That's the One. I think a "Real Tom Kaarhus boat." Not sure,
but also old plans I found my plans in a Clackamas Library.
Just photocopies of them. I copied them and built from them. Frames
and Ply cuts on them, but not very much detail.
Great boat, even though it looks a little funny, and you have to
remember which end is "Front" for different uses.
As a "Drift Boat" is go down "Stern" first, so if you come to any
big waves, you have to kind of turn slightly so you hit them with
a "pointy corner" of the stern, but "Stern" much higher than "Bow"
which is what makes it look funny, but works great.
Used as lake row boat, or low HP power boat, it goes "Pointy end"
first, with take-out cut out for motor in "Square Stern" (fat end)
Some details in stern make mine a better "Drift Boat" (Slight upturn
in last foot of bottom, so it does not plane very well, but does
not get hung up on rocks, and rows better.
Ray Heater (was at the Depoe Bay Show, and builder of Roger
Fletcher's "Double Ender McKenzie River Boat") has been building
beautiful ones for a long time. He has pictures of his planing,
so either has different bottom, or some kind of majic, and knowing
Ray I think it could be the latter.
http://www.riverstouch.com/woodrow.html
The "Rapid Robert is one of the Original McKenzie River Square
Stern drift boats. You can see picture on Roger Fletcher's site
http://www.riverstouch.com/

Many nice things about the boat. With motor, and deep stern, real
"Load Carrier" can literally carry a ton of camping gear.
As "Drift Boat" will seat two in the Stern (downriver end), plus
oarsman in middle,(with adjustable seat and two sets of oar lock
sockets) although rows better with just one in the stern.
If you want to beach it you just row up on the beach, stern first,
and remove the "Take out" for the motor in the stern, and step out.
Just like a little door, but not as good as "Ramp" on GP-16.
GP-16 (18)is going to be cool. Real "Landing Craft"

Can hardly wait till I can get it going. Probably not 'till
Fall or Winter, (Always seem to be cold when I decide to build
a boat, so I have to fight the epoxy) but thinking about not
glassing it, (I hate working with glass) and putting on replacable
bottom layer of ply, with a coat of epoxy "Drift boat" bottom paint,
or more likly just a few coats of good latex, and just fix the dings
and replace the sarificial bottom when it gets too bad.
I plan to use it pretty hard, and run it up on some beaches that
may not be very kind.
Camping boat, but still have not figured out sleeping area without
having to set up "Boom Tent" as drawn.
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~robruce/page1.htm (Ausie Builder of One)
See you sometime, somewhere.

I have several good pictures my Son took at Depoe Bay.
Some that are not already shown. I can scan them, but how do I get
them to the Depoe Bay page?

Keep in touch

Pat Patteson
Molalla, Oregon


--- In MessaboutW@e..., jhkohnen@b... wrote:

Pat-

Good story! I know there are plenty of good cops out there

somewhere, but

too often the ones I encounter seem to have joined the force

because they

like wearing uniforms and pushing people around. :o( Ooops! That's

probably

too close to politics!

Is your Rapid Robert a real Tom Kaarhus boat? An old girlfriend

used to be

roomates with Tom's grandaughter, but Tom had already passed on by

then.

His son (her father, now gone himself) had some good stories to

tell about

the boatshop though. While poking through the boatbuilding section

at the

Eugene library a while ago I stumbled upon a thin volume containing

plans

for a Rapid Robert! I'm not sure I've ever seen one in person,

unless it

was back when I was a sprout and not yet boat aware. I've got a

bookcase my

dad had Tom make years ago. had no idea that that guy who came to

measure

the space for the bookcase was anybody special...

I wouldn't be surprised if somebody's caught a flounder in Yaquina

Bay.

Many, many years ago I caught a flounder while trolling for

bluebacks way

up behind Duncan Island on the Siuslaw! It was delicious. <g>

On Fri, 08 Jun 2001 16:13:18 -0000, Pat wrote:

...
Have to see how "Healing" goes. Would like to bring over old
"Rapid Robert"
...

Mid July at Yaquina Bay sounds good to me.
Crabs there then? Yum!
I heard somebody caught a flouder in there. Truth or fiction?

--
John <jkohnen@b...>
http://www.boat-links.com/
Nobody ought to wear a Greek fisherman's hat unless they meet two

conditions:

1. He is a Greek
2. He is a Fisherman <Roy Blount Jr.>

Pat-

By "real Tom Kaarhus boat" I meant one built by Tom himself, yours is a
"real Pat Patteson boat". <g> The plans you found at the Clackamas library
sound like the same ones I found at the Eugene library. The Rapid Robert
design sounds like a much better all-around boat than the narrow-transom
McKenzie River boats, they're pretty worthless for anything but running
fast rivers, despite Don Hill's promotion of them for everything. Of course
the narrow-transom boats run fast rivers very well.

