Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

New to Site New to Boat Building

Hey all -

I am sure there are numerous posts on this site with these same questions but thought I would still post my own. So I am in the R and D of my project trying to determine if we can build a boat and what it takes to get started. I am going to be building a boat with my uncle (an experienced wood worker) my cousin (novice), and myself (Average at best woodworker.) I am trying to determine what plans to use where to start and what sort of money we are talking to build a boat that will allow all 3 of us to float together. I have been looking at Don Hill and Jason Cajunes (Montana boat builders plans) I am still trying to determine what plans are best and how do you determine which ones to use. I really like the boats that Jason has posted on his boat and am leaning towards purchasing his plans. Please feel free to provide any insight on where we start and how to determine what plans we should use. We also are trying to determine roughly how much a project like this would cost obviously not including man hours etc. I found this site while doing my research and have been looking through pictures for weeks and finally decided to take the plunge and post on the forums and try and gain as much knowledge as possible from anyone who is willing to share. Thanks in advance for your responses and help as I am sure this has been posted many times before. Please also let me know if we are on the right path and where we should start.

John Vialpando

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on October 6, 2012 at 8:03am

John,

a couple of more ideas, www.fiberglasssupply.com; they are based in Washington state and have four or five brands of epoxy, good service, knowledgeable people and epoxy tools, they also have a complete selection of fiberglass and tapes, etc. Jamestown Distributors www.jamestowndistributors.com also has alot of epoxy and fiberglass. Right now they have free shipping! I use System III, I find thier customer service good, and I like it when I can either measure by volume at a 2 to 1 ratio or for small amount I use a gram scale to measure by weight.

There are numerous choices and we all graviate toward a favorite. Perhaps the best thing is to try a brand and then really get to know how it works for you. What temperatures work best, do you like the results, are the results repeatable and so on. Epoxy in many ways is another tool, like your plane, saw or compound miter sliding saw. The better you know it the better you can use it.