elsah boat company

Visit our new web home!

2012-05-14T20:17:00.001-05:00

This is the last post on Elsah Boat. With our move we came up with a more mobile name.
Please visit our new web home at this link:
Sea State Marine
Elsah boat will remain up on blogger.

Thanks,
David

Mississippi River Carp Tours

2012-04-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

On Saturday morning we had visitors from Yarmouth, Colorado and a Elsah native take us up on a free boat ride in the skiff. Eifel and I showed them a good time with frequent engine stalling in the shipping channel, two island stops and a fantastic carp frenzy.

Take a look.

The Elsah native (since 1953) had never been out to the islands 600 feet away! I will not mention his name. These locals need some boats.

Location Location Location

2012-04-20T08:45:00.000-05:00

The house we were renting in Elsah just got a contract on it, so we have to raise anchor. There is no place that is right for us in Elsah so we are crossing the river to a great house in Chesterfield, MO.
Oriental, NC. is a couple of years off.
The new place has a detached garage that will be the new boat shop. Plus, it is on an acre of hill top that has some of the biggest trees around. They are beautiful and a great substitute for a gantry.
For now we will keep the blog named Elsah Boat until the new name presents itself. We will also continue to launch in Elsah often. Our new location is very close to a bend on the Missouri, so we will find a good launch site here as well.
Here is a link to the area we will likely be exploring next:
Howel Island

Back to business: paddles

2012-04-12T20:48:00.001-05:00

Now that the river skiff is finished, we are turning our attention back to paddles. More specifically, composite SUP paddles.
The plugs of our designs from Seattle are the guinea pigs for our vacuum bagging learning curve.
During the last few weeks we have made molds of one of the blades and also designed and molded two additional blades.
The newer blades are sleeker and redesigned with input from Hemel. They are looking for a racing SUP blade with more width at the tip of profile.
Racers like maximum leverage on the water without too deep an immersion.
Here are some photos of what we have been up to...

The first mold of blade #1

Front of mold and it's plug

Sucking it up

Mississippi River Skiff: rowing like Lincoln

2012-03-26T08:56:00.000-05:00

We had a trip out to Elsah Bar, a tiny island on the Mississippi. (It is the island above the "B" in the blog title photo.)
Patrick M. joined us. He is a well known Abe Lincoln performer. He said that one of the earliest stories we know of Lincoln was as a young boy, Abe was asked by two fellows for a row out to a stern wheeler. Lincoln obliged and as they boarded the big boat, they turned around and tossed in two silver half dollars in to Abe's row boat.
Lincoln later said of the incident "for a poor boy to earn a dollar in a day made him feel like there was maybe a future for him"!
The boat he rowed was most likely similar to the river skiff we got to row around today.

For all the posts on this skiff, use the search window on the right for "Mississippi River Skiff".

Here are photos of Eifel and Patrick rowing around the island...

Mississippi River Skiff: Christening

2012-03-16T10:11:00.001-05:00

We christened the skiff this weekend and had great fun trying it out with the Johnson 25.
The 1970 Johnson is a little more than is needed to drive the hull (an 8hp would be plenty).
But it is sporty!

We did get a little rowing in and tried rowing one oar per station. It worked well. We used the sculling hole with a paddle as a rudder.

Here are some photos and a video:

Mississippi River Skiff update: Epoxy Primekote

2012-03-08T10:59:00.000-06:00

This week we applied Interlux Epoxy Primekote to the hull. I like this primer.

It does stink to high heaven but provides a very hard sandable surface with just the right amount of body.

We will give it two days and sand and spray a second coat.

After getting some hand's on experience spraying polyester gel-coat, I am now leaning toward Interlux Perfection Hatteras White for the top coat.

The gel-coat is awesome, hard and buffable to a high gloss, but this is a big boat.

We are using gel-coat on our new paddles and are learning the tricks.

The paddle blades we are working on are plugs. We will fabricated the finished blades out of carbon, glass, and vinyl-ester.

It is a new wonderful world but it stinks, even with a great respirator.

This weekend the skiff gets it official christening.

We will be launching it in Elsah, under the River Road overpass.

