From Here You Can Go Anywhere

An Erie Canal Houseboat Adventure by Joseph Mix

We made the 6 hour drive from our home in Morgantown, WV to a hotel on the outskirts of Rochester, NY in preparation for our adventure on the Erie Canal the following day. This particular hotel was chosen because it had a large parking lot that could accommodate my boat, trailer and van, but I got little sleep as I spent much of the night looking out the window keeping watch over my boat.   

We arrived at the boat ramp early the next morning, and, as so often happens, our boat attracted attention and elicited several inevitable questions: “What kind of boat is that?” “Did you make it?” “Where do you go with a boat like that?”  This morning was no different. The man asking the questions seemed genuine and eager for answers so I took a few minutes to address his queries: 

“It’s actually a canal boat called Escargot, designed by naval architect Phil Thiel of Seattle, Washington. I got the plans from the Wooden Boat Shop; it took 4 years to build in my garage, and is constructed from 7 frames of spruce/pine/fir covered with Meranti marine plywood. I used half inch plywood on the bottom and several layers of Xynole fabric and epoxy resin.  She is 18 ft, 6 inches long, 5 feet high, 6 feet wide, weighs about 3000 pounds fully loaded, and her draft is a mere 8 inches! She can be rowed, sailed, or powered by the 6 hp, 4 stroke Tohatsu outboard that you see here. With the motor, her top speed is 5.2 miles per hour, she gets 10 miles per gallon and burns about half a gallon of gas per hour. I named her Herb, after my late father-in-law, who appreciated my boat-building skills and always dreamed of adventure. Patterned after the canal boats of Europe, she is designed for sheltered inland waters; I have piloted her down the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty and sailed her on the Bighorn Reservoir in Montana.  I have had her on the Missouri River at Chamberlain, South Dakota, and on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Her maiden voyage was on the Monongahela River near Morgantown, West Virginia to Pittsburgh.  But, you know, I have never had her on a canal!  A canal boat needs to be on a canal, don’t you think? And that is why we are here today; to pilot her on the greatest canal of all—the Erie Canal! Thank you so much for your interest in my boat; have I answered all your questions?” 

“Yes, thank you very much for taking the time. It is a beautiful boat and I know you’re eager to get going, but just let me tell you something about this place. I have lived right here all my life.  The Erie Canal is a very special place.  It represents the greatest engineering marvel the world has ever known and from here, you can go anywhere.”  

I had to try to let that sink in a bit before I offered up a puzzled, “How so?”

The gentleman continued: “You put your boat in here and from here you can go east to Albany and then south on the Hudson River to New York and down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida and then, if you had a bigger boat, you could go on to the Bahamas.  Or from Albany you could go north through the Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain and Canada. If you go west from here, you will reach Lake Erie and the Great Lakes and from there you can get to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. From here, you can reach the world, my friend!”

And with that, he was off. His words left us in awe as we considered the endless possibilities that were presented to us from this place. We were now more eager than ever to begin our exciting adventure on the Erie Canal!

A Brief History of the Erie Canal

As the man said, the Erie Canal is arguably one of the greatest engineering marvels the world has ever known. David Roos, in his article for the History Channel entitled: How the Erie Canal Was Built With Raw Labor and Amateur Engineering, says that in 1809, then president Thomas Jefferson dismissed the idea of a 360-mile canal connecting the Hudson River (and therefore New York Harbor) to the Great Lakes as “little short of madness” and refused to commit federal funds. Less than a decade later, New York governor DeWitt Clinton pushed the “crazy” idea through the state legislature where opponents mocked the project as “Clinton’s Folly” or “Clinton’s Ditch.”

Construction began on July 4, 1817 where men began clearing the wilderness and swamps with axes and then digging with picks, shovels, and horse-drawn farm implements; rock was blasted using dangerous black powder. Roos describes the enormity of the task:

The Erie Canal was built decades before the invention of dynamite (invented in 1866 by Swedish chemist, Alfred Nobel) to efficiently blast through stubborn rock, or steam-powered earth-movers and excavators to clear mud, rock and rubble. Instead, the thickly forested land was cleared and the 40-foot wide canal was dug and the locks were constructed by the raw manpower of an estimated 50,000 laborers, including a large contingent of recently arrived Irish immigrants.

