Custom Cabinetmaker wants to built a Custom Drift Boat..

Hello to all, I been looking on the web for plans. I live in the Pacific Northwest. Looking to drift and fish the Cowlitz,Satsop and the Humptulips. Thank you for any ideas to help me along.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on October 27, 2011 at 8:03am

Tyler, the first step in the project is learning to sharpen your plane, oh sorry, that's cabinet making. Actually the oft recommended first step is purchasing and reading Roger Fletcher's Drift Boats and River Dories see: riverstouch.com . It is the bible for all drift boat builders. Second step, review all the photos of drift boats on here. I have taken and posted pictures from the last three McKenzie River Wooden Boat Festivals where you can see details and such of some very outstanding boats. Third step review all the posts on here, while all the opinions on each subject; finishes, woods, scarfs, designs, features aren't yet cataloged there are many opinions and viewpoints to consider.

Building a wooden drift boat is a lot like building a cabinet. There will be certain foundations and basics that they both must adhere to. After that, it is the builders or buyers imagination that determines the overall design, choice of finishes and above all the "custom" details.

Your background will provide you with an excellent skill set that most of us never approach. We are for the most part amateur "wood butcher's" and don't have your credentials nor have we paid the dues you have. I am not demeaning anyone's skills or abilities as you will see when you review the pictures, there are many skilled craftsmen that build drift boats.

Good luck with your project, keep us posted and ask many questions.

 

Rick Newman

Permalink Reply by wade radina on October 27, 2011 at 9:53am
I'm a year into my drift boat project. I bought plans for a Don Hill 17' fly fisher. Then I found this site. Then I bought the Fletcher book. All you need is this site and Fletcher's book. I'm loving my Don Hill project, but use Fletcher's book for reference much more than my $90 plans. I hope you post pictures, I imagine a custom cabinetmaker is going to make a beautiful boat.
Permalink Reply by Chuck Gower on October 27, 2011 at 9:27pm
I started my Don Hill 17' Fly Fisher last July, right now I'm finishing up the rowers seat and all the little things at the end.  I did not discover this site until I had the hull completed and wish I would have found it earlier.  The Don Hill book is basically an assembly book for a kit not available anymore, there are basic dimensions but you can't really call it a set of plans.  This leaves a lot of room for, let say artistic license and creativity.  It has been fun though and I do love looking at her.
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Permalink Reply by Robb Grubb on October 27, 2011 at 10:28pm
Chuck, Ain't that the truth! I'll go out to the garage to 'take the trash out', 25 minutes later my girlfriend opens the door and I am staring at my boat with a beer in my hand... Cheers, Robb
Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on October 27, 2011 at 9:37pm

  Tyler, welcome

 

   I am a cabinet maker and a boatbuilder.   The two are different.  Boats don't *have* to be square, plumb, level or any of that...When I apprenticed as a boatbuilder after having my own cabinet shop for about 10yrs....it took me a while to stop looking for "The" right way to do everything, the production way, the way to maximize output and minimize labor.  It took me a long time to accept that almost every piece of a boat is a custom piece, taken from boat to saw to boat to bench to boat and finally assembled when it fits and looks right.

  You'll have fun.  A lot of the skills carry over and you should learn some new ones, too.  You can pretty much toss your tape and your square and learn to trust your EYE...  One older boatbuilder (he designed and built the Thunderbird class of plywood sailboats in the Northwest) simplified it with his saying..."If it looks right, it probably is right" when deciding on shapes and stuff.

 enjoy...good therapy from The Boxes...

Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on October 28, 2011 at 5:09am

Tyler:  cabinetmakers work to the nearest 1/64 th of an inch, carpenters work to the nearest 1/8th of an inch and boatbuilders work to the nearest boat. Don Hanson has it right.

Good Luck

Permalink Reply by Dave Z on October 28, 2011 at 8:03pm

Totally agree with Don and Lawrence!

 

You can't live without:

1. Get your sliding bevel out

2. lots of sharp pencils

3. angle guide/protractor

4. ball of string

5. beers

6. the trusty old "shop chair" to sit, drink a beer and cipher.

7. last but not least...Roger's book as recommended by everyone else.

 

Forget levels, and anything more precise than 1/8th inch.

 

But.... old habits are hard to break....I know.. I've been there.  My first boat was built with the idea of acheiving perfection.  My second boat was a culmination of the lessons learned.  My third, fourth and fifth and beyond boats were built much faster and just as good as #1 and 2..  I'm not saying they were hacked together, but you will find the important things need to be precise and everything else just comes together.

 

you will also find that after your first trip in the boat, when all the mud, sand and dirt get into it, that stuff fills the little gaps nicely. haha.

 

welcome to the club and enjoy. 

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Mike Baker on October 30, 2011 at 1:57pm

Welcome Tyler,

I suspect as a cabinet maker you will have a very hard time not trying to make things perfect. What Don says about each piece being custom is right on from my perspective. My first boat was awful but strong, performs and ten years later still floats. Each boat has gotten better. Personally I am a perfectionist and each boat is an exercise in achieving the unachievable perfection but that is me, I can't be any other way (Virgo) 16 or so boats in I still look for better and more precise ways to do things.

Enough can't be said about Dave's chair and favorite beverage! A LOT of things will be figured out that way.

Just my .02

Mike

Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on October 30, 2011 at 2:21pm

  Don't get me wrong, everyone.  Boats are a lot more 'precise' than cabinets.   Each piece has to fit and perfectly, and each piece is not the same as any other...except sometimes the one on the opposite side of the boat....Cabinets, you can rip ooodles of stock, all the same, because each 'box' will likely have a component that is square or rectangular and be sized for that rip...

   Boats?  Not so.  Even the gunwales of most boats are tapered at the ends, not a straight rip...though driftboats tend to be made by house carpenters or home craftsmen who don't often bother with that type of refinement...In a cabinet, if you set up properly, you just know the part will fit...you don't even have to 'try fit' it....Boats?  4 or 5 times is Journeyman-time to properly fit a single part into a boat... and the joints have to keep water out....not just look good from the front....

  fun stuff, boats...

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