Building A Wooden Boat
Home Built Wooden Boat Plans
Building a wooden boat is something I have been day dreaming of doing for a long, long time. I have decided it's time to build my own boat. I've owned several boats, but I've always wanted to build my own. I am going to do it, and I am going to share the process here. I hope.
I mean I intend to build one. Not just any boat. I'm going to build a wooden drift boat. For fly fishing. If nothing goes wrong, I will build it.
If I build it, it will come, to these pages. Here's a photo of the type of wooden boat I'm interested in building. This shot comes from the pages of Montana Boatbuilders website. Aren't they beautiful?
Why build a boat?
It just sounds like fun.
I think it would be a very rewarding experience to float down the river fly fishing in a boat I built with my own two hands.
Floating and fishing, fishing and floating.
Well, there's that and the fact that I'm a middle aged male and my wife claims I'm going through a mid life crisis.
And she won't let me have a 20 something year old female fishing friend like I saw in a Fishin Chix Calendar that a bachelor friend of mine owns.
She also won't let me have a brand new, or used Harley Davidson Fatboy Motorcycle.
Or a red Lamborghini Sports Car. So I figured I'd just go out to the garage and build a boat. It'll probably keep me out of trouble. Plus, it's been several months since I sold my last boat. I'm itching to get another.
My Wooden Drift Boat Plans
I remember reading about a DIY boat building project in OutDoor Life Magazine years ago.
I'm going to try to find that and track down the author.
I'm also going to google up Wooden Boat Plans, Driftboat Plans and so forth.
I'll report back with what I find.
Til then,
Sharp hooks and tight lines,
Ron
I resently started building a drift boat with no plans. ive found with tryal and error that u must be good with a speed square and good at finding a combination of angles. but it can be done. the hard wood i got from a local saw mill for dirt cheap most of the ribs and hand rail are 1x3,or 4 but the saw mill has tons of bundles of scrap there gonna burn and there happy to get rid of it. i got all i need for 10 buck and with a little planeing and ripping it looks beautiful. (white oak) the plywood got from a local exotic wood supplier. after finding angles the shape came with and the ribs follow. had rails are alot of clamping and bending. the truth is a month ago i thaught it was really diffacult but its farely easy just time consuming. i cant wait to float it!!!
@Randy - UFO? What in the world are you looking at?
OK, that's kind of funny - a UFO - I would bet a bunch of money that you are the only person that saw that. Sandy would be proud!
Hello Barry, and thanks for your input.
I have known of Glen-L for a long time. There are some really nice plans and kits available there. I had planned on writing a post about Glen-L in this series. Hope you guys don't mind.
I have found several good sources for plans and kits during my search. You folks seem to be a top notch resource.
I have sent a separate email to you asking for permission to use photos etc from your website. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Try here for Drift boat plans.
https://www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=737
Dear Randy,
That's not a UFO. That's a Martian's home built drift boat.
What girl?
I read your post and went back to...you guessed it...click on the FishNChix photo for a closer inspection. Did you happen to notice the UFO in the background? Can't believe I spotted it either with all of the distractions going on in the foreground!
Hey Meredith - - I have also seen that episode!! Doesn't that look like fun?
I think it would be cool to take my grandson up there, spend the weekend and build him a little pirogue!! I think that would be a great memory maker adventure.
FYI-I called those folks. They are very nice people to talk with and very accomplished boat builders.
Ron, we just saw an episode of Tennessee Wild Side (NPT) with a segment on wooden boat-building workshops in west Tennessee.
I could see the gleam in my husband's eye...