Gardner light batteau ready for the river.

[L.W. Baxter]

Just in time for the annual family gathering for the 4th of July on the St. Joe River in Idaho...

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p3d53cdd468cd785de6078c8c7afe0c4b/f3a2d759.jpg

This is the 18' Canadian Light Batteau from The Dory Book .

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/pc7c6082492f387acc793a1c6842d7296/f3a2d761.jpg

I skipped half the frames, reduced the size of chine and gunnels, and added hatches on the floatation chambers. Even with reduced scantlings, it weighs almost 100 lbs.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p6f54ac653b1d526efa36121ecbbe8d07/f3a2d756.jpg

I made laminated spruce oars. They ended up being 6'9" long, as that was the length of the board I ripped them from. Only 38" between the oarlocks, so rowing will be crosshanded, like the Adirondack guide boats. Paddling will be an option too, of course.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p910b6560c1d0d6cef9073cf2b0064c77/f3a2d769.jpg

The level of finish was never intended to be very high, but I went ahead and varnished the interior anyway. I'm satisfied with it. Here's the stern thwart, of H. Mahogany.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p9722a0f6a8a47fe7a4aeef09d3067ccf/f3a2d74e.jpg

I put the bulkheads on the opposite side of the frames in order to use the coamings as carrying handles. Worked out slick.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p6426c07b1aba0c88e7e52d53e8eb041d/f3a2d747.jpg

Two rowing stations, one just aft of center for solo-ing and one at the forward thwart for drift fishing, stern first like a drift boat. The boy shows off a nice "trout".

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p3ff1993c3dae0d06f81358a14723c5fe/f3a2d752.jpg

[Bill Perkins]

LW I've been interested in that boat for a long time .Looks sharp . Let us know how she rows and paddles.I've also seen a drawing showing one oarsman and a person in the stern steering with a paddle .

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

Nice Job LW. ;)
Beautiful. :cool:

[Bill Bliss]

Nice job. I like having the breasthook double as a handle. I did the same thing with my srip-planked dinghy -- it avoids extra hardware.
-wcb

[David Gilroy]

Beautiful job. We built the 32footer with the kids at Riverfront Recapture, and I swear, with lots of oars in the water, we could have towed a water-skier. Dave ;)

[Concordia..41]

As Fleming would say, "Aces."

- M

[ 06-20-2005, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]

[BrianR]

Well done.....congratulations. Should be the hit of the party!

[skuthorp]

Looks fast, I'll be interested to hear how she tracks.
I row my boat overhanded, still bark my knuckles if I get careless. :rolleyes:

[dmede]

very nice. looks fast! :D

[L.W. Baxter]

Thanks for the compliments, folks. I will be reporting on performance soon.

Speaking of which, I just checked my fly box and I see I'm low on elk hair caddis! Essential gear, I'll need to remedy that.

[Dave Hadfield]

Very Nice!

These boats were made up to 40ft long to support the log drive on rivers such as the "Spanish" in northern Ontario. The cookstove would be on it, all the camping gear, duffel bags, hams and bacon hanging from a central rack... and they ran them down the rivers even through the rapids. Here's a man in the bow of one such boat in the Graveyard of the Spanish in 1952 (just before he gets catapulted out!)

http://www.blueheronresort.on.ca/photos/spriver2.jpg

A friend of mine recently built one in Espanola, on the North Shore. He sets it up with sweeps, both hands on one oar, 5 or six oars to a boat.

[Bob Smalser]

Terrific job....would like to see more of them built as nice as this.

The old ones all got used up.