Pondering my next build.

[Vince Pagliaroli]

Nate~


I believe Thomas Eakins was an early member of duckboats.net.....



And, I'm thinking you need your partner to stand on the stern deck and do all the poling.


All the best,


SJS

Back then most folks were not as well fed as they are today. Study the art & furniture and ya can understand how far we have gone in the age of "Super Size It". HHHEEEEeeeeHHHEEeeeeeHHHHEeeeeee [wink]

 

[jode hillman]

Nate, that is a beautiful boat and I love the lines.

That's great Steve! He definitely would be if he were still around!

I'll attach my favorite Eakins railbird seen below. Generally thought to be painted on the Maurice River in Southern New Jersey it looks pretty similar today other than the sailing craft in the background.
I find it pretty interesting that he's shooting at a bird right over top of the boat to his left. I've always wondered how intentional this was.

The stern deck is where life is lived!

I like the look of that skin on frame boat. However I'm wondering will the fiberglass have enough support going through heavy vegetations and sometimes shallow water and mud? I wonder how thick you would need to make it in order to have that strength. That may increase the weight. But probably not as much as a wood and glass covered boat.

I've never dealt with a fiberglass over rib boat.

Plus a picture of a another skiff that I restored. This one was 13 feet. By 42 wide. It had decent stability, but was slightly heavier built than I care for in a small craft (3/4" plank material) .

 

[jode hillman]

Has anyone seen a pic of a finished Selway Fisher Shelduck Punt? I would like to see a finished version. The line drawings look good, but line drawings can make things look different than reality.

Nate

Nate, the Shellduck looks promising, however that dead flat bottom would give me pause. I have pushed boats like that before and they tend to plow through vegetation rather than ride on top. And they are difficult to pivot on a turn. The most enjoyable boats I have used have gentle rocker front to back and A small amount of deadrise keel to bilge (1"-3")

 

[Nate Hoyt]

Jode,

SOF hulls are skinned with nylon or polyester cloth and painted with oil paint to seal the weave. According to the hype, they are surprisingly durable despite their light weight. The owner of Kudzu Craft has a video on his site where he stabs the bottom of one of his (that is in to be reskinned) with a screwdriver. It takes more effort than you'd expect to punch a hole and you can patch it with duct tape to finish out a day. However, duck season is very tough on a boat and most SOF proponents are recreational paddlers, not hunters, so I have my reservations. If I built this, it would be an experiment to see if a SOF could live up to the hype in the duck marsh and a little bit of art for art's sake

You cannot skin a SOF with FG and realize the light weight or strength of either SOF or even ply/epoxy construction. Coreless FG construction is very thick and heavy. Thin FG requires a core for strength. It punctures and tears surprisingly easily when used as a single, unsupported layer.


I push through a lot of mud, so deadrise is not particularly desirable, but if I built the Shelduck, I would arc the bottom for the reasons you mention. This one would be made as a more brutally utilitarian hull than the SOF DD and aligns most closely with my actual needs if I am honest. The downside is that I would not have to learn as much in order to build it because I have used the materials before.

Nate

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, Jode~


Great stuff all around!


I'm curious about the pole. Material? Rough dimensions? Are they oval in section?


All the best,


SJS

 

[jode hillman]

Jode,

SOF hulls are skinned with nylon or polyester cloth and painted with oil paint to seal the weave. According to the hype, they are surprisingly durable despite their light weight. The owner of Kudzu Craft has a video on his site where he stabs the bottom of one of his (that is in to be reskinned) with a screwdriver. It takes more effort than you'd expect to punch a hole and you can patch it with duct tape to finish out a day. However, duck season is very tough on a boat and most SOF proponents are recreational paddlers, not hunters, so I have my reservations. If I built this, it would be an experiment to see if a SOF could live up to the hype in the duck marsh and a little bit of art for art's sake

You cannot skin a SOF with FG and realize the light weight or strength of either SOF or even ply/epoxy construction. Coreless FG construction is very thick and heavy. Thin FG requires a core for strength. It punctures and tears surprisingly easily when used as a single, unsupported layer.


I push through a lot of mud, so deadrise is not particularly desirable, but if I built the Shelduck, I would arc the bottom for the reasons you mention. This one would be made as a more brutally utilitarian hull than the SOF DD and aligns most closely with my actual needs if I am honest. The downside is that I would not have to learn as much in order to build it because I have used the materials before.

Nate

Nate, thank you for the thorough explanation. Using different materials rather than fiberglass makes perfect sense. That seems like a very interesting build but may be more of a project than one wishes to tackle.

Looking at the Shellduck if you were able to arc the bottom I think that would be a pretty desirable craft, and perhaps be a very good working boat. Did dimensions are very close too many boots that I use, and an inch or two more width will give it very good stability.

 

[jode hillman]

Good morning, Jode~


Great stuff all around!


I'm curious about the pole. Material? Rough dimensions? Are they oval in section?


All the best,


SJS

Good morning Steve,

The search for the perfect pole never ends! The one in the picture is my heavy duty pole for thick vegetations. It is a 16 foot length of Douglas fir closet rod. It is one and a half inches thick. I used the draw knife to taper it from its full inch and a half thickness down to about an inch and a quarter at the bitter end. This is to save weight, but also you do not need as much strength once the craft is moving. Also the poke is used to slap the vegetation to get birds moving. A heavy pole tends to wear the arms out quicker.

My later season pole is a natural 16 foot piece of cedar tree. This is preferable because it has a natural taper, but it is not quite as strong as the fir. One has to be a little careful while pushing or you could snap it.

I did use a heated and cured bamboo pole for two seasons. It was a dream. It weighed in at 7 pounds Which is lighter than the cedar, and significantly lighter than the fur. However in my second season I was not pushing particularly hard when I snapped it. All things being said the Cedar pole is probably my favorite, and I use it the most except when conditions warrant extra strenuous efforts.

 

[Nate Hoyt]

We used 14' x 1.25" closet rods for push poles. I think they were/are fir; I still have one We never found straight enough 16 footers in 1.25". You had to go up to 1.5" closet rods to find straight 16 footers and, yes, they were very heavy. We had a few octagon 16' x 1.75" poles that someone ripped from a fir 2x4. Those suckers were especially inelegant in your hands. I only find 12' scarfed poplar closet rods in any size now.

I have a 16' x 1.25" extruded FG now and it is too floppy in the mud. My next will be 1.5" extruded FG with a layer of Kevlar on the outside to stiffen it a touch and seal the pores. I wish I could afford a Stiffy Hybrid and be done with it.

Nate