Sticks and goo and doorskin

[Andre Cloutier]

Gil Cramer usually has nice things to say about these, and this part of the forum is always quiet so here goes. $24 worth of doorskin and leftover epoxy, in a quest to build a lighter beater boat for dragging to more remote places - drop the sheer, kayak handles fore 'n aft and tape the seams, and see if we can stay below 40lbs. with paint. Lots of 16/30 ABM deja vu, building with the Miller method.
Ducking and running......

 

[bluedcanoed]

Works for me!

Bob

 

[john hupfield]

Best use for a door in a long time. I think that is how they make aluminium boats too, though you need stronger wire. Swift makes a nice one out of Vinyl Siding.
Respectfully; John

 

[Gil Cramer]

Is it done yet????

 

[Andre Cloutier]

I was afraid you were going to ask that....
soon, very soon. likely launch pictures will have snowbanks in the background.

 

[Gil Cramer]

Maybe, just maybe, I'll take some photos of my personal fishing "watercraft". It was made "intentionally ugly" so that nobody would want to buy it, but it is wonderful for its intended purpose. It's over 10 years old and still usable. The only holes in the hull are from the wind blowing it off of the storage rack, dropping it off a bridge abutment onto rebar, and kids throwing it in the water on the Kazoo River when I didn't have it hidden and locked. The skid cloth has been replace twice from dragging over , around , and through log jams. It has been on creeks that I would never take a w/c canoe, and has had innumerable smallmouth over the gunnel.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Been waiting on a picture since you described it some years ago..My most used river boat has a 3/4 ply skeg for dragging it from trailer to water! multiple rebuilds, coats of paint, more epoxy and its getting heavier as it gets uglier. Still, had it out on Lake Muskoka not long ago and will be sliding it down the banks into a less accessible part of the river this weekend (maybe on snow)

 

[Gil Cramer]

The weather was really nice last week so I took some photos of my door skin "canoe". It's actually a pirogue design. It's 11 years old and has seen lots of small, almost inaccessible, smallmouth streams. It has several patches. Most were to fix holes caused by the wind blowing it off the rack. It weighs about 40 lbs; has a clam cleat and fairlead to control the anchor from the removable bass boat type seat. It has rough sawn cedar chines and rails, 1 oz fiberglass cloth on the bottom, and 9oz seam tape on the chines and stem. The 9 oz tape on the stem has been replaced twice because I drag it over all types of obstacles. It goes place where I wouldn't dream of taking a w/c canoe. I can't believe that it has lasted this long.
The exterior paint was whatever green was around, and the interior gray was latex stain left over from staining the shop. Any paint additions were simply whatever was handy.

 

[greenvilleguy]

I love it. Anything that will get me where the fish are!

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Brilliant. I understand...
perhaps next assembly we could have a category for ugliest P.O.S. on the green. recent photo to follow.

 

[MackyM]

Andre, I thought that term was reserved for racecars.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Usually Fords, but i took some liberties.

 

[john hupfield]

Just a minute Gil, you said 1 OZ glass?
I built several similar to Andre and averaged about 45 lb re-enforced for sailing and decked. I built one in 3 mil and it weighed 35 lb. The buyer wanted 25 lb and cancelled. I sold it to a guy for a shore boat on his sailboat. He ended up taking it to Honduras in the back of his Van. I did some rebuild 4 years later after the boat was shot during a robbery attempt. 3 mil ply, spruce inwales and deck beams, 6 oz tape and 6 oz glass exterior, ply skeg.
Had to paint it..Green.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Okay Gil, ripped a 2x4x14 and made innners, tomorrow i will frame it for decking. The finest wood the lumberyard can offer. Then i need to buy another sheet of doorskin, another $10. After i lay glass over it down to the river it goes, its been 5 degrees (41 for you Yanks) for days now, no ice on any of the major lakes or rivers...