FlaMike's Pirogue Build!

[islandpiper]

FlaMike, what I have found is that if you sit RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of an UJ Pirogue and grab both gunwales and lean to one side, it feels real unstable at first then stiffens up and does not capsize easily.

but, if you sit off toward one end and do that same thing the initial stability and the tipping factor are different.

You'll find out and this wll make you safer later when you have this boat a long way from the landing.

Piper

 

[hairymick]

I find stability is relative. - Relative to how many beers you have on board with you at the time.

 

[FlaMike]

Seems Florida had gotten kind of serious about drinking and boating these days. Think I'd better look into it and see what the law actually says. But I don't think I'll be doing much recreational drinking on the water anyway, seeing as I'll still have to drive myself and the boat home, at the end of the day.

Now, if I can talk the wife into feeding the cats for me, that won't apply on an overnighter! :lol:

I got one to the two seats completed and ready to go, I'll have the other done sometime today. The truck rack is within an hour or so of being done and ready to test.

If I can just loose this headache, I can wrap things up pretty quick. I'd like to have time to put a new fly line on my cheapie 5 wt before tomorrow, and clean the line on the 9 wt. Both of those play a part in my plans for tomorrow!

The weather for tomorrow and the rest of the week looks like a hit-or-miss thing with the rain. 50% chance of rain, and this will be in the form of thunder storms as usual this time of year. The boat is going in the water no matter what, though. The storms haven't been lasting too long and tend to pass quickly. Sometimes, it's just a matter of waiting it out for a little while, then going while the going's good.

The area I'll be in for this first "sea trial" is pretty well protected and contained, just off a public beach on a crystal clear river. If the weather starts to go bad, it's just a matter of minutes to shelter. Besides, the mornings have been pretty good, the "interesting" weather is mostly happening in the afternoons.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[oldsparkey]

Yep...

We got a real frog drounder here today and it looks like for the rest of the week the frogs will be looking for a boat to get around in.

Drinking a spirited beverage on the water is the same as when you are driving a vehicle so pull over on a sand bar when you have that beer and the sandwich. Or that might be me in the pirogue behind you with the blue lights flashing. :lol:

Belay that , I forgot that I am retarded , Ooop's Retired , better have two beers and two sandwiches in case I show up , ya know ... one of each to share. Or in case you get stopped then you can smile and say ... Mofficer I have not had anything ...YET... See they are still here.:lol:

Chuck.

 

[hairymick]

Seems Florida had gotten kind of serious about drinking and boating these days. Think I'd better look into it and see what the law actually says. But I don't think I'll be doing much recreational drinking on the water anyway, seeing as I'll still have to drive myself and the boat home, at the end of the day.

Living in the bush has its advantages. I have never seen the water police on our river or lake and to get to either is a drive from my home along a dirt track.

 

[cctyer]

The moment is near. Mike will attempt a 90 yard cast with his 9 wt. into a raging head wind fueled by thunder claps and lightning bolts. He braves the fury of the sea and all she bares as his line punches a hole staight and true through the parting clouds only to land just in front of the biggest tailing bonefish he has ever seen. He has waited a lifetime for such a moment and the bone gives chase to his taunting strips of line as she inhales the hand tied crazy charlie, He sets up on the fish of a lifetime. The line sings zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz from the reel as he dances to keep the stripped line from tangling under his feet and keep his hand built pirogue under him as well. All is well for a few minutes and he gains ground on this magnificent fish and brings her ever nearer, just as he reaches to bring the beautiful silver ghost to hand she takes off with reckless abandon trying to shake the well placed hook once again only to finally succumb to the relentless battle, beaten but not bruised. Mike puts his tired hand under her belly and slips the hook from her jaw then pauses for just a moment ............ before releasing her back to the shimmering shallows where she dissappers into the distance. Mike sits down for a moment and thinks, life seems to make a little more sense to him now and he takes a second to thank the man upstairs for letting him share in all he has given us. Life really is good!

Happy Boating Mike! :wink:

 

[bearridge]

The Ole Geezer 'n the Sea?

8)

 

[FlaMike]

The moment is near. Mike will attempt a 90 yard cast with his 9 wt. into a raging head wind fueled by thunder claps and lightning bolts. He braves the fury of the sea and all she bares as his line punches a hole staight and true through the parting clouds only to land just in front of the biggest tailing bonefish he has ever seen. He has waited a lifetime for such a moment and the bone gives chase to his taunting strips of line as she inhales the hand tied crazy charlie, He sets up on the fish of a lifetime. The line sings zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz from the reel as he dances to keep the stripped line from tangling under his feet and keep his hand built pirogue under him as well. All is well for a few minutes and he gains ground on this magnificent fish and brings her ever nearer, just as he reaches to bring the beautiful silver ghost to hand she takes off with reckless abandon trying to shake the well placed hook once again only to finally succumb to the relentless battle, beaten but not bruised. Mike puts his tired hand under her belly and slips the hook from her jaw then pauses for just a moment ............ before releasing her back to the shimmering shallows where she dissappers into the distance. Mike sits down for a moment and thinks, life seems to make a little more sense to him now and he takes a second to thank the man upstairs for letting him share in all he has given us. Life really is good!

