Kevin Morin
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2009
- Messages
- 78
Re: 14' Welded Aluminum Skiff
Ron, tinkering'one, thanks for the kind words, please accept mine in reply.
I'm sure you guys know that results like this skiff come from getting 'off the limb and 'killing' something'? "Just do it", "Go for it"..., "take no prisoners","The only thing you regret is what you don't try". I'm sure you know where I'm headed?
In my late 20's, a very long time ago, I decided that welded plate aluminum boats had to be something I could model with paper- both materials are flat sheet and don't bend, cold, too well into bicycle fenders [compound curved shapes].
A few nights after my day job as an oilfield welder, with scissors over the kitchen table, convinced me of this fact. I 'taped up' [Scotch Brand- not Miller or Lincoln welding wire] some skiff shapes and then realized that by laying a grid on my models and scaling up the paper to real size I could 'make' a full sized fishing skiff's hull panels; right off my models. If I could model it: I could 'built' it.
After learning that no one in my area knew enough more than I did after my fermented hops based, adult beverage fueled, training sessions and could offer a 'better' boat; I decided to borrow the money to "build one". It was pretty poorly formed, compared to this little 14'er I'm showing here, but that skiff is still in the water to this day; nearly forty years after the fact.
[Man! is it homely, I cringe when I see it which is so rare as to be a relief.]
I'd say that anyone with a serious will to learn could do as well with some practice.
Thanks again, for your kind remarks, I'll finish the next time I have some time at work to post.
In the mean time, since I'm home without the files on my work PC, I'll take some time to explain a detail that may have been noticed before: this skiff's cleats are shaped as 'keys'.
If you're not into tall tales or wandering stories from older geezers; then please just skip this next few paragraphs and I'll have some pictures up next.
Seldovia, Alaska is a tiny harbor town that until the 70's had no protection from a North wind -that would be a winter wind in that area. They used to move the town's boats up the Tidal Slough, immediately behind the rock redoubt on which the town is located, but that required a draw bridge.
Around the turn of the last century [1900 not Y2K] the log draw bridge was driven by a draw works that was in a tiny hut at the town end of the bridge. The KEY to that hut was kept in a cabin a few dozen feet from the foot of that bridge.
My wife purchased the bed and breakfast built on the site of the cabin where the bridge draw works KEY was kept; the name of the house is The Bridge Keeper's Inn. My wife made the KEY her logo symbol to match the historic legacy of the house's site.
The skiff is named 'The Little Key' and the cleats are 1/2" 6061 T6 round bar formed to approximate the KEY in her logo. I already said this was a 'chick skiff' so I hope you can appreciate the name and the cleats' symbol as deriving from my wife's B&B's name and the story behind that house?
They are just a bent round of bar butted to a rod of about 6" that has a block of 1/2" plate welded to the bar. All the sides and ends and joints were rounded and smoothed, all the way to buffing with 3M pads, and then the cleats were TIGged to their base plates.
Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Ron, tinkering'one, thanks for the kind words, please accept mine in reply.
I'm sure you guys know that results like this skiff come from getting 'off the limb and 'killing' something'? "Just do it", "Go for it"..., "take no prisoners","The only thing you regret is what you don't try". I'm sure you know where I'm headed?
In my late 20's, a very long time ago, I decided that welded plate aluminum boats had to be something I could model with paper- both materials are flat sheet and don't bend, cold, too well into bicycle fenders [compound curved shapes].
A few nights after my day job as an oilfield welder, with scissors over the kitchen table, convinced me of this fact. I 'taped up' [Scotch Brand- not Miller or Lincoln welding wire] some skiff shapes and then realized that by laying a grid on my models and scaling up the paper to real size I could 'make' a full sized fishing skiff's hull panels; right off my models. If I could model it: I could 'built' it.
After learning that no one in my area knew enough more than I did after my fermented hops based, adult beverage fueled, training sessions and could offer a 'better' boat; I decided to borrow the money to "build one". It was pretty poorly formed, compared to this little 14'er I'm showing here, but that skiff is still in the water to this day; nearly forty years after the fact.
[Man! is it homely, I cringe when I see it which is so rare as to be a relief.]
I'd say that anyone with a serious will to learn could do as well with some practice.
Thanks again, for your kind remarks, I'll finish the next time I have some time at work to post.
In the mean time, since I'm home without the files on my work PC, I'll take some time to explain a detail that may have been noticed before: this skiff's cleats are shaped as 'keys'.
If you're not into tall tales or wandering stories from older geezers; then please just skip this next few paragraphs and I'll have some pictures up next.
Seldovia, Alaska is a tiny harbor town that until the 70's had no protection from a North wind -that would be a winter wind in that area. They used to move the town's boats up the Tidal Slough, immediately behind the rock redoubt on which the town is located, but that required a draw bridge.
Around the turn of the last century [1900 not Y2K] the log draw bridge was driven by a draw works that was in a tiny hut at the town end of the bridge. The KEY to that hut was kept in a cabin a few dozen feet from the foot of that bridge.
My wife purchased the bed and breakfast built on the site of the cabin where the bridge draw works KEY was kept; the name of the house is The Bridge Keeper's Inn. My wife made the KEY her logo symbol to match the historic legacy of the house's site.
The skiff is named 'The Little Key' and the cleats are 1/2" 6061 T6 round bar formed to approximate the KEY in her logo. I already said this was a 'chick skiff' so I hope you can appreciate the name and the cleats' symbol as deriving from my wife's B&B's name and the story behind that house?
They are just a bent round of bar butted to a rod of about 6" that has a block of 1/2" plate welded to the bar. All the sides and ends and joints were rounded and smoothed, all the way to buffing with 3M pads, and then the cleats were TIGged to their base plates.
Cheers,
Kevin Morin
