Stein

I did just that a month ago with a bass baby and a 55 lb trolling motor. We did the upper pool right below the dam and it worked OK. Later that day we went down to the confluence of the North Fork and White and put in and trolled up stream a bit but we had been on that battery for three hours already and didn't want to chance going too far. The wind was out of the south and pushing us UPSTREAM. Our plan was to motor up as far as we could and could always drift back but that wasn't happening with that wind and didn't want to get stuck upstream. Guide told us we could get about a mile upstream before it got too shallow. Tried a pool on the white the next day and again did fine drifting down and motoring back up. Tried a deeper long riffle and even with 55 lbs couldn't make much headway.

I doubt it only because I have a trailer that came with two sets of carpeted bunks and it really won't be getting used that much and this is a budget build.

Well, at least they took us off of the drought monitor since yesterday...so we got that going for us. Where is the roll eyes emoticon?

Got the...skids? I don't know what they are called, installed. Epoxied, screwed, filleted with thickened epoxy and taped with fiberglass. Sanded the sides. Flipped it tonight. Nice to have a 20' boat that you and your wife can lift off the table and flip. I doubt it is 200 lbs. Supposed to be 250 when done. Sanded some more. Had to reorder supplies so visual progress will slow for a couple of days. Still have some sanding and little interior features to make. Want to tie in the rear transom with some tansom knees so that will take some cutting and fitting.

Tailwater 942.56 now. Holding at 1130...

Got two layers of 6 oz tape on the chines and then one layer of 6 oz cloth on the entire bottom. Scarfed together the bottom strakes. They go on next bedded in thickened epoxy then roll on a couple of coats of graphite filled epoxy over the entire bottom.

Yes, looks like late December 2015. They dropped it hard until it hit 1129. three foot drop in one day. Pink like is 2015, yellow 2016. Colors didn't carry forward well. Looks like May - June that year they worked hard to keep it under 1130 as well.

Hadn't had a chance to work on this the last two evenings - client in town. Got the bottom faired to the chine logs, epoxied and screwed down. Next is to radius the bottom edge and two layers of 6 oz fiberglass tape.My shop is a disaster area.

Beaver is at 1126.56 now. Top Flood pool is 1130. Do they have to start dumping major water when it hits 1130? This is all new to me.

Give me dry and zero any day before 30's and raining. That's miserable fishing conditions. I never could fish with gloves so wet and cold sucks.

Why don't they do this in advance? It's not really a shock that there is going to be a bunch of water dumped anyway. At least it would be controlled. That said it is easy for me to say that when they have many people that there entire job is focused around these water levels. I assume they know what they are doing.

There's a key under the rock. Have at it. Just clean up when you leave.

^ this. I'm 350 feet above lake level so I HOPE I'm OK. My biggest concern is that I'm not there enough to check on it frequently.

Finally starting to pop in my area. All singles except one double. Saw only one dry one. I'm not a dedicated hunter, only look right around the house. These were within 100 yards of the house.

Oh, and I bought all of the 3" clamps that Menards had in stock. Probably only 15 but it was enough that I wasn't deciding what got clamped and what didn't. Another dozen should cover me. The sole (floor) is going to be strategically screwed to the frames and chine logs so I should be good to go with supplementing those with clamps. After the floor goes on the joint between the floor and chine log will get a 2" fiberglass tape with a 3" tape over that plus the entire bottom will be glassed with a 50" wide piece of fiberglass so at least I'll have three layers of glass on the edges. On top of that I have graphite powder that I will mix into the epoxy that fills the weave of the bottom cloth. It adds abrasion resistance as well as makes the boat slippery on rocks. The guys that have done it claim it really helps on rocks and oyster beds. It also makes the bottom jet black so no need for bottom paint. It's only $7.00 for a pound of graphite so no loss if it isn't much better than the raw epoxy. Messy, though, when mixing. It's like powder you find in a toner cartridge.

Wife and I flipped it over and I got the bottom chine logs installed and laid up one side of the sole with two layers of fiberglass. Going to be a challenge flipping it over tomorrow as it is 24 feel long and only glassed on one side so kind of weak. Strength comes when both sides are glassed. Boat flip went easy, probably only 100 lbs at most. Supposed to be around 250 when done. Mine will be a bit heavier due to extra glass on the bottom and graphite/epoxy layer plus the extra 6" width but still should be under 300 lbs. empty. Motor is only about 30 plus 20 for gas I figure 350 lbs all up. Yes, I'm bad about not returning cores when I buy new batteries but they work good for weights.

