Weisbeck built a wood boat and it floats!

People from Thermopolis may already know Pete Weisbeck, have heard of someone who has had a home built by him, or he might even have built their home. However, the past several months have seen a different passion for Weisbeck – building a drift boat.

Weisbeck bought the book "Drift Boats and River Dories" by Roger Fletcher a couple years back and "fell in love with it." Fletcher, he said, measured a bunch of old boats from the 1940s.

"I had to study this book for two months, to find out how the heck to even measure it," Weisbeck said, as it was much different than the square dimensions used when it comes to home building. He admitted he was a bit intimidated, as he couldn't understand it initially. "I didn't even make sense, and then once you start it is blind trust from the beginning to the end."

The whole time he was building it, Weisbeck said his thought was "I hope this works,"

as he was working from old drawings based on Fletcher's measurements.

Last year, Weisbeck had the hull built, but took some time off from the project during the winter. Though he planned to build his daughter a home, he told her it would have to wait until his boat was finished. The hull had been sitting upside-down in his shop, collecting dust thick enough to write in, so he decided to finish it off in a couple months.

He laid the pieces out on the table in his workshop as he worked, not knowing if it would all work out and come together when he was finished. He was amazed, then, when during its maiden voyage over a week ago, the Osprey - as it was named - floated. "I was so nervous," he said. For this first launch, he went to Idaho Falls and bought a drift boat trailer, loaded his boat, took it to Lower Sunshine Reservoir and put it in the water "just like you would launch any boat." His wife, Anita, joined him on the launch.

As for guiding the boat once it's launched, Weisbeck explained when the wind comes up it can be difficult to steer since there's no keel. Though the bottom of the boat is flat it does have a rocker which allows it to spin to avoid obstacles. He further explained a person rowing the boat is actually backwards from a regular boat, facing where he or she is going and using the water for locomotion. It's important to read the water, and when an obstacle such as a rock in a river comes along, a person just angles the boat at about 45 degrees and lets the river take it around.

He noted he's done some rafting, and noted if people watch anyone whitewater rafting it's the same concept, rowing backward and positioning using the current. "It takes an act of Congress to move it out of the way," he said of a raft, "but you can spin it." He noted the difficulty in moving a raft is especially true if one were going on a multi-day trip and needing hundreds of pounds of supplies such as food, bedding and beer.

Wood used in the Osprey's construction includes cherry for the frames, cut 15 years ago at Weisbeck's place in New York.

Weisbeck explained he lived in New York for 50 years - in all that time never visiting New York City - and called Wyoming County his home. He spent 20-30 years there building houses, all of which were about five miles from his own house. "It was almost to where there wasn't a house in Wyoming County I wasn't over, under or had built myself." Though hard to give that business up, he came out to Wyoming to hunt with his brother a couple times and fell in love with the area.

Weisbeck went to school for forestry, and had picked up the cherry wood just to manage it for himself. When he came out to Wyoming, he brought a huge double load of cherry with him. Besides using it for his boat, he has also built cabinets and other furniture for his home out of it.

The walnut used for things such as the boat's braces came from a friend, for whom Weisbeck built a barn. Before Weisbeck left the build site, his friend cut some nearby walnut trees and had the lumber ready to send along with him. The white oak rails were given to him from a family he built a home for five years ago.

The marine plywood is manufactured in France, and the only place he could find to get it is Salt Lake City. But, he later found a man in Casper who stocks it. So that wood came from France, to Salt Lake City, to Casper to here. Weisbeck noted those pieces are also panel matched, meaning they came off the tree one right after the other; the one grain missing is a three-inch scarf Wesibeck took out, in order to join the wood.

Weisbeck noted in his search for the plywood, he also came along a "robust" website where people discuss such things and are building their own drift boats. He noted, however, that many of those projects use a lot of fiberglass, whereas his is all wood.

Weisbeck plans to take the Osprey on the Wind River later this year, after it calms down a bit, but is also eyeing the Platte and Snake rivers. Because the boat is so wide, it rides high on the water, meaning it can be taken in shallower waters where rafts and even some canoes might get stuck. Even in the 1930s, people were taking this style of boats through the Grand Canyon river valley, though of course many of them experienced some fantastic wrecks.

Among Weisbeck's heroes is Bert Loper, who at nearly age 80 attempted a run through the Grand Canyon. Though advised not to, due to a heart condition, Loper made the run anyway and died on the river.

Looking ahead, Weisbeck plans to make another boat, and saved all his jigs for the Osprey project. "It's satisfying building anything," he said. "All my life I've done woodworking, but when I saw these boats it's almost like woodworking comes alive because it was in the water." Recalling flipping through the pages of his book and wondering "What they hell are they talking about," Weisbeck expects the next boat to go a lot quicker since he understands now how it all works.

But, he's not yet ready to trade house building entirely for boat building. At 64 years old, he wants to put in at least six more years before he gives up building houses. He's considered building boats for people, but wants those six years before he retires to his shop.

"It's too much fun building a house, too," he said. "It is a blast." Even before he built houses, he had a love for working with wood, building cabinets and other furniture. He said he father, Ralph, was a great woodcarver. He still has and uses some of his dad's tools. "When I started building houses, he just loved it," Weisbeck said of Ralph. "He thought it was fantastic. He was an engineer, and many engineers in my life have told me 'If I could do it over I'd do what you do,'" and he tells them the same. "Dad was like any engineer I knew. He loved being around construction. He loved seeing what I was doing."

Building homes since 1976, Weisbeck started as a framer and has since built over 100 homes. At Christmas time each year, he said, they still have a refrigerator door full of cards they get from people he's built for.

He makes sure to draw everything before he builds, making sure it will work and nobody will bonk their heads going up or down the stairs or find a beam going through their bathroom. He noted he was taught how to build by some wonderful carpenters, and while people have suggested he teach others, he hasn't found many who want to learn.

In addition to building houses and boats, Weisbeck enjoys camping in the Big Horn Mountains and hunting. "My wife would love to eat more fish, but we're horrible at fishing. Hunting is a little easier."