Tag Archive for boatbuilding
Sketchy Napkin Plans
As with all great projects, this one started with a…
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A Mad Idea Fueled by Gin
It started with Camp Tipsy. Alex and I started talking…
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Inspiration
Looking around, shanty boats have been around for a long…
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A Madcap Boat Scavenging Journey
Kai and I took a mad motorcycle trip up the…
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Walls and diagonal bracing
I was worried that since we were planning to sheet…
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WANTED
You know how many marinas there are in the Sacramento…
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Boat Builder Porn
Is it hot in here, or is it just me? …
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Folding Gable Ends
We were aware that this beast with its generously gabled…
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Beyond Napkin Plans
I’m trying to turn my shantyboat speculations into something that…
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Karaoke Doodles
So far, I’ve ignored the inside cabin layout, thinking that…
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Math is Hard – Calculating a Waterline
Who would have thought boatbuilding would involve so much math?…
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Bruce’s Pontoons
We were planning to use Bruce’s pontoon boat that he…
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Destruction and Creation
Sometimes the treasure hunt of creating something from salvaged materials…
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Tips on how not to die in a fiery ball of twisted metal on the highway
Anyone know anything about trailer tow hardware like sway bars…
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Boating errand in the flattest dryest spot in North America
“Ha ha,” said Alex when we took off with the…
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Boat Plans: Choices Made and Not Made
So it looks like we’re building a boat. Not merely…
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Questions for the Old Man
I didn’t expect myself to be talking to the old…
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First Build Day: Building Form
After months of hemming and hawing over plans and possibilities…
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Organization: How To Make Boatbuilding Not Suck
Boats are made of lots and lots of funny precision…
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Making Sawdust
The whole process of building a boat involves cutting a…
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Angles and Precision
I have experience in the housebuilding, construction world. I used…
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Epoxy is Stressful
You know the scene at the end of any action…
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Keel and Skeg Stringers
It most conventionally built wooden boats, the frames refer to…
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Side Stringers
The side stringers are the sides of the boat. So…
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Cross beams
This was an exciting day because for the first time,…
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Correcting Mistakes I
Today, the chickens come home to roost. Remember that pesky…
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Correcting Mistakes II: The Usefulness of Square Corners
When we went to put sheets of plywood on the…
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Sheeting the Hull
It looks easy, right? What could go wrong? Four rectangular…
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Hull Ends
Oh god, at the end of every work day when…
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Hull Finish Work (or Correcting Mistakes III)
I like to joke that I bring Old World Craftsmanship…
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Opinions are like assholes…
Everyone’s got one. Every now and then I’ll ask a…
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Hockey Puck Manufacture (or Epoxy is Stressful II)
Did I mention that epoxy is stressful? To recap: You…
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Fiberglass Seal Coat
We fretted over fiberglassing the hull so much, we put…
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Fiberglass Bond Coat
Okay, so let’s review. Fiberglass (of more accurately glass-fiber reinforced…
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Fiberglass Fill Coat
At this point, we have the fiberglass bonded to the…
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Fiberglass Finish Coats
After the fill coat, the texture of the fiberglass cloth…
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Hull UV Protection
Fiberglass over plywood is ridiculously tough. There are wood and…
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Those Troublesome Skegs, Part the First
When we built punk rafts and floated several big rivers,…
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Those Troublesome Skegs, Scarf Joints
I had to turn 14 foot pieces of lumber into…
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Those Troublesome Skegs, Bolt Holes and Finish
Here we drill all sorts of holes in our newly…
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Those Troublesome Skegs, Mistakes Were Made
So the skegs have been cut, spliced, drilled, countersunk, stained,…
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Those Troublesome Skegs, Finishing Touches
So the skegs are mounted, but the carriage bolt countersinks…
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The Talented Mr. Johnson
For a while now, my cousin Brian has been wanting…
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And now back to the trailer
Remember the trailer? This one, the one that almost killed us?…
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Welding the Trailer
Timeline: Less than a week before the boat flip! The…
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Thinking About Cabin Construction
Now that the boat is ready to be flipped, I’m…
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Fancy Pants New Renderings
There you go. 3D rendering doesn't make anything more real,…
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A Big Flippin’ Deal
For months I’ve been wanting to flip the boat hull…
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A Bunch of Questions
Here’s a big pile of questions that occur to me.…
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More Cabin Planning
If you’ve been following the blog, you know that one…
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A Front Deck and Photos of an Adorable Puppy
First off, now that the boat is upright, I made…
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Protecting the Bilge
Water is the enemy of wood longevity. Protecting the wood…
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Motor Well, A Mini-Project Unto Itself
Oh, the motor well. Seems simple enough. Build a box…
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Installing the aft deck
I put the aft deck on. Thought you should know.…
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Obsessive woodworking, top side
With both decks on, I could be an obsessive woodworker…
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The Cabin Has a Floor
Let’s put in a floor! This is the floor that…
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Bow Eyes and Stern Tiedowns
Sometimes little things can be a big headache. And sometimes…
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A Collection of Photos from a Non-Shantyboat River Float
I took a two-week break from building the shantyboat to…
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New Boat Vocabulary Word: Coaming
One of the smarter things I’ve done on the shantyboat,…
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Cabin Wall Framing. Finally.
