stinger160

Woodman and I will probably be working on a float trip soon. Likely to be southwest area of the state, little niangua, maybe elk. I'll let you know when we get closer to putting it together.

Today is the finish line. Third and final coat of varnish goes on and then we're ready for the water test. Still will be some details but that can come over the next couple of months. Want to test out seat position (using a neat beach lounger my daughter had) before we put in supports. Then some fishing goodies, rod holder, cup holder, places to clip a stringer etc (no, I do not keep smallmouth, just a few goggleeye or perch). We also made a quick and dirty double paddle by splicing together two single paddles. It should work for now, and as a backup in the future when I hope to work with woodman on a lighter version using some leftover plywood. About nine weeks into this project so far, averaging about 3 or 4 evenings/half days to get to this stage. Great learning process for me. Can't wait to christen her, especially with a little slime and scales.

Contact Woodman on this forum, he has a 7.5 mercury if that is not too big.

In the home stretch. Decks are on everything fiberglassed for the most part, started epoxy/graphite mix on bottom (nautical term). Final steps will be to put multiple coats of varnish on everything to protect epoxy from uv rays. A couple of new pictures in photobucket (follow link above). This has been a very rewarding project and am looking forward to christening my new boat soon.

More progress, in fact a milestone of sorts. Steve and I finished sanding this morning and put on the fiberglass cloth with first coat of epoxy today. It was cool seeing the wood pattern and what it will look like in a finished state. We'll put on another two to three coats of epoxy then flip it over and do the inside. Then on to the decks and gunwales. We'll be using cedar strips for the deck to give it some extra pop. FYI, Steve is really good at this stuff and is a great teacher. Can't give him enough credit for all his knowledge and help. Pictures are here: http://s1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg520/jkoeneman1/pirogue%20build/

More progress. Doing the final gluing of the joints this afternoon. Then begin the sanding process to prepare for fiberglass. Will be tapering the joints so they will take fiberglass better, removing any rough spots on the hull etc. Might even get to fiberglassing by Monday.

Ron, I'm trying to tie up a few of your jigs. Spinning bucktail and so forth, but the results don't look that great. Any hints on how to get better results?

More progress. Woodman and I began stitching the hull together this afternoon. It helped a ton that he had a strongback we could use to begin the lining up process. While I was as careful as I could be cutting the parts out, found out how that there were a few spots with problems. We started loosely stitching things together then slowly adjusting the tension at each stitched spot to pull the hull into alignment. Took some time assuring that the hull looked straight without any waves in the lines. Then mixed up some epoxy and wood flour and using a vet's syringe to apply to the joints. Once the epoxy sets up we'll turn the hull over and begin the process of gluing the seams from the inside (called filleting). Then on to adding the the final pieces to the hull. Fun process so far! http://s1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg520/jkoeneman1/?action=organize

Great! I bought some copper wire, the blue tape and sanding discs at our westlakes too. I'll call you around noon tomorrow to see if the afternoon works out.

Woodman and I started the assembly process last night. Gluing the panels together using the butt block method. Butt the ends of the sections together, overlay with a piece of plywood to cover the joint and glue it up using Titebond III. It pays to be careful with dimensions so we took a fair amount of time ensuring that the sections were aligned correctly. Now the waiting game until the joint sets up fully. This pirogue is being built with the stitch and glue method. Next, we'll be drilling holes to accept the copper wire to stitch the pieces together and forming the hull around temporary bulkheads. For more info on this method go to jem watercraft. While the hull will be plywood, the decks will be strips of wood glued together to make a more colorful appearance. http://s1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg520/jkoeneman1/pirogue%20build/ In the picture Steve is making sure that the pieces of the joint are in full contact with each other using sophisticated state of the art tools (five gallon bucket with nails and a 15 lb dumbbell).

Several have asked for pictures. Not much to see but here you go: http://s1241.photobucket.com/albums/gg520/jkoeneman1/pirogue%20build/ I used the workmate a lot. Found out that a small block plane is your friend. Much easier to use in the final shaping of the mirror image pieces. One problem. The stern end of the hull pieces are a half inch short of the plan. Not sure how this happened, when I did the check before cutting thought I had it right on the money. Will have to see if I can patch in a 1/2 inch piece as part of the gluing the butt joints in. Shouldn't show up as we'll be using graphite and epoxy on the bottom, makes it black. Will have to confer with woodman when we get to the next steps.

