I’m mirroring my blog from blogspot as I transition to steemit as my new digital home.
Welcome to the home of Sandbar Boats. I’m CaptainPablo, and this is a blog I'm building mostly to catalogue my personal obsession with all things watercraft or food-oriented. I have a life-long love of boats, surfing, fishing, camping, primitive earth wisdom, hunting, building stuff, breaking stuff, and learning stuff. The advent of the internet has only served to strengthen my addiction to knowledge of these subjects and has inspired a number of projects.
In the coming months I'll be posting the progress of my latest project....a Lumber Yard Skiff.
Sunday, August 20, 2017
The Lumberyard Skiff
It's that time of the year again, time to build another boat. I started a little bit late this time, usually kicking it off in the spring, but it took a while to commit to a boat design this time. I wanted to build a boat that was a little more capable, one that could take me to places further away, one that I could bring family and friends with me. I combed the interwebs in search of the perfect craft. I wanted a power boat, but I wanted an approachable build, rather than some two year long endeavor.
The Old Warf Dory Company at http://www.oldwharf.com/ had a design that would fit the bill perfectly. The Lumber Yard Skiff, herein to be referred to has LYS, was a model designed by boatbuilder Walter Baron as a modern take on the famous Brockway Skiffs of the northeast. The design is a no-frills work skiff for hauling loads with stability and ample room for moving about on the boat. The design utilizes commonly available materials (hence the name) and methods that are suitable for amateurs.
Image from the plan set. This is my intended result. Such an elegant craft, shoalwater-capable with wood accents and a simple console.
Day 1 - Project Start August 19, 2017
To date I have worked on this for one day and two evenings, of which an entire day was devoted to sourcing materials. I suppose you could say I had started a month ago, with the purchase of plans and adhesive (more on the glue later), but this is the point where I move from dreaming to commitment.
I stumbled upon a lovely little Lumber store in the Houston Heights called Clarks Hardwoods where I had my choice of an incredible variety of plywoods, among them a marine grade fir. A costly purchase no doubt, but I figure it will pay off in the future with less rot issues. I'm still chewing on whether or not to fiberglass this boat all or in part. There's something attractive about building a boat with no plastics( save the sikaflex adhesives), but glass is such an easy way to add durability that it's hard to resist. My experience in boat building has been mostly stitch and glue construction, experimental small boats, and surfboards. This plywood on frame method ought to be a good way of training me towards better precision, having less room for error that S&G builds offer. Day two and three have concluded with all side and transom panels being cut ( minus some transom beveling). The vampires common to the lake Conroe area are out hunting my dogs and I, so time for some dinner. Cheers!
