I swear getting started on a project is the toughest thing. But after more time than I like having passed (like a year), I'm finally ready to really get cracking on my boat build.
My first boat was pretty easy. I built it out of Doug fir...all of it. Doug fir everything. Material was readily available down the street for real cheap, and the carpentry while challenging at times was nothing above and beyond what I had done before. There was no t a ton of glass to do. I built it in the driveway, with a boat cover and a sun shade pop up tent. The weather was a challange, but eventually rainy spring led to typical hot and dry Jackson summer, and I had her on the water by August. No sweat...
However, while I love that boat to death, it's not exactly what I wanted. You always want to do something better the next time, and i had alot of ideas about better ways to do things, so I decided to start with a blank slate. Now the real process started...I had to figure out what it was that I wanted. What it was made out of, how it was gonna come together, and what steps I needed to take to make all that stuff and a whole lot more and make it float. So it was mucho research and reading, making drawings, building models, researching more advanced fabrication techniques that I had seen used successfully in other applications and deciding how I was going to integrate that into the build. I filled up and entire graph paper notebook with drawings and notes, measured like 5 different designs and compared lines, built 10 models refining my own lines and slowly trying to achieve the exact rocker profile I was after. Actually..even now i'm still building models trying to get as close as possible before I go full scale.
Then there was the issue of workspace. The basement apt I was living in had no covered storage, and there was no way i would build another boat in the driveway, so I went on like a year and a half long house hunt til I found my current digs which I've been at for the last year or so...the perfect hideout for ski bum boat builders. I found a relic of a house sitting on a huge piece of property in e Jackson. Its an old farm house, and The place is like a compound, abutting the national forest.. 2 min from town. I have a barn big enough to have 2 boats in, plus a covered storage area (3 boats :) ), a woodshop with a woodstove which is big enough for doing carpentry or fabricating pieces or panels. Quite the score in terms of accommodations and reasonably priced at that. But when I moved in it wasn't all gravy. The barn had a leaky room, no insulation, drafty as hell. I figured if I wanted any chance at having that be a useable workspace it needed some love, so literally hours before the first snow of the year (well into the dark) I affixed a massive 28x28' heavy duty tarp over the roof. I found some cheap 3mil painters plastic tarps at the dollar store and went to town stapling that as an inner roof, vapor barriering the entire roof and walls. I scored a ton of free r max foam insulation scraps in random sizes from a buddy that is an hvac guy. I jigsaw puzzled the pieces together and covered all the outer walls floor to ceiling, And I had a semi insulated garage. It's a big space so i further plan to staple a false ceiling and wall blocking off just one garage bay size area so I can heat more efficiently, and I may rig a tent system so I can tent work and just run an electric heater out there. Otherwise I gotta find a propane heater that throws some btus. But the garage is now at least a useable workspace, And my total cost was probably like $125 or something...chump change.
But the last thing was what eluded me the past few years. Getting all the materials together. Lifes tough when youre a poor skid trying to make a living in a rich ski town. Waiting tables and skiing everyday is not a rich man profession. lots of living paycheck to paycheck, and saving anything is damn near impossible.I bought bits and pieces here and there the last few years preparing for this build, but it was the $3000 or so I was gonna need to throw down on core material, glass, epoxy, and hardware that seemed like it held my build up forever. Last winter I went into winter in good shape, I had saved the full budget for the boat. Took like a month of work to source all the materials , but shipping was a problem with the foam core. In the Mele of trying to get thru to sales guys, I blew up my truck...like kapuut! 10k for a new truck later, and a then a trip down the Grand Canyon, and my boat fund was at like -$8000...yikes. So I get back on my feet again financially, but then had to go to the dentist,$6000 later and my boat fund in still in negative numbers. Then like a miracle...guiding season! Out on the river every day, catching fish, makin money, life is good. A slow off season ate some of my saving, but finally got back to work now that ski season and tourists are upon us again. Made enough money over the holidays to get life backs together, and the first thing I did was call and get like $1000 worth of corecell on the way. Also been trying to button up my plascore order for interior panels, and getting a shopping list together for resin , fabric, and vac bag supplies which I Hope to order in the next week or so.
It's been so much work just planning and getting ducks in a row, I'm just happy to finally get to building! I feel like that's gonna be the easy part. It's like a river trip. You spend forever and a day planning, and calling, and making arrangements, and buying stuff. Then you get to the river, shove off and hope you covered all the bases, and whatever happens happens...you go with the flow. Anyhow, end of rant, I'm just happy that the final piece of the puzzle is coming together. Now it's Time to get into the shop and get to work!
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