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.)