PH18 in Midcoast Maine - Rusty Clouser
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:45 pm
Hello All,
With the temperatures dropping and the wood all stacked from summer, it is time to look towards Autumn and Winter up here in Maine -- and more importantly -- a project to keep myself sane (thankfully my garage has radiant heat). I do a lot of sight fishing for Stripers up here on the coldwater flats of Midcoast, and have been eyeing flats skiffs for some time now; I have resolved to build this one myself to fish and to guide fly fishing outings on. After a couple seasons of on-again-off-again research, I've settled on the PH18 and bought both the plans and the center console variations yesterday from Bateau. The wood for the bulkheads and stringers has been ordered and I pick it up on Monday.
Ideally I'd like to build a strongback/jig, I like the idea of completely finishing the bottom side, ensuring flatness, and minimizing flips. I've read the tutorial on this topic, and seen photos from various builds but I still have questions around this...
For the PH18, what's the ideal size for a jig? I will have it some distance off the ground (not much, I'm not a tall person). It looks like just building a frame attached to some caster wheels. My garage floor is not level, there are draining "swirls" in the concrete leading down to some gutters. Will this present a problem, or do I need to build the jig to allow for adjustment on the corners? I think I saw features like this in flyfishingmonk's thread. Additionally, the "Building the Phantoms" section confused me also. Looks like the tutorial suggests as some members have done and build on the plywood for the deck, but others just go for the two 2x8's as support and mount the bulkheads right to these? Are there advantages to NOT building on the deck?
Looking forward to getting the jig done and to start marking out wood this week. Time is money and the further the build takes me into the next year, the less trips I'll book (the guiding $$$ deductions and income help keep the Mrs. happy enough about my fly fishing obsession), so I'm going to be going for a ten month buildout (I don't have kids... or house projects... or a commute). I know this is still ridiculously aggressive, but hey that's what goals are for. This forum is one of the main reasons I decided to go with JM's design over some other viable options, so don't be shy! I'm here to be schooled in the ways of becoming a boatbuilding guru like many of the members' threads I've hawked over the last months clearly are.
Best,
coldwater_flats
With the temperatures dropping and the wood all stacked from summer, it is time to look towards Autumn and Winter up here in Maine -- and more importantly -- a project to keep myself sane (thankfully my garage has radiant heat). I do a lot of sight fishing for Stripers up here on the coldwater flats of Midcoast, and have been eyeing flats skiffs for some time now; I have resolved to build this one myself to fish and to guide fly fishing outings on. After a couple seasons of on-again-off-again research, I've settled on the PH18 and bought both the plans and the center console variations yesterday from Bateau. The wood for the bulkheads and stringers has been ordered and I pick it up on Monday.
Ideally I'd like to build a strongback/jig, I like the idea of completely finishing the bottom side, ensuring flatness, and minimizing flips. I've read the tutorial on this topic, and seen photos from various builds but I still have questions around this...
For the PH18, what's the ideal size for a jig? I will have it some distance off the ground (not much, I'm not a tall person). It looks like just building a frame attached to some caster wheels. My garage floor is not level, there are draining "swirls" in the concrete leading down to some gutters. Will this present a problem, or do I need to build the jig to allow for adjustment on the corners? I think I saw features like this in flyfishingmonk's thread. Additionally, the "Building the Phantoms" section confused me also. Looks like the tutorial suggests as some members have done and build on the plywood for the deck, but others just go for the two 2x8's as support and mount the bulkheads right to these? Are there advantages to NOT building on the deck?
Looking forward to getting the jig done and to start marking out wood this week. Time is money and the further the build takes me into the next year, the less trips I'll book (the guiding $$$ deductions and income help keep the Mrs. happy enough about my fly fishing obsession), so I'm going to be going for a ten month buildout (I don't have kids... or house projects... or a commute). I know this is still ridiculously aggressive, but hey that's what goals are for. This forum is one of the main reasons I decided to go with JM's design over some other viable options, so don't be shy! I'm here to be schooled in the ways of becoming a boatbuilding guru like many of the members' threads I've hawked over the last months clearly are.
Best,
coldwater_flats