Greetings and riverboat questions

I have been perusing this site and it is quite an elephant to eat so I throw myself to the mercy of the membership and respectfully as for direction.

I used to own a sailboat in the Caribbean.
I have also wanted to travel the rivers south to the GOM.
Now I am in Cincinnati wanting to head south again.
I stumbled across the Bolger Tennessee which eventually lead to http://bradsboat.tripod.com/thetravelsofthequotleahgentquot/

I like building things but prefer metal due to chemical sensitivities to wood products. I imagine it is the glue. My son is (as he says) a "classically trained welder"
so I have him as a resource.

I would like to build a boat for a downriver cruise. Speed is not an issue as it is the journey not the destination.. Unfortunately $$ is.

Sooooooooooo

I would appreciate 2cents worth, direction to threads/plans.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

If money is an issue, a used boat will be the best deal. What size boat do you need? People go down river in pontoons.

 

Thanks for reply.

I think I would do well at 30' or less. Money is an issue inasmuch I do not need top of the line everything. Just an old guy batching it with room for wife to visit as time permits. My experience with 4 used boats leads me to believe I am generally buying someone's problems. Anything I build I will know from the keel up and will work as intended. A plywood boat doesn't sound all that expensive but I would have to make myself wear a respirator at all times and that gets old.

 

If I recall correctly, Bolger said in the larger Wyoming that a hull had been built very quickly in one instance, presumably with a few extra hands and adequate planning. That means time in a respirator could be limited and depending on your family/friends might just cost you some beer, BBQ and maybe the cost of building a smaller practice hull (a Sneakeasy would probably be similar to build) first to make sure everyone's on the same page.

Or you might try to convert the Tennessee design (rather it's specific layout) to aluminum from the plans and a scantling rule system like Gerr's ... given that it's a relatively small and lightly loaded boat.

If you're leery about radically changing the construction without a safety net you could contact designers of similar craft, the Mundoo or v28 / v39, and see what they thought of such construction for one of their designs.

 

Gonzo is right on the money so to speak. You're close enough to the great lakes that there are a lot of reasonable priced fresh water boats around if you look. Even a complete strip down and rebuild of a boat like this would put you way of a scratch build in both time and money.

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/boa/5322680873.html