Those tabs you are going to use sure seem like they have potential as an attachment point as well. Does your pup not like to come in over the gunnel?
2025 Devlin Snow Goose Thread
- Thread starter HenryHawthorne
- Start date
Those tabs you are going to use sure seem like they have potential as an attachment point as well. Does your pup not like to come in over the gunnel?
Unknown, yet. The functioning boat I have now is a Whaler - sides are too high to test much. She'd probably be fine with it with a hand on her neck, but if I can come up with a simple enough design why not make it easy on her.
I'm for minimalism as far as clutter and stuff to get tangled into. Decoys, anchors and gear gets bad enough. The only dog ladder I'd consider is someone had one that was attached to the bow that folded into the water and stowed/folded tight to the deck, but that would be in the way for fishing.
All of my dogs have had no problem with the low sides of the snow goose.
If I build a blind on my rig this year, Im going to put a dog ladder in. The steps on the transom are nice, but I hate when the pooch comes in through there. I have all my boxes and gear and even though they call them dry boxes, they aint. If I could get her coming in off the bow keep the mud and water towards that end of the boat, I would be a much happier man. Also, I have the high deck, so I want build the blind and leave enough of an area where Ill jut put up her dog blind and she can go in and out of her blind on the deck of the boat. ideally, the ladder would be right in front of her blind. By the time water fell off the front there, it would be well under the floor and no where near where the boxes with the gear are.
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For My Kara Hummer I designed this, though it is not needed now because Berta can clamber up without it. Until she gets older it won't see much use but I would like to adapt the idea to my poleboat which has much higher sides. RM
How did you build this? I have a rail system, I was honestly thinking I was just going to buy something that mounted to the rail system and then just stored in the boat when running down the lake. Ive thought about building something, but summer is getting away and ill be lucky to get a blind put on by the time i get it back from Utah after the motor rebuild.
Vevor bench mounted tubing bender, about $100. 1" aluminum tubing, 7 or 8 ft long, outdoor tiles, and zip ties. For symmetry, mark the middle of the tubing at zero and measure outwards at one inch increments on each side. RM
(Proverbs 12:10 KJV) A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast...
(Proverbs 12:10 KJV) A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast...
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Fill coat complete and keel installed.
Damn, you're an old pro! I'm coming to you for advice! RM
That looks fantastic.
The reflections of that metal siding on the fill coat would tell any lies you had! Very pretty work!
Thanks guys. Each new step comes with a bit of trepidation, but once I dive in I realize how valuable all of the detailed boat builds on this forum (and lessons learned shared in them) have been in prepping. It's slow, but I'm pleased with the the progress and results so far.
@William Reinicke , @tod osier
While building I've periodically wondered about placing the strakes/runners at the edge of the bottom of the hull, under the chine, rather than more at the midpoint as-designed. This would mimic a reverse chine and also provide some additional protection for the chine itself, but would leave more of the bottom exposed between chine and keel and provide less stiffness.
I'll likely stay as-designed, but given your discussion about reverse chines thought I'd throw this out for your thoughts.
The boat looks great, it is really going to slow down when you flip if you are going to maintain that level of detail and thoughtfulness. Don't get me wrong, post flip is a lot of fun and I still remember sitting in the boat into the evening thinking and planning as a positive life memory - BUT it will look like a boat and generally the same for a long long time.
Given how the hull behaves, I'd be scared to do a lot of messing around. For those who don't know, these hulls need for a lot of power to get on plane which is driven the very short planing surface. The boat performs well as is on plane (tight in curves, handles chop well for the boat weight and amount of "V", etc...), so something else to confound things makes me nervous. It may be a panacea, but may cause new problems.
The strakes take a lot of the damage, I'd want one where designed AND another if you are adding. When you start looking at placing the additional outer strakes you will find that the hull (chine) is pretty curved in that area, they would be really short if in line with the keel and you obviously wouldn't want them to follow the curve of the chine.
Henry, Do you think your wife would be agreeable to photographing the flipping process. Alot of people on this site, including myself, would be interested in how you accomplish that. I'm guessing that you are painting the bottom first so plenty of time to talk her into it. RM
Well, my primary plan is to invite a few guys to the shop for a beer one evening - so may not be much to see. Just a guess, but I doubt it will be much over 200 pounds at this stage (not all bulkheads are in place/epoxied). I do have a backup idea if it's just me or if I only have 1 set of extra hands - between my engine hoist and engine stand, disassembling the upper parts of my strongback from beneath and leaving it suspended by the bow eye and stern eyes or motor holes will give room to slip the mobile base out. I could use the engine stand to rotate the boat fairly easily, I think, with 1 helper. I may go that route, anyway, as I want to convert some of my scraps into a cradle on the mobile base for work on the inside and top (if I dont go ahead and get a trailer and work on that).
But, either way, I'll plan to have some pictures taken.
You may want to increase your beer budget to include the rub rails/clamps. Depending on how you oriented the wood grain, they can be a real bitch as they like to slide up when clamping in place as your goal is not to squeeze out all the epoxy. Letting the epoxy stiffen up a bit helps. RM
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This sounds like a bass boat trying to get on plane due to the small area of the boat that rides when on plane. The MSTC runs similar to my bass boat I would say when on plane, only a 1/3 of my hull is touching water, vs my bass boat where maybe 1/4-1/5 of the hull is touching water. Its part of the reason this MSTC hull is so fast compared to other mudrigs Ive been in. Seems the excel boats just kind of plow and even with a big 115 on the back, still that hull has at least half of the hull running in the water at speed. You also never feel that lift up out of water. On a bass boat its obvious, the bow goes way up in the air, you can literally feel the transom pick up and then bow come down and water is skipping out the sides just behind my shoulders when on plane jammin down the lake. MSTC hull, I can feel that lift, and then when I jump from 10mph to 28mph, it takes about 4 seconds and I watch the water spray start skipping from the sides of my hull just where my grab bar is mounted, rest of the front of the boat is lifted out of the air. A huge reason why this boat does so good in shallow stuff, but also why ive had to figure out how to put a winch on it. You can run at speed in next to nothing, but you let off the throttle, ive been high centered and pushing to get it on stuff that floats. Its a nightmare and I had to go through a strong learning curve with that because it runs in shallow stuff (at speed) effortlessly and never feels like you're ever in trouble or starting to get shallow. It doesnt even lose speed, it just rides and rides well. Ive destroyed brand new props by having to trim up, build RPM and just burying the prop back down only moving an inch at a time, but it was all I could do to get the boat off a low spot when I was by myself.
MSTC - Havoc Boats
The first surface drive hull with inverted ribs - a true mud motor rig built around Arkansas timber hunting.
havocboats.com
Heres the website and you can see the reverse chine on my rig. I dont think you could build it from how your boat sits now henry. I think it would have to be constructed in a way that the it built the reverse chine into the design. I would go much thicker than what you all are recommended now, as the flats are the primary areas that take the beatings when running ice or bumping those logs, rocks or stumps.
Will,
The winch idea is great! Do alot of folks add this where you hunt? RM
The winch idea is great! Do alot of folks add this where you hunt? RM