Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

June 2009 Blog Posts (4)

I met Veltie Pruitt's grandson

I had some plumbing work done on the house and the guy doing the work saw the rapid robert alongside the house. His name is Travis and he said his Granddad was Veltie Pruitt. He even has one of the first boats built by Veltie. I suggested he check out this website. I didn't get any contact info, but sent him this website through the referral service I found him through. I had fun talking with him and I hope he joins this site so we can stay in touch.

You out there yet, Travis?

Added by John Marshall on June 16, 2009 at 3:41pm — No Comments

My first drift

We camped at Nehalem Falls Campground over Memorial day and on Saturday morning I jack-knifed the trailer and slid the boat down the Beaver Slide. I was fearful at first, but with the exception of some green bottom paint on the rocks at the bottom of the 100' bank slide, all went well. My friend Dave went along for moral support and did a little fishing, as well. The drift to Roy Creek boat ramp was slow going. Locals said the water was at Winter levels, but there still was not much water in… Continue

Added by John Marshall on June 15, 2009 at 3:19pm — 5 Comments

The Story of the GEM

What better place then Woodenboatpeople could there be to share a never before told Grand Canyon McKenzie drift boat story and to share the construction of some remarkable replica boats?

Dave Mortenson has a permit for a Grand Canyon river trip with a 2011 launch. Who is Dave? Well, he’s hiked more of the north side of the river in the western Grand Canyon then most anyone alive, having been hiking there yearly since 1961. He first ran the Colorado River in Grand Canyon as a wee lad…

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Added by Tom Martin on June 5, 2009 at 7:00pm — 13 Comments

Weekend Boat Progress (5.31.09)

Hey everyone,

Thought I would post a few pics taken this weekend.

I managed to get the floorboards fit using the barrel bolt method. So basically each floor section can be popped out by simply releasing 2 barrel bolts. I built a mount for the barrel section into the frame itself, and then mounted the receiver section on the bottom of the floor slat stringer. You can see it better in the pics. I still need to sand out the floor boards and get them oiled. Eventually I would like… Continue

Added by Jason Knight on June 1, 2009 at 5:00am — 6 Comments