What kind of boat is this? | SouthernPaddler.com

What kind of boat is this?

grubdog

Member
May 26, 2008
8
0
Lawrenceburg,In
Recently while at the zoo in New Orleans, I saw an unusual boat near the swamp exhibit. It was long and narrow with an enclosed hull. It had a V8 engine aft, and a drive shaft inside of the hull; which powered what looked like a four-blade cutter in front of the boat. It even had a small console for the steering wheel. I was fascinated with this craft, and would have liked to have learned more about it; but I had to tend to my wife, who was ailing from low blood sugar. Has anyone seen one of these boats?
 

seedtick

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2006
1,161
7
Denham Springs, LA
Maybe a crawfish boat?

used in the rice fields for harvesting crawfish

they are typically bateaus with the motor in back and a hydraulic driven wheel in the front that is foot operated (like a trolling motor) for direction and speed

there are as many variations as there are crawfish in the swamp but here's one style

img0075.jpg
 

beekeeper

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2009
1,917
59
seedtick

Do you think you and keith could mount one of those hydraulic trolling motors on my Croc. :wink: Looks like I may need one in the salvania. That 30# Motor Guide just bogs down.
IMG_0126.jpg



beekeeper
 

beekeeper

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2009
1,917
59
seedtick

No thank you. I don't like going any faster than my Bumble Bee bass boat will. I bet that 35hp would be a trip! It is only 7 times the horse power rating of my boat. If the Coast Guard gets bent out of shape over the lack of a little number what would they think about that.

beekeeper
 

seedtick

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2006
1,161
7
Denham Springs, LA
in the rice field environment, you need to crawl from trap to trap and to be precisely positioned to pick up the trap without having to get out of the boat.

Airboats do neither one of those things very well, plus they're awful noisy
 

gbinga

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2008
736
2
Hoschton, GA
seedtick said:
in the rice field environment, you need to crawl from trap to trap and to be precisely positioned to pick up the trap without having to get out of the boat.

Airboats do neither one of those things very well, plus they're awful noisy

Doesn't that contraption tear up the rice?? Or do you do the crayfish farming in the off season...?

I obviously know very little about rice or crayfish farming. In Eastern Arkansas, where my mother is from, they grow a heck of a lot of rice. I've seen the fields and the levees and so forth, but never spent enough time out there to really learn anything.

George
 

seedtick

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2006
1,161
7
Denham Springs, LA
Rice-crawfish farmers in the South generally stock rice fields with 50 to 60 pounds of adult crawfish per acre at permanent flood in June, when rice is 8 to 10 inches high. The crustaceans burrow underground when the farmers drain fields and harvest rice in late August or September. The farmers then fertilize and flood the stubble in October to ratoon or regrow as forage. Crawfish emerge from their burrows about a day after ponds are flooded. Newly hatched crawfish, attached to the underside of females' tails, grow to market size in 90 to 120 days.
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
I can tell you that if you tried to run that contraption into a Japanese rice paddy, a LOT of samurai swords would all of a sudden come out of hiding. Digging up their rice is like tossing a lit cigarette out around all the unpainted, dry-wood houses. They'd be all over you like a duck on a June bug.