flatlander Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Thanks, My wife says I build boats the way some people do heroin. They pile up like so much cordwood in the back yard but I just can't stop. I am from the Quenton Daniels school of boatbuilding, they are for me only. Although I must admit I have never had anyone ask to buy one so I can't say for sure if they are for sale or not. It was objectivism that led me to wooden boats. I was raised in an abhorently sacrificial family and community. My parents were christian missionaries and I grew up in a community made up almost entirely of other fundamentalist missionaries and their children. I can relate to Ragnar having a father who was a bishop who disowned him. After discovering Rand I set out to do something purely for myself for the first time in my life. The product was a classic wooden sailboat, but the result within my mind and soul was like emerging from a coma. Here is another one. Paul Beautiful work Paul. I love the violin-like inlay on the bow of the canoe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scribulus Posted May 4, 2009 Report Share Posted May 4, 2009 The handmade feature is part of what you would be selling. Lots of people can appreciate hand work, as evidenced by the response on this thread. I think they are gorgeous. Genuis is knowing that what resides in your own heart also resides in another. It is just a matter of time before you sell one, unless you wouldn't want to. I think it was Thoreau who said that in every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts brought back to us. How many years have you been doing this? How many boats do you have? Questions about the pictures; in the first picture, there is some kind of image to the left of the (prow? I don't remember the terms for sure) front of the boat. It looks like the water, only the image is clearer and sharper just in that place, like a satellite view of the earth where different images are superimposed on each other, or maybe where there is some glass or something. What is that? And on the second one, the inside of the boat is shiney as if there is water inside it? Just wondering what's up with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilicyote Posted May 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 unless you wouldn't want to. You may have just revealed the real reason why I have not sold any of my boats. I haven't tried because I want to keep them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilicyote Posted May 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 (edited) How many years have you been doing this? How many boats do you have? I have built seven boats during the last ten years. An eight foot dingy. A 20 foot full cabin sailboat (traditional gaff rigged yawl). An 18 foot skin-on-sewn-frame kayak. A 9 foot white water skin-on-frame kayak. The Canoe pictured. A 16 foot Tortured plywood (the real meaning of waterboarding) ultralight kayak for my wife (light enough for her to carry one-handed). The 17'6" runabout in the first picture. I have the plans for my next, a 48 foot ocean cruiser (my retirement boat). What you are seeing in the first picture is the reflection on the highly polished crome plating on the cutwater. A cutwater is a protective cover over the bow of the boat. This protects the delicate wood from impact with sticks, ducks, and idiot jetskiers floating in the water. In the second pic that is just the varnish on the wood. If it is applied correctly (twelve coats, hand sanded between each coat, over the course of about a month), it should create this exact deep liquid effect. I'm glad it worked, 'cause it was a pain in the ass to do. Edited May 5, 2009 by wilicyote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L-C Posted May 5, 2009 Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 I'm no authority on boats but that does look good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scribulus Posted May 5, 2009 Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 (edited) What you are seeing in the first picture is the reflection on the highly polished crome plating on the cutwater. . . In the second pic that is just the varnish on the wood. If it is applied correctly (twelve coats, hand sanded between each coat, over the course of about a month), it should create this exact deep liquid effect. I'm glad it worked, 'cause it was a pain in the ass to do.<whistling> makes me glad I noticed. Your list, and your assertion that you want to keep them all, reminds me of a guy in the Salt Lake area who was not a sculptor, but loved his religion so much that he built these huge sculptures in his backyard. They were odd kinda quirky things like a sphinx with the head of Joseph Smith. This audience won't appreciate his subject matter, lol, but people now pay money to go see this guy's backyard sculptures. By which I mean...your work is an art form, and regardless of when and where, people will appreciate it. Like Rand said, good art moves us to be our best. I LOVE your comment that it doesn't take patience, that you do it because you love it. Now THAT inspires me! Edited May 5, 2009 by Scribulus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia Posted May 5, 2009 Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 These are lovely. Speaking as someone who lives on a lake, I'm accustomed to shiny new speedboats 24/7 -- but these are really great. If offered a ride in one, I'm not certain that I'd be able to turn the person in question down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
th3ranger Posted May 5, 2009 Report Share Posted May 5, 2009 I don't think anyone has said it but that totally looks like the speedboats from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Ark. Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilicyote Posted May 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 Thanks guys for all the kind remarks. Georgia you lucky girl, I wish I lived on a lake. I have to drag these at least an hour or two just to get to decent water. I always wanted to just walk out my back door and be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussK Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 I've lived on or near lakes quite a few times, and have seen a few wooden boats; I've only ridden on one once. One of the large lakes near where I currently live has a wooden boat club where usually 10 wooden boats are docked. What I haven't seen, at least I can't recall, is a wooden hull resembling the one of your runabout, which looks tiered, instead of smooth. The boat looks great. I always love seeing these boats on the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilicyote Posted May 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) I used a modern construction method and materials and applied it to a style call lapstrake construction (that tiered look). Generally boats of this style will look like what you are used to seeing. I have stepped WAY outside the box with my construction method in order to shave off 60% of the weight, decrease cost of construction and try out a new method of construction I partially developed. The boat is a test case for this new method and has performed as expected, so I am pleased. Ten at one dock on a regular basis? You must live near Tahoe? Edited May 6, 2009 by wilicyote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scribulus Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 You INVENTED the technique? Who are you, John Galt? I am so inspired! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 Thanks guys for all the kind remarks. Georgia you lucky girl, I wish I lived on a lake. I have to drag these at least an hour or two just to get to decent water. I always wanted to just walk out my back door and be there. Ah, but waiting and working towards it makes the end result all that more enjoyable. It took me going off to college in a metro area to fully appreciate the boondocks that were once my old stomping grounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussK Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 The boat is a test case for this new method and has performed as expected, so I am pleased. Ten at one dock on a regular basis? You must live near Tahoe? Great. What size of an engine do you have in it? No, I now live in MN, so only when the lake thaws I guess, which just happened very recently. People around here are just now starting to get onto the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilicyote Posted May 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 185 hp supercharged rotax, jet drive... like I said, WAY outside the box Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussK Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 (edited) 185 hp supercharged rotax, jet drive... like I said, WAY outside the box Seems pretty zippy I don't know much about engines though, but I have seen larger boats cruse around with less. Edited May 10, 2009 by RussK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iudicious Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 I live near a beach in Florida, and I've seen quite a few boats.I've never had much appreciation for them, beyond using them for recreation, though. I've never much liked how they looked, and I never saw them as the result of personal, hard, work. After all, many of them come from a factory - or so I assume, since they all look so much alike. Yours though struck a chord with me. I love the first two that were posted in the thread. I've gotten sick of seeing white boats. The relaxing brown tones were nice, and when I think about how much work must have gone into each of those, I can't help but hold a great amount of respect for you. That takes dedication. If I weren't 16, I'd gladly purchase one of those boats with enough money. I do love going out on the water, I've just never shared the same love for the vessels on which I would do so, until I saw these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandros Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 That boat is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. What type is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZSorenson Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 I consider boats to be in the same spiritual category as railroad engines, airplanes, and rockets. There's the balance of forces, and the motive power, and the moving from place to place, for whatever conceivable purpose. And I think you did a good job. Congratulations, thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emanon Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Bravo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.