I had dreamed of owning my own boat for many years. I owned a canoe which I used in fresh and salt water almost daily in central Florida way back in the eighties and nineties. But I really wanted a boat I could easily fish in the flats of the Banana River, Mosquito Lagoon, or in Lake Tohopolega, or out in the Atlantic Ocean far off shore in search of Blue Fish, Spanish and King Mackerel, Red Fish, Tuna, and Dolphin or Mahi-Mahi.
Then in the late 90’s I moved to California, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Here I found the ocean conditions rough and tumble most of the year, and water and wind too big and uncomfortable. For years I went fishing with my friend Rick B. and Whitebear on their Seaswirl Stripers. These are fine offshore fishing boats, but for me I desired something a bit more personal and not factory made.
And so I started thinking that I could build my own boat. Crazy idea but I’m trained as an artist, and I have very often set my sight on lofty goals. Did a lot of research and thought I wanted to build an outboard powered dory. But I changed my mind when reading how slow dory’s can be and how tippy. Since I wanted to fish and crab for Dungeness crab, and CoonStripe Shrimp on the ocean, I wanted a boat with good handling characteristics in a following sea as well as an oncoming and quarter sea, and it needed to be very stable at rest. The bow needed to be turned up for large swells and big wind waves and chop, and it needed reserve buoyancy for when I really loaded the boat up with fuel and ice for Tuna fishing.
And then one day I stumbled upon a book called a A Skiff for All Seasons, by Renn Tolman. This book was wooden boat plans in book form! The author assumed you’d never built an epoxy and fiberglass encapsulated, marine grade plywood off shore fishing boat. He very clearly teaches you the basics of using these materials, and step by step goes through the process of building a diy wooden fishing boat.
I decided this was the boat. Fast forward a few years, and you can see my progress on this Tolman Skiff boat project
You can also check many other Wooden Boat Projects in the links below. Most of these projects are of the four different kinds of Tolman Skiffs.
- Some keywords to help the search engines and boat building enthusiasts find us.
- Renn Tolman
- Tolman Skiff
- Wooden Boat
- Wooden Boat Projects
- Wooden Boat Plans
- DIY Boat Plans
- Build your own Wooden Boat
- Stitch and Glue
- Tack and Tape
- Wooden Boat Plans in book form
- Skiff Plans
- Offshore fishing boat plans
- build your own offshore fishing boat
- scarfing
- lofting
- boating forum
- boat building forum
- wooden boat building forum
Tolman Skiff Seabright
Other Boat Projects
Articles
- Bob Lanham’s – Vacuum Packer
- Renn Tolman – Becharof Adventure
- Bruce Armstrong – Canadian Adventure 2003
- Bruce Armstrong – Canadian Adventure 2007
- Bruce Armstrong – Alaskan Adventure – Homer Wooden Boat Show
- Bruce Armstrong – Alaskan Adventure – Homer Wooden Boat Show Version2
- Trailer Boat Magazine: Kevin Bedoe’s Tolman Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Tolman Skiff Builder’s Shops
- How to Build Your Own Boat Trailer – trailer.pdf
- Tolman Tips – From the Tolman Group
- Suzuki DF140 SetUp_Manual_2.pdf (file download)
- Groundfish, a Case Study – groundfish.pdf (file download)
- Process Sashimi Grade Tuna – Sashimi.pdf (file download)
- Asbury Park Press – Nolan’s Ark
- Audio Interview of Renn Tolman (halfway through)
- Kevin Beddoe Article – Duckworks Magazine
- Bruce Armstrong’s Review of A Skiff For All Seasons
- Bob Southwick’s 2005 Trip to Homer
- How to Catch Shrimp
- How to Rig a Shrimp Trap
- San Francisco Bay Coffee Roasters
- eTrade is Evil
- Curtis Hanson – Tolman Skiff Widebody (for sale!) New!
- How to Catch Shrimp
- DIY Boat Building
- Wooden Boat Building
- Stitch and Glue Boat Building
- Wooden Boat Plans
- Wooden Skiff Plans
- Curtis Hanson – Tolman Skiff Widebody New Images (for sale!) New!
- Wooden Skiffs For Sale
- Protoco Crab Trap
- Danielson Crab Trap
- Shrimp Recipes
- Prawn Recipes
- Shrimp are tasty little critters
- An Early Example of a flat bottomed Tolman Skiff
Tolmanskiff Tolman Skiff Standard
- Neil Andrews – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Widebody, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Bruce Armstrong – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Kevin Beddoe – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Kevin Beddoe’s – Personal Tolman Skiff Website
- Jon Berger – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Bob Casler – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Brian Fagan – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Jeff Hazelwood – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Dave Lambert – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Dave Morgan – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Joe Nelson – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Todd Powell – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Steve Reed – Tolman Skiff Standard-For Sale!
- Richard Seagraves – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Jim Shula – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Renn Tolman
- Phil Walker – Tolman Skiff Standard
- Dave Wright – Tolman Skiff Standard
Tolmanskiff Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Tom Anderson – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Neil Andrews – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Widebody, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Doug Buescher – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Nicola Caria – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Jim Crawford – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- David Dobler – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Charlie Gieseker – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Paul Hail – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Curtis Hanson – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Doug Huvar – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Gary Kendall Widebody – For Sale!
- Adam Kondrashoff – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Glenn McLain – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- David Nolan – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- John O’neil’s – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Gary Porter – Tolman Skiff Widebody(s)
- Mike Schlechter – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Ben Stuart – Tolman Skiff Widebody – For Sale!