Work like this is impossible to imagine today. Often the men succumbed to malaria from the mosquito-infested swamps. Roos concludes:

Yet in 1825, just 8 years after workers broke ground, DeWitt boarded a barge called the Seneca Chief and took a victory cruise along the newly opened Erie Canal, an engineering marvel unlike anything America had ever seen.  The man-made waterway, designed by untrained engineers, featured 83 separate locks, 2 massive stone-and-cement aqueducts to crisscross the Mohawk River, and a final ingenious “flight” of interconnected locks to raise boats over the 70-foot Niagara Escarpment.

The Erie Canal officially opened on October 26, 1825 and was acclaimed as the greatest engineering marvel in the world. At an initial cost of $7,000,000, it opened up trade and commerce between New York Harbor and the interior of the new nation. Travel time was cut in half and shipping costs reduced by 94%. Upon completion, the canal extended 363 miles from Albany, NY to the Niagara River near Buffalo. It was 40 feet wide, 4 feet deep and there were 18 aqueducts to carry the waters of the canal over rivers. There were 83 locks to raise and lower boats a total of 682 vertical feet from end to end. Canal boats and barges were pulled by mules along an adjacent towpath. In order to accommodate larger boats, various improvement projects were undertaken between 1836 and 1862 and then again between 1905 and 1918, resulting in the dimenswe see today: 351 miles long, by 120 feet wide, and 12 feet deep.

Leg 1:  Ayrault Rd. Boat Ramp to Pittsford, NY

I had never been to the Erie Canal before, but having been born in Glens Falls, NY near the Canal’s eastern terminus, and having studied the history of the canal in school, I was excited to finally get my boat in the water and experience a true piece of history. This September morning was slightly overcast, with a touch of fall in the air. The water was still, for this was a canal after all, not a river, and there was no visible moving current. The water was slightly brown, perhaps from a recent rain, though devoid of debris. The smell was cool and fresh; there were no other boats in sight and the canal was a perfect representation of the “sheltered inland waters” for which she was designed. Although I was not lucky enough to have known the designer of my canal boat, Phil Thiel, I had the feeling that I have known him all along as he lives on through his designs.  I sensed his attention to detail, his warmth, his passion, and his eco-friendly vision. His designs are a perfect combination of efficiency, form, function, grace, and beauty; Escargot is a thing of beauty! And preparing to embark this day, I thought I could hear Phil whisper in my ear:  “I designed Escargot for just such a body of water as this! She’s stable and will track well under your command. Keep your head up, your eyes sharp, and be proud of her, lad. Pilot her well for she can hold her own with any boat out there!” It would soon become apparent to me that my boat and the Erie Canal were made for each other.

This would be a short trip.  Responsibilities, work schedules, and other obligations would permit us only 2 days to explore this piece of history. I had done 130 miles on the Hudson River from Newburgh, NY to the Statue of Liberty in 3 days, so I could get a taste of this magnificent waterway in 2 days if that’s all I had. I could always return for further exploration; in fact I vowed that if I could get away for 2 weeks, I would do the entire 351 miles!

The Ayrault Road Boat Ramp is located 12 miles south east of Rochester, NY, on the south side of the canal in the town of Perinton at mile 249.08 of the Canal.  The physical address is 426 Ayrault Road, Fairport, NY 14450. The launch provides ample parking and dock space, as well as a port-a-potty. Launching requires payment of a fee and registration by scanning in the QR code posted at the ramp or by calling the Town of Perinton Parks Dept. at (585) 586-1837. Overnight parking is permitted by notifying the Parks Dept. Additional information may be found at https://perinton.org/departments/randp/parks-department/parks/ayrault-boat-launch/.

On Tuesday morning, September 28, 2021 we met our friends, Darlene and George, and prepared to launch Herb for a 2 day, 17 mile trip that would encompass 3 picturesque canal towns, 1 lock, and gorgeous scenery, all the while surrounded by incredible feats of engineering  that have stood the test of time. Darlene is my wife’s best friend from high school and her husband, George is a civil engineer and a professional photographer. Needless to say, as an engineer, George saw things the rest of us did not or were unable to fully appreciate.

We launched Escargot and headed west toward Pittsford, NY and Lock 32. The speed limit for this section of the canal between Lock 32 and Fairport is 10 MPH. As my top speed is 5.2 MPH, this was not a problem.  The canal was quaint and we felt we had been transported back in time. There were older homes, newer homes, farmland, and businesses as we approached towns scattered along the way. There was no boat traffic; we only saw one other boat traveling West on the entire 4.35 first leg of our journey from the boat launch to Pittsford. Continuing west, we noted a trail running along the canal on our starboard and surmised this was the old towpath where mules had pulled the canal boats in days gone by. Signs along the way confirmed that the trail indeed was the old towpath and is now the Erie Canal Bike Trail which runs the entire length of the canal from Albany to Buffalo. Continuing West, we passed Bushnell’s Basin on our port side where we would be docking for the night upon our return from Pittsford and Lock 32.

