I read or heard a quote many years ago that "Until a man raises a son and builds a boat his life is not complete". I could bore you with the details of my boat building endeavors over the years but I won't, I will say this after being a boat "addict" and a reader of Duckworks for many years, "Most of you reading this have forgotten more than I know about boat building".

You may be contemplating a boat building project yourself, you've drooled all over your keyboard looking at plans and the projects of others looking for that "perfect" boat. My ideal of a "perfect" boat is an easily built, inexpensive, no frills, "meets my needs" sort of boat. My oldest son had an interest in a wooden boat to be used for fishing the calm gator filled waters of Florida, a deep/high sided, stable platform in which to engage the "big ones".

While satisfying my craving for "The Boat", I found the plans online for this punt, shazam! The "Perfect" boat, five sheets of plywood, a few board feet of finished lumber, lookout Mr. Bass, Bluegill, Crappie, and Catfish!

A few exchanged e-mails with my son and the build was on! A trip to a not so local home improvement store and my "boat kit" was loaded in the pickup and on the way to the backyard. I did mention that this was a shoestring budget build didn't I? Exterior plywood, sheet rock screws, Titebond III and a new saw blade. Total thus far $123.34 Tools ? A skill saw, grinder, hand drill, countersinks and a lot of "wishing" I had a real garage and tools! The transom, bow and frames drawn out full size, assembled frames, and the sides cut out.

Sides

Assembly of sides, transom, and the bow

Installing the bottom

Seats installed, starting to look like a boat

Bottom and sides glassed

My helper and grandson Andrew Wow! This is a BIG boat!

Interior primed and painted

Exterior painted with a two part marine paint

Rub rails on

Loaded and headed south!

Oak cleats to be installed

Several days of wet weather and dropping temperatures delayed the build, I could have used another week of time to take care of some of the "details", but as I told one observer this is a "Chevy", not a "Cadillac". The fiberglass, Polyester resin, and Angel Hair Filler was the most expensive part of the build. The entire exterior was glassed with 10 oz cloth, the interior seams were sealed / glued / filleted with angel hair "bondo" covered with a layer of 10 oz cloth and 3/4 oz mat.

The interior was primed and painted with a high quality exterior paint; the exterior received two coats of a high quality two part marine paint. Total cost for materials about $550.00 and about 60 hours of labor. The boat will be kept indoors in a garage protected from the elements, and will powered by a 3.0 Sears Gamefisher. Launch date set for January or February of 2013.

More Pics Here.