Pictures of the day will be posted.

Sea Horse comes alive

2012-02-28T11:02:00.000-06:00

After a long sleep the Johnson 25 woke right up.
We cleaned out one of the steel tanks by putting in a couple pounds of nuts and bolts and shaking it up. This scoured the rusty bits and sludge. We then emptied it out, rinsed it out with some kerosene, then heated it up with a gas torch to burn out the nasty residue.
A couple pin holes turned up so we brazed them then repainted the bottom.
New fuel line fittings (Johnson fittings, filter and bulb) were added with a new hose.
Next we filled up a trash can with water and crossed our fingers.
Five pulls and it fires right up. I was worried it might be a $50 lemon. But even then, old 2 cycles are really easy to repair.
Fortunately, no repairs needed. We will replace the impeller soon, but it is pumping water now.

Stump Lake

2012-02-19T09:45:00.003-06:00

Nice weather and weekends rarely coincide around here, but they did yesterday. So we flipped the skiff, dropped it on the trailer and headed up river to Stump lake. It is an old slough off the Illinois river surrounded by low flood plain and forests. The corps of Engineers has small dykes in places that you can portage over to get to other sloughs and eventually the Illinois.
To see a map, click on this link: Google Map of Stump Lake
Duncan Eifel and I improved our rowing and covered some distance. We pulled into an elaborate duck blind with a tin roof, a couple rooms and a dog kennel. We also found a rollover portage put in by the Illinois DNR. It was fun.
See the video below.

Rolling down the river!

River skiff view

2012-02-15T14:42:00.000-06:00

Here is a view of the skiff from the roof .
Today we are re-sanding and re-fairing the hull. The plan is to get as perfect a finish as we can possibly achieve. We are weighing epoxy primer then Perfection paint or gelcoat and buffing.
I'm leaning toward gel coat.

Mississippi River Skiff update: Trials

2012-02-05T09:04:00.000-06:00

In the rain and fog we launched the skiff at Piasa harbor and rowed out to the sand bars in the Mississippi channel. The boat is great. It has great stability and with it's flaired stern sections, hardens up in a heel. We had 5 eager sailors and we calculated a total weight of 600 pounds.
Rowing was fun but we need practice! With all the weight the boat had great carry and tracked straight as an arrow with the skeg.
We couldn't wait for the delivery of the epoxy primer so the boat still looks like an ugly duckling.
Beauty shots will follow soon.

Sand bar and duck blind in the Mississippi

Mississippi River Skiff update: Oar leathers

2012-02-02T19:14:00.002-06:00

We needed some oar leathers for our new oars. So I drove to S & T Leather in St. Louis city. The place is a wholesale supply and has a small city sales area. We just needed a small bit of tanned leather, some artificial sinew, and a punch for this project.
It was easy work with this punch. It cuts in 4 perfect holes.
I just drew a straight line 1/4 inch in on each side of the cut leather and punched holes down the line.
The sinew was doubled and was easy sewing in front of the TV.
We watched "Exit through the Gift Shop"
It is a very good documentary about street graffiti artists and a film maker.
It was long enough to finish one leather.
Now I just need three more good movies...

Sea Horse !

2012-01-30T21:34:00.000-06:00

Through good luck and clean living we happened upon a well cared for, garage find.
It is a 1970, 25 horsepower Johnson Sea Horse.
Fifty Dollars!
It is a manual start and has high compression. I'm slightly scared of it. The largest outboard I've had was a 6hp. My favorite was a Yamaha 2.5. So this one is ten times as powerful at least.
Someday it will make the Mississippi River Skiff fly.
We are getting close to sea trials for the skiff. It will be strictly oars for the near future.

Mississippi River Skiff update: Bow Eye

2012-01-28T16:51:00.001-06:00

Today we installed the bow eye. To do this, we drilled through the brass cutwater from the rear. Before it was installed we drilled a centered hole through the bow stem. Now all we had to do was chase it out to get a centered hole in the cutwater.

The SeaDog bow eye has two pins to keep it it from spinning.

