The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Very cool pictures Dan, thanks for sharing them.
Fantastic pics, and a heart-warming tale, Dan
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess…
Nice work on the dory!
I had to look up the defining characteristics of a dory - when I was a kid I was more familiar with boat types due to my dad being interested in such things, but I have since forgotten almost all of what I knew.
My uninformed initial instinct was to call the Esperanza a pirogue, except that you set it up for rowing. Did you build it from plans? What was the inspiration for the design?
Cool write up Dan. I hope you get to be as adventurous as your Dad when you reach his age. Nice way to spent some retirement time. Dorys are useful Great Lakes boats with their tall freeboard. I always wanted to build one with a sail for low effort, quiet, harbor to harbor cruising along Lk. Michigan's coast. There is plenty of available camping and you are welcome to the idea if you like the concept, no charge my friend.
Of course you'd have to be packin' something nautical like this Italian Navy knife.
See how I worked in the knife content?
, who is the maker ?
duckworks.com
Do you ever row Esperanza now Dan? Still using a seat or are you a cooler top guy?Your Father was certainly a good inspiration for you. His and your Mother's dory trip was an enviable expedition.
Over the years I've owned a Pirogue and a Harold Payson "Good Little Skiff". The pirogue was relegated to poking around tidal streams - paddle not poling as it was a pretty unstable little flat bottomed craft. Was a good excuse to not go out with casual friends. Usually they got dumped within a few feet from shore.The GLS was rowed and rowed all around my local coast and up some big local tidal rivers for camping on islands. Memorable times in both these wonderful crafts. I developed some interesting callouses from rowing the skiff the miles I did. Looking forward to some more small boat adventuring.
Building the right craft for my own future expeditions will be the first project of my "retirement".
. I had a good chuckle too about the pirogue and your causal friends 
.
Dan you are a true Renaissance man.Thank you gents ! I'll make sure to pass the kind words to my Dad as well.
After posting this last night I was awake for quite a while just thinking about life in general, how time flies, about my Dad etc.
Thanks Tom
I built Esperanza from plans.
They can be found here:
She is a rowboat designed for two rowers, hence the name RB42
Although she was not designed to be a used with a motor she has proved to be an exceptional river cruiser under her tiny Honda 2 hp outboard. Anticipating the need for a little outboard I did beefed up her transom when I built her back in 2008.
She was designed by Jim Michalak, a somewhat unorthodox designer with a very good following and many designs to his credit. He is extremely practical an a minimalist of sorts. He advocates, for the most part, for basic materials from the lumberyard and the hardware store and to use the boats as much as possible and just "go and get on the water and have fun" philosophy.
I used the more expensive Okume marine plywood for Esperanza as well epoxy and fiberglass.
If I remember correctly the designer called her "fancy" when I sent him pictures
Here is her very beginning
Tracing her parts on the plywood on top of our kitchen table. You can see the blueprints ( real old style BLUE prints) taped to the wall.
My little helper is all grown up and headed for university thousand of miles away in September.
Built in the backyard over a period of about 3 months.
Launch day !
In 2008 I helped my Dad row some longer segments of the waterway on my days off. My Mom would then take my car and drive/wait for us at the next lock and I would go back home
I was too busy raising little ones and with work to relax more and take it all in and last years trips slowly brought back the memories.
My dad built a canoe once that was very fast and VERY tippy. We also had a Browning aluminum canoe which was way more stable. We would navigate the riffles on the Potomac with both, no problem, but when I was old enough to go on canoe trips with friends (unsupervised), the home-made wooden one stayed under my control at all times.
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I've thought about it off and on for years but today it's likely to have become more of a dream than a potential reality. If you like the Michigan coast line you could then graduate to island hopping in the Virgin Islands with the ultimate goal of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean...Thank you James !
Cruising the coast of Lake Michigan sounds very exciting indeed.
My wife and I are thinking/dreaming of getting a small shallow draft sailboat to do just that type of adventure one day
Cool knife
edit: Building with plywood with the "stich and glue" method is not difficult and there are lots of resources/plans online for home builds using basic tools.
Here is THE place to go for boat building everything
Duckworks Boat Builders Supply
From boat plans to kits, from hardware to epoxy, we've got just about everything a boat builder needs.
Very inspiring series of photos Dan - perfect for winter dreams of summers to come. I edited my post a bit because I remembered that my GLS was solid "clinker" planked - not one of the plywood skiffs by Dynamite Payson. Mine was following the lines and details - minus the sailing rig - of the Peter Culler design and built by a mid-coast boatbuilder. I bought it off a boat yard client who knew I was taken by it. Sadly this was in the days before everyone carried a camera. Here is a photo of the basic model BUT not my boat.
Show ofMerle in nature!
Thank you,people say I try hard or do they say I am very trying
Johnnythefox
? Must be across the pond because your ROBIN looks different than the Robins in Maine. A European Robin? Cute little thing. Prettier than our version.
thats neat,was it deliberate?