After passing an elevated section of the canal known as the Great Embankment, we arrived at the village of Pittsford, NY, with a population of 30,617. Settled by Revolutionary War veterans in 1789, the Erie Canal first brought prosperity to Pittsford when tons of heavy gravel from nearby hills found an inexpensive mode of transport. The town is easily recognized from a distance by its huge, reddish brown coal tower at the center of town near the canal’s edge.  The coal tower was used to store coal which fueled the boats and their steam engines and is now preserved as a wonderful restaurant. We tied our boat to pilings along the canal’s wall and enjoyed strolling the streets, window shopping, and eating lunch in the Coal Tower Restaurant. After another stroll about town to help digest our lunch, we untied the boat and headed for the nearby Lock 32 to experience ascending and descending in a 100 year old canal lock.

Leg 2:  Pittsford, NY to Lock 32

The canal lock of today was actually conceived by Leonardo da Vinci who invented the V-shaped miter gate which points upstream and results in a tight seal from the pressure of the oncoming water. The lock is the ingenious engineering design that allows a boat to travel from sea level at the tidal Hudson near Albany to the 571 feet above sea level of Lake Erie. There are 36 locks today along the Erie Canal, and we were about to enter Lock 32, located 1.71 miles West of Pittsford.  Lock 32 is 328 feet long by 45 feet wide and provides a lift of 25.1 feet. It is one of only two locks on the canal that, for reasons unknown, are narrower at the bottom than at the top. 

I had limited experience going through a lock. In fact, I had gone through a lock only one other time when my son-in-law, Sean and I navigated the Monongahela River to Pittsburgh for our first overnight adventure to test my boat to see if it was seaworthy. She was! 

Normal protocol for entering a lock requires first requesting permission to enter the lock from the lock operator by contacting him/her using Channel 13 of the marine radio. My marine radio is powered by two, 12V, 35 AH deep cycle marine batteries which, in turn, are charged by the 60W (12V, 5A) alternator from my outboard.  But this day, I couldn’t get the radio to work so I contacted the lock operator with my cell phone. The operator answered and I gave her a brief description of our boat along with the registration number, and told her we were proceeding west and were requesting permission to enter the lock.  She said she was waiting for an east bound vessel to enter the lock and that it would be about 15 minutes and that we should wait at least 100 yards from the gates of the lock on the side of the canal.  After about 20 minutes, the gates to the lock opened, a west bound boat exited, a green light appeared, and we were permitted to enter the chamber. The operator told us to move forward and directed us to keep bow and stern close to the wall and to hold on to the vertical lines provided.  Ports and valves were opened, water entered the chamber, and we began to ascend.  During this process the operator kept a close eye on us from above just to make sure this homemade wooden boat from West Virginia was up to the task. We were!

After proceeding West a short while, we turned around and went back through the lock by reversing the process, descending in the chamber, and continuing East to complete the total lock experience.

Leg 3:  Lock 32 to Bushnell’s Basin

From Lock 32 we proceeded east in the direction of Bushnell’s Basin which we had passed earlier while travelling in the opposite direction.  This time, we planned to dock there, have dinner, and then check in to our reserved accommodations in town. Before approaching the Basin, however, we had the feeling that somehow we were up high in the air as the surrounding countryside and valley now seemed to be below us. Even though we had travelled this section of the canal before when we were heading west, we didn’t notice the elevated status of the canal until now.  A historical marker on the Erie Canal Bike Trail informed us that this area was known as the Great Embankment and that it was a man-made structure to enable the canal to traverse the Irondequoit Creek and the valley below. Subsequent research would reveal that the Great Embankment was an earthen embankment created by men using only shovels and wheelbarrows to carry the canal 70 feet above the valley floor. The travel brochure, 100 Must See Miles on the Erie Canal, states that this embankment, completed in 1822, “was the largest ever accomplished by man.” Much of the area is now a park.

