Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

All Blog Posts (418)

Whole lotta glassing

Things are churning along--we laid up the bottom of Lodore last night and dropped it on this morning. Even though it is a bad time to be a publisher, there are a lot of other things you can do with crates of books:

By the way those books are all for sale at www.fretwater.com if you need any weights.…

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Added by Brad Dimock on March 9, 2010 at 10:30pm — 2 Comments

Whole lotta sanding and fairing

The Euphrates is now ready for her deck glass, and Lodore almost ready for her bottom. Meanwhile, the unnamed open Rogue's Port Orford Cedar ribs are soaking up LTV (Linseed/Turpentine/Varnish) and wondering when the other boats will get out of the way so she can take shape too. I'm supposed to deliver her in a month!…

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Added by Brad Dimock on March 8, 2010 at 5:39pm — No Comments

Revising the revisions

Reconciling the plans for the boat with the actual shape of the early 1970s Briggs boat upstairs has been an adventure. We tweaked the lines severely for the Euphrates, then retweaked a little last night on the Lodore. Once we get the shape that looks right, I carefully redraw the plans. I think I'm finally where I want to be with the lines, so the third boat should be a breeze.…

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Added by Brad Dimock on March 6, 2010 at 7:11pm — No Comments

Plenty to do

Here's a couple shots of the morning after. I was astonished to run a centerline on the new boat and find every rib to be dead center. Even a blind pig fins an acorn once in a while.

The large tool sitting on the boat is an edge fairing device, to bring the raw edges of the sides into the same plane as the temp ribs. It has 36-grit sandpaper glued to one edge. This wacky system I am using, with no inner chine log, makes it tough to define that edge plane without some sort of giant gizmo…

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Added by Brad Dimock on March 6, 2010 at 6:48pm — 1 Comment

Lodore is born

Boat #2 got a start last night when about half the WRF first aid class came over with energy and sixpacks. Lodore is looking a lot less like a pile of sticks now. The temporary ribs are in place. Bottom goes on soon, then boat is stablized, flipped, temp ribs removed, inner chines glassed, the final Port Orford ribs installed. Of course the party inevitably ended badly. The WFR class may have some hangover issues today.…

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Added by Brad Dimock on March 6, 2010 at 10:00am — 3 Comments

Hull is painted

The boat gets its splash jacket.

http://kellyneu.blogspot.com/

Added by Kelly Neu on March 3, 2010 at 8:10pm — 4 Comments

Euphrates ready to glass

Dory # 1 is about done, ready to glass the decks, trim the gunwales, splash some paint on her and send her on her way. #2 is starting in the prep stages, scarfing and glassing sides. Rib production starts tomorrow.

Pictures:

#1--new boat "Lodore" side in foreground; Euphrates in background. Old river signage outside windows holding back the avalanches (Flagstaff…

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Added by Brad Dimock on March 2, 2010 at 8:21pm — 5 Comments

Just a few more details...

The Euphrates is looking a lot like a dory now. Ash gunwales on, decks framed and covered. We have a fair amount of glass work yet to do as well as the hatch lids, latches, and oarlocks. Trimming the bowpost and transom, rounding and oiling the gunwales... Little details that take up big time. We're starting the next boat in the far side of the shop so we can be working on one while the WEST is kicking on the other.…

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Added by Brad Dimock on February 28, 2010 at 9:46pm — 1 Comment

Mass scarfing jig

This is the simplest scarfing jig we've come up with so far. A piece of melamine with a slot in it, set on a stack of staggered Meranti plywood. 10 scarf joints in about as many minutes. A little belt sanding cleaned up the rough edges. This pile of wood is for the sides of two more Briggsian dories which are in line after the Euphrates is out the door.

Added by Brad Dimock on February 27, 2010 at 10:00pm — 5 Comments

A bit about the Euphrates

This boat is for Dan (Dierker), my very good friend. He ran dories for Martin and later for OARS, after OARS bought Grand Canyon Dories. We both work for Arizona Raft Adventures (AzRA), as does Dennis, who is in on this project and next in line for a similar boat. AzRA runs dories now and then, so we hope to be floating both of these and my 1972 Briggs on an August trip. Dan is following the old Martin Litton tradition of naming it after a place that's been buggered up--in this case the… Continue

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 9:07pm — No Comments

Right Gunwale

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:44pm — No Comments

Framing in the deck.

Floor ribs removed in front and rear cross-hatches for ease of packing commercial trips.

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:43pm — No Comments

Dropping in ribs with bulkheads

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:39pm — No Comments

Rolling her over

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:35pm — No Comments

Bottom on, glassed, and covered with stiff plastic to make her smooth and shiny.

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:34pm — No Comments

Epoxying the foam floor to the sides. Temporary ribs in place.

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:32pm — No Comments

Semi-traditional Briggs boat project.

My buddies Dan, Dennis, and I are building a couple semi-traditional Briggsian dories for a Grand Canyon trip in August. Traditional--in that they'll have wood sides, Port Orford Cedar ribs, etc; Semi--in that they'll have foam floors and radiused fiberglass chines. Here's a couple shots of the last few weeks.

Added by Brad Dimock on February 25, 2010 at 8:00pm — No Comments