Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Unlikely Boat Builder: 20 Days to Build a Dingy

Day 20: Plan B

As Captain Cook knew, there's always a Plan B. Thus, when the wooden boat that Helena and I had been looking for for years, turned up on eBay, we suddenly needed a Plan B.

Plan A had been to "build Cabin Boy this winter so when and if we buy a wooden boat, I'll know how to take care of it." But the right boat came along sooner than we expected, and we now owned a boat. A boat in Florida -- about 2000 nm. from home. Clearly, Plan A wasn't going to cut it.

So we came up with Plan B: to sail the new boat home from Florida in stages. Stage 1, the north west coast of Florida to the south east coast of Florida, via the Keys, commencing in 20 days.

And that means this unhandy man needs to finish Cabin Boy in 20 days...

Read complete blog post: Plan B

Enjoy: John

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Almberg on February 16, 2010 at 3:26pm

A Garboard Tragedy (Act 2)

All the BBBs (boat building books) tell you that when you spile, you must lock down your dividers and use exactly the same radii for all your arcs. Being an overly-clever chap, I saw straight through this lie.

This brilliant insight almost tripped me up, of course.

But before I explain myself, let me make up two definitions. There may be words for these processes already, but I don't know what they are...

Read complete blog post: A Garboard Tragedy (Act 2)

Enjoy: John

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Permalink Reply by John Almberg on February 19, 2010 at 3:31pm

Mountain Climbing

There are a lot of good boat building books (BBBs) out there, and I own many of them. But when I started to build Cabin Boy, I decided to pick one guru to follow. That guru, for me, is Greg Rössel and specifically his book "Building Small Boats".

Not only is Mr. Rössel a master boat builder, he's a very good writer, and as I finally fastened my very first real plank on to Cabin Boy, a line from his chapter on lofting came back to me...

Read complete blog post: Mountain Climbing

Enjoy: John

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Permalink Reply by John Almberg on March 23, 2010 at 6:08pm

Cutting out and fastening Cabin Boy's bottom was easier than I expected. Using plywood, rather than the spiled cross planks that I'd planned on, saved a few days work, at least.

Since it's almost time to pull the boat off the forms and start working on the interior, I decided to drive up to the Maine Boat Builder's show in Portland, to steal some ideas from 'real' boat builders.

I'm glad I made the trip. Some great pics!

Read complete blog post:

The Unlikely Boat Builder: Ready to Flip

Enjoy: John

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Permalink Reply by John Almberg on April 6, 2010 at 8:17pm

Cabin Boy's Launch

At this moment, I am blogging from the middle of the river that flows through Steinhatchee, FL. Helena and I have spent the last few days preparing the Blue Moon for its 2000 mile voyage from the West Coast of Florida, around the Keys, and up the east coast of the US, to New York.

Actually, I was focused on preparing the Blue Moon. Helena was focused on preparing me. We both must have done a pretty good job, because I'm tucked up in my comfy bunk (with my home made foam mattress), anchor light burning brightly from the mizzen mast, and -- miracle of miracles -- an Apple laptop connected to the Internet by a cell phone card, so I can blog all the way home.

My intention is to up anchor around 9:30 tomorrow morning, to catch the morning tide for a ride out into the Gulf of Mexico. But before I start talking about the Blue Moon, I'd better talk about Cabin Boy's launch...

Read complete blog post: Launch Day!

Enjoy!