Yessir, that's exactly the way it happened! I remember like it was. . . tomorrow. :lol: :lol: :lol:

That was one of those things that I'd classify as "If it ain't true, it ought'a be." 8)

Hate to say it, but I was foiled again. (And me, without my sword) Stayed up too late trying to finish everything off, and when 4 AM rolled around, I'd gotten the truck rack done, put the boat on it, only to find I'd made the cross bars a tad too low, forgetting to allow for the curve of the hull. The boat was sitting fine on the aft cross bar, but it wasn't touching the front one because the front of the boat was resting on the roof of the truck.

I could only laugh! Up far too long without sleep, I'd made a basic mistake and somehow, it just seemed funny. I figured out a "quick fix" for that problem and decided to go to bed and get some sleep. Besides, it was supposed to rain all day, anyway.

Got up around noon, and it had just stopped raining. Went down the road to the local hardware store and got what I needed to fix the truck rack problem and it did work out just fine. But in that it was supposed to keep raining off and on, I went to work on another little project and decided to put off getting the boat in the water one more day.

Right now, I have some chores to do, including feeding the kitties and then feeding me. After that, I've got quite a few pictures to post like this one:

That's the little bit of decking I added on to the bow. I did the same at the other end, but I really like the way this one finished out. This came out of a quarter sheet of Luan from Home Depot. I haven't seen full sheets in there, just the smaller pieces.

Anywho, I'll be back on shortly with pics of the boat, the truck rack, and some other stuff.

But the boat is sitting on the truck rack, and the truck is pointed down the driveway, ready to go in the morning!

Later!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[cctyer]

Oh well Mike. Like that little curly redhead says, 'Theres always tommorow'. Better to have everything ready and be rested than get down the road only to find you forgot something. Good luck!

 

[oldsparkey]

Dang... With all the problems and unexpected things that keep popping up for you to correct.... I can see it now. 8)

You drop the boat in and start to paddle off and then realize that you forgot to put the drain plug in as you slowly sink and shake hands with Davey Jones.

Make sure you have your PFD on and good luck , I have a spare drain plug if you might need it. :roll: Three weeks in the snail mail and it would be at your place. After all you are all the wayyyyyyy over on the West coast of this sand bar. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Chuck.

 

[JEM]

Last time Chuck forgot to plug the hole, he just put another one at the other end for the water to drain back out.

 

[FlaMike]

Last time Chuck forgot to plug the hole, he just put another one at the other end for the water to drain back out.

That should work! :lol:

'Course, I'm the guy to told the boss I was a little late coming in, because I had to stop and get some film for my digital camera.

When I was talking to Uncle John about his Jon boat, he pointed out that it had no drain, and no drain plug to forget.

Now I can tell which is the stern and which end is the bow! The deck on the bow has a nice, pretty grain pattern. The stern deck is rather plain:

And here's what I spent part of the day on. I had one boat dolly that I'd built for that aluminum boat I was using. I was going to modify it, but decided I might need it, as is. So I looked around and found an old wheelbarrow that was rotting away, did some salvage. A "mono-wheel" boat dolly!

Another look, with the boat upside down.

The boat rolls super-easy on that one big wheel, but is patently unstable! The trick to making it stay upright and manageable is to lash a paddle to it cross-wise. Then its easy to keep it balanced and to steer it.

Coming up in a few minutes, pictures of the truck rack.
Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[FlaMike]

I wanted to get away from having to use a trailer to transport a boat, and wanted to be able to launch a boat with or without a boat ramp. So I "stole" a truck rack design from Forum member "andrewp."

He linked to some pictures of his truck rack in a thread on that subject. His pictures were all I had to go on, so I guessed at the height of the transverse supports that the boat sits on.

And I guessed wrong!

The back end of the boat was sitting on the cross bar just like it should, but the front cross bar wasn't touching anything. That's be cause I didn't allow for the curve of the shear line and now the bow of the boat was resting on the roof of my truck.

Definitely NOT wanting to start over, I simply used some PVC pipe couplers and some short lengths of pipe, to make the thing taller.

The wood frame is glued, screwed, and bracketed together. The two pieces running the length of the truck bed touch the front of the bed and the tail gate when it is closed. The frame itself is secured to tie points built in the truck. But I can lift it out and use it to store the boat.

Although in the picture below shows the dolly straped on the boat, I'll not transport the boat with that dolly strapped to the boat. Too much weight, too high up, for me. Besides, I've found that the boat is a lot easier to put on the rack, and to get it off, without the dolly in place. It will make the trip in the truck bed.

Besides, it's just too darned funny-looking with that single wheel on it! I think I'd have to answer too many questions.

" Yes, that big wheel is rather important. You see, sometimes you can't paddle around a large gator, the big wheel lets you just bump slap over 'em."