World Panel Inc in North Carolina. They have a website, just google them and you should find it. The okoume plywood, 4 mm, was just under $55 per sheet and $100 buck for shipping. It appears to be high quality (the bs 1088 standard, no voids etc). Very light, I had some other 1/8 inch regular plywood that felt twice as heavy. I'm hoping that this build ends up weighing fourty pounds or less. Got the panels cut cut today, went pretty smooth. Took me a minute to get used to cutting where I wanted, from there on looked good. Smoothed the edges with a small block plane and very light sanding. Matched the right and left side parts so they are exactly the same size after the block plane/sanding part. I took some pictures just need to get them put up. Not really much to see yet, but the next part (stitching) should be better. Jim

Finally was able to find a reasonable (not cheap) source for the plywood to start building the pirogue Woodman and I are working on. So far, I'm in the laying out stage, not to bad, two evenings so far and I have most of it done. It was a great feeling when I checked the dimensions against the plans and lo and behold right on the money. Will begin cutting out the pieces Saturday when I have some more time and the weather doesn't look good for outside stuff. FYI, it will be made from okoume plywood for the bulk of the hull with cedar strips for the caps each end. From other pictures I've seen, should be a really pretty boat. Very lightweight, probably 40 lbs max. Can't weight for Spring river fishing to start in my new boat!

I want to join the MFU!

Woodman, I've been doing some research on plywood availability. Schutte Lumber has some 4 X 8, 1/4 inch marine grade a-c grade. They didn't give the price. Do you have any experience with this grade? Also, found the place in Des Moines, Cedar Tree Inc, they have the 4 MM okoume. Specialize in boat materials etc. expoxy and so forth. Sent both places emails and hope to know more specifics soon.

That looks perfect. Will keep in touch.

Got to test drive Woodmans modified pirogue. Really impressed, tracked straight,very responsive, once I got used to it felt very stable. looks like that will be the design I'll build with woodmans help. Can't wait to get started!

Wow, a little overwhelming. I met with woodman today. I'm interested in one of his builds that is a modified pirogue, slight angle to bottom rather than flat, with angled top to make it easier to paddle. 16 foot long, 31 inches wide. Great stability per reviews, good handling. With two or three foot decks on bow and stern, you can use rod holders that allow you to protect the tips, and have storage as well as foam blocking for flotation. Anyone with experience with pirogues?

Great start! Given the commitment to make one, I will probably look to a known design to start Great start! I think I am leaning toward taking a known design instead of risking making modifications that may not lead to what I hoped for. I plan to look more closely at the vagabond and may just duplicate that model in wood if possible, then customize the fishing stuff. Al, I think you did a lot of customizing on your canoe but couldn't find that old thread so if you have time, give me a refresher course.

I'm going to meet up with Woodman and try to learn about building wood canoes. My goal, build the perfect solo canoe for fishing Ozark streams. I know this is a wide open subject, but what are some thoughts about "add ons" to make it perfect. Rod holders, cup/tool holders etc. Looking for some ideas to consider down the road. Thoughts?

Woodman,looking forward to getting together the Tuesday after Xmas. Just to give you an idea of what I am interested in, eventually I'd like to build a solo canoe. That's assuming that I'not overwhelmed once I get a chance to see how difficult building a wood boat is. It would be great to incorporate some special features to make it especially great for fishing, that's my passion. See you in a few days!

I'm interested. Both as a start in just observing/helping, then maybe jump into building one for myself. Send me an email (jkoeneman1@kc.rr.com)with contact info etc. and we can talk about next steps.

I might be interested after the first of the year. What kind of expenses are likely?

Wouldn't you know, the one trip I had to cancel from and you get into the big ones. Oh well, next time maybe.

Well back from my trip. Not much better than last year. Didn't see anyone catching much. I got one small rainbow swinging a soft hackle in a riffle. Tried the two fly rig, drifting deep and didn't get so much as a nibble. Other guys I was with didn't do much better. Water was warm, we wet waded the whole weekend. Several people I talked to thought the warm water made the fish lethargic. Till next time . . . . .