Bushnell’s Basin is the southwestern portion of the town of Perinton and home to many fine shops, restaurants, and most importantly for us, public docks where we could moor for the night. After tying up, we walked to the nearby convenience store/gas station called Steamer’s Basin Trading Company to see about obtaining the required overnight docking permit.  It was $7 for my boat (16 – 30 feet) and came with full shower, bathroom, free Wi Fi, and live entertainment from the juggler on a unicycle across the canal on the bike trail!  What a deal, but I wondered if anyone actually checked to see if you have an overnight docking permit. A guy docked next to us, who had a big fiberglass yacht, was being issued a ticket by the dock police for not having his permit. He was mad. I guess they do check, after all.

Foregoing the acclaimed Abbott’s Frozen Custard stand (highly recommended) on the canal, we went directly to The Basin Pub (also highly recommended) for an excellent dinner and an opportunity to reminisce and discuss the day’s highlights. We found that each of us noticed things that the others had not, so it was a great time to swap remembrances and relive the experiences of the day.

Our accommodations were only a short distance from the Pub and we had 2 options: we could camp on the cold, damp canal for the night, or we could stay in the Hilton Garden Inn Pittsford/Rochester: we chose the Hilton (also highly recommended!).

Leg 4:  Bushnell’s Basin to Fairport, NY

Today was Wednesday, September 29 and it was my birthday. My wife, Lynne made me a cake with candles and I opened her card and present on the boat. Lynne is the best wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and first mate a boat captain could ever wish for. What a great way to celebrate! After the cake, we approached Fairport, a town of  5,353 known as the “Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal,” recognized by Money Magazine in 2005 as one of the “Best Places to Live,” and easily recognized from the water by its large smoke stack and rust colored bridge.  As we approached the bridge, I noticed that it was moving; it was actually coming down and looked like it would squash us like a bug.  No, it couldn’t be!  It was too late to turn around; the bottom of the bridge actually hit and bent my radio antenna and flagpoles and I had to duck my head to avoid getting knocked out. We squeaked through unscathed: “What the heck just happened there?” I yelled as it was obvious that I had missed a navigational red warning light somewhere.  “What kind of bridge was that?” I asked. George, the engineer, knew it was a “lift bridge” which we would later find out had a clearance of 6 feet when fully lowered. Shortly after clearing the bridge, it came to rest in the fully lowered position permitting automobile traffic on the bridge above to resume normally. My boat is 5 feet 6 inches in height, including the center hatch cover!!   

According to The Erie Canal website, https://www.eriecanal.org/Fairport.html, the Fairport Lift Bridge is a mechanical lift bridge that carries NY Route 250 (Main Street) over the Erie Canal. It was constructed in 1913-1914 and is one of 12 vertical lift bridges located on this portion of the canal between Medina and Fairport. Powered by 40 horsepower electric motors and with the use of counterweights, the bridge has a vertical lift of 10.6 feet providing a clearance of 16.3 feet when in the fully raised position. The average 6 foot clearance between the water and the bottom of the bridge when fully lowered is a few feet higher on the south side of the canal due to the bridge’s 4% slope. Fortunately we went under the bridge on the south side of the canal!

Continuing on to Fairport, we docked along the north canal wall near the iconic smoke stack that appears in most all photos of the town.  We walked, shopped, and had lunch at a nearby delicatessen.  George conversed with several bridge workers who were making repairs and learned about the counterweight and electric motor mechanisms.  After a great birthday with my wife and friends on the canal it was time to turn around once again and head West for the boat ramp and home.  

Leg 5:  Fairport, NY to Ayrault Rd. Boat Ramp

From Fairport to the boat ramp is 2.5 miles by the canal and we enjoyed the nice, leisurely, relaxing, final leg of our trip.  We passed a few red and green rental canal boats on our return trip back to the place where we had started; some passed us, but overall there was very little boat traffic. The bike path was on our starboard and we saw a few people out for a stroll, some joggers, bicyclists. Things were winding down; it had been a great little trip.     

Some Final Thoughts

If you only have a couple days, this is a great trip to get a feel for the Erie Canal, and some of the canal towns along the way. But there is so much more to see that if you have the time, you may wish to consider doing the entire 350 miles. The nice thing about the canal is that the pace is slow. No one is going faster than 10 MPH and you don’t have to worry about speed boats flying by creating wakes that upset your game of checkers on the table in the cabin. Life is slow here. There is a town about every 5 miles or so where you can pull over, tie up, get out and stretch your legs. You can dine, walk, shop, read on a bench or just watch the world go by. You could also carry a fold-up bicycle on board your boat and take it out for a ride on the bike trail.  Having already visited Fairport, Bushnell’s Basin and Pittsford, I would like to return to see Clyde, Lyons, Newark, Palmyra, Macedon, Rochester, Greece, Spencerport, Brockport, Holley, Albion, Medina, and the many other canal towns between Albany and Buffalo. And after you’ve experienced all the canal has to offer, you can always move on because “from here, you can go anywhere.” Endless possibilities.  Enjoy the journey; see you on the water!

