Christmas in July

Well, this is it - the grand finale of this big ol' project.

After having finished the insides, I re-flipped the boat and got back to what was left undone on the exterior of the hull. I woul have done this back when the boat was still upside down the first time, but there was some stuff on backorder and I'm impatient; so, here I am flipping the boat again.

Coated the bottom with the graphite & epoxy for about 4 coats. Then I taped and plasticized everything that didn't want to be painted (also made an impromptu spray booth with plastic sheeting in my garage). Then fired up the old spray gun with some "dusk grey" Brightsides and had at it.

I used to spray a bunch, but I've been out of practice for awhile; it all came back fairly well and I'm real hppy with the finished product. I was a bit nervous pulling off all the tape - it was almost like being a kid on christmas morning. Grinning pretty much ear to ear.

After putting the trailer together and putting the boat on the trailer, it was time to take her out for the test drive.

It would seem all signs were favorable for the maiden voyage:

1) We got a week of rain for the (first real rain in a month).

2) Even the PA boat commission got it right - I can only assume the "DE" in by boat registration # stands for "double ender" (see below pic)

3) All the dum dums could make it for a saturday float: me, jimmy, gavin, uncle 2-A.M. (danny), Emils, and Pat.

So to the Lehigh we all went in our respective craft - the water was insanely low and the trout were in hiding. But we managed to pick our way through and catch a pile of smallies. So with a quick word of thanks, and a splash of Yuengling Premium (Our semi-famous regional beer). The boat was christened "Herodias"; named after our fellow fishermn and nemisis the great blue heron (meaning: the one that watches over).

"It's easy to grin when your ship comes in

and you've got the stock market beat,

but the man who's worthwile is th man who can smile,

when his shorts aretoo tight in the seat."

Nice!

So, Thanks to my wife (my Sue) and kids (Paul and Ella) for a memorable 40th birthday gift.

And thanks to all the WBP for your support and help along the way. With all the ripping off of your great ideas that I did on this here site, there is truly a little piece of all your boats in mine.

Will keep you all posted on future developments with Herodias.

(and of course, once I start my 20' power dory)

Thanks for reading! J.G.

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Comment by Stefani L Snyder on July 23, 2010 at 4:46am
Great job John! All your hard work definitely paid off, beautiful boat :)))
Angie Lande
Comment by Stefani L Snyder on July 23, 2010 at 4:42am
John, the boat looks great! And I love the name, so fitting. So glad the test run went well. What an accomplishment. Enjoy!
Comment by Don Wakefield on July 20, 2010 at 9:13pm
Hi John -- I ripped a full 1" thick doug fir vertical grain board to about three inches wide and used those for frame members. It happened that the 4x8 styrofoam at the local building supply store was exactly the right thickness if I used a 2" chunk alongside a 1" chunk, and I just cut them to fit between frame members. I put them in the floor and in the walls..... probably a bit overkill since it would take a while for the water to enter the sealed framing cavities........ but for an extended period of time would prevent the boat from becoming really heavy with entrapped water and make the boat virtually unsinkable with a total buoyant force value of maybe 1400 lbs..... I figure this boat with the Yamaha motor and pump will end up around five or six hundred pounds. I bought some of the two part foam stuff but so far haven't used it. I've used it before on other boats and its very unfriendly to get it where you need it before it swells up and gets hard. I ran out of the foam board before I got to the bow portion but it was getting difficult to cut the odd angles and most of the weight is in the back of the boat anyway.

Its got about a 3" Vee bottom or maybe 7 or 8 degrees deadrise and I'm hoping with an almost level bottom on the back 2/3rds of the boat it will only draft 2 and a half or three inches. I love going up those skinny waters in the small streams. Where I hope this one will really shine is that it'll be a much more usable boat with the ability to return to the put-in place all by itself. Eliminating the need for another person with another vehicle, or the need for a shuttle service. Or the need to commit yourself to having to make it to the take-out place regardless of weather, not hungry fish, etc etc.

I love this boat building -- If I continue I'm thinking about going the other direction - maybe a 12' rapid robert using stitch and glue and keeping it ultra light. Maybe using styrofoam instead of plywood and coating both sides with a couple layers of cloth and end up less than a hundred pounds?? More damn fun. You built a really nice looking boat that I'm sure your very proud of.

To flip the boat I installed couple u-bolts on the stem and transom, using the rafters in my garage (2x12's thankfully on 16" centers) as skyhooks----- soon as I jacked the ends up high enough for the gunwales to clear the concrete -- whamo it spun upright so quick I was flabbergasted. If I had to re-flip it to like work on the pump I'd need a helper probably to get it turned over to the upside down position.
Comment by John Greenleaf on July 20, 2010 at 8:29pm
Don, Great looking boat, you've already given me something to think about... the jet option around here with some of the real shallow rivers like the susquehanna would be awesome..
It really looks like it was a bear to flip - that was one of my concerns with a potential power dory project. My boat was not too bad. Flipped it once by myself with all the furnishings removed, then once with the neighbor, and then a final time when we placed it on the trailer. Not too bad for 3 guys to carry around - not light, but not terrible. I'm guessing it weighs in just under 300 lb.

One question- for your boat is that injected foam in between the frames (looks that way from the pic)? If so, what did you use? J.G.
Comment by Don Wakefield on July 20, 2010 at 7:17pm
Hi JG - thanks for a nice story. I am in the process of building what I'd like to call a jet drift boat and I can relate to the meaning of all you said. You mentioned a power dory and thats kinda what I am working on.
I tried to get all I could get done before flipping, and may not have to re-flip -- which would be a problem with the change of gravity (heavy fiberglass bottom).

I am anxious to put mine in the water to see where the water line and draft will end up, how well it will handle with the oars (I'm afraid it will be sluggish with all the beefed up fiberglass bottom), and then too how fast the Yamaha 760 motor and pump will propel the boat - have to say I'm going to be disappointed if it doesn't end up around 30mph.

Couple pics here

This is a picture of the boat in the flippin process but it also shows how I blended in the pump intake and pump into the bottom of the boat.


Thanks again for a nice storyl Don in Paradise.

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