Fellow boat builders.....

I've been working on a second Spring Run for a while now with lots of interruptions for coaching Little League Baseball, canoe camping trips and life in general. This boat is my 3rd build and I'm having a blast building it as I've learned so much form participating in this forum. The information you guys (and gals) have shared has encouraged me to push my skills and experiment with new techniques. For all who freely share your knowledge, I thank you.

Although the boat is not finished, I thought I would share some pictures (we all love pics, right) I took yesterday afternoon as I am preparing the outside deck/hull for seam tape. The surface still requires sanding and varnish but you can get an idea of what it will look like when done.

On this build, I used dark red cedar, medium brown cedar and ponderosa pine for the different sections separated by a strip of african mahogany. The stems and coaming ring are african mahogany. I learned to use my block plane on this one and all the strips are hand beveled and I also built most of the deck stapleless. Note the slots for the "Joe Greenly" style deck attachments.

This boat was built specifically for a trip next summer that my son and I are planning that will be about 100 miles on the Altamaha river in SE Georgia ending at the coast. It's a flat, wide river and we'll be in a group that paddles at a modest pace. I wanted a nice big cockpit so I could easily stretch my legs, pull them up and out of the boat so it's 39" long. Huge for a sea kayak but exactly what I wanted. One of the coolest things about building your own boat is that you can get exactly what you want....

I hope to finish up by Thanksgiving. Anyway, enjoy the "in process" pics in the subsequent posts....

Bob Beaullieu