Whew, finally. We get to constructing the cabin walls. This…
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Cabin Framing, More Mistakes Were Made
If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s not being…
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Roof Rafters – The cabin takes shape
When we disassembled the Hollister chicken coop, we got a…
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What the #*@&% happened?
You must hate me. Last I left you with “Walls…
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Beginnings
In 2005, I set out on a punk rafting journey,…
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Shantyboat on the Mississippi
In July, we are bringing the shantyboat across country to…
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Odds and Ends We Still Need
This is like a Secret History scavenger hunt whose items…
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The Joys and Heartache of Saying Goodbye
With days left before our departure for the Secret History…
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Introducing Freddie
You remember last year when we were on the river…
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Readying Shantyboat and Other Trip Details
So while the Kickstarter has been doing its thing and…
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24 Hours and Gory Details
Just 24 hours and just over $1000 to go on…
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Dry Docking the Shantyboat
In preparation for our journey to the Mississippi River in…
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24 Hours
Tomorrow morning early we pull out of Santa Cruz towing…
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Secret 110v plug in in #shantyboat for when we are docked in marinas.
Secret 110v plug in in #shantyboat for when we are…
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Secret 110v plug in for #shantyboat shore power for when we are docked in marinas.
Secret 110v plug in for #shantyboat shore power for when…
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Secret 110v plug in for #shantyboat shore power when we are docked in marinas.
Secret 110v plug in for #shantyboat shore power when we…
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#shantyboat hijinx during a “work” day. I think we got “drink beer” and “make todo list” accomplished that day.
#shantyboat hijinx during a “work” day. I think we got…
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What the hell are we doing?
Well, there is some beer drinking, some power tool noises,…
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Because the old system of 9 wires going into a crowded junction box was giving me nightmares. #shantyboat
Because the old system of 9 wires going into a…
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Here is what electrical work on the #shantyboat looks like. Hours under the deck.
Here is what electrical work on the #shantyboat looks like.…
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On the #shantyboat our precision work often achieves tolerances as fine as a 1/4″ or more.
On the #shantyboat our precision work often achieves tolerances as…
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A Tangle of Wires, Shredded Tin, and a Descent Into Madness
Just a few weeks until we leave! Aaaa! Panic! Electrical…
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Have we repaired the hull yet? No. Aesthetics comes first on the #shantyboat. Painting windows with a delicious old green.
Have we repaired the hull yet? No. Aesthetics comes first…
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Upgrading the #shantyboat.
Upgrading the #shantyboat. via Instagram
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Breaker box on #shantyboat now with grounding strap!
Breaker box on #shantyboat now with grounding strap! via Instagram
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Important #shantyboat business at the end of the workday.
Important #shantyboat business at the end of the workday. via…
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Your average house doesn’t rattle down the road at 60 mph 5000 miles a year. So the #shantyboat doors and windows tend to need a little maintenance and repair.
Your average house doesn’t rattle down the road at 60…
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#shantyboat visits the harbor beach in Santa Cruz on the way to dry dock.
#shantyboat visits the harbor beach in Santa Cruz on the…
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Harbor lyfe in the #shantyboat
Harbor lyfe in the #shantyboat via Instagram
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Old habits. #shantyboat
Old habits. #shantyboat via Instagram
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When your #Shantyboat Motor won’t start after you get in the harbor, you use your #BoatUS towing
When your #Shantyboat Motor won’t start after you get in…
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The #shantyboat gets a visit from Phil and One-eyed Jack while we wait for the boat lift
The #shantyboat gets a visit from Phil and One-eyed Jack…
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The ill-advised madness of reseating the leaky #shantyboat motor well.
The ill-advised madness of reseating the leaky #shantyboat motor well.…
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#shantyboat on blocks in our worksite at the Santa Cruz Harbor.
#shantyboat on blocks in our worksite at the Santa Cruz…
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Sanding the hull of the #shantyboat in preparation for new bottom paint.
Sanding the hull of the #shantyboat in preparation for new…
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One of the most fun parts about being in the #shantyboat on the river is losing control in a wind and damaging the boat against docks and whatnot. We are fixing things so we can have more of this fun.
One of the most fun parts about being in the…
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#shantyboat workday at the Santa Cruz Harbor.
#shantyboat workday at the Santa Cruz Harbor. via Instagram
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Roof work on the #shantyboat
Roof work on the #shantyboat via Instagram
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Roof work on the #shantyboat at the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor.
Roof work on the #shantyboat at the Santa Cruz Yacht…
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Benzy on the roof of the #shantyboat
Benzy on the roof of the #shantyboat via Instagram
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A Crazy Plan to Launch the Shantyboat in the Ocean [Video]
We launched in the Santa Cruz Harbor yesterday and pulled the boat…
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