down…”  and then he would look out on the lake we lived near looking rather wistfully at the people in boats having what seemed to be a nice day on the water.  Well I suppose he was right to some degree, boats are pretty expensive, but that is why I am building my own right?  I just hope it does not end up as a big hole in the water, or worse a big hole in the boat while on the water. 

  I remember this old 12’ fiberglass skiff we had that my dad got when he was a kid, it was green and had a 10 horse power mercury outboard.  Mostly I remember it upside down on saw horses in our back yard as he tried to patch this hole or that scratch, it eventually gave up the ghost when I was about nine or ten.  Actually I cannot remember when we got rid of it, like many childhood memories just a vague realization that it was no longer in the backyard and it did not really matter to me too much, I mean, I did have transformers to play with…let’s not forget what is really important here people.  I certainly cannot explain why I have been obsessed lately with building a boat of my own, maybe it is a childhood wistfulness for the bygone days of youth, maybe I need a project to fill the time with, but at this moment I think it is just the newest transformer out there…and let’s not forget what is really important here people.

As far as progress goes, it has been slow but steady.  Quality clear grained wood has proven difficult to find, and expensive, but I think it will be worth it for structural purposes.  With the wood I have purchased I have put together three of the frame elements, the transom, and the first and second rib.  On the transom and the first frame I used this ‘marine’ epoxy putty that I found at home depot to glue the wood together and it still has not cured fully.  You can see in the picture that it is still clamped in my garage waiting to cure.  I am kind of concerned that the joints will not be strong enough so I think I will just soak the jointed areas with 2 part marine epoxy when it comes from my internet source.  This type of epoxy is much less viscous than the putty and I think it will penetrate the joint well enough so that the cured putty and epoxy will give the desired structural strength. 

The second rib frame went together pretty easily, the 2x12 I used for this element was just slightly warped (cupped for those in the know) not so much to preclude me from using it, since it was the cheapest piece I found at 77 dollars for an 8 foot board, so one joint is firmly in place but the other is just barely separated.  Again when I get the more liquid 2 part epoxy I will attempt to saturate this area so as to gain a stronger bond.  That is as far as I have gotten construction wise since the weather has been slightly disagreeable for outdoor work, but sure is nice to work in my garage with a cup of coffee and listen to the piter-pater of rain on the roof.

As a side note, to anybody that has spent any amount of time hand planning a piece of wood, much respek!  Holy cow this was a pain!  I seriously looked at the inch I had to shave off the block of wood below and said "no prob, easy peasy!"  not so my friends.  The plans call for tapering the vertical lengths of the ribs of the boat from 3 1/2 inches to 2 1/2, I believe for weight saving and aesthetic purposes.  Let me tell you it was harder than it looked, for the second piece I shaved off most of the wood with a circular saw then planned out the taper with the hand plane, which was still no small task.  Anyway, it was fun AND a work out at the same time, double bonus for me!

I plan on doing some more tonight and again on Sunday.  Until then, happy thanksgiving everybody!

First Work Days

OK!  First post, gotta make it a good one!  Well now I just feel a lot of pressure....

Oh well, here we go-

I just started the first days of actually building and putting stuff together.  It is all very preliminary right now so, it does not look like much but believe me there has been quite a bit of figuring and calculating about how this whole thing will go.  The first step in the build process is to build what is called a 'Strongback Jig' from which all the ribs and boat frame pieces are aligned and attached.  Here it is;

You can see that I had to shim the feet because the concrete of my back yard is a little uneven, but all told not too much work to nock this piece out.  Just some heavy box nails, joyce braces, and some cutting.  I will add some kick stand 2x4's later since the whole rig is kind of wobbly front to back. 

Here are just a few more photos of the legs going together and the 4x6 beam with the directionality listed on it.

This project has been swimming around in my head for a while now and fortunately enough I find myself in a place where I can manage it without too many distractions as well as added costs.  I went to school in Northern California and fished the large rivers up there and often looked on wistfully as I watched drift boats meander by on the current with jovial looking fisherman having a good day on the river and thought to myself how much more water I could cover with a boat like that, so, now I am building my own! 

Something like this is a big project to take on but I have confidence in my construction abilities.  There is always trepidation when starting a daunting process like this, but especially now since this thing could potentially hold my life in the balance one day.  With that in mind you better believe I will be taking my time and building this thing with precision and accuracy in mind.

I will be updating this blog as much as possible throughout this process so stay tuned, same boat channel, same boat hour!  (hehe, I crack myself up sometimes.)