Eugene-area boatbuilder John McCallum (he with the proa at the Dexter
messabout) has designed a drift boat based on the old steamboat yawls,
which he says were among the first boats used to run the McKenzie. He built
a prototype, and reports that it worked very well, but needed two oarsmen.
Interesting stuff. I don't know if he mentions the yawl in his pages:

http://www.teleport.com/~boatshop

Scan the Depoe Bay pictures and then try putting them into a new folder in
the list's files section. Then I'll put a link to them onto my Depoe Bay
photo page. If you size the images at about 700 pixels across they'll be
big enough to view easily, then if you set JPEG to compress them to around
40K they won't take up much space and should still look good enough.

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what
you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. <Mark Twain>

Was informed by Yahoo that I am guilty of "Bouncing E-mail" and my
posting privilidges had been revoked. This condition apparently is
akin to having the "black plague". Not sure what happened but
according to John K. my ISP must have had some problems. Anyway I
am posting this message as a test to see whether I am now back in
Yahoo's good graces and amongst the living.

John Thorpe.

I was very interested in building a Rapid Robert (RR), back when I was in
full conversation with Roger Fletcher and Ray Heater at the Depoe Bay boat
fest. There's some great history. I actually wanted to build a
spruce-planked rapid robert, the kind that Veltie Pruitt and Prince Helfrich
used on their first journey down the Smith (a trib of the McKenzie). I had
a dream of doing an OPB special on the driftboat, split into three parts,
the first is the boatbuilding part, the second is the historical, and the
third would be the adventure part where the completed boat would get dragged
up (supposedly three miles through old growth) to the top of the Smith
recreating the first journey back in the 30's, I think. Well, as usual, my
bubble was burst when I found out that half of the Smith is damned up.
We'll see, maybe some day I will still try something like that. Roger
thought it sounded kind of fun and interesting, but I got the feeling that
Ray thought it was a pretty silly idea, the part about building a planked
driftboat, (leaky and heavy). Oh well

Also, the Greg Tatman pram has the same, or nearly the same, transom as the
RR. The lines look very similar, even the bow, if it existed, following
the sheer and the chines, would have the same goofy shape as the RR.

I just found some old copies of Woodenboat at Smith's Family Bookstore and I
bought them thinknig that I did not recognize the covers, meaning that I
didn't already have them. Oops, well I did have them, all five of them. I
can't beleive I don't know all the covers of all the woodenboats. Just
kidding. Next time, I need to have my list of missing issues in my back
pocket.

I also got Roy Underhill's 1981 book, "The Woodwright's Shop", it's much
like the country woodcraft book. It's great and there is a picture of Mr.
Underhill froeing a white oak log of significant length, but the diameter is
no where near Gardner's sandal-wearing Roman. I think Mr. Underhill needs
some sandals.

Jack - where did you get that book you mentioned awhile ago about the
Atlantic dory adventure?

I'll scan in and post the plans I have.

Funny looking boat. 18' double ender drift boat with 4' cut off bow.
But still all the room. Goes backwards.

Pretty simple boat. Just have to make "Forms' to hold everything
in place till you get it together. 3/4 particle board frames.
Don't cut them up like I did, so you can build another one.

I built mine with 3/8 luane sides, and 1/2 bottom.
Didn't even put in full ribs except in middle.

If I were to do it again, I would use 1/4 sides, with rock guards
on the outside and maybe 1/2" bottom, but I might go with good 3/8.
Did break the ply and glass on mine when I hit a big rock side on.
But my fualt. Not the boat. Anything can get brocken.

I glassed the heck out of mine, but the glass has been the biggest
pain in the butt. Built it when it was cold, so epoxy did not set.

Had to rip big chuncks of bottom glass off and replace.

Glass on gunnals and sheer have come loose. Ugly

Build it light and cheap. No Glass. Half the wieght.
Certainly not fancy. Just Paint it with latex, or if you must,
put a coat of "Drift Boat" epoxy paint on the bottom.

Very nice boat, but would build it to use, not to show.

Build them the way Ray does.

Epoxy all the flat surfaces befor putting together, with no "Glass".

Or as I sugested, no epoxy, just paint, and light.
Might want to decide if you ever want to put a motor on it.
A lot easier without cutout in stearn.

Fish catcher.

