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Do It Yourself Projects

I have decided I want to build my first wooden drift boat using plans from Butler Projects.   I am going to build the Maxi-Mac  as it answers most of my Most Of Questions I first learned of Paul Butler and Butler Projects in the pages of Outdoor Life Magazine  years ago. Paul's site has plans for all sorts of things from a child's rocking horse to a cabin. But mostly, he's a boat guy. 

Paul writes: "I am primarily a wood boat builder. I was fortunate to serve a traditional wood boatbuilding apprenticeship, building plank on frame workboats and yachts, from design and lofting phase right through to mast and spars and final finish, and I worked with a number of talented European shipwrights doing repair, modification, new construction and on custom projects." 

 A Look At The Maxi-Mac

In my search for stitch and glue wooden drift boat plans, I came across a company called Glen-L. In this post a comment was left by Barry, the Glen-L webmaster. He mentioned their website. I wrote him an email and Barry gave me permission to use photos and quotes from their website and to let him know if I had any questions.

I went to the the Glen-L Website and the first question I had was: What is her name?> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Wait, did I say that out loud?

Turns out, this is one of the Pin Up Girl pictures they used in their boat plans catalog in the early 1950's.

Glen-L was started back in 1953 and though they are one of the largest suppliers of plans and boat building supplies, they are still a small, close knit family type company. I mean, there are people other than family that work there, but they all seem like family.

I recently got an email from them announcing Barry's retirement. They were all wishing him well and letting him know that he would be missed. I'm sure many Glen-L customers will miss him as well.  He seems like a great guy from our emails.

When you visit Glen-L, be sure you sign up for their newsletter and the e-book on boat building. Both free and full of really useful stuff.  I don't understand everything I don't know about websites though and there isn't a direct path to the sign up page.  I had to go to their main page at  http://www.glen-l.com/ and then click on the search link in the left hand navigation bar. I entered the word newsletter in the search field. Up popped a link to Glen-L Guest Book. I clicked that and when you sign up, they'll send you the ebook for download. It's Boatbuilding 101. Good notes in there.

What About The Wooden Drift Boat Plans?

There are lots of builders of wooden drift boats out there.

Jason was once a fly fishing guide himself. I asked what got him into the boat building business. His answer was he just thought he could build a better boat than was being offered by the mass producers. Now, it's a full time gig. They build and sell beautiful drift boats, pre-cut assemble it yourself kits, and they offer plans for sale to wannabe boat builders like myself.

A Note And Invitation

Finding wooden drift boat plans was easy! There are plenty out there to choose from. So many in fact, that a person, namely me, could go on drooling over them for 10 years easy but I've decided I don't have that kind of time. I've narrowed the list down to three potential sources for wooden drift boat plans.

I plan to build a home made wooden drift boat this spring. I first admitted publicly to this deep seated desire of mine a couple of articles ago. You can find it here, on the post about Building A Wooden Boat. My wife calls it wood boat lust. Whatever. I say the couple that mahoganies a boat together, manogomies a life together. She rolled her eyes and mumbled something about wishing the same could be said about mahogany furniture shopping. Personally, I think the dining room table we have now is just fine. Don't lean too hard on that far corner, I still need to fix that broken leg.

Since posting that piece, I've been searching out some plans and boat designs. I have been in contact with several plan providers and boat builders. I've narrowed the list down to three potential sources for my plans. They have all given me permission to use photos and quotes from their websites. All nice folks. You'll get to know a little more about them in just a minute.

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?

This make it yourself fly rod rack is very simple, very effective and very inexpensive. Check it out.

I was out on the back deck, stringing up a new rod for a client when I heard that familiar sound of a fly rod sliding down the wall that it had been leaned up against. I turned around just in time to see it fall to the ground as the cringing owner was making a lunge for it. Too late.

Didn't appear to hurt the rod any this time, but if it had fallen on the edge of a rock or caught the corner of a window frame, it could easily have been damaged to the point of needing repair before using again.

I once saw a graphite rod slide down a wall like that and then get stepped on by it's owner as he was trying to catch it during the fall. I decided I needed to come up with some kind of a rod rack that would keep assembled flyrods out of harm's way out on the back deck. I know there are a huge number of fishing rod racks available out there but I couldn't find one to suit me.

I didn't want a free standing rack because that would take up too much room on the deck. I didn't have a good place for a wall mounted rack, too many windows and doors. I started looking at the deck rail.

Yeah, I needed something that I could put on the rail, out of the way, that would keep the rods standing up. Several ideas came and went before I settled on a concept. I could use the deck railing to hold the reel end of each rod, but still needed something to put the tips into up higher.