Thanks for letting me come aboard. I'm just getting back into boat building, so I'm looking forward to sharing ideas with everybody. To tell you a little bit about me, I live in New Iberia, La. I grew up on boats, I'm a sailor at heart. I run a crawfish pond and shrimp boat during their respective seasons.
My first boat project was a restoration of a 1958 14' teak Yellowjacket (Jean Autry boats built in Houston in the 50's) when I was 15. That was a while back in 1976.
My current project is a 35' Laffite skiff trawler. I'm going to start laying the keel this weekend. I'll post pictures and some of my construction techniques as work progresses. Originally these boats were built of wood, then fiberglass over wood, but nowdays most all are of fiberglass construction.
I was going go with fiberglass over wood, but I met a man from Morgan City a few days ago and he showed me something new. Its called Enviro-Shield. They have been using it on oil field equipment. Its lighter than fiberglass, and virtually indestuctable.
If you want to take a look at what my wife and I do for a hobby go to sail.to/captainscottsplace
Hey that's cool... We'll start a "Follow-the-Build" page for you if you can keep the updates comming... Sounds like a great project... Do you have a pic of the a similar craft finshed or a plan drawing? It would be good to add...
ReplyDeleteThis is a trawler similar to the ones we are building. We just started laying the keel May 28. Here's a cad drawing of our boat.
ReplyDeleteCool Beans... We have some similar pics in our Bayou Boats Photo Album. Not quite as big I don't think. The following pic is supposed to be Laffite Skiff's for inland waters. Catching Shrimp has to be hard work. Whats the measurment and how much do you catch in a season (approx.)? -Kruez-
ReplyDeleteOver the years the hulls have been redesigned for specific purposes, but the theory remains the same. They were designed with flat bottoms to be able to get from the bayou to the bays quickly, and to be able to shrimp in the shallow water of the marshes here in Louisiana. My average cactch per day is about 400 - 600 lbs. And it is hard work at times, and its like I tell people that want to get into the business... Your heart has to be in it or you won't make it. As for me I was born with salt water in my veins. I operate a crawfish pond from mid-October - May, and then when shrimp season opens, I'm out there. Word got around that I was going to build this boat and now I have a waiting list, so I'm building a website at Captain Scott's Shipyard. I started laying the keel yesterday, so I,ll be sending some pics soon. I'm really glad I found your site, I've already learned a couple of new tricks. Thanks.
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