I'll post "Plans"

Contact me if you want to build one. I'll fill you in on all the
little deatails.

Pat Patteson
Molalla, Oregon

I had a great day messing about on Dorena yesterday all by myself. Oh well,
they can't all work out. I still think Dorena would be a good spot for a
messabout. I stayed over Friday night, and my new old van/motorhome was
quite comfortable, I'm happy it's joined the family.

I met a Weekender builder at Baker Bay and invited him to join us (you
here Jeff?). I'd never seen a Weekender in the flesh, it looked pretty
good. Some boats have character naturally, and some boats are "character
boats" that _try_ to have character. I'm afraid that I've always thought of
the Weekender as a character boat. The one I saw yesterday didn't disabuse
me of that notion, but perhaps it softened me up a little. The trouble is
that I just like boats! I wear my heart on my sleeve. <g>

The big dory that lives at Dorena is a carvel planked(!) replica of the
Italian fishing dory in Chapelle's American Small Sailing Craft, a design
I'd long admired. She's a nice boat, but Pickle passed her like she was
standing still. :O) But the dory had the excuse that she was towing her
tender, which is indeed a Redmond Wisp (or is that Whisp?).

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
If perfection were needed for friendship the world
would be a wilderness for our love. <Thomas Jefferson>

An ad at the end of the boating classifieds this weekend caught my eye, it
sounded like a boat I'd seen before, an old, old 15' launch with a 4 1/2
horse Graymarine 2-stroke-- and sure enough:

http://www.boat-links.com/DepoeBay/01/GrayMarine-2.jpg

http://www.boat-links.com/DepoeBay/01/GrayMarine-1.jpg

It was hopeless, as soon as I touched her I had to have her, so now she's
mine. <g> I'm sure Richard Mitsch is going to hate me. <g> I paid
considerably less than was being asked at Depoe Bay. Now I've _really_ got
to get that shop up in my back yard! I've wanted one of those old
one-lungers for decades, and this one comes with a nice little boat!

I invited the launch's PO, Rich Covely of Eugene, to join us.

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
A paranoid is a man who knows a little of what's going on.
<William Burroughs>

John Thorpe forwarded a message to me from Warren Jordan in which he
mentions some possibilities for Yaquina Bay messing about:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not really familiar with Alsea Bay and its possibilities for
launching/beaching, but I know it is a very popular area for recreational
boating....as long as you are watchful of the tides, since shoalwater is
the rule there.

I mainly play in Yaquina Bay at Newport where there are launches at South
Beach Marina and Sawyer's Landing and some good backwaters for exploration
in the upper reaches around McCaffrey and Pooles Sloughs. Keep me informed
of your activities and maybe I can join you in the future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I've put a map of Yaquina Bay in the files section. The location of
Sawyer's Landing is just a wild guess. I'll be passing through there next
week, and will scout around a bit.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MessaboutW/files/YaquinaMap.jpg

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
I Can't take a well-tanned person seriously. <Cleveland Amory>

My only comment on using the South Bay launch site is that those of
us without "mechanical power" might have a problem getting out of the
marina and into the bay. When leaving the launch ramp, one must
negotiate quite a narrow stip of water bounded by the marina on one
side and land on the other. If the wind is right probably would be
OK, but if not, could be a real bummer, both in leaving and returning.

Would be interseted in any comments. Am I being overly cautious?

John T.

Perhaps we should start discussing a date for the Yaquina Bay messabout.
I'll put in a bid for the 14th of July, a Saturday, for no reason other
than that it's in the middle of the month.

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
There are two means of refuge from the misery of life - music and cats.
<Albert Schweitzer>

what about oars? You do have oars don't you?

Bryn-

A sailboat can be a handful to row if the wind is strong. Believe me, I've
tried it. The windage from the rig not only makes for harder work just to
get ahead if you're going to windward, it also can catch the wind and make
the bow sheer off-- if you're trying to go straight upwind the bow may go
in either direction, seemingly at random! Lowering the centerboard helps
some, but then you've got to drag that around. We're doing this for fun,
remember? ;o)

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
"Necessity is the mother of invention" is a silly proverb.
"Necessity is the mother of futile dodges" is much nearer the truth.
<Alfred North Whitehead>

I do have visions of doing the Inside Passage with only a two-person Dory
and no sailing rig. I am fairly clueless when it comes to rowing with a
sailing rig.

John: We could make July 14 work. Negotiating the "L" channel after launch is a problem. We will have our 4hp in the dory well; so one solution is to tow the sailboats a bit.

