|
Boatbuilders at Paddlefest
by Chuck Leinweber
| My friend Louis Koiner invited us to come over to
the Austin (TX) Paddlefest, as some members of the Austin Boat Builders Association (ABBA)
would be there. Early on April 8th, we drove over and picked up out daughter Carol,
took her to breakfast, and then went to Town Lake. The purpose of Paddlefest is to
promote paddle sports, and to that end, the organizers did a pretty good job. There
were scores of canoes and kayaks, and for a fee of $3 one could take any of them for a
spin. There was also a kayak/water polo game which seemed quite lively. Among
the many plastic boats were a handful of beautifully crafted wooden ones. Here are
the builders of those boats: |
Louis Koiner |
Carlton
Cruise - Dave Nichols - Monte Rhodes - Ed Smith - Dick Ward |
Carlton Cruise
| Carlton Cruise and Karan Bollom represented the Texas Outrigger
Canoe Club at Paddlefest. You can visit their web page at: https://www.tocc.org . |
 |
Carlton lived in Hawaii as a child and came to
build several outrigger canoes later in life. He has since become a member of TOCC
and will participate in a race around New York Harbor later this year (see web page for
details).
https://www.tocc.org |
Dave Nichols
davidboats@aol.com
| Dave Nichols is the only professional boat builder I know. That's not
to say there aren't lots of other pros, just that they aren't real common. Besides
building boats, he designs them, sells kits, and writes about boats for magazines such as
Boatbuilder. Dave designed River Dancer
which is available from Common Sense Boats. |
|
Dave Nichols and Lutra2
|
The boats pictured here are Lutra1 & Lutra2, named
after the River Otter because they are slim, fast, playful, and good
fishermen. They are two man, flat bottomed, 60 pound boats with lapstrake sides. |
- Lutra1:
- Length - 12'10"
- Beam - 31"
- Draft - 3-1/2"
- Weight - 37 lbs.
- Lutra2:
- Length - 15'11"
- Beam - 33"
- Draft - 4-1/2"
- Weight - 60+/-lbs.
|
Dave's son with Lutra1
|
Detail of Lutra2
|
You can contact Dave at:
Pinnacle Boat
Works
4705 E. 5th
Austin, TX 78702
Phone-1 877 893 9686
Fax-512 302 3618
davidboats@aol.com |
Monte Rhodes
| Monte Rhodes is an Apple Computer executive in real
life, but we won't hold that against him. He brought six, count 'em, six boats to
Paddlefest. They are as follows: A Sweet Dream, a Guillemot Sea Kayak, two stitch and tape
kayaks, a Jam-8, and a lengthened Jam-8. |
Monte Rhodes
|
 |
Here is Monte's version of Marc Pettingill's Sweet
Dream , on the left, and his Nick Schade "La Sierra" on the right |
|
 |
The two ply kayaks on the right are from CLC
designs. Behind is the Jam-8. |
| Plans for the Jam-8 were published in the
July/August issue of Boatbuilder Magazine. She is built from two sheets of 1/8"
plywood. Plans are $40 from: Edward
Sutt Jr.
714 Green Bay Rd.
Winnetka, IL, 60093
|
 |
 |
Of course Monte could not leave the Jam-8 design
alone, so he built this extended version with a flaming foredeck. |
Ed Smith
| Here Ed and I discuss the traditionally made wood
and canvas canoes which he makes and sells. |
|
 |
These canoes are built over forms like the one on
the left. Ribs are steamed and bent from gunwale to gunwale. Planks are then
laid on and connected to the ribs with copper nails which clinch when they hit the steel
straps on the form. |
| Later canvas is stretched across the wood hull, and
waterproofed. Seats, gunwales, thwarts, etc are added to make one of these beautiful
traditional boats. Ed says he can make about four canoes a year. You can
contact Ed at: Pedernales Canoe
P. O. Box 532
Fredericksburg, TX 78624
830 997 1942 |
|
Dick Ward
reward2000@earthlink.net
| Dick Ward built both of these fine boats in classes put on by Ted Moores.
The canoe is a Freedom 17 which he built first. He enjoyed the course so much
that he went back for kayak lessons. The class built only one kayak, and then drew
straws to see who would get to pay for the materials, and take the boat home. Dick
won, of course, and never looked back. |
|