Oarlocks

2012-01-24T20:27:00.000-06:00

We purchased some great horned oarlocks from Duck Works.
duckworksbbs.com
They are beautiful bronze castings and at 17.45 bucks a pair, awesome.
The old oarlock sockets we found in Oriental, NC. are slightly oversized, too small for a 5/8 ths inch shaft oar lock, but a little loose for standard 1/2 inch.
The easiest solution was to pull out the hard stick silver solder and the torch.
This solder is about 10% silver and requires a fairly high heat. It is not the stuff you find at the hardware store. It can be found at professional plumber's supply. HVAC guys use it as well.
I used the oxy/acetylene torch to get the bronze close to red hot then the silver flows onto it without any flux needed.
Once the shaft had what looked like enough material and cooled off, we used the bench grinder and wire wheel to make the rough places plane.
Now the locks have a close tolerance and will make for more pleasant rowing.

Mississippi River Skiff update: cutwater

2012-01-23T17:18:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we formed and brazed the cutwater for the skiff.
Here is the piece before installation. We also drilled and counter sunk 4 holes. It will be screwed to the cherry bow.
To see the blog entry and a photo of the bow stem before it was installed, click this link:
River Skiff Bow
Last night we bedded the brass in West Systems 407 thickened epoxy and screwed it in.

Ramming speed!

The piece relaxed a bit but will have more curvature when it is installed.

Shop work / Skiff cutwater

2012-01-21T17:42:00.000-06:00

Being all wintery out today we started some shop projects.

One project was the installation of a pneumatic hoist in the rafters to help with lifting boats.

We had a German JDN hoist rated for 1500 pounds. There is a steel I-beam running across the open framing of the garage. I simply drilled a hole in the bottom flange and attached the hoist.

Pneumatic hoists are fantastic devices. They are smaller than electric hoists, very reliable and run on about 90 psi. We found this one on e-bay a few years ago.

It immediately became useful. We lifted the skiff off the trailer and suspended it 2 feet off the ground so we could instal the cutwater.

JDN hoist

Cold forming the cutwater by bending the brass to the band saw wheel.
Chapelle's lines indicate the same arc as the saw's wheel.

Marking the cutwater for a cut.
The brass is 1 inch wide by 1/4 inch thick.
It was purchased at Shapiro Supply in St. Louis

The stem piece will be brazed to the cutwater and screwed into the deck.

Making the oar's handle

2012-01-14T19:10:00.000-06:00

Today we braved the cold to work on the oars for the river skiff.
The blanks were first trimmed to the profile we designed. The band saw is almost ready to use. But today we were limited to a jig saw.
After the blades had their rough shape we ran them through a radius router bit. Then it was back to the bench to form the handles.
Here is a video of that process:

Tools used are a 7 inch variable speed disk sander with a 36 grit disk.

We also used a 6 inch orbital sander with 80 grit paper.

Additional sanding will be needed but the handle took 6 minutes to form.

During my visit to Hemel in Seattle I saw Steve forming surfboards.

It was a revelation to see this. He used this type of disk sander and had the speed very slow. This removes material slowly and allows more control. A huge added benefit is the life of the disks is vastly extended because of less heat generated. Previously I had used angle grinders for this type of work. They remove material but they spin at about 10,000 rpm. Way less control and you go through disks like tissues.

In this video the rough oar blank is run through the radius router bit to get it closer to round.

Mississippi River Skiff update: OarLocks

2012-01-11T21:04:00.000-06:00

The pinion of the oarlocks are set 12.5 inches past the edge of the rowing stations.
This is the distance we find best for the stroke geometry in this hull. If they are set farther abaft you get less reach forward with the oar. Farther forward and it is too tight.
There is a lot of variation of opinion on the best distance, this is our opinion and our boat.

This weekend we will be sanding the interior to prep for varnish and working on the oars.

Here is a picture of the oar blanks (and a Greenland paddle). The Ash and cherry look good together.

Mississippi River Skiff update: out of the shop

2012-01-07T09:12:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we moved the skiff out of the shop onto a trailer with the help of the visiting students. The trailer came with our 14 foot Rhodes Bantam. The Bantam is on blocks so we could use the trailer.