Jack

I think we can make July 14-15.
I've got a Dr's appointment on the 12th to see if the bone graft
"Took" or whether I have to put my neck back on the chopping block,
but should be able to make it if all OK.
Not sure which boat to bring. Would still like to bring Rapid Robert.
With it's 15 Seaponies should be able to do some tow work.
(We both even got the New Motor Boat licenses befor the Deadline.)
And bring "Boat Box" delivery truck.
If not, will be the "Toad" on the Subaru again, and I can carry it
even in the shape I'm in. It holds the two of us very cozily, but
won't be able to negotiate much rough water or long distances.

Keep us informed. Sounds like fun.

Pat Patteson
Molalla, Oregon


--- In MessaboutW@e..., "Jack & Maggie Brown" <mjbrown@c...> wrote:

John: We could make July 14 work. Negotiating the "L" channel

after launch is a problem. We will have our 4hp in the dory well; so
one solution is to tow the sailboats a bit.

Jack
----- Original Message -----
From: jhkohnen@b...
To: MessaboutW@y...
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 6:39 PM
Subject: [MessaboutW] Yaquina Bay Messabout Date


Perhaps we should start discussing a date for the Yaquina Bay

messabout.

I'll put in a bid for the 14th of July, a Saturday, for no reason

other

than that it's in the middle of the month.

--
John <jkohnen@b...>
http://www.boat-links.com/
There are two means of refuge from the misery of life - music

and cats.

<Albert Schweitzer>



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Bryn-

Have you read the account that was published in Small Boat Journal by the
young fellow who rowed single-handed up the inside passage in a Swampscott
dory? On another occasion he and his girlfriend circumnavigated Vancouver
Island in the same boat, and he also wrote about that trip for SBJ. I'll
rummage around and see if I can find those issues.

Somewhere recently I heard about this book:

DeArmond, Robert N. A Voyage in a Dory : From Sitka to Tacoma by Oars, Sail
and Tow Rope (Sitka : Arrowhead Press, 1999) 88 pp., paper, $13.95 +
postage, ISBN 1929292007, available from Hearthside Books, 8745 Glacier
Hwy, Juneau AK 99801, 1-800-478-1000. The Southeast Alaska historian
describes his 1931 adventure.

Per: http://www.library.state.ak.us/hist/somebooks/some99.html

Sounds like a good read. Then of course there's Row to Alaska by WInd and
Oar, or something like that, about a mature couple who row and sail a dory
to Alaska. You see it advertised in the back of MAIB. I've got it around
here somewhere...

You'll notice that the old-time sailing and rowing boats had a rig that was
easy to take down if they were going to be rowed when there was wind. Often
they'd strike the rig and row upwind rather than tacking under sail. They
wouldn't try that with the rig up!

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
"Necessity is the mother of invention" is a silly proverb.
"Necessity is the mother of futile dodges" is much nearer the truth.
<Alfred North Whitehead>

More info from Warren Jordan (he designed my boat
http://www.jordanwoodboats.com/):

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sawyer's Landing is a nice little marina about 5 miles up the north bay
road from Newport. They have a hoist launch and a little store and docks
and campground facilities...very cozy place.

Criteser's only has a marine railways for haulout and repair, but no launch
facilities, as far as I know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I sort of favor having the messabout up the bay a ways. The wind would
probably be steadier and stronger near South Beach, but Sawyer's Landing is
close to a couple of interesting looking backwaters to explore. It sounds
like a nice place too. I'll check it out next week. It's just about where
my guess put it on the map in the files section.

The tides for July 14 are pretty much neaps with a low high tide at about
7:30 in the morning at Yaquina (near Sawyer's Landing), a low tide at about
1:15 and then a higher high tide at about 8:00 in the evening. Perhaps not
the best for exploring shallow sloughs, but the currents shouldn't be too
strong.

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell by
Dickens without laughing. <Oscar Wilde>

I have not. That sounds great. I do think I saw the article in SBJ. I
picked up a bunch of them at a garage sale awhile ago. I have always wanted
to at least cruise around the sound in a two person dory, to Alaska is
another adventure, one that would take some training.

Good looking books. Bytheway, I know WB, and I know SBJ, but MAIB?

Bryn-

You don't know MAIB!? That's Messing About In Boats, THE periodical for
boat nuts like us. $24 for 24 issues (about twice a month) from:

Messing About In Boats
29 Burley Street
Wenham, Massachusetts 01984

Bob Hicks (publisher)
(978) 774-0906

Can you make it to Yaquina Bay on the 14th of July?

--
John <jkohnen@boat-links.com>
http://www.boat-links.com/
A paranoid is a man who knows a little of what's going on.
<William Burroughs>