Rails: Ebb and Flow, life on the tide

Jode,
that was such a nice write up. Thank you for posting it. I read it all and enjoyed the combination of the hunt, the experience, and the introduction of a new generation. A better Story would be hard to script.
I am assuming this will be leading to a whole new line of carving in the years ahead.
All the best
Bob
 
Any build plans out there for these boats that your aware of?
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I have a friend who built a "Railbird Skiff" that was light enough he could launch it himself, even down a pretty steep bank. If I remember correctly, his was glass over marine plywood. It was pretty small--challenged with two larger hunters--maybe 14'. As a big guy, I'd want one 16' or so. I'm not sure where he got the plans.

Spira (found them on Google, know nothing) sells plans for a rail skiff they say is 92 pounds. Study plans here http://www.spirainternational.com/study/RailBirdStudy.pdf; full plans available for sale.
 
Kind of looks like that Maurice River Railbird Skiff could be adapted to stich and glue w/ plwood with not much effort. I would think it would be a lot lighter than the planked version. Neat boat.
 
Roy probably. It's not a complicated boat, but there's for to aft rocker and some boats had rounded bottoms port to starboard. It all effects how well the slide over the vegatation . I love my flat bottom canoe and hellbender, but they stick to the surface. Very hard to move over the thick Matt seen railbirding.

But I'm no expert, I have to defer to Rick on this one. He's built way more than me ( none!)
 
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Jode - Great post! Nice pics, love to see that.

Some of the boats pictured look a lot like my 12' model. They do have some rocker compared to the 10' boats you have, but mine have a large cockpit area.(7' long) It seems like it would be better with a boat primarily used with a pushpole to have a larger deck to stand on and smaller cockpit. That's how a couple of those look in your pics. Also the balance would be poorer with a light boat because you'd weigh one end down more significantly when poling. My 12' boats are probably too light to use without gear weighing down whichever end is the bow when poling. Not sure, of course but we have some floating stuff here in FL that is tricky to glide through. One thing I especially like about hunting boats is how they have their own specific designs or nuances based on the specific use or regional conditions. The specialized need dictates design. Fun to see the old stuff.

Really enjoyed the thread.
 
I kinda stayed on the heavy side of things when molding mine so i could stand on it without getting wet . If you build it to light its gonna be hard to stay on it . i have been thinking of making a lighter version to try. I built mine open to be able to use them for more then just railbirding . The bottoms take some abuse so i try to build the hull heavy and the deck light . Theres a fine line to play around but its all fun .
 
My boat is a double ended molded boat . Camo colored
The first three pictures are of mine , its a open plan with a small for deck and a large aft deck to stand on
 
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I've been thinking of rail hunting but doubt I could pole an 18 foot aluminum boat too well. I posted on another site and one reply was to just walk the marsh. Sounds great.
Can you recommend how deep the water should be when you wade. Are the rails standing on the bottom or are they standing on flooded grass. If I only have to wade as deep as a rails legs that would be easy. I would imagine that when they feed they are standing in water no deeper than their legs.
 
water depth is not the issue here , its whats under the water ; soft waist deep muck . good luck wading through our meadows and may god be with you . we hunt the sora rail that is found in fresh water - brackish water that holds wild rice . the root system to the rice is very fine and soft . not like the salt marsh at all . just know before you go !
 
I've been thinking of rail hunting but doubt I could pole an 18 foot aluminum boat too well. I posted on another site and one reply was to just walk the marsh. Sounds great.
Can you recommend how deep the water should be when you wade. Are the rails standing on the bottom or are they standing on flooded grass. If I only have to wade as deep as a rails legs that would be easy. I would imagine that when they feed they are standing in water no deeper than their legs.
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Bob: I don't know Jersey, but I hear their mud is a lot softer than what we have in our rice flats here in Maine. Tides are bigger here and much of the area I hunt is hard enough bottom to walk on, at least with difficulty.

Still, I don't know anyone who walks up rails. A local blogger tried it once and wrote about it--you can find his account here: ahttp://www.themaineoutdoorsman.com/2008/02/snipe-hunting-on-merry-meeting-bay.html

(Don't know why he uses snipe in the title, as he is clearly talking about rails.)

His conclusion: "I look forward to the day when I can talk someone crazy enough to accompany me in canoe snipe hunting as my days of wading the Bay are done!"
 
I've walked them up many times, much less as the body gets older. As said before, it can be very hard work. The three rail species we hunt (sora, virginia, clapper) use different habitats. The virginias and clappers are primarily in the spartina salt marshes here, the soras in brackish rice or rush stands. Our salt marshes are firm enough to walk but you have a very limited time to hunt them at the top of high water. You have more time in the rice, but the walking is very difficult. The rice is where a boat can be pushed on a regular basis, not very often over the salt marsh. Because it's an early season sport I wear shorts and old sneakers, the bare legs take a beating in the grass too.

I've done less and less of it in recent years since steel shot became the norm, since we use .410's or vintage black powder breechloaders. Nothing like a cloud of black powder smoke floating over the marsh, it must have looked like a war back in the day when several pushers with sports were on one marsh.

This thread has piqued my desire to build a new boat, our old boats were stored outside and have long since disintegrated. A nice off season project, I'm thinking of going to the CT River Museum in Essex and asking to take the measurements off Oliver LaPlaces railboat. Oliver was an interesting old-time waterman who did a lot of rail pushing in the early/middle of the last century. He was very well known in the northeast and had sports from the cities come to gun with him every year. When I was a kid, Oliver told us we were nuts to walk the birds up. Now that I'm older I realize maybe he was on to something. :)
 
What kind of bottom width did you use on your boat to provide stability enough to stay on that back deck. I,m a fairly big ol fart, 6'1" & 250 lbs. That little aft deck looks like a recipe for disaster for me if I tryed to shoot solo from rig!
 
it might not be for you at that size but some big guys are capable . Build it to suit yourself . I never used any plans or a tape , i just sprung a pair of sides with plywood and made a plywood mold . Whatever looked good to me . Put a little crown for and aft and run with it .
 
I have been looking for a boat for a few months .I Actually gave up. But today I got in a conversation with a guy at the trappers show. He mentioned a fellow near me had one behind his barn. I Made a cold call and talked to the farmer. He was happy to see someone take interest in it. 60 year old 13'6" South Jersey Mahogany and Cedar Rail Bird skiff now resides in the Hillman Stable. It needs just a little TLC but the boat is 95% sound You cant buy two boards for what he let it go for. Just to see it renewed was all that mattered to him.





Great thing about poly resin is the glass comes off in sheets



Removing the rotted outer white oak stem (probably not the proper terminology)



All ready to bevel and fit a new piece in


 
I thought I'd bring this to the top to piggy back with the restoration thread, since it sheds much light on the usage of the boat.
 
Jode: I enjoy your posts as do all the members here. You have an unique voice in your writing, and very talented in expressing yourself and capturing all that we love. Soooo-why not consider a book of short stories. You can draw from your stuff on the site, and the title is already conceived; "Ebb and Flow, Life on the tide."
 
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