| Building your own handcrafted wooden leisure of | | | | rails |
| fishing boat is not nearly as difficult as you might think. I | | | | 4.) A piece of pine for the bench and reinforcements |
| have built many from scratch, but the first is the most | | | | 5.) A set of cheap oarlocks (optional.) |
| educational. And that's what this article is all about. You | | | | You can find everything by searching Google and the |
| don't need special expensive tools or any carpentry | | | | wood at a local home supply store or lumber yard. |
| experience. Just follow simple instructions and you can | | | | The boat construction method we will be using is called |
| build an incredible wooden boat of your very own and | | | | "stitch and glue." Note: Hannu has a modified stitch and |
| save thousands of dollars for that new rod and reel. | | | | glue method that saves time, and in my experience, |
| So what would you like? A saltwater fishing boat | | | | builds a better boat faster. |
| ready for the bay? A freshwater cruiser primed for | | | | Moneysaving Tip: Everyone who even knows |
| the lake? If you can imagine it, you can built it. And for | | | | someone who has built a boat will talk about West |
| less than $250 using top-grade marine plywood and | | | | Marine for all of your supply needs. And they certainly |
| certified materials! | | | | do have it all, but I found I could find deals averaging |
| Let's start with the basics. My first boat-building project | | | | 40% less by shopping around. There are plenty of real |
| was an eight foot outboard ready motorboat. The | | | | bargains out there. If you can find the online store of a |
| plans were for a simple "Portuguese style rowing | | | | shop in a popular boat building area like coastal Maine, |
| dinghy" designed by a boat builder in Finland named | | | | Cape Cod MA, Nags Head NC, Santa Barbara CA, or |
| Hannu Vartiala. All I had to do was add a motor-board | | | | just about anywhere in Florida - you can usually get |
| (all of ten minutes work) and all of the sudden I had a | | | | better deals on supplies and expert advice from |
| handcrafted motorboat ready for an outboard. Let's | | | | anyone working in the shop. Raka, Inc down in Ft. |
| look at a similar simple project. | | | | Pierce Florida is a good example ( but certainly not the |
| First, get some plans and, if possible, building instructions. | | | | only one. |
| You can buy them at a number of online boat building | | | | As for tools, all I use are an 18V battery operated |
| shops by searching for "plywood boat plans" on | | | | handheld power drill, 18V battery operated circular saw |
| Google, but Hannu's are incredibly easy to follow and | | | | with a plywood blade, 24" metal straight edge and |
| free. Here's the link to the first project I did. It's an eight | | | | square combination and a whole lot of "C" clamps. |
| foot car-top model that goes anywhere: | | | | If you start with an easy boat like the one I did, you |
| For materials, all you need is | | | | can build beautiful wooden boats like a pro without |
| 1.) 2 sheets of 1/4" marine plywood. You can use other | | | | ever doing anything more complex than a straight cut |
| types but I always stick with marine. You can get it in | | | | with a circular saw. That's how I got started and now I |
| most places for about $39 to $45 per sheet. | | | | build custom wooden saltwater fishing boats you might |
| 2.) Marine epoxy with hardener (1 gallon kit is plenty) | | | | see in fishing tournaments. |
| and about 40 feet of 4" fiberglass tape. | | | | You can do this. Best of luck! |
| 3.) A couple 3/8" x 1.5" pieces of trim board for the | | | | |