I started the “Kingfisher” build in September of 2014. Today is April 20th, 2015. It’s been quite a journey. I purchased the plans from Jason Cajune and they were worth every cent! The varnish has been curing and hardening for about two weeks, The build has taken me about 7 1/2 months, not bad from what I’ve heard. This includes 3 weeks off to build a pole barn/garage, so the actual build time was a more like a strong six months. I have probably averaged about 40 hours a week, so I’ve got something like 1000 hours into it, but who’s really counting. My trailer should be arriving next week, so the trip to see if it floats is about a week away.
Photo Gallery of the Kingfisher
The finished boat is 17’0″ long. It has a beam of 6’6″. The width at the bottom is 4’10”. It should float high and dry and be real stable.
I had a decal made with my “Fly Fishing Traditions” logo imprinted on it. The sides are 3/8″ Okoume plywood that have about 3 coats of epoxy and layers of fiberglass cloth. The main body of the boat is painted on the outside with “Blue Water Marine Paint”. It is a silicone copolymer topside enamel. The color is “Super White. The bottom and 4” up the sides at the chines are coated with “Linex” bedliner, smooth Black. The gunnels are black oak with 3 coats of epoxy and then 6 coats of flat “Last n Last” satin varnish.
The transom is “Rounded”. Constructing the rounded transom was the most intimidating part of the construction. My plans had a squared off transom so I had to figure this out myself. It was bent around a form using 3 layers of 1/8″ Okoume plywood. The rounded transom has 3 coats of epoxy and 6 coats of varnish. It turned out great!
The interior of the boat has decks and sides of Okoume mahogany plywood. The rowers seat and the fore and aft seats are made from white oak. The floors, dry boxes and the lower portion of the sides are coated with bed liner that was applied with a roller. The oars are Sawyer square topped counter balanced oars.
The fore and aft seats are made with white oak. The base of the seat was steam bent using 3/16″ x 2 1/2″ strips. The seats have 2 coats of epoxy and 6 coats of varnish. The rope for the seats are 3/8″ diameter double braided poly. The seats are mounted on “Springfield” swivel bases with a bracket that allows them to be removed.
The rowers seat slides in a track and can be adjusted forward and backward. Rubber retainers hold the rowers seat in position. The deck in the background has a dry storage box that is accessible by opening the hatch doors. There are dry boxes on each side.
The rear knee brace is made by laminating 3 layers of 1/8″ Okoume mahogany plywood. I constructed a steam box to steam the plywood and then placed them in a plywood form to conform to the desired shape. I call it a “George Jetson” knee brace. There are two cup holders integrated in the middle section.
At the rounded transom there is a wooden plate with a handle integrated into it that reinforces the transom and is where the anchor rope runs through the hull. There are two pulleys that are lined up with the hole that runs through the transom that guides the anchor rope.
There are 4 hatches that access the dry storage boxes. two at the starboard and two at the port side. The dry boxes ate about 5 feet long. The cup holders are sealed t keep the dry storage boxes dry. The foot rest for the rower is adjustable to 4 different positions. There are two positions for the oar locks.
The front seat has a large pedestal with storage underneath. You can see the circular lamination of the seats. There are two cup holders tucked up in the bow section. There is a triangular casting deck to catch your fly line when you are fishing.
An ice chest fits snugly into the pedestal under the front seat.
There are rod holders tucked under the main deck on each side, starboard and port side. You can store two rods on each side for a total of 4 rods. This is a spey rod broken down in half. The rod holders will take 10 foot rods fully assembled.
All I need is a trailer and it will be a fishing machine. Can’t wait!!!