Fitzke Boatworks

06/05/2026

Here is my process for removing the windshield on/off Riva’s. This Riva Tritone’s is rather large and it’s easy to first lift it off the deck with pneumatic air bags then have a friend help lift/move it onto the wood frame. Then use the gantry to lift the wood frame/windshield up, move boat out of the way and then set the windshield onto a rolling cart. Overall the windshield isn’t terribly heavy, just cumbersome - and the curved glass is pretty much price less…I’ll be replacing all the gaskets on this windshield before it goes back on after new stain/varnish.

06/04/2026

Riva boats are a different breed in that each plank on the sides are a single pieces i.e. no butt seams. Depending on the model, each boat requires 19’-30’ length lumber to plank the sides. So sometimes you need to get an entire tree to make this happen. This mahogany tree (32’ x 42”) is the largest piece of lumber I’ve ever acquired! My track saw is a good contender for the longest track saw record too… :)

10/02/2025

Today’s musical performance…

10/01/2025

Some quick clips of Miss Moonshine at the show in Clayton New York.

09/20/2025

Incredibly honored to have won Platinum, the top award in my category (contemporary) for my design and build of Miss Moonshine at the Antique and Classic Boat Society International Boat Show!

09/17/2025

An absolute dream come true…first splash for Miss Moonshine. It drives amazing and is so smooth through the chop due to its v-bottom and chine flat bottom design. So excited to now show it at the 50th Anniversary of the Antique and Classic Boat Show (contemporary category) in Clayton New York this weekend!

09/13/2025

Sneak peek at some design details on Miss Moonshine. The dachshund fuel cap is a tip-of-the-hat to my dogs Porter, Finn and the late Hank. The mixed the color of the wood stain to look like Hank’s fur - I call it Hanky’s Wood Stain. The gauge cluster and dial face design is inspired by old Grand Prix cars. The dial faces are laser engraved on aluminum and a hand stipple pattern on gauge cluster. Metal fabrication by

08/15/2025

Preview on Miss Moonshine progress.

05/28/2025

I’d like to share with you all the latest episode of Mahogany and Chrome!

In this episode, we get hands-on at Fitzke Boatworks: cold-molding ribs, using a hand-held CNC machine to cut parts from wood, and getting the back-story on ...

05/06/2025

Fairing the inner Spanish Cedar planking on Miss Moonshine. I’m using dry guide coat and following it with various size flexible vacuum sanders. The guide coat is basically charcoal that you smear on and then sand over to show where the high and low spots are to dial in the perfect fairness of the surface. Then, it will all get epoxy and twill pattern fiberglass - creating a nice substructure for the outer Honduran mahogany planking to get glued to.