References and Helpful Resources

Brief Videos: (34 sec – 2:05)

·      Statue of Liberty Boat Trip:  

·      Bighorn Reservoir Boat Trip:

·      Ascending in a Lock:             

·      Descending in a Lock:           

History/Engineering              

https://eriecanalvideos.com/

Full Length Video from the History Channel:   (45:14)

https://play.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/season-6/episode-26?cmpid=editorial

Books:  

“Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the American Empire” by Gerard Koeppel

“The Erie Canal” (American Heritage) by Ralph K. Andrist

“Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation” by Peter L. Bernstein

“Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal” by Jack Kelly

“Shantyboat: A River Way of Life” by Harlan Hubbard

History Channel Article:  “How the Erie Canal Was Built With Raw Labor and Amateur Engineering” by David Roos, April 7, 2021.

https://www.history.com/news/erie-canal-construction-engineering-labor

Museum:

https://eriecanalmuseum.org/

Travel Brochures:

https://daytrippingroc.com/explore-the-erie-canalway-national-heritage-corridor/

https://100mustseemiles.com/

Ayrault Road Boat Launch:

https://perinton.org/departments/randp/parks-department/parks/ayrault-boat-launch/

Canal Corporation:             

https://canals.ny.gov

Hours of Operation:            

https://canals.ny.gov/boating/hours.html

Canal Map:                          

https://canals.ny.gov/maps/index.html

Boat Launches:                    

https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/boating/boatlaunches.aspx

Marinas and Public Docks:

https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/boating/marinas.aspx

Boating Safety, Insurance, Towing, Training

https://www.boatus.com/

Boat Rentals:                        

https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/boating/boatsforhire.aspx

https://eriecanaladventures.com/

https://eriecanalway.org/explore/boating/tours-rentals

Locks and Lift Bridges:

https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/boating/locks.aspx

https://www.canals.ny.gov/navinfo/index.html

https://www.eriecanal.org/Fairport.html

Speed Limits:                        

https://canals.ny.gov/boating/speedlimits.html 

Navigating the Canals:        

https://canals.ny.gov/navinfo/index.html

Biking and Hiking:              

https://canals.ny.gov/trails/about.html

Fishing:                                 

https://www.canals.ny.gov/Fall_fishing/index.html

Sailboats:                              

https://canals.ny.gov/navinfo/index.html

Sailboats have 3 options but must take down the mast to transit the Erie Canal:

 • Carry the Mast on Deck

• Have your mast trucked overland to meet you

• Store mast at a mast storage facility (see above link for list of facilities)

A word about sailboat mast stepping: The minimum clearances of overhead structures (bridges, guard gates, and utilities) range from 15.5 feet to 21 feet for different sections along the canal; so sailboats need to de-mast prior to entering the system. Sailors looking to cruise within the canal system, as opposed to transiting through, may not want their masts and rigging with them in order to conserve deck space, and may leave them at select facilities (see the above link for a list of marinas that perform mast stepping, and additionally which ones provide mast storage).

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The Design

For me, the ideal boat to build would be a trailerable design that could serve as an RV on land as well as a boat on the water. I would want one that could be propelled by human power, sail, or motor. It should have a toilet, sink, stove, table, sleeping births, and it should match my beginner – intermediate skill level.  I studied different designs and plans for over 2 years including:

Retreat by Atkins

Aqua Casa by Berkeley Engineering   

Dianne’s Rose by Roy Schreyer  

Escargot by Phil Thiel

Houseboat by Phil Bolger    

Harmonica by Jim Michalak     

Lisa B Good by Paul Browne   

Millie Hill by Devlin Designing

River Walker by George Buehler

Waterlodge by Glen-L 

And while these are all great designs and I wouldn’t hesitate to attempt to build any one of them, in the end I chose Escargot by nautical engineer, Phil Thiel, because I liked her lines; she didn’t look like the box that she really was.  Escargot reminds one of the canal boats of Europe and is designed “for use limited to sheltered inland waters.”  Her particulars as designed are as follows:

·       Length: 18' 6"

·       Beam: 6'

·       Height: 4' 6"

·       Weight (empty): 1500 pounds

·       Weight (fully loaded): 2900 lbs.

