Kamloops Fine Boats
Hello and welcome to my page. My name is Gary Grono and I am the owner of the Kamloops Fine Boats company. I am also the company's carpenter, joiner, janitor, painter, sander, financier, designer and book keeper. My boat building career started in 2009 with a trip to the Concourse de Elegance in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. After seeing all those beautiful classic wood boats I decided that I was to be a boat builder. Back in Kamloops I quit a wonderful job and embarked on my new carreer.
Having never built a boat before I knew the logical choice would be to start with something simple and maybe take some training. Problem was that I could not get the images of those Tahoe barrelbacks out of my mind and there was no local place to learn boat building skills. So I surged ahead and bought plans for a 19 foot barrelback, then I stretched it to 20 feet, added a double curve on the transom, altered the seating, changed the engine hatch, went with no fasteners on the deck planking and dropped the bow height 2 inches. It is coming together very nicely as you can see on the photo album page.
The hull planking is Mahogany and the frames are White Oak. Silicone bronze screws are used thruout along with 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive. All wood is treated with Smiths CPES, all laminating is glued with Smiths All Wood Epoxy. The engine is a 5.7 litre, 330 HP, fuel injected V8 coupled to a Borg Warner 1:1 direct drive type "C" transmission. Steering is hydraulic and dual fuel tanks and batteries.
My intention when I started construction was to build a beautiful boat that was functional, durable and unique without compromising on material or labour. I feel I have acheived this.
This first boat is for sale now and will be ready for delivery this summer. If you would like to view the boat please come down to my shop. Please phone ahead as I am not always there, 250 571 7256.
Thank You for visiting my site have a good day.