Below, is the boat in place, ready to go! I've already dismounted that dolly and it's now sitting the the truck bed. (Lots of room in there, under the boat!) I did get the chance to do a "road test," got it up to 55 mph and it seemed to want to stay right there. (So far!)

If I can stay away just a little longer, I'll have my fly fishing gear squared away and ready to go in the morning.

I'll be taking pictures tomorrow, of either the boat in the water, or me sitting under it in the truck bed, watching the rain. Guess I should make sure I take enough film for the digital camera.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[Kayak Jack]

Mikey,

I'm just proud as hell of you - and glad for you. Good job.

Maybe you can find ANOTHER wheel barrow?

I stash my bow and stern lines atop the decks. I run two bungees on each deck. They are almost parallel to the centerline of the boat, and almost parallel with the edges of the deck. They run fore and aft, one near the right side of the deck, and the other near the left.

I grab the rope and place the end up near the deck. Then I just keep doubling the rope until I have a handy bundle to stick under the bungees. I like to leave a couple inches of the end hanging back from under the bundle, so I know where it is.

This configuration keeps the ropes up off the boat floor, untangled, and handy to grab quickly.

 

[cctyer]

Wow Mike, the whole package came out great! You have a great set up going there. The boat looks awsome. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the boat and see some maiden voyage pics. Have fun! 8)


Chad

 

[oldsparkey]

Now I know why I received that phone call from Jack asking me to find some film for his digital camera. He said his was out of the film , it was the one he purchased down here on the last trip and he could not find any up north.

I told him any Wally World has it , they stock it next to the dehydrated water. :roll:

Chuck.

 

[TradGlenn]

That is one heck of a cart there FlaMike!

I made one for my plastic boats from PVC and lawnmower wheels. But i gave it away when i sold my Oldtown Yak cause I never used it.

You need to make yours to where it will fold up inside of the boat kinda like landing gear on a plane

 

[FlaMike]

Well, ALLRIGHTY!!!

On the water! Finally!

I was starting to think this was never going to happen, but I done went and did it.

The boat, she floats! :lol:

Got to the park and was very surprised to find quite a crowd there. Happily, the boat launch area is separate from the swimming beach. Got a parking spot just 3 spaces from the ramp. Nice ramp, with about a 100 feet of dock at right angles to it. At the other end of the dock is a canoe/kayak walk. I decided on the boat ramp. This launching area is on a canal off the river, itself.

First picture. No Photo-Shop special effects here. My camera was kept in a plastic bag, in the side pocket of a soft-side cooler. I think the pocket was for sandwiches or something. It seems it put a bit of a chill on the camera and when I took it out to take the pic, the lens had fogged over.

I wanted the first picture to be of the boat, without all the gear, sitting in the water. I had a long line running from bow to stern in one hand, the camera in the other. Sitting on the dock, I gave the boat a push and snapped the pic. I thought I was having trouble seeing the viewfinder because of the polarized glasses, but turns out, it was that lens fog. The fog made the parachute cord invisible, but that's what my hand is holding on to.

Next is a shot looking down the canal towards the Weeki Wachee River. (Correct spelling, this time!) The boat is loaded with my fishing gear. I've just paddled up the canal a bit to get the feel of things and am now headed towards the river.

Found a place just up-river at a bend, with a nice shallow spot and a fairly hard bottom. In some places, the bottom is of exposed lime-rock, other spots can have a hard sand bottom, and quite a few places you'll find very soft muck that you can sink down into, up to your knees. I test the bottom with my paddle, before stepping out.

I "parked" here to get a better picture of the boat. And it was a good place to test my "Cajun Power Pole," too. After reading a very long and quite ridiculous thread on another forum about stake-out polls, one commercial model that quite a few raved about, costing maybe $75, I took the low-tech route.

As you can see, it's nothing more than a 5 ft. piece of 1 1/2 in. PVC pipe, with a "T" on one end, the other ending with a long, sharp point. In the future, I'll run a 3 foot piece of rope through the "T" and tie the other end to the inner rail. With the pole right behind the seat where I can easily reach it, anytime I need to stay in one place while in shallow water, all I have to to is grab the pole and stick it in the bottom, no messing with an anchor. One thing I learned this trip was that I need to plug the hole in the sharp end. Otherwise, every time I use it, I'll be taking core samples of the bottom.

And this is the picture I made that stop for:

This is what it's all about, my friends!

I got home a bit late and when I tried to post the pics, I couldn't access the Forum. Right after diner, I dropped right off to sleep. I think it was the little bit of sun burn from the knees down that woke me up just now. (Yes, the ONE item I forgot was the sun screen!) I went to the computer room to re-apply some gel from an aloe plant and checked out the Forum, and it came up.

So, I got my first pics posted and now I'm going to put some aloe squeezin's on my formerly lily-white legs and think about posting some more pics.

It was a good day!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

 

[Kayak Jack]

Building and paddling your own boats are the second and third most fun things int he world to do.

 

[TradGlenn]

Excellent Flamike!