Driftwood Dory Construction: Driftwood and frames

The dream... A boat made of driftwood, on the cheap, no chemicals, a big 'ol boat bonfire at the end of the trip. Say goodbye to storage fees!

30 days of building in the beautiful sunshine.  Nailed it!  But not before de-nailing it... The driftwood lumber that is.  I may have developed some good karma by removing a major tetanus hazard from sunlight beach.

Beach combing is a lot more fun than shopping at the lumber yard.  In a few days I had what I needed to begin cutting the frames.

 Drift plywood got stacked for drying.  I nearly sank my rowboat gathering these heavy pieces.  That would have been pretty ironic.  I am sure the residents of sunlight beach were a little perplexed and possibly entertained by my attempts to transport these sheets of waterlogged plywood.

The transom begins to take shape from a nice 3/4" piece of drift-ply.

Having done it once, I would not recommend cutting frames by hand from driftwood.  Perhaps with a table saw it might work better.  Very time consuming.  Though, having done it once, does increase the odds that I'll do it again!

 Frames are ready for assembly. Quite the mix of woods.  I had to do 2 over again as they disintegrated when the screws went in.

 I found this piece half buried in the sand.  Carrying/ dragging/ rolling/ tumbling this log a 1/4 mile down the beach proved entertaining for local residents.

41.7 degrees... perfect!  Well, close enough.

 Sawing a bowpost by hand….  Pre-season training at its finest.  There is nothing quite like touching a wooden oar to moving water with strong pair of hands.

Drift Boats and River Dories by Roger Fletcher, $50 bucks.  Building a boat with deck screws and driftwood, $ priceless.

Lines: The 16ft Double-Ender with Transom by Woodie Hindman

Starting to wonder if this driftwood is gonna hold up.

 Kleo the cat is doubtful.

With transom, bow post and frames constructed...

a celebratory toast.

Another beach combing find.  The driftwood dory takes on its character.  The love boat.

My neighbor Curtis lent me his building construction scrap pile. ...Boat building gold!  3/8" sheathing ply for the bottom.  A little thin but as my motto for this boat build goes... "That 'll do."

Also from the scrap pile, 2x6" lumber which I ripped with a Harbor Frieight power hand saw-which is the scariest, dullest, most dangerous saw on the planet-never again! The pieces looked like they were attacked by a shark.  A little elbow grease with a hand plane brought them into shape.  Gunwales and chine logs, Check.

Next step, wait for the right weather to glue the scarfs for the plywood panels, gunwales and chine logs.