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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 12 November 2008 20:55 |
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 | | The gulf coast was once a hotbed of boat building. Of course, most of the boats were commercial in nature, built to service the shrimping, pogey and menhaden fishing fleets. Beautifully practical and functional boats were built of local pine and cypress all along the coast. With progress and technology came steel then fiberglass. Eventually the original wooden hull vessels were given up for steel and fiberglass on the premise the maintenance and upkeep was less. The wooden boats that remained in service slowly succumbed to hurricanes and the wear and tear of the marine trade. As fewer and fewer wood hulls plyed the waterways the skilled craftsmen and boatyards possessing the knowledge, tools and skills to keep these beauties afloat began to disappear which brings us to today. | 
| This is the Darkwater by Gator Wooden Boast Plans. You'll find them listed int he Gulf Coast Links section of this web site under Boat Plans.Gator has quite a few simple, easy to build designs. The Darkwater is one of their more complicated designs but with a little perseverance any a first timer should be able to handle the construction. | Boats exist to provide the fuel for dreams, I think. In my lifetime I have owned more than 50 starting with a 4 foot minature skiff I found, at the age of 10, discarded in a drainage ditch in the woods behind my childhood home. By chance, 40 years later, I became acquainted with a friend of the builder of that little vessel. This little boat and summers around the water on a string of family boat created an unquenchable desire to own, operate and build boats.I became a maritime lawyer and coast guard licensed captain and know I'm building boats. This section will, I hope, provide you the information you need to undertake a dream. Have fun and don't forget to go boating. I have recently just added a Boat Building Category in Gulf Coast Links. You'll find links to boat plan, kits and materials that can help you get your own project started. Building boats takes time and patience. It takes skill an perseverance and sometime a little bit of perfectionism. Some boats you can slap together in no time with a few sheets of plywood and some drywall screws, others take a little more skill and may take years to complete. The main thing is don't get in to far over your head and always be accepting of advice and criticism. This section will continue to grow so please check back. | | | | | | |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 15 May 2009 21:32 )
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