Kingfisher - 18 !CC

[jb4lcm]

I thought I'd share my build with y'all.

I got married in Jan of 1989. My new bride was in college and taking a LOT of classes in the evening. So I thought I could use the 3-4 hours in the evening when she was at school to build a boat . . . and then when she got home I could erect something more useful for the two of us to enjoy!

This is the garage I started the project in. I had 6" between the bow and the garage door when closed, and 18" behind the transom to the wall.


After flipping her onto the trailer, I moved her to a boat yard to do the inside. Most of you already know this, but isn't weird how close to being DONE you THINK you are before you flip the dam boat???!!! And then when you look inside for the very first time - you begin to realize that building the hull was only the beginning!!



This image is not coming up! Sorry!

Honduran mahagony decking, with a band of philippean mahagony (not installed yet) with cherry strips between the honduran. That's a casting platform with an ice hold below and the anchor locker forward. I installed a bronse hauspipe on the fore deck, then finished it with SS railing about a year later.



Built solely for fishing coastal waters of So Cal, it is a center console with a T-top for shade and an electronics box built into the top. Johnson 110 hp OB, twin 25 gal saddle tanks for 50 gal of fuel, 2 scoop bait tank and a lean post. Eventually added trim tabs and hydraulic steering.

Here she is getting wet for the first time. Launched at Newport Dunes - back bay, and ended up keeping it there in dry storage for a couple years.



The varnish really made the mahagony deck POP. Those fish are Yellowtail caught off the newport coast. The ice hold works REALLY well as you can tell by the BLUE color of the fish that were just pulled from the hold for the photo.



After 10 years of service, I sold her to a young man who loves to work with wood. He fished it the same day he bought it and caught some nice halibut than evening. I miss that old boat, but I am proud to say I build her from scratch - and actually FINISHED her.

For those of you who dream of building your own boat, or who have aactually begun, don't give up! Take it one piece at a time and you will get there!

JB

[upspirate]

Beautiful boat...thanks for sharing the pics & inspiration.

[Dave Grason]

Yup, that boat is "Dave" approved. And the fish are approved too.

Imagine what your wife's classmates must've been thinking when they asked what you were doing all that time she was in class:

"Oh, my husband is at home building a boat, tonight."

Yeah, right.

[FDMSIV]

Where did you get your T-Top?

[kens]

Where did you get your T-Top?

Me too......."Where did you get your T-Top?"

[jb4lcm]

I bought the T-Top from a boat dealer who just happened to have it on his roof taking up space.

FYI - there is, or maybe WAS, a brand of boat named WAHOO. It was a knock-off of the boston whaler. All foam in side, etc. They made mostly smaller skiffs and CCs. This T-Top came off of a Wahoo cus the customer didn't want the T-top so the dealer removed it and made a smaller helm version. More of a tender style.

So you might google up wahoo boats and see if there are some available close by.

JB

P.S. I'll add more photos to the original post in a moment . .

[jb4lcm]

Too much head ache trying to edit.

Here's links to the pics of the forward area with the fish hold going in - 2" of foam made it hold the cold!

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/505 ... er7153.jpg

Here's the last stretch - getting all the decking on and last of the mechanicals, wiring, fuel, etc. I can SMELL the ocean I'm so close!

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/505 ... er7152.jpg


Never give up!!!!


JB

[Dave Grason]

Gonna build another? It's not too late, you know.

[jb4lcm]

Fortunately, I completed ONE. I doubt I'll be building another after back surgery, arthritis in my back, wrist and hand - it's just not in the stars anymore. : (


JB

[Dave Grason]

Seriously?!! That's a shame. BTW, how old a man are you? I mean, if you're still young, I'd say that life has taken a pretty wack at you with back pain from surgery and Ole Arthur bothering you too.

I'm starting to get the first symptoms of arthritis in my knuckles on both hands. I've played the guitar all my life and losing that joy has always been one of my biggest paranoias. So with the onset of Ole Arthur, I've been playing more and more to stay loose. And I've taken up the piano as well. Before Chet Atkins died, (and BTW, he's a local hero here in Nashville) he gave an interview with Ralph Emory. He talked about arthritis bothering him but playing the guitar went a long way toward keeping his hands and fingers limber and loose. I'm sure this would work for other body parts as well although don't know how you could really play the guitar with your knees. LOL I've tried playing it by ear but my nose kept getting in the way.

[jb4lcm]

At 50 I'm no where near old enough to be complaining, but considering the bashing I've taken over these short years, my enthusiasm for life has taken its toll on me. I actually have a spinal fusion on the near horizon. That coupled with almost losing my left hand in a dirkbike accident shortly after completing the boat finally has left me listing to one side!

Here's a later shot of the boat after adding much needed equipment like hydraulic steering, a BIG ol color CRT fish finder, rocket launchers, etc...



JB

[gregggrundon]

JB,
Don't know that this'll help your piece of mind or not; my younger brother is off work for the next few months after just having spinal fusion on his last three vertebrae; he's been walking six miles a day, the P.T. is paying off; he's stiff, bending at the waist, but, with out pain for the first time in twenty years.
Good luck to you,
Gregg

[guibra78]

Hi every one !

Well nice to find a topic for the kingfisher 18... I buiding one my self with my grandfather and some touches of my brother too who is helping too...


And its going pretty well really... But we have some doubts ...

the thing is we are building in tree ... So

We all understood differently the ways to assembly the transom on the stringers... So the question is...
how is done?
Or any one knows about the junction between the Uprights with the stringers and the transom... our boat will be equipped with a twin outboard engines ...

Actually my grandfather got a little disappointed with the plans because he seems to think there is a lack of details and measures on the plans and designs... He says all the frames should give the length between them... in different levels... Do you guys have those measures ?

Well thanks any way if you guys could help us would be perfect ! My grands have done other boats too he did a Seaknite in 1958 beautiful boat! but he told me that from the book he took the design use to have all those frames mesures...

[Porgy]

I was thinking about building the inside stuff first like the console first so I have more room in the shed when building these pieces then when I flip the rest of the Kingfisher build may go a little quicker all I'll have to do is some fitting.What do you think?