As with all great projects, this one started with a…
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It started with Camp Tipsy. Alex and I started talking…
Looking around, shanty boats have been around for a long…
Kai and I took a mad motorcycle trip up the…
I was worried that since we were planning to sheet…
You know how many marinas there are in the Sacramento…
Is it hot in here, or is it just me? …
We were aware that this beast with its generously gabled…
I’m trying to turn my shantyboat speculations into something that…
So far, I’ve ignored the inside cabin layout, thinking that…
Who would have thought boatbuilding would involve so much math?…
We were planning to use Bruce’s pontoon boat that he…
Sometimes the treasure hunt of creating something from salvaged materials…
Anyone know anything about trailer tow hardware like sway bars…
“Ha ha,” said Alex when we took off with the…
So it looks like we’re building a boat. Not merely…
I didn’t expect myself to be talking to the old…
After months of hemming and hawing over plans and possibilities…
Boats are made of lots and lots of funny precision…
The whole process of building a boat involves cutting a…
I have experience in the housebuilding, construction world. I used…
You know the scene at the end of any action…
It most conventionally built wooden boats, the frames refer to…
The side stringers are the sides of the boat. So…
This was an exciting day because for the first time,…
Today, the chickens come home to roost. Remember that pesky…
When we went to put sheets of plywood on the…
It looks easy, right? What could go wrong? Four rectangular…
Oh god, at the end of every work day when…
I like to joke that I bring Old World Craftsmanship…
Everyone’s got one. Every now and then I’ll ask a…
Did I mention that epoxy is stressful? To recap: You…
We fretted over fiberglassing the hull so much, we put…
Okay, so let’s review. Fiberglass (of more accurately glass-fiber reinforced…
At this point, we have the fiberglass bonded to the…
After the fill coat, the texture of the fiberglass cloth…
Fiberglass over plywood is ridiculously tough. There are wood and…
When we built punk rafts and floated several big rivers,…
I had to turn 14 foot pieces of lumber into…
Here we drill all sorts of holes in our newly…
So the skegs have been cut, spliced, drilled, countersunk, stained,…
So the skegs are mounted, but the carriage bolt countersinks…
For a while now, my cousin Brian has been wanting…
Remember the trailer? This one, the one that almost killed us?…
Timeline: Less than a week before the boat flip! The…
Now that the boat is ready to be flipped, I’m…
There you go. 3D rendering doesn't make anything more real,…
For months I’ve been wanting to flip the boat hull…
Here’s a big pile of questions that occur to me.…
If you’ve been following the blog, you know that one…
First off, now that the boat is upright, I made…
Water is the enemy of wood longevity. Protecting the wood…
Oh, the motor well. Seems simple enough. Build a box…
I put the aft deck on. Thought you should know.…
With both decks on, I could be an obsessive woodworker…
Let’s put in a floor! This is the floor that…
Sometimes little things can be a big headache. And sometimes…
I took a two-week break from building the shantyboat to…
One of the smarter things I’ve done on the shantyboat,…
Whew, finally. We get to constructing the cabin walls. This…
If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not being…
When we disassembled the Hollister chicken coop, we got a…
You must hate me. Last I left you with “Walls…
In 2005, I set out on a punk rafting journey,…
In July, we are bringing the shantyboat across country to…
This is like a Secret History scavenger hunt whose items…
With days left before our departure for the Secret History…
You remember last year when we were on the river…
So while the Kickstarter has been doing its thing and…
Just 24 hours and just over $1000 to go on…
In preparation for our journey to the Mississippi River in…
Tomorrow morning early we pull out of Santa Cruz towing…
Secret 110v plug in in #shantyboat for when we are…
Secret 110v plug in for #shantyboat shore power for when…
Secret 110v plug in for #shantyboat shore power when we…
#shantyboat hijinx during a “work” day. I think we got…
Well, there is some beer drinking, some power tool noises,…
Because the old system of 9 wires going into a…
Here is what electrical work on the #shantyboat looks like.…
On the #shantyboat our precision work often achieves tolerances as…
Just a few weeks until we leave! Aaaa! Panic! Electrical…
Have we repaired the hull yet? No. Aesthetics comes first…
Upgrading the #shantyboat. via Instagram
Breaker box on #shantyboat now with grounding strap! via Instagram
Important #shantyboat business at the end of the workday. via…
Your average house doesn’t rattle down the road at 60…
#shantyboat visits the harbor beach in Santa Cruz on the…
Harbor lyfe in the #shantyboat via Instagram
Old habits. #shantyboat via Instagram
When your #Shantyboat Motor won’t start after you get in…
The #shantyboat gets a visit from Phil and One-eyed Jack…
The ill-advised madness of reseating the leaky #shantyboat motor well.…
#shantyboat on blocks in our worksite at the Santa Cruz…
Sanding the hull of the #shantyboat in preparation for new…
One of the most fun parts about being in the…
#shantyboat workday at the Santa Cruz Harbor. via Instagram
Roof work on the #shantyboat via Instagram
Roof work on the #shantyboat at the Santa Cruz Yacht…
Benzy on the roof of the #shantyboat via Instagram
We launched in the Santa Cruz Harbor yesterday and pulled the boat…
We are currently preparing for a summer of fieldwork on the river and need all the help we can get. Please donate to the project.
We just completed a summer of fieldwork on the river. Please consider a donation to the project.
We are currently doing a summer of fieldwork on the river and need all the help we can get. Please donate to the project.
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while we journey to and explore the Ohio River!