What is it for?

Does anybody know the function of this "cross member/thwart like thing"?

It is removable and located about mid ship.

I saw it listed on a set of plans for a "trapper pirogue", but it was only referred to as removable part A.
One guess was "a place to lean your paddle". :roll:

bee

 

Portage Yoke or just a joke to trip over. The last might not be true since it is set up to be removed. :roll:

 

I couldn't see forward of the thwart very well. Is there perhaps a mast step under those forward floorboards? The inset in the thwart may be a place to lay the boom of a sail?

The thwart would have to be rotated 90 degrees - maybe forward, maybe backwards, according to ballance point - to be used for portaging.

 

There is not a mast step in the boat. probably not a yoke, little need to portage in the swamp or marsh. It is not needed as a thwart (structural support), because the boat is strong enough as is. I'm thinking it relates to trapping but made to be removed when not trapping.

beekeeper

 

One of these?
http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/s ... 878/rec/32

 

Bee,
If that was a cradle to hold a punt gun it doesn't look like it would be very secure and there is no cradle in the bow to keep the barrel
secure in one spot.
We might keep in mind that what we are looking at may only be whats left of whatever it was. A puzzle with parts missing. Just a thought.
Bob

 

I doubt if it is for a punt gun, but it is the only picture I have found that looks similar. The boat is too small for that activity. It is not an old boat so I think the piece was built for a purpose and would be complete.

 

Maybe he poled the boat, and that is a handy place to quickly lay it down? Or, it could be a head rest, for stretching out for a nap.

 

In the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp there is an Island ( Floyd's Island ) and an old hunting lodge where you can camp and it is a 1/2 mile portage across it , either way , especially if you want to complete your trip across the swamp.



The only time I had to do a real portage in a swamp besides just using the bank to get around some blow downs.