Building the TotalBoat Work Skiff: Installing the Lift Rails

Welcome back to you and to superstar shipwright, Louis Sauzedde, who needed a long winter’s nap to stock up energy for finishing off the TotalBoat Work Skiff. We are past half-way and are about to see Lou attach pieces to the boat that are vital to a stable, dry ride and a smart looking work boat. Runners and lift rails are key for good tracking, especially in a following sea, and for nice lift up forward, out of the waves. Knees, gunnel caps and inwales will be installed and then comes our favorite part: paint, and lots of it!  Step back into Lou’s workshop and join us for Episode 24.

Lou’s Q&A session garnered a lot of great questions and comments. It reinforced our belief that you, our customers and followers, are watching and taking serious notes. Lou’s “Old Man Method” of Hang Over and Cut Off, is not that of a novice looking to avoid complicated measurements, it’s a method that speaks to experience. If it’s “measure twice, cut once,” with Lou’s method it’s “just cut it! Once!” Seems to be a failsafe way to get the perfect cut every time. And with this and other little tips like it, Lou’s boat building techniques will likely get some serious traction and perhaps even a place in the history books.

We hope to hear about a lot of you taking this video series and building your own skiff. Without plans to follow on paper, but with a serious how-to video series in your back pocket, we hope you will take on a boat building project of your own that uses his methods and applies them to your own personal preferences. Your skiff could be shorter, use bronze fasteners, have a mahogany transom or be made out of popsicle sticks to start! Apply these lessons to your own projects and show us how you do. Young or old, the Old Man’s Method will likely outlive us all, as will the skiffs and projects we all build.

Leave a comment