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David Ryan

David Ryan is a boat builder and USCG licensed master captain. He is the owner of Sailing Montauk and skipper of Montauk''s charter sailing catamaran MON TIKI You can follow him on Twitter @CaptDavidRyan

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14 Responses

  1. Tod Kelly says:

    I have trouble with the comparatively easy task of fixing a broken window, so I would be an awful hire.  But I have to confess the lure of “I built that!” to such a thing of beauty gives me chills.Report

    • David Ryan in reply to Tod Kelly says:

      My first boat was a Bolger Teal, which came together on my patio over a weekend in 1999, and which a named for one of my wife’s cats, Lil’Winnie.

      Our first outing was my wife, who was quite pregnant with our first daughter, and our dog, a Newfoundland, all gliding across Lake Montauk in a boat I had made with my own two hands.

      Given the ease of the build, the vast feeing of satisfaction was overwhelmingly unearned, but vastly enjoyable none the less.Report

      • Stillwater in reply to David Ryan says:

        Do you have any experience building river boats? I’ve always wanted to build my own dory. Tips/suggestions/advice?Report

        • Stillwater in reply to Stillwater says:

          Btw, I should add that I haven’t commented on some of these posts because I’m awestruck by both the size and coolness of the project. This is some really awe-inspiring stuff!Report

        • David Ryan in reply to Stillwater says:

          First:

          The thing that’s really cool about boat building is that all the hard work is already done for you. On this 38 foot cat, every part is specified down to the millimeter, both for size and for where it aligns with each adjoining part. All you have to do is follow the plans. (By contrast, making film is like making a (big) boat where you have a handful of sketches on a napkin, and then you make the plans as you build the boat. Harrowing!)

          RE: River dories.

          I lived in Oregon and spent a lot of time on the Rogue, Umqua, and MacKinzie rivers. These boats are characterized by a lot of rocker for quick manuevering and a lot of bearing/flair forward for lots of reserve buoyance going through rapids. It’s a very distinctive design, evolved to where/how it’s used. This is one of the very coolest things about boat design, far more variety of uses/conditions, so much bigger variety of designs as compared to (for example) things that run on paved roads.

          Any way, the design is *extremely* well suited to plywood/epoxy/glass or aluminum panel construction, and plywood/epoxy/glass panel construction is really easy to learn, and makes light, strong, seaworthy boat. (Mon Tiki is plywood/epoxy/glass). Start here:

          http://www.dhdriftboats.com/driftBoatPlans.htmlReport

          • Ziggy Freud and Carl Jung in reply to David Ryan says:

            David, any chance you have any thing to do with ultralight trikes?   I’m planning on going out west to buy one and then flying it back here in Michigan. Very excited-somehow boats and these flying machines seem to intersect.  Just curious.Report

          • Stillwater in reply to David Ryan says:

            David, thanks for the link. I’ve been drooling over the photos for a while now, plotting and scheming for first foray. I like the little drift boat design a lot. It’s a very sexy vessel.Report

            • David Ryan in reply to Stillwater says:

              Consider this:

              Before we bought our house I had never handled a circular saw. Through boat building I have gradually built up a set of skills and tools that not only allow me to build boats, but have also allowed me to replace doors and windows on our house, cut holes in walls and install new doors and windows, rip out to the studs and re-build both bathrooms including all plumbing and wiring, rip out to bare walls and rebuild our kitchen, including everything except the fabrication and installation of the countertop. Aside from that countertop, the only work we’ve ever paid to have done on our house was a new roof and the installation of a new furnace.

              If you have any of these skills/tools already, you are already way way ahead of where I started. If you don’t, then this isn’t just your first boat you’re consideration; it’s the first step into a new relationship with your possessions.Report

  2. Ellinoz says:

    Who’s doing your upholstery? I do an excellent job of piped box cushions. Buttoned or unbuttoned.Report

    • David Ryan in reply to Ellinoz says:

      Most of the upholstery is down in the cabins, which are not public spaces on the boat in her roll as a daysailer, so cushion-making (buttoned or unbuttoned) is down on the list of priorities.

      Sailrite makes very excellent sail kits for almost any boat, including the Wharram Tiki line, and sewing from one of their kits saves quite a bit of money. If someone on the crew is handy with needle and thread, and time permits, we’ll probably sew our own.Report

  3. North says:

    That there is one sweet lookin lady.Report

  4. Kolohe says:

    Man, if this were two years from now, I’d totally be there.Report

  5. Patrick Cahalan says:

    Stupid question:

    How are you going to get her out of that building?  The door don’t look big enough 🙂Report