Small boat for creek fishing wanted

That wasn't what I was referring to, but thanks for that tidbit of info. Perhaps I didn't use the correct analogy!

Bottom line is you won't step through the thinner ply when on the water!

 

You don't go through the ply because your weight on the ply is distributed over the whole bottom, not just the place you are standing or sitting.

 

Here's one I built. Cost me about $700 in materials, but I went the extra mile to keep the weight down since I load this onto my sailboat. It's all BS1088 fir, epoxy, and glass cloth. Foam in bows and a foam plank floor.

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/teotwawki-boat-42752-2.html#post548067

 

Gary I watched your videos and I definitely want to build a boat like that. I love that it's "dry as a popcorn fart" inside. Exactly what I want. I really like that it looks easy to make, with a lot of square cuts, vertical sides, just a really simple design. I'll probably use your design as a basis for mine, but modify it some. I don't know how much you weigh but it looked just a bit narrow on you for me to feel fully comfortable with it, knowing my size. I'm 280 pounds. Most don't think I'm that heavy to look at me, but I'm still fairly large. I'll probably make mine the full 4' width to take advantage of more room inside, more stability overall, and just generally me having more confidence in it. This way it still fits in my truck bed also. I'll also probably make it a bit deeper inside, and the full 8' length of plywood as well, assuming I don't attempt a 12' model for comfortable two man fishing. 8' would mean no seems in the hull other than sides to bottom seaming, but as far as lengthening the hull, I will have to solve those problems if I go longer. Thanks for the inspiration.

A couple of questions. Did the motor being off to one side make the boat harder to keep straight when it was running? Was it stable in the water? Since you have made it, have you had any problems with it worth mentioning?

 

I'm 200lbs so by all means make it bigger, I just use a small trolling motor so at 3 mph it's a non issue.

Now before I make my next statement, keep in mind I have a massive shop full of tools and about 40000 hours of building stuff out of wood/metal...... It took me 8 or 9 hours to build that boat, I had no drawing or detail, just winged it.

All you have to have is a Skillsaw and a Drill and a few layout tools. It's as simple as it gets and perfect for floating down the river.

Edit: yes it's stable I stand up and fish while floating down the river, I've had my dog, my wife and the ice chest in it on a float trip with no issues. Probably 350 lbs at least, rat terriers are pretty lite

 

I'm a home improvements contractor with extensive experience in multiple areas, including electrical, plumbing, carpentry, roofing, painting, trim work, and many other areas as well. Tools and know-how are not a problem. In addition, I'm a modest woodworker on the side as well, so even specialty tools such as routers or a drill press aren't a problem either. Being into woodworking, I have many power and hand tools that just an average homeowner workshop may not have. Being a contractor, I even have a 10' metal brake if I felt it was needed for anything on this boat.

My main issue was not knowing how much weight a boat can hold per size of hull, and what would be the proper products to use for a wooden boat that literally submerges wood in water for hours at a time. Water resistant wooden items are not a problem for me. Water proof, that's different. Wood and water don't like each other, and water usually wins in the long run. If I can figure out a design where me and dad can go in the same boat safely and comfortably, that will last a good while, then it's all good. I just checked the price on a 12' Jon boat, they're $700. I'd love to have my homemade version complete, motor and all for that or less. I think it can be done. One thing that will help is, since I already own a larger boat I'll just borrow one of its batteries when I go out in the wooden boat. That will save a few bucks up front. I even think I can make it quite attractive on a budget also. I know I can customize it to be perfect for my fishing style. It will be better than anything I could buy already done.

I think I'll plan out a starting point, get an idea formed in my head how I want to go. Then start building. I pretty much have an idea how I'll start now, after seeing your boat. Yours gave me a lot of ideas and just generally simplified this whole thing for me. Nothing like seeing a video to prove it works also. Thanks very much for the post, picture, and video references. This was awesome!

 

So there are dinghies you'd put your foot through the flimsy bottom of, hauled out of the water, but are safe to walk in when afloat ?

I think I'll sit that dance out !

 

I'm not saying that either, I don't know all the fancy boat design terms or all the calculations. I'm having a hard time quantifying it into words without sounding like a hillbilly. It simply seems to feel more solid when sitting on the water.

 

It probably does feel more solid, but there is no way I would be taking to the water in anything your foot might go through the bottom of, hauled out of the water, you need more in reserve than that.

 

Because you're not a very good swimmer?

 

No, because I'm not completely stupid ! Or I've seen too many cartoons where the characters step off the wharf and go straight through the bottom of the boat, maybe ?

 

Seems legit if it was on a cartoon!

I was going to mention to rooster that you can salvage a lot of high quality wood from construction sites and housing tracks. My company just received a ton of Ammonia equipment shipped from Germany, the crates they built are made from what appears to be choice knotty pine! I had my apprentice delicately disassemble them to salvage the wood. Would be perfect for benches or bracing!

