Trout boat under construction

[Stein]

Good to hear.  Got another coat on tonight.  Hate this slow progress stuff.  Can't do anything else but wait for coats to dry.

[Deadstream]

Great job Stein!   As a fellow woodworker I'm impressed. Your helper should be paid well. 

[Stein]

 

Great job Stein!   As a fellow woodworker I'm impressed. Your helper should be paid well. 

Helper?  No helper, unless you mean my wife who helped me flip it twice!  Really there's nothing to be impressed by for woodworking skills.  It's the first wooden thing that I have made other than a set of shelves.or whatnot.  I'm more comfortable with a welder and grinder but thanks all the same!

Last coat on the bottom.  Flip tomorrow to epoxy the inside. Hope the taped off areas come off with little persuasion from a utility knife through three layers of epoxy.

 

 

[Stein]

Front and rear seats are in, filleted and taped and one coat of epoxy over the entire inside and outside.  Light sanding and then paint this week.

[Stein]

Got a late start tonight.  Got the next coat on the inside but not the outside.  It all evened out this time from the last pic where the soft parts of the pine drank up the epoxy more than the hard parts.

Get the outside done tomorrow then let it cure a few days then paint.  Taking the rock crawler out this weekend to Tuttle ORV park in KS so plenty of time to cure.  Started on the trailer a bit tonight.  Got all extraneous brackets cut off and ground flush and taillight mounts made and welded on.  Need before pics.  The trailer is a treat but it's solid...enough.

[snagged in outlet 3]

How about some pics of that rock crawler?

[Stein]

 

How about some pics of that rock crawler?

Just a big ol' one ton ex-military CUCV.  It has a lot of work done to it by the previous owner which is exactly the way you want to buy things like this or race cars - pennies on the dollar.  Dana 60 front Dana 70 rear alxes, 37" tires with Hummer H1 12 bolt wheels, shackle flip, lift, 52" springs, buncha other mods.  It does pretty good, though.

[Stein]

Been thinking about bringing that truck down to AR and leaving it at the house permanently.  Be nice to have either an extra truck for a shuttle vehicle for kayaks or the trout boat if we want to do a one way float or even if we just want to drive my wife's car down for a long weekend at least we would have a truck to launch boats.  Probably should start another thread to get the opinions but what off-road rock crawling opportunities are there around Bull Shoals?  I know I can go to Disney near Tulsa which is a great rock crawling area but maybe old "impassible" forest or fire roads locally?

[Gavin]

Looking Good...Are you going to put in a false floor and a rod rack? Here is how those details look on an Ausable Boat...The compartment under the front seat is the fish box...usually used as a cooler/storage these days.

 

 

[Stein]

That's a pretty boat!  Rod racks, yes.  False floor, no.  Added weight and a place to trap water and start rot.  Same thing with no carpet.  Holds water.  This way it will be "hose friendly".  I never did add a drain plug.  Thought about it a time or two.  There are limber holes in the ends of each frame and the end seats.  With the rocker in the front and rear I'd have to drain in one of the three center sections as they would be the lowest.  But, it's light enough to just dump if necessary.

On the false floor front, one thing that will be made after the boat is completely done is if you look at the frames in the post above one of the four frames appear to be put in backwards in the front of the boat.  I wanted the two flat surfaces of the frames facing each other.  I'm going to make a table that will have folding legs like a card table that will just fit into that space.  It will be 1/2" plywood, fiberglassed and epoxied and painted lust like the floor with supports under the center of the table between where the legs fold to support angler weight when fishing.  When we want to stop somewhere for lunch just pop it out and set it up.  I'm using folding camp chairs for the seating in the boat so take them as well and be able to have a comfortable place to sit for lunch while fishing.  Better than squatting on a gravel bar.  Won't really even notice it when fishing.

 

Haven't decided the official design yet for rod racks.  I'm going to want something secure, maybe typical "gun rack" style with a bungee attached over them to hold them while trailering.  The biggest problem with any racks is making them "snag friendly" for fly lines.  They are also something that will likely have to wait a bit.  Big push now is to get it built and the trailer done as we are heading down 6/1/17.