- Mike Rudolf – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Russ Taylor – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Renn Tolman
- Liam Tovey – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- James White – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- JIm Wilcox – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Ron Williams – Tolman Skiff Widebody
- Friedhelm Wurfel – Tolman Skiff Widebody
Tolmanskiff Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Neil Andrews – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Widebody, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Kevin Beddoe – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Steve Bolton – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Walter Bovich – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Ray Brown – Tolman Skiff Jumbo w/diesel
- Kenneth Chace – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Stephen Dampier – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Brian Dixon – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Russ Dodd – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Kenneth Dodson – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Aaron Enstad – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Craig Floerchinger – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Jerry Johnson – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- David Klistoff – Tolman Skiff Jumbo 25′
- Bob and Bruce Lanham – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Stephen Mailloux – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Charley Martin-Berry – 26’Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Jesse Morgan – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Paul Nelson – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- David Nolan – Super Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Jim O’Meara – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Fletcher Poole – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Neal Schlee – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Richard Seagraves – Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Bob Southwick (Walk-N-Bob) – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Bob Southwick (Walk-N-Bob) – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project
- K’ Marie’s Adventures
- K’ Marie’s Adeventures
- K’ Marie’s Adventures
- K’ Marie’s Adventures
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project step 1
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project step 2
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 1
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 2
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 3
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- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 54
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- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 68
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- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 81
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- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 95
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 112
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- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 139
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 141
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- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 147
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 151
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 153
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 156
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 161
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 164
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 167
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page 169
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page Mayday
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page delaminate
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page beddoe bow
- WalknBob’s Tolman Skiff project page big view
- Robert Strawbridge – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Robert Strawbridge – Tolman Skiff Jumbo – Personal Site
- Renn Tolman
- Martin Wagner – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Mike Wagner – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- JIm Ward – Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- plywood stitch and glue
- stitch and glue (tack and tape) skiff
- stitch and glue boat designs
- Marine Grade Plywood Test
Dampier’s Wooden Tolman Skiff Jumbo Boat Build and Adventure Installments
- Build the Tolman Skiff Transom and Saw Horses
- Scarfing Bottom Panels and Boat Canopy
- Lofting and Heating Up Crystallized Epoxy
- Fairing the Shelves (Gunnels)
- Stiching and Gluing the Bottom Panels
- Scraping Fiberglass and Chine Shelves
- Routing Slots for Chine Shelves and Gluing up the Botom
- Glassing the Bottom of the Tolman Skiff Jumbo
- Finishing Bottom, and Begin the Framing
- Installing the Bowstem, and Fitting the Stringers
- Fitting the Bottom to the Stringers
- Glue Stringers to Transom
- Glue Bottom to Stringers
- Scarfing Side Panels
- Port Side Panel Installed
- Starboard Side Panel Installed
- Taping Bottom and Sides and Transom
- Fiberglass the sides
- Catch a 34lb Salmon!!
- Sanding and Glassing Bottom
- Graphite Epoxy on the Bottom
- New Used Escort Trailer
- UHMW Strakes on the bottom
- Fitting the Trailer
- Spray Rail Construction
- Spray Rail Installation
- Spray Rail Graphite Epoxy
- Tolman Jumbo Turning!
- Filleting and Fiberglass Taping the Chine
- Birth of My First Child!
- 30 Gallon Aluminum Fuel Tank
- Side Decks or Gunnels
- Bowpipe Drilling and Installation
- Glassing and Taping the Stringers and Transom
- Raise the Stringers, Boat Leveling on the Trailer, Tuna Fishing
- Collision Bulkhead
- Collision Bulkhead, Forward Cuddy Bulkhead, Bow Deck
- Rear Cuddy Bulkhead
- Rear Cuddy Bulkhead
- Cuddy Cabin Bunks
- Finish Bunks and Cuddy Side Panels
- Finish Bunks and Cuddy Side Panels – Dupe
- Life is complicated. Cuddy Sides and Roof Glassed
- Deck at Transom
- Fish Hold, and Deck
- Stringers, and Remote Air to Protect My Health
- Rough Day, Web Stringers, etc.
- Fuel Tank
- More Fuel Tank, Primed, and Epoxied, Fuel Filler, Rear Deck and Electrical Runs
- Splashwell, Steering Station
- Splashwell, Battery Boxes, Cuddy Cabin Arc
- Battery Boxes, Cuddy Cabin Arc Continued
- Battery Boxes, Transom
- Fairing Battery Boxes, Wheelhouse Framing
- Drag the Boat Out for a Look See, Sanding, and Looking at the Wheelhouse Profile
- Wheelhouse Framing, Window Cut Outs
- Glass Up the Window Frames, and Adjust Trailer Winch
- Boat Building Project 55
- Boat Building Project56
- Boat Building Project 57
- Boat Building Project 58
- Boat Building Project 59
- Boat Building Project 60
- Boat Building Project 61
- Boat Building Project 62
- Boat Building Project 63
- Boat Building Project 64
- Boat Building Project 65
- Boat Building Project 66
- Boat Building Project 67
- Boat Building Project 68
- Boat Building Project 69
- Boat Building Project 70
- Boat Building Project 71
- Boat Building Project 72
- Boat Building Project 73
- Boat Building Project 74
- Boat Building Project 75
- Boat Building Project 76
- Boat Building Project 77
- Boat Building Project 78
- Boat Building Project 79
- Boat Building Project 80
- Boat Building Project 81
Any idea how I could get a tolman in Florida?
Thanx