Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Brad Dimock's Blog – April 2010 Archive (7)

Launch of Glen Canyon at Glen Canyon

Just back from a commercial Grand Canyon trip in my old Briggs boat. It still knows the way through.

Here are some pictures of the hand-off of the Glen Canyon to the new owners two weeks ago, and the launch at Lee's Ferry for its voyage to Glen Canyon Dam, where it will live. It'll run the flatwater daily stretch from G.C. Dam to Lee's Ferry (15 miles).

The upstream launch happened to coincide with my downstream launch, so I got to be…

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Added by Brad Dimock on April 28, 2010 at 8:30pm — 10 Comments

Amazing--it actually floats

We did a test launch of Glen Canyon yesterday afternoon. Wow. It's really fast. It's got all the power of a Briggs Grand Canyon boat with the 10' oars, and all the lightness and quickness of a McKenzie. Spins like a top.Too bad I have to say goodbye to it today!…

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Added by Brad Dimock on April 12, 2010 at 7:49am — 5 Comments

Sex nuts

A couple people have asked what the gunwale and bowpost fasters are. They are called sex nuts and are a thing Andy Hutchinson showed me. They are also called grommet nuts, but that's not as fun to say. They inset into a 3/8" hole in the gunwale or stem, then you shoot though with a 1/4" machine screw (oval head if you can find them) with a finish washer. Once all is tight, zap the extra threads off and hit it with a fine grinder.

When we had a gunwale explode last…

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Added by Brad Dimock on April 9, 2010 at 9:38pm — 8 Comments

The name says it all

Just stuck on the vinyl name, which diminishes 5/8" in height from bow to stern in proportion to the thinning sidewall and stripe heights. Something about those finishing touches just makes all the drudgery worthwhile. Maybe it's like the pain of childbirth fading when the child smiles at you. Ready to start another!

She'll be in the water at Lee's Ferry in a couple days and I look froward to getting some shots of her in her natural setting instead of in my cluttered…

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Added by Brad Dimock on April 9, 2010 at 2:19pm — 12 Comments

Birthing pains

The contractions are starting to come pretty regularly. I think I just need to keep breathing deeply and PUUSSSHHHH!…

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Added by Brad Dimock on April 7, 2010 at 10:54pm — 3 Comments

Going green.

Is it bad luck if it's just a green stripe and not the whole hull?…

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Added by Brad Dimock on April 6, 2010 at 8:12pm — 2 Comments

Gunwale- ating

Got the Glen Canyon bottom done, rolled her over, bolted in the seat rails, and got the first pair of gunwales on. Boat gets delivered a week from tomorrow, so I guess I'd better get back down there and get after it.…