McKenzie River Boat Blueprints

Hey all, name is Ron and I am a college student interested in building a McKenzie River Boat and have done a bunch of research, but have yet to lay my hands on a set of designs/blueprints.

Being a college student I am trying to save money so hoping I can get the plans without buying them online. Wondering how difficult it might be to just take a stab at building one without plans, or if someone is willing to forward me a set of plans.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ron Shanks

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Permalink Reply by Jayson Hayes on December 4, 2009 at 12:14pm
Ron, i built a 10ft river pram for under $500, paid more for the stitches in my thumb though so it actually cost me about $2000 when it was all said and done, but remember friends dont let friends drink and build boats
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Permalink Reply by lhedrick on December 5, 2009 at 3:20am
Ron,

Roger's book will do it. When you get it from the library you will then have many plans to choose from.

A family I know has three builders. Father, son and daughter. They have built 5 boats. The don't use plans. All their boats are built from 1/10 scale models they build. If you have the time you could give it a try. When you get the book take a look at the side panel layout for each boat in the book. They use poster board and cut the side pannels out and then make the boat shape. They do it a few times until they get the lines they are looking for.

They don't use frames. All of the boats they have built have been white water boats with bulkheads instead of frames. They use the stitch and glue process. If you have not checked it out already you can read more at montana-riverboats.com.

If you can find a local person who has been through the process to help you a bit you can do it but, I wouldn't recommend just winging until you have built models or done a lot of study. There are a lot of angles for the frames of a drift boat so you would not want to try just winging it. With Stitch and glue construction you can use one of the plans from a book then make a few of the frames out of 1X5 pine stock. Wrap the boat around these frames. When the stem, transom and bottom are in place then you remove them and the epoxy will hold it together. There is a little more to it but this is just a short explanation. Remember one mistake with a sheet of plywood and you will have saved nothing.

All things considered a drift boat is about the most simple boat you can build so it is a good place to start.

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