Boat Design

S

Steve Rowland

New member
I'm considering building either a Black Brant III or a 2 man Sculling boat. Obviously there are huge differences between the two: So the question is, if I'm going to be doing a combination of motoring out to spots & jump shooting, how hard will a BB III row? I'm also looking at the final costs and Devlin's estimate on materials seems high? Finally, any opinions on a Merrymeeting boat (Sandy point version) vs. Devlins 2 man Scull boat?
 
My BBIII rows well. It paddles well when sitting on the bow too, but the birds don't like it.

Sam's material costs are conservative. I spent a few months gathering stuff up and found many things on sale and did not pay shipping for my plywood,etc. I found a place that was no longer stocking WEST epoxy and bought a 5gallon kit for half price of buying it locally. Even with shipping to Alaska I saved over $150 on that deal. Overall my costs in 2003 for just the hull materials (wood, epoxy, paint and hardware) was $1200. In Sam's cost he includes the high end Ditzler auto paint. Save money and use Lou's FME.
 
I use a 1950's Merrymeeting Bay sculler for duck hunting. Its a great boat but I dont row mine, instead I use a small 4 hp motor to get me where I'm going and then use the sculling oar to put the sneak on the ducks. If your willing to learn how to scull then I would recommend the Merrymeeting sculler.

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I built the Sandy version, nice boat, I over built it a little too much, so weight became an issue. If you go the Sandy Point website, you can see a couple picture of the boat.

I liked and have thought about building another, but too much other stuff to do. I never rowed it, paddled it several times, which worked well and used a 4 hp on it all the time.

If you want to see the construction process, go to www.duckhuntingchat.com and look search for a thread by Bubba1.

Shot me a pm with any questions.
 
My BBIII rows easily enough. We had trouble with the motor on the youth hunt ( stuck a piece of rice stalk in the water intake). We took turns rowing back about a mile in good chop and it was not bad at all.

I have never added up the cost of the build but I would assume between 2 and 3k.
 
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