How did you get started doing this. Wooden boats in Montana?
Starting with my father and stepfather, teaching me design and everything boats, respectively, I started working on the large wooden boats from Glacier National Park. In 1996 we moved the shop to Livingston, MT and have been in the Paradise Valley working as both a guide and professional boatbuilder since then. We have two 3500 square foot shops housing a woodworking shop, finishing building with downdraft spraybooth, and a CNC machine room.
Here's the boat I spent a lot of time on as a kid: Sinopah
Sinopah was built in 1924 by the Great Northern Railway to take passengers across a couple of big lakes in Glacier National Park. My father ran the boat for 35 years. He taught me to scrape bilges, paint, varnish, tinker, plank, caulk, and generally fix things.
Here's the sad view I had growing up as "boat people" in Montana.
The Two Medicine Valley
The boathouse
It was a tough place to spend time, luckily I was able to do it and maintain my sanity, especially when I was able to bring my own family up there.
But now we are in the Paradise Valley south of Livingston, Mt. and near the banks of the Yellowstone river where we spend as many days as we can.
