Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
introduction and table saw question
Hello all. This forum is incredibly inspiring.
I am a french veterinarian, did a stint in Québec, then did my specialty training at Washington State University and then taught there a few years, until this fall in fact. Last year I built my first drift boat - a spira international ozark fisherman 13 footer - using all construction grade lumber and terrible plywood. She's not very straight, not very pretty but I love her dearly, finished her in May and drifted a bit with her. she's already showing some water damage on the transom panel, which is right now ground, and waiting for replacement.
Our last drift was in early october on the Grande Ronde - we did Boggan's to Shumaker under 1000 cfs, and she took some serious rocks but she survived the combination of skinny waters and my poor rowing skills. we may or may not have hit a basalt wall head-on. I will share pictures of her when I have access to my home computer. She "caught" my fiancee Nicole's first two steelheads. I learnt a bunch during her build, like how much difference a couple tools may make. I built her exclusively with a craftsman hobby scroll saw, a sander and a drill.
Well, I am looking at many more builds now - the bug has bitten me hard. I have now moved to the East, Blacksburg VA (at Virginia Tech). I have a couple questions for fellow boat builders.
The first one is, any fellow WBP around? would love to share boat building stories and beer, and I definitely need some advice on where to float and how to fish this area.
The second is, there is sort of a veto at home on building another DB (I think/hope it is temporary) so I am planning a cedar strip canoe. I am slowly building up my shop (hum, garage) and am looking at two used table saws, one is a DeWalt 10' simple tabletop saw, the other one is a Ryobi BT3000 with all appendages including router table and miter fence. Do some of you have advice as to which to go for? I am thinking of the Ryobi because it has potential to "do more" but it is a bit older, and other WW forums seem VERY opinionated for or against it.
Last question is, I am looking for a future DB/Dory project to carry on after the canoe and am wondering about appropriate designs for the waters around me - especially the New River, which gets very skinny, and a couple bigger lakes. I would like ideally something that can carry 2-3 people, can do very skinny water, and can take an engine (small) for still waters. I am open to both S&G and PoF designs. I may build Butler's Mini-Mac too, will tell you the story of why one of these days.
so there it is - I am excited to share a bit of boat building journey and absolutely drool looking at people's artwork here.
cheers
Andreas
Views: 1259
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Grebe on
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Hi Andreas. Im pretty new to the wooden boat world also but have been in woodworking a long time. The one thing I have found over the years is that "multipurpose" tools generally don't perform as well as single purpose tools. The Dewalt saw is generally a good quality product and I think a table saw is one of those things that you should buy a good quality single purpose tool.
Having said that, I currently have a small garage shop and can't have all my tools at home right now so I have an old Shopsmith 10 ER that I bought cheap and restored. Doesn't do anything great but an awful lot pretty well. You might think about this if space is limited.
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Permalink Reply by Andreas Bachelez on
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Thanks for the input Jeff. I think I am going to go that way then.
Appreciate the input!
A.
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Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on
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Andreas,
Welcome to this site, lots of good folks with great experience here. I have recently built a 16 ft. Peterborough Stripper and now am building a drift boat too (see Dorf's Wooden Drift Boat, on this Forum).
The canoe is a great pre-build for the drift boat. There's a lot to be learned on the canoe which will allow you to be more effective on the drift boat.
Take a look at www.bearmountainboats.com as they have a forum much like this one and is dedicated to canoes and kayaks. More of "lots of expereience? there too.
G'Luck
Dorf
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So, as promised, a few pictures to go with my introduction - my first build.
bare boned - I had planned this as a car topper.
We even cartopped it. Once. scary, but her maiden voyage made it worth the risk on the Snake river
The trailer helped of course. I do not have a picture of the dings she took on that trip on the skinny Grande Ronde...
I hope you like the high tech ultralight rod holders. next boat will be made with highly improved woodworking skills :)
The litle harbor freight trailer ready with boat and boat in making, leaving from Washington to Virginia! 2400 miles to go...
boat in the making did not make it past Wyoming... a sad strap injury....
but everything else did...
cheers
Andreas
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Permalink Reply by tungsten on
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Congrats on the build,
as far as saw goes the rack and pinion fence on the dewalt is the cats meow imo.
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Thanks for the input guys. I got a sweet deal on the Dewalt and it is working just fine!
thanks for the advice, got the jig made for a canoe last night. Strip canoe time until I get the DB project de-vetoed :)
cheers
A.
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Andreas,
Congrats on the saw! Now that you have it, your going to need a few other things for it, unless you purchase 16 ft. plus length Cedar Boards.
A scarfing jig for the Cedar Strips is a must and Gluing Fixture also, for the strips. It will allow you to use more available and less costly wood. Buying the pre-made strips is a big cost, if your thinking of going that way. I have made a jig that works well on a table saw. It's shown on my discussion, Page 2. I have drawings of it if you need them. Just let me know if you'd like a copy.
phil w
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Thanks Phil. I think I got the idea but I sent you a PM anyway for the drawings. Thank you very much!
and the saw works great.
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