Strongback Part Deux

Well, after a week of inactivity, Cole and I figured it was about time to get back to work. I've had some other things stealing my boat time. But the Cap was starting to sulk,


“Arrrgh. It be cold and dark in here, and all me mates be long dead and gone.”

So back in the garage it was …….... right after we went fishing. I’ve been so consumed with the boat, that I had forgotten that it had been a couple months since I had last gone. So we took out my current boat, the “Hell Yes”, looking for anything that would bite. We had to run around to find the fish since it had been so long, but we caught a few. We each ended up with about 10 upper/over slot trout and one red. Half on fly, half of Exude jerkbaits. Cole’s red was a very pretty multi-spot about 24”. Mine was a rat that brought what we refer to as “the weak sauce.” The Hell Yes has been the perfect boat to learn the ropes where we fish in the Big Bend of Florida, but can’t quite do the kind of fishing we want to become good at. Hence the FS18. Since we’ve gotten into flyfishing, we need a boat that can creep up on reds in 4”-10” of water, where they tend to be pretty spooky. Since the HY is aluminum with a flat bow, it beats like a kettle drum when being pushed and it’s tough to get closer than 100’ to anything before it flees in terror. I can’t cast a flyline that far, definitely not with any accuracy. Some items will be transferred from the Hell Yes to the new boat, mainly the motor. The totally sweet bow mount for the trolling motor will not. Yeah, it’s pressure treated. Yeah, those are sheetrock screws. Feel the fury. Feel it.



Watching red after red rocket off in fear as we got close to them was good motivation for the next days build. I needed dimensional lumber for the new strongback, but I don’t have a truck. This is when the Hell Yes forms like Voltron and goes into cargo mode. Its functions are many.



So began the somewhat arduous process of building a new strongback, one that is better suited to this build and more stable than the last version. Bayport Bob brought up a good point on his website that in order to construct the rounded chine, one needs access from inside the boat. This means that you can’t build on the decks like is suggested in the building notes. I basically am building a frame on top of the strongback, like Bob did, but am anchoring it down differently. First vertical supports were put on.



Then the first and last horizontal frame members were set up using a water level.



A line was pulled between the ends of these and all the middle framing was set up based on these lines.



Lastly, the perimeter frame members were attached to the horizontal framing.



Everything was checked with a level at each stage. It sounds reasonable, but took 2 days to complete, and Cole’s help made things much faster. I had to redo the whole process once when I realized that without the top, the strongback lacked the rigidity necessary to hold a boat. When I screwed supports to the underside, it knocked the thing out of wack and everything had to be realigned. I’m sure there is a more straightforward way to do this, but this is where my inexperience comes into play. It takes a lot of time to set it up this way, but I don’t really know any other way to make sure the base to build the boat on is a flat plane. I’m absolutely terrified that I’ll glass the thing together and then realize that one or more stations are wonky and my boat will look crazy. It would be best to avoid this. When I pull up to the ramp with this boat, I want people to say, “Hey, that’s a cool boat. Where’d you buy it?” Not, “Whoa man, what’s that? Did you BUILD that thing?” This setup will make double checking with a level possible when setting up the stations, which just makes me more confident. There’s a good chance some of the supports will have to be moved to attach the frames, but it is difficult to know exactly where the frames will go before you have the transom on. Actual boatbuilding this weekend. Rock.