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Permalink Reply by Dobie Swift on February 27, 2015 at 7:13am

I bought Roger Fletcher's book Drift Boats & River Dories: Their History, Design, Construction... and have found it to be tremendously informative.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on February 27, 2015 at 7:19am

Roscoe, my first suggestion is to take the time to read all the posts on this site. Having been around here for years and read almost every post I can say that almost every possible technique, type of finish, method for building, tools required, materials etc can be found here. There is no book that covers these subjects so thoroughly. A similar resource is the forum at montana-riverboats.com, the difference being that Sandy's site is focused on stitch and glue methods for constructing a drift boat. You will also find that many folks that contribute here also contribute there. You will find numerous opinions, having these varying points of view also helps present the multiple aspects of the choices available. You can learn from people adventures in resolving issues, or in other words how to recover from mistakes.

Now, having said all that I do have to recommend Roger Fletcher's Drift Boats and River Dories book, available at Riverstouch.com. It can provide you with insights as to drift boat construction and techniques.

I'm sure that you will receive other ideas and suggestions from the folks that gather here, which is the great part of wooden boat people. With almost 2,000 members there's lots of opportunity for diversity of thought.

Good luck on your build. Please share pictures with us as you build your boat.

Rick Newman

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Permalink Reply by Roscoe Van Ausdoll on February 27, 2015 at 8:31am

All,

Thanks for the comments/recommendations, just ordered Rogers book from Amazon, Really love this site..tons of great information and experience. Very excited about getting started on the building project. Weekend task is to pick up 110 board feet of native White Oak and get started making the ribs. Will post pictures as we advance. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on March 1, 2015 at 5:59pm

Roscoe,

Another great read is "Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction: Wood and West System Materials"  by Meade Gougeon.   It covers many aspects of wooden boat building and is recognized worldwide as a book to have handy.  It's available most anywhere, Amazon has it for about $30.

Dorf

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