Hello everyone, found this great little site while looking for "wood boat builders in Utah".

There was a listing from another person referencing this site. Guess I'm the nueb for tonight. 8-)

Ever since I was 10, one of my fathers' friends built a small wooden pram from a plan he found in the popular mechanics mag back in the late 60's. My dad would take me over there after work and we would help his friend work on the boat. It was for the 2 of them when they wanted to escape the family life. We lived in Jacksonville Florida back then. And the St. Johns was just down the road. I loved the river and all the fun we had while I was a kid.

Now some few years later, here I am with an older boat to finish getting her ready for spring and wanting to build a wood boat myself. I bought into someone's scheme of selling older plans to the public, can't really pull much off the lot, but found a very interesting plan to build an Ice Runner.

I now live up in the high plains desert and we have several big ponds out here too. Of coarse the Great Salt Lake is my new best friend as well. We have 2 cats, and 18' and 16', along with a 13' mono hull to teach the kids. So this ice boat will be for the kids too and it will be my first build with the kids as well. Might as well carry on the tradition of building wood boats. My kids are really geared up for the challenge as well.

Biggest question is figuring out all the special steps in lofting the plans and getting all lines down proper, and most of all figuring out the real techniques. So as a beginner into this fine traditional hobby that is shared world wide, I am looking forward to learning from ALL of you here so I can teach my kids too.

Thanks,

Edgel