Tomorrow, come by the Annual JD Tent Sale for a boatload of great deals on spring commissioning products – but stick around for the entertainment in the tent. Backyard Boat Building TotalBoat Ambassadors, Steve and Alix from the Acorn to Arabella YouTube series, will be with us for the day. We are excited they will … Read More
In our post a few Fridays ago, we shared our Photo Contest winners with you. And with a resounding “WHY???” you asked, must we post the photo album on our Facebook Page. The simple answer is that this blog space doesn’t do a good job of sharing photo albums. Sharing them on Facebook widens the … Read More
Boatwright and YouTuber, Andy Miller, left a lot of people wondering how he would repair the holes in his fiberglass helm station. He wants to reconfigure the layout of his instruments and electronics and needed to start with a clean surface that would allow him to drill new holes wherever they fit best, without being … Read More
Back in Andy Miller’s Boatworks Today boat shop, it’s likely no surprise to see him again up on the bow of his Bertram Moppie. With a few coats of TotalBoat’s TotalFair epoxy based filling and fairing compound, Andy is ready to do the final sanding work and prepare the surface for finish coats of primer and … Read More
With ample time, polyresin and fiberglass applied to the foredeck, Andy Miller’s Bertram Moppie is well on its way to becoming a better boat. The next steps are sanding, filling and fairing the fiberglass weave using an ample coating of TotalFair and the Flexisander Fairing Board. In only two coats of fairing compound, Andy is able … Read More
We’re back on the West Coast in Washington State where experienced boat builder and sailor, Leo Goolden is completely restoring an older English Channel Cutter. “Tally Ho.” Leo knew he had a big project on his hands but wasn’t planning on reframing the whole boat – a project he is halfway through. He is relying … Read More
Andy Miller is back on the foredeck of his Bertram Moppie that is in the midst of it’s second (or more) restoration. Andy is an expert and he knows enough to have doubts about the structural integrity of the deck surrounding the forward hatch. The best repair is one that will last for the rest … Read More
The Atkins ketch Arabella has rounded a corner in her “from-the-ground-up construction. As of this week, Arabella is fully framed, with all of the individual frames steamed and bent into their permanent home. Steve and Alix have been busy arranging for this part of the build as they await a donation of white cedar which … Read More
Back inside Andy Miller’s Boatworks Today boat shop in Wisconsin and the upstate NY boat shed of Scott Smith and his Sea Dreamer Project, are two men hard at work on their dreams. Both dream of warmer days and nights on their boats that will have been lovingly restored in Andy’s case, and home- built … Read More
Andy Miller of the Boatworks Today YouTube channel is back on board his Bertram Moppie today with some advice about how to best fill old screw holes that either need to disappear or might be better off re-drilled and reset. This tends to be a challenge that almost every boat owner will face when you … Read More
Boat maintenance and repair expert and master YouTuber, Andy Miller, is busy in his Wisconsin shop this winter. He’s taken an old Bertram Moppie powerboat (epic yacht, if you ask me and many others) and is redoing someone else’s restoration. Andy knows too much to settle for bouncy decks and thin areas of fiberglass. He’s … Read More
Have you been over to the SeaDreamer Project’s YouTube Channel? Policeman turned Boat Builder, Scott Smith, has been busy building a 41-foot Diesel Duck Trawler for the past two years in his backyard boat shed. As a novice boat builder, Scott has spent these years learning as he goes, finding success and unforeseen challenges, too … Read More
Progress is steady in the Massachusetts backyard boatshop where Arabella is steadily looking more and more ‘yachty’ by the day. With every frame that is installed comes an easier view of the long sweeping sides that will soon bear planks. But before planking can begin, this boatbuilding and video making duo must first prepare … Read More
Woodworking superstar Jimmy Diresta has just completed building his first ever wood strip canoe. Built on a mold that he cut with his CNC machine, Diresta confesses to being “schooled” on this project, challenging his many finely honed woodworking skills and calling on some new ones, as well. Using fiberglass and epoxy resin together for the … Read More
Alix and Steve are building Arabella in their backyard and it’s no small task. They’re arguably at one of the most critical stages of their build, steam bending and installing frames, and like all the other tasks they take on, they have done serious research in advance. Because this is such a monumental moment in … Read More