Could save you a lot of money, a lot of this stuff just gets tossed anyways!

 

Rooster: for a boat like that (Gary's) it is a scow, and basically a rectangular box. Load is based on the volume of the boat and the volume of water it displaces. So if that boat were 8 feet long by 4 feet wide by 1 foot deep (the height of the sides) = vol is 32 cubic feet. Water weighs 64 lb per cubic foot. 32 X 64 = 2048 lbs. However there is a safety factor of five used by boat designers so 2048 divided by 5 = approx 410 lbs. But since the boat is not a perfect triangle it is a little less than that say 400 lbs. That still leaves a lot of weight you can carry in an 8 foot boat. If you increase the length to 10 the weight capacity is around 500 lb. You could bring another person along, or a dog. You would still not draw much water about 2 1/2 to 3 inches. This assumes there is no skeg on the bottom but if you did add a skeg you would still draw only about 5 or 6 inches.

 

Before you go building the boat that's being discussed, maybe you should step back a bit. First, I don't see a "about 70 pounds" of boat there, I see more like 90. Second, if you plan on rowing that puppy, you'll find it's a pig, compared to something that's actually designed to row. If using a trolling motor, she'll also do poorly, though if just moving is all you're after, then that set of shapes will work.

On the other hand, if you want to have a boat that's easy to row, weighs a 1/3rd less, powers with a little trolling motor as best as it can and most importantly can make tight maneuvers crisply, than another design is in order.

That boat would make a fine little powerboat, with a 5 - 10 HP outboard, but not much else. In low power or human power situations, she'll drag her transom and with the lack of rocker, wallow badly when turning. The biggest trolling motor you can get (36 VDC) will be about 1.3 HP, which isn't enough to get her up on plane, not to mention requires some really big batteries. The largest 12 VDC trolling motor (55 pounds of thrust) is about 2/3's a HP, but at least you only need a single 12 VDC battery (deep cycle). The stock prop on one of these will get you about 3 MPH, but you can reprop with a performance prop and get maybe 5 or 6.

Simply put, you can "wing it" and have a boat that will float, but will tear your arms off in a few hours of rowing, will resist turning, especially quickly of course after you get a hernia dragging it out of the truck and down to the water and it'll suck battery charge down pretty quickly with the trolling motor. On the other hand if you want a lighter, faster, more maneuverable boat that's easy to row for hours on end and will get the most of of a battery charge, you should get a design suited for these needs, rather than a cobbled together concrete mix tub.

I'm not trying to insult your "creation" Gary, but for what the original poster desires, it's just not well suited, even if somehow it does weigh 70 pounds, which I think is a light estimate. I'm glad you're pleased with it and have had good luck with it, but one of the basic goals of any design selection is finding one that "fits" the needs of the user. Building ease is one element, but it still has to have the "performance envelop" that will suit the needs and desires of the user. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it can be rowed, but if you rowed for an hour in that, then climbed into a boat designed to row, you'd instantly see the difference (and your arms would thank you). The same is true of maneuvering around, with a contrary current, opposing winds and avoiding rocks all the while. Ditto battery life under power.

 

I watched the video Gary posted on YouTube of his little boat in action. He was able to verify 3-4 miles per hour using an iPhone and a GPS app. Not only that but what I saw of it working, it looked plenty fast enough for what I'll do with it. I have another much larger boat for any river and lake fishing. I consider a boat like this to be a pond/creek boat. I'll never use a paddle to maneuver it at all unless absolutely necessary. We always launch and go upstream on creeks we fish. If my battery dies I'll just drift downstream and use the paddle to control things. This can't be any worse than if my motors konk out on my large boat. About a year ago, this happened. Spun a prop hub on the outboard so we kicked the trolling motor in high gear and headed for the dock that was over a mile away. Half way there the trolling motor died permanently also, so we whipped out two 6' paddles and started paddling. We were in a 16' V-hull boat with high sides. It's a fish and ski boat so it's definitely not made for rowing or paddling. We had to straddle the gunwales with one foot in the water to paddle the thing, and it was a chore to do. My point is, most modern boats aren't made for rowing, they're just motor boats. We know this when we leave the shore in them, and if something happens then we just deal with it. I'll do the same here too. The beauty of the creeks I fish is that I'm never more than 40 feet from shore, and a reasonable walk back to the truck. On the lake in my other boat this was not possible from where I was at then. After nearly two hours of paddling that day, we finally made it to the ramp. I think this wooden boat can't be worse than that was.

On weight, well with my design I'm planning to fasten a set of wheels to the stern permanently so it's easier to move over land. I'll just lift the bow and walk it anywhere I need to go. Can't be worse than moving a refrigerator on a dolly. I'll try to find some pneumatic tire wheels on fixed casters if possible. I think they'd roll better over uneven ground.