Bill Neal's Page

"AJ--I have been getting marine ply delivered to me in Wilson from Macbeath Hardwoods in Salt Lake.  This has been great when they have Joubert from France, and not great when they have only other brands/specs.  From where have you been…"

"An interesting note about Barkley Sound Oars--it is actually a one man shop, with Ken doing everything himself. I had the pleasure of stopping by the shop 2 years ago and had a full tour of his operation. I have had a number of his oars and paddles…"

"Brant: I have spotted you and your boat twice driving on highway 22 through Wilson. Looks great! So let's have some feedback on which rivers you've liked best so far around here. Bill"

"There are so many other great stretches of river available for you out of Driggs--the local rivers others have mentioned, the South Fork of the Snake, and other sections of the Snake around Jackson--that I wouldn't even mess with it. Jackson…"

"The problem with the Deadman's to Moose section is braiding and snags, which have claimed several drift boats in the past couple of weeks. I would recommend avoiding this, since the stretches above and below this largely avoid the problem.…"

"You are right--I misrecalled that. I had a hard time finding the right drill bit to drill the ash. In retrospect I should have simply overdrilled the wood and seated the bushing in epoxy. Thanks--Bill"

"Steven, I suspect you will like Tracy O'Brien's Headwaters 14; pictures of one that I just built are on my page, although I don't think any show the rib details well. He has really cut down on ribs and framing to take advantage of the…"

"I bought a pair of UHMW bushings from Tatman (gregboats.com) for $9 which I seated in ash; the only difficulty was getting the right size drill bit to enlarge them for my Sawyer Cobra oarlocks. Let me know what else you find out there."