The only problem is the length of the skiff. At 18 feet 3 inches it extends way past the end of the trailer but more problematic is the wheels are too far forward.

Today we are going to set the skiff on the ground and reconfigure the trailer.
We can move the wheels back about 2 feet. This should balance things out.

Today we are also going to instal the oarlocks. We found a set of four at the Nautical Consignment shop in Oriental, NC. They are old galvanized locks that are in great shape. I was looking for bronze, but of course this skiff historically was a working boat on inland rivers and would have been fitted out with the most practical cheapest hardware available, so galvanized it is!

Finishing out the interior, then hull priming and paint

Boat class:

2012-01-05T13:56:00.001-06:00

The Principia School has a boat building class.
The instructor, Dan Sheets, is having the students design dinghies and kayaks themselves and tank testing the results. Through experimentation they arrived at four hulls they are going to build.
Today was warm and a good day for a field trip so they came up from St. Louis to visit Elsah Boat Corporation.
We had a great visit talking about wood, strip and stitch and glue construction and dogs.
I hope to see their launch day.
Let me know when it is!

Oriental, NC

2011-12-29T15:59:00.000-06:00

For a couple of years I have been a regular visitor to the TownDock.
It is the web site of the town of Oriental, North Carolina. As an avid sailor I just randomly found this site. Once I did I was hooked. It is a very small town on the Neuse river and Pamlico sound.
The excellent web site is like a daily news paper.
My family had this week free so we found a house to rent and made the long drive from St. Louis to check it out. (1017 miles)
It is a great place. The big protected water of the Neuse and Pamlico sound is perfect for sailing, and of course the weather beats the Midwest.
Unfortunately the skiff was not ready for the trip so we will plan a return visit.
Tomorrow we are hoping to rent an FJ to sail. It is going to be sunny and 61 degrees!
We might be raising the anchor on Elsah Boat.

Pugh house, our base in Oriental.

Oriental harbor

The NCMM in nearby Beaufort

The Watercraft Center in Beaufort and some of their lovely boats...

At Fort Macon, Beaufort, NC.

Mississippi River Skiff update: lilly pads

2011-12-22T23:22:00.000-06:00

Seats are edged with the black oak and installed. We salvaged an old chair with nice turned legs. Two of these are used as supports for the two rowing stations.

I like the Johnson Wax building by F.L. Wright, so we set the posts with the taper down like his lilly pads.

The Walnut base that was laminated to the sole of the boat is directly under the center of the seats. We set a laser plumb on the base to find the spot to drill the seat.

This was marked, the seat was taken to the drill press and a forstner bit was used. The depth was set at half way through the Walnut.

Installed

Lilly pad

After both holes were drilled we measured for the turnings and cut them to fit.

Once everything fit tightly, an adhesive fiber epoxy putty was used. Bronze fasteners will be added to the side blocks after everything hardens.

Mississippi River Skiff update: seats

2011-12-16T08:09:00.002-06:00

Today we did the glue-ups for the seats.

Some figured walnut boards are used for the seats and they are edged with black oak to match the gunwales.

The hull exterior will end up with an Interlux Perfection Oyster White paint job. This will set off the varnished walnut.

The hull is getting stiffer with the gunwales in place, and will get very stiff with the seats installed.

The weather has cooled a lot so we are heating when needed.

The laminations each get a turn in front of the kerosene heater.

Winter !

Rough glue-up of the transom seat. It will get edging and the profile will get some curves.

Chalks are laminated into the floor to accept and hold in place this great old tank we got.
It will get a refurbishment and a new lease on life.

Ship's wheel

2011-12-14T07:52:00.000-06:00

We got a commission for a commemorative ships wheel.

Never had the opportunity to build one before, so we jumped at it.

After looking at two from a nautical antique collection we designed an improved version.

The ones we looked at were light weight with toy looking spokes.

So the new wheel is made of 8 quarter cherry. Super chunk.

Charlie at Industrial Machine Sales had an awesome lathe part the we are using as a hub.

It's tool steel not bronze, but this thing is going to be hanging on a wall in Missouri.

I did that once.