As promised to the owner, his boat is ready.  Before official summer..Memorial Day. 

Doing this restoration was enjoyable and I think the customer got good value.  He now has a very serviceable boat that is also a genuine piece of history.

  I found the original name plate hanging from some rusty screws and polished it back up as my final task.

  I hope to get a chance to row this boat sometime this summer, maybe right here on the Klickitat River near Lyle, Washington.  Close by my house and shop.

  Re-working an older boat is a real 'balancing act'.  You must consider how to use your client's funds in the most effective possible ways.  To give good value, to achieve the best overall end product, given finite re$ources. 

Almost anyone can make a beautiful boat, given enough time and money.  Boats seem to suck us in, to call for just a few more hours, a little more teak, another couple of dozen silicone bronze screws......there are hundreds  right here on this very site that are works of art, rather than working boats...Boats that look to have thousands of hours in them, thousands of dollars of exotic materials.  For someone working on their own time, on their own project...that is all fine, but...

 When someone pays you to do it...there are priorities that must be determined, limits to what HAS to be done, what can be done, given the available re$ources that your client wants to spend. 

 I was lucky to have a client who understands all this..who made some clear decisions, early on,  as to how he wanted to me proceed and then left me to do the rest, with a finite sum and a somewhat flexible time frame. 

I think we did OK...though I 'gave away' more of my time than I would prefer...Who wouldn't rather make $100/hr than the maybe $10 that I actually made?  Still, it's finished now

  So here she sits, ready to head out the door.  The Columbia River is about 1/2 a mile, dead ahead of the bow .

  Soon as Rob (the client) comes for this one, I'll be starting one on speculation, for re-sale .  I plan a rather broad variation on this design. Slightly wider.  Trying for an 'all-around' boat for diverse uses.  I know..not really possible, but this Don Hill design has proved itself quite handy over the years on many varied rivers.

  I'm planning on using Divinycell or some other brand of boat building foam for the bottom panel with kevlar and glass.   I think I shall go around 50" wide on the bottom.   Probably sepele or meranti for the sides and a composite of brunzeel/carbon/s-glass for the interior compartments.  I like yellow cedar for frames and I want to do some fancy steamed-oak parts, too.  I'll be using concealed carbon fiber tows to strengthen things here and there.  I can diminish the scantlings by taking advantage of the newer materials technology combined with wood, as I learned in the racing sailboat trade, thereby making a lighter stronger more maneuverable riverboat...but one that still looks and feels like a wooden dory.

  I plan on coating everything with West..or maybe one of the other less 'Gucci' epoxy systems.  I'll be using a linear poly paint on the outside...that stuff is amazingly tough and not difficult to work with once you've mastered it.

  Hopefully, I can produce a modern variation that will be easy to live with day to day, year to year, and yet still have some of the charm and sex-appeal of a real wooden dory.

  thanks for reading..

  any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. 

  Spam warning!

  PS..Not sure if it is allowed to Spam here..excuse me if I'm off base posting  to promote my business..but below is my spam

  Anyone wanting a custom boat, please contact me and we'll talk it over.  I am familiar with all types of construction.  I apprenticed with Paul Schweiss (Pac. NW boatbuilder and  contributor to Wooden Boat Mag) on traditional lapstrake Norwegian boats, did lots of restoration on Willits Bros. clench-nailed cedar canoes, built frame and plank Garden-designed Eel Sloops and Whitehalls for a while.  I have done many cold molded high performance boats, both sailing and rowing...including an ocean rowing shell (30lbs), a Rangley Lakes boat for two rowers with a foldable Laser sail rig.  A 14' cedar strip planked dory, a 22' overnighter fast fractional rigged trailerable sloop, and many others.  I repair fiberglass also,  and can do molds. I spray LP finishes and can varnish with the best.

  I will also take on repairs.  If you have a boat that needs fixed please contact me.  I'll even pick up and deliver, if you pay the fuel (west of the Rockies) and my time.  I'd also consider traveling for a big job on a larger boat.  Interior, deck lay-out, varnish and rigging are all part of my repertoire