·       Max. occupancy:  7 persons, 1050 lbs.

·       Max. capacity (people, gear, motor): 1400 lbs.

·       Maximum horsepower:  6 (design states 2-5 HP)

·       Propulsion: 6 HP Tohatsu Sail Pro 4 stroke

·       Shaft length: extra-long (25")

·       Ignition: manual

·       Maximum speed:  5.2 MPH or 4.5 knots

·       Miles per gallon:  10  (full throttle)

·       Gallons per hour:  0.5 (full throttle)

·       The motor is equipped with a 60W (12V, 5A) alternator which I use to charge my two 12V, 35 AH deep cycle marine batteries.  

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The Build

How do you build the Escargot?  Well, upside down in the garage of course!  Her plans call for 7 frames of spruce, pine, and/or fir, sheathed on the sides with 3/8” marine (Meranti) plywood.  The bottom is 1/2” plywood which I covered with one layer of xynole fabric and several layers of epoxy resin with graphite incorporated into the bottom coat for potential abrasion resistance. When the hull was completed, we had a “flipping party” with 12 -16 friends who helped me turn the hull right-side up for completion of the rest of the boat. From start to finish, working part time, the boat took about 4 years (2000 hours) to complete.  

I did make a few modifications to Phil’s original design, but tried to keep any modifications to a minimum.  I increased the overall height by 6 inches to provide slightly more headroom when moving around inside the cabin.  I also placed 2 skegs on the bottom instead of 1 in order to provide a bit more stability should I decide to beach her on a nice sandy shore.  She tracks well and is quite stable in the water.  Her pet peeves, however, are waves and wakes made by wind and mega horsepower motor boats; she prefers calm waters.  A removeable center hatch cover was added to permit standing fully upright.  Finally, I added a mast step and mast partner for sailing, and oarlocks for rowing.  My homemade, laminated, wood mast cracked on my first attempt to sail her and she’s a beast to row but at least those options are available if all else fails. Future plans call for transition from the gasoline outboard to a fully electric outboard, probably either the Torqeedo Cruise 3.0 or the ePropulsion Navy 3.0.

The interior of the boat deserves some mention.  Herb is equipped with a gas stove supplied by a fiberglass safety propane RV tank, sink with hand pump, 5 gallon water containers and hoses, one for clean water and one for gray water, counter space, toilet consisting of a standard toilet seat mounted to a 5 gallon bucket (plans available from Roy Schreyer at www.roydesignedthat.com), Yeti cooler which doubles as a seat, 2 sleeping births in the bow, and a table and seating for 2 which converts to a third sleeping birth in the main cabin.  At 5 foot high in the center, I can’t stand up fully erect without removal of the center hatch cover.  Windows are RV windows with screens; and the doors fore and aft are simple affairs fabricated from plywood.  All in all, it is quite cozy and sufficient for 1 or 2 or 3 people for a couple days and the interior has provided us with comfortable accommodations for the trips we have taken to date.

Building space:  ideally, 20' x 24' or more

Tools:  usual hand tools; table saw, miter saw

Skill level:  beginner - intermediate

Time to complete:  2000 hours (approx.)

Materials:

• Exterior marine-grade plywood

• Sides: 7 mm (3/8") Meranti plywood

• Bottom: 12 mm (1/2") Meranti ply

• Nominal 2x spruce, pine, or fir stock

• All connections glued and screwed

• Epoxy thickened with silica

• Titebond III wood glue

• Stainless steel screws

• Epoxied surfaces painted for UV protection with 2-part LPU paint

• Other surfaces sealed, primed, and finished with marine or deck paint

• Marine spar urethane for wood trim

Frames:  7 frames constructed of 2x spruce, pine, fir on an 8' x 8' assembly table

Windows:  RV or hand-made from wood

Toilet:  5 gal bucket design by Roy Schreyer

Sink:  Heng’s 10" x 13" stainless steel oval

Faucet:  Valterra Rocket Hand Pump

Stove:  Flame King LP Gas Drop-in 2 burner

Refrigerator:  Yeti Tundra 50 quart cooler

Seats:  Bass Pro Shop Tournament Pro

Navigation Lights:  Innovative Lighting 560

Radio:  Uniden UM385 25 Watt VHF

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