Episode 22 finds Louis Sauzedde back in the Open Door Boatshop where he is fitting a binder strake to the TotalBoat Sport Dory. With some hollowing, planing, and adjusting, Lou adds this latest plank to the dory with some extra tricks for getting a super tight fit to the bow stem and to the existing plank. … Read More
Today for our backyard boat shop tour, we’re back inside the boat shed of Scott Smith and the Sea Dreamer Project, a home built “Diesel Duck” trawler. Like many of our other favorite YouTube boatbuilders, Scott is finishing up the keel timbers and is excited to finally be adding parts that make his project resemble, well … Read More
It was such a pleasure to host the Acorn to Arabella filmmaking boatbuilders at our Tent Sale a few weeks ago. They were perfect guests, entertaining our customers who were intrigued by their planing work and their amazing story of backyard boatbuilding. They have made excellent progress, considering there is no boat being built quite yet, … Read More
If you can’t make it next Saturday the 14th to our Annual Tent Sale to meet Louis Sauzedde and see the Dory in progress, then we really hope you’ll tune in to watch Lou apply a special kevlar/carbon combo weave onto the bottom of the TotalBoat Sport Dory. Again, reaching for the TotalBoat 2:1 epoxy … Read More
Of course, the Acorn to Arabella boatbuilders, Alix and Steve, had a plan when they poured their nearly 9000-pound lead keel into plywood molds in the ground. The plan was: figure out a way to move it. These ingenious men had no doubt they could move the lead to the crib built in their boathouse. … Read More
There was an amazing buzz after we shared the Acorn to Arabella video of the two talented boatbuilding buddies doing some hard thinking about how to safely pour themselves a nearly 9000-pound lead keel for their Atkins ketch. Because Steve and Alix are building in their backyard, they have to be extra resourceful and thorough … Read More
Today, we welcome guest blog star and TotalBoat Ambassador, Brock Callen. Brock lives on Martha’s Vineyard and sails all over the globe. But his heart thumps fastest when he’s going as fast as possible on water – be it the warm, wavy kind – or more recently, this hard and icy variety. Read all about … Read More
As we patiently wait for Lou Sauzedde’s return (APB! LOU IS OK! He will be back very soon – we promise!) we have been excited to follow along with the Acorn to Arabella crew who are furiously working on the ballast keel for their boatbuilding project. These motivated youth have made great headway on … Read More
Welcome back to Lou’s boat shop and to Episode 13 of Building the TotalBoat Sport Dory. Lou is working on the transom, slowly and precisely adjusting the fit and bevel of the sides and bottom of the wood to fit the false bottom. Using his electric and block planers, he moves slowly to get the … Read More
We’re back with some holiday cheer for you in the way of some Louis Sauzedde that we are certain you’ve been missing. Step back into the Open Door Boatshop and watch as Lou gets ready to install the stem on our TotalBoat Sport Dory. You’ll remember a few weeks back, Lou steamed the first stem piece … Read More
Congrats to our 2 TotalBoat Ambassadors, Charlie Enright and Nick Dana, who have just thrown down an impressive victory in the seven boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Sure, it’s just the first leg, but what better way to start a long, 11-leg, round the World race than by crushing the competition out of the gate. … Read More
Calling all fans of our resident shipwright, Louis Sauzedde. While Lou is taking a break to catch up with the TotalBoat Sport Dory building this week, we are taking you back to check out our collection of How-To Videos featuring Louis. We have been working with Louis and his video team for years and while … Read More
TotalBoat Ambassadors Kent and Audrey Lewis from Small Boat Restoration in Florida did a great blog post about how to patch a hole in fiberglass. These pesky holes happen from time to time when boats are hit or damaged and a large hole is left in your otherwise smooth fiberglass hull. There is an “easy” … Read More
In Episode 3, Lou is getting into the math and measurements that will determine the shape and size of the TotalBoat Sport Dory. By using and transferring measurements from the table of offsets that he created, he is able to loft the dory at full size right on his temporary table, so he won’t have … Read More
Episode 2 finds Lou at a bigger lumber yard that he refers to as more of a “production” yard where he is seeking more White Oak for the TotalBoat Sport Dory. Last week’s band mill was much smaller than this week’s rotary mill where Lou continues to find the perfect pieces of lumber for his … Read More