Boat building & life in Washington State

Since finishing my hike I decided to stay in Northern Washington State for a while. It seemed a little more fitting for me than New York City!

I've been busy renovating bathrooms and kitchens and have started preparing for my next trip. I plan on heading out to Bismarck, North Dakota in early April and rowing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers as well as the gulf coast, Lake Okeechobee & the Atlantic Coast up to Sandy Hook, NJ. From there I will take a day, get some support and attempt to swim the final 10 miles to Annadale Beach, NY where I grew up. The whole trip will be around 5000 miles and I hope to complete it in 4-5 months. *Disclaimer: I've never rowed in my life and my swimming ability is rather limited (: *

I decided to build my boat and started on the process in the beginning of November. I went with a design by Colin Angus of Angus Rowboats. (Colin and his wife rowed 7000km from Scotland to Syria with their custom designed rowboats and sell plans/ kits for others to build).

The boat is an 18' long, 3' wide, oakume & fiberglass decked rowing scull with some custom touches by me. So far I have about 200 hours in it. I plan on putting in LED lights, an amplifier with waterproof speakers, solar panels, hatch hinges & locks. For this trip, I'll be traveling in style (:

Below are some photos! Enjoy



So it starts. Panels were scarf joined and the hull was wired in place with copper ties. Then, epoxy was injected into the gaps and sanded smooth.



Final finishing sanding before applying the fiberglass.



Epoxy bringing out the color of the wood. Went out to cut some firewood to heat up the garage in order for my epoxy to dry properly.



Designing and routing out space for the deck inlays. Combining African Wenge, Paduke & maple for a cool design



The finished inlay. After Installation & a first coat of epoxy to seal the wood.



Stern inlay planning. Deck oakum joints prettied up



Finished Stern and joint inlays


I'm hoping to have the boat finished in another month. Once I get a pair of oars I'll be able to throw it in the Okanogan river for a test run!


I've also been building some custom wood cutting boards with the left over boat hardwood!