Looking for a workable river dory design

[David Winnett]

This forum is a great place to loose yourself in the excitement of people that enjoy a common passion, thank you all for some great evenings and rainy afternoons. I have completed my first wooden boat, a 14 foot skiff designed by Mr. Redmon"Flap Jack" I believe. Great fun, learned a lot, made many mistakes but it floats and i love it, named it Gabreille after my youngest grand daughter. Now I am looking for suggestions as to what river dory I might build for fly fishin on the Trinity River. A few desires are:

14 to 15 foot
plywood construction
light enough for dragging in and out of my pickup

[Steve Paskey]

Now I am looking for suggestions as to what river dory I might build for fly fishin on the Trinity River.

You might have a look at Paul Butler's Mini-Mac, a much simplified plywood version of the Mackenzie-style river dories. Paul's web site doesn't list the length, but it weighs 90 pounds. There's also a larger version called the Maxi-Mac.
www.butlerprojects.com/boats/minimac/index.htm

And Jeff Spira sells plans for several Mackenzie-style dories, ranging in size from 13 to 17 feet:
www.spirainternational.com/

Glen-L Marine sells plans for two drift prams (8' and 10') that could easily be carried in the back of a pickup:
www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=716

Glen-L also has driftboat plans (12'-16') but they're heavier ... the 12-footer weighs 150 lbs.
www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=819

[Thorne]

Not to discourage you from building, but this larger one on a trailer is on Craigslist in Arcata for $1500 -

http://images.craigslist.org/3n33p23od5V35P75R59cl4dd94248caf41856.jpg
http://humboldt.craigslist.org/boa/1519534907.html

Several local boatbuilders will be coming to the Big Lagoon Messabout up in Trinidad on the 3rd weekend in May, might be fun to bring your boat up there for some sailing, rowing and camping.
http://www.luckhardt.com/blmessabout.html
http://www.luckhardt.com/blmessabout10.jpg

[RodSBT]

Here is another site that may help with ideas, has a forum dedicated to drift boats: http://www.woodenboatpeople.com/

[David Winnett]

thank you all for your ideas and quick return, Thorne I look forward to meeting you at the messabout, i have truly enjoyed your thoughts posted on the forum:)

[Bob Triggs]

This forum is a great place to loose yourself in the excitement of people that enjoy a common passion, thank you all for some great evenings and rainy afternoons. I have completed my first wooden boat, a 14 foot skiff designed by Mr. Redmon"Flap Jack" I believe. Great fun, learned a lot, made many mistakes but it floats and i love it, named it Gabreille after my youngest grand daughter. Now I am looking for suggestions as to what river dory I might build for fly fishin on the Trinity River. A few desires are:

14 to 15 foot
plywood construction
light enough for dragging in and out of my pickup


Answer: Roger Fletcher is your man! www.riverstouch.com (http://www.riverstouch.com)

[David Winnett]

thanks bob, i have read the book and really got into his research, the doble ender looks like a good option meeting most of my criteria.

david

[Tomcat]

I was going through the same thought process a while back, and I couldn't really come up with a good candidate. There are two problems with your spec list (which was similar to mine). Light weight is the big one, and Butler is probably lightest of the ones listed so far. His designs have been covered in the free back issue epoxyworks mag.

http://www.epoxyworks.com/18/pdf/butler.pdf

But the Butler isn't really what I want.

The other issue with the list is that if you want to float fish this baby, not too many of the plans actually are state of the art enough. While these don't exactly have the waterproof car doors :), They are pretty technical boats:

http://www.montanaboatbuilders.com/

Another thing I like about the Montana is that they efficiently create features that are complex moldings on glass boats, with simple wood structures. Look at the thigh braces.

Anyway, I set about designing my own small drift boat. I decided I didn't have space for another object that size, so I haven't gone through with it. I think for light and technical, the best option is a pontoon kick/row boat. Very technical on the features, and light. I have some pontoon designs drawn up but I haven't taken that project further, have to wait till it warms up.

Also, I figure 16 feet on the short side is about as short as I could go.

Also, also, If you search on 'wooden drift boats', google will deliver the motherload.

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

I don't think you should do like has been suggested and stuff a 16 foot lapstrake beauty into your pickup box. The authorities might take exception to all that wood hanging out over the tailgate.
Have you ever trucked a boat in a pickup?
How big is your pickup box anyway? How much distance between the wheel wells?
Has anyone ever stuffed a "river dory" into a pickup before?

[Thorne]

Butler's Mini-Mac may do the job if built light enough. Otherwise the Glen-L prams may fit the pickup bed better.

As Chuck points out, you don't want to have too much boat sticking out of the back of the truck. Legal limit in CA is 3' overhang at either end of the truck (as far as I know), but you can usually get away with more as long as some idiot doesn't run into it...

From what I can tell, the Trinity is usually fished with standard drift boats, so you'll need that extreme rocker and protected bottom. I've read that using a sheet of the slick plastic stuff (some 4-letter acronym) on the bottom is very effective protection against abrasion from rocks.

[David Winnett]

the overhang is an important thought, my bed with tailgate down is only 8', i have been carrying my 13'8" flapjack in the bed but it looks unsafe, i am going to look at the boat in arcata mentioned by thorne, i just wanted the pride of building my own, but sense and reason may prevail if the boat already built meets my needs, and there is something to be said for taking a workable wooden boat and keeping it productive

[David Winnett]

thanks for all the great thoughts, even met with gentleman wanting to sell river dory in arcata, it was very large and needed almost as much work as building one that i really liked, I finally settled on one of roger fletcher's river dory design, the small double ender designed and built by woodie hindman, a jewel of a design, but i have been trying to build the boat from fletcher's references found in the book i purchased "drift boats and river dories, but i am having great difficulty visualizing the beveling of the frames, on page 121 the instruction show the frames built one way yet they are reversed on page 243 any insight would be greatly appreciated

[htom]

There are errors in books. Which is correct I'll let others advise on.

[Steve Paskey]

... i have been trying to build the boat from fletcher's references found in the book i purchased "drift boats and river dories, but i am having great difficulty visualizing the beveling of the frames, on page 121 the instruction show the frames built one way yet they are reversed on page 243 any insight would be greatly appreciated

What do you mean by "reversed"? Are you comparing photos or illustrations on two different pages? (Or are you comparing a written description to a photo or illustration?) I ask because it's possible that one image was inadvertently "flipped" during the process of putting the book together.

[David Winnett]

thanks steve for the quick response, in the general discussion at the beginning of the book it states the floor frames must be placed forward of the station line in the forward part of the boat and the bottom frames must be placed aft of the station line in the aft of the boat, but in the section specific to the dory i am building the pictures and dialogue seem to reverse this orientation and this just does not seem to work with the bevels, fletcher describes a method of building the dory with out constructing a jig, free form if you would, but that means i have to be right with all frames as i pull them together

thanks

[Bob Triggs]

It may be in error, it may not. I dont have the book handy to see. A quick email to Roger Fletcher may solve the problem. He has a contact link on the website at Rivers Touch.