Since learning to fish and getting a few trips in drift boats and rafts I have always kept my eyes open for a raft or boat to buy. They are hard to find and expensive. Planning ahead for what looked like an upcoming dry summer I purchased a book and another set of plans early spring of last year.
After studying up and creating a material list I was off to the lumber yard for construction grade lumber for the strong back, the platform the boat would be built on. A quick trip down to Denver to buy some Douglas Fir for the frames and White Oak for rails and chines. Fortunately the price of hardwoods did not increase as drastically as construction grade lumber, I guess it was always more available. The first project after the strong back is to build the frames that make the skeleton of the boat. Getting the frames assembled, plum, square and fair before connecting them together and to the transom and bow stem is tricky.
The hull is constructed of 1/4” oak plywood. Scarp joining two sheets of plywood together gives you a sixteen feet sheet that both sides are cut from. Two layers are laminated together on the bottom for more strength. The sides are fiberglassed with 6oz cloth and the bottom gets 10oz. I coated the bottom with several coats of graphite strengthened epoxy.
With a hull starting to look like it might actually float it was exciting to get to work each morning. A couple of coats of flag blue then oak chine caps and bow stem cover and most of the bottom work is done!
The day the hull comes off of the strong back is momentous. There is still much to do but for the first time the hull is upright and it is easier to envision it as a stable whitewater craft.
Oak rails are the next step. First the outside then after trimming the frames and hull the inside rails are beveled into the frames. The hull is now complete for the most part.
Setting my two Yeti coolers as seats and getting a rough idea of the oar lock placement and angle was next up. With the seats in place the the oar locks were set up and the boat was ready for a row. The forward bulkhead and fly line deck added some cabinetry to the bow but from now on most additions will be interior “furniture.”
Construction began late April and by late June the projected launch date was August 9th, my 66th birthday. I managed to book a lakeside campsite at Pearl Lake for a couple of nights so I loaded up the seats/coolers with food and beverages. The boat was loaded on a borrowed trailer then christened in the upper Elk River Valley.
Rowing the boat around the lake for a couple of days was fantastic but some oarlock adjustments were required before it was put onto moving water. After getting the oar locks reset the anchor system was installed.
Bow and stern floor boards provided a comfortable place for the passenger to stand and cast and for the dog to stand or lay.
A couple of weeks later the boat was ready for a 15 mile run down the upper Colorado River. The water was getting low but the boat performed well and with a couple more tweaks will be a nice fishing platform.
Ordering things ahead of time kept supply chain issues at a minimum. A trip to the Front Range for a new trailer and the addition of a cabinet next to the rower’s seat had us ready for one more river run before the water level dropped below navigable for the winter.
Oak rub rails were added to protect the hull from any rocks we might run into and few fresh coats of varnish were applied before the boat was hung in the garage for ski season.
The second day of spring the boat came down and work began preparing for a season on the water. Over the winter I recovered a pair of antique spruce oars so I repaired, reinforced, and restored some pretty wooden oars to go with the boat. I put in an Adirondack style stern seat and gave Chipeta her proper name. With a decent snowpack starting to melt rivers are rising to the highest levels in several years. Big compared to drought years but really a pretty “normal” run off so far. A group of rafting friends and I spent the last week camped on the Colorado doing daily party floats. The river was completely blown out so I never put a rod in the boat, just plenty of cold beer.
Although muddy the Colorado appears to be in pretty good health this spring. Avian and aquatic life was abundant. One evening a fresh breeze was blowing a blizzard hatch of slate wing caddis through camp. If you knelt down at waters edge the shoreline 100 yards upstream was obscured by clouds of caddis coming off of the eddies.
In the past most of my fishing expeditions have been just me and Bear. Now to truly take advantage of the boat a partner will be very helpful. Ideally I would like a rower that doesn’t fish but I do enjoy rowing Chipeta and I’m sure I’ll enjoy others catching fish from her bow. I’m one hour from the Colorado, two hours to The Miracle Mile on the North Platte, three hours from Flaming Gorge, a day from “Kansas” and a couple days from Montana. So if you are planning on a trip into the central or northern Rockies get in touch, I always need a shuttle driver!
Happy Fishin’
Dave
WTW
If you can operate power tools without a trip to the ER, can follow a recipe, have garage space and some time you can build a boat that you will enjoy the rest of your life.