I should get to shooting. Yard is getting thick. My wife goes out on the deck and yells at them. They are so tame around our place now you can walk within 10 yards of them and they just turn and walk away in no hurry. Maybe if I thinned the herd a bit they might get the hint. Not taking anything away from Mrs' BilletHead's accomplishment. We are just lousy with them. Yes, in the second pic I drove down the driveway, stopped, rolled down the window and took that pic. They could care less.

Here's a neat thread from the past.

2a) Not enough, I was scrounging in the bottom of the drawer for anything that had a threaded screw in it. I really need a couple dozen more. Matter of fact, I think I'll stop at lunch for some. I was actually a bit light when I got to the other side. 3a) Makes two of us. Four more years...

Not a lot of visual progress but definitely some hours. Reassembled all the frames with a coat of neat epoxy on both surfaces with a layer of thickened epoxy between them. Thickened is made by mixing filler like wood flour (sanded wood dust that is really fine). By brushing on a coat of neat or unthickened epoxy first it keeps the wood from sucking up too much of the epoxy from the thickened one, drying out the joint and making it weak. I got the gunwales and bottom chine logs routered and beveled and glued up the scarf joints. Installed them today with the same method above. Tomorrow I'll flip the boat and install the bottom chine logs and start glassing up the bottom floor sheets into one 20' long sheet. You can scarf the plywood together but it's easier to wet the joint, install a 3" wide strip of fiberglass cloth and then wet a 6" wide strip right over it and weight it down to clamp it. Then it is time to install the floor.

Not a lot of visual progress. Got the transoms done with two coats of epoxy. Going to start reassembly tonight. Built a scarfing jig for my router to cut 8:1 scarf joints for the gunwales and chine logs. They need to be one continuous piece. At that ratio an epoxied joint will be as strong as the base material. Worked pretty well, ready to glue with no sanding or planing. Not a very good picture but there are two tubes set 16" apart and one 2" higher than the other. The router is mounted to a "sled" so that it cuts the scarf.

Building this on a budget, not because I have to but I find a perverse pleasure in doing so. It's the farm upbringing I guess. Now, before someone says I could have bought a manufactured river bot for $1,500 and it was already done I know I could and have seen some on Craiglist, but what's the fun in that? I love building things. This is also my learning project for a more ambitious one to learn the epoxy and fiberglass side as well as picking up some more woodworking tools. I hesitate to post this but the next project is a mahogany Barrelback 19 runabout.

I read that article Al when I was researching them and as much as I wanted to do a true traditional build the difficulty in finding clear lengths cannot be underestimated, as well as being expensive when they were found. With the material, epoxy, fiberglass for sheathing the bottom and fiberglass tape for the joints, paint and trailer I should have right at $1,000 into it and $200 for the little 4hp.

Ah, that was going to be tomorrow's post as I don't have a picture of it. Back in March I was down at the house and went to Parkview Pizza in Flippin to pick up a pizza and there was a trailer for sale for sale a couple miles south of my place. It's a homebuilt riverboat trailer but has a Ranger axle with oil filled hubs on it and sprung pretty light which I will need as it's a 250 lb boat when complete, add 70 for motor and equipment. I could bounce on it with my weight and the trailer would move a couple inches. Should be about right. I took it for a test drag while they were making my pizza as there was no way I was going to drag a lightweight 20' homebuilt boat trailer home if it wouldn't go over 50 mph empty. Test drag went fine, got up to 65 on the bypass and it tracked great. Quick hub feel showed one a tick warm but not bad. Tires were crap. It had no lights. He wanted $250. I offered $100. He balked and I told him that if a tire blew or a bearing seized up on the 500 mile trip home I was willing risk walking away from the $100, pull the trailer off the truck and leave it. He agreed. Got it back to the house and checked the hubs and virtually no oil. Taped on a new set of trailer lights from Walmart as there were no mounts. Topped the hubs off and then thought about the tires. Since it was a Ranger axle I figured the bolt pattern was the same. Tried my spare from my Ranger and it fit fine. As we were heading home the next morning and was leaving my bass boat as I was coming back in two weeks I jacked up the boat and took off another tire. So I had full hubs, taped on lights and two new tires. Drug it home with no issues. Hubs are stone cold after hours at 75. Even the side bunks are exactly 2" wider than the finished boat and it came with two sets of carpeted bottom bunks so I will move them to match the new bottom 1x4 strakes that are epoxied onto the bottom. Picked up two new 14" tires last week at Walmart on sale for $34 each and mounted them at my buddy's house. Add the cost of the lights and I'm into a trailer with new everything for $200. I need to re-weld a couple of sketchy welds and slap on a coat of black farm implement enamel. It was on sale for $25 a gallon.

Sounds like a heck of a trip!