Portage Pram

[stromborg]

I tried to avoid the ties but got sloppy and paid the price on several.

[stromborg]

Fast forward a few weeks and we're in paint! Primer in this case. One really nice thing about a wee boat like this is how fast you can sand it and how little paint is needed. Later today I'll have the first topcoat on (Marshall's Cove "Yacht White" semi-gloss). It's a traditional enamel I've used on all my boats, flows out and wears well, hard not to like. Local company with limited availability, I'm guessing it is equivalent to Kirby's. No association with them, it is kind of like choosing System 3 or West for epoxy, sometimes you just keep running with what you know.

That little oil-filled radiant heater does a great job of safely warming up the hull to speed up the drying process, my shop runs in the 60-65f (15-18c) range this time of year, a little extra localized heat speeds things along.

[DBthal]

Steve,

Looks great! I’ll enjoy seeing it painted.

Dan

[stromborg]

Bottom done, waiting on the sheerstrake due to a lack of Forest green paint in the shop supply cabinet. The interior is Marshall's Cove "Schooner Spar Buff" which i use on Marianita's decks and like there. Not so sure about it here but the first coat of paint almost always looks dicey. Standing her up on end was the easiest way to get a visual on coverage for the undersides of the thwarts. See my thread on repairing UV damage on my Pygmy kayak, I wanted nothing exposed on this one.

Now that she is all sticky with paint the cloth I ordered for making a cover showed up. Timing is everything and not just in comedy...

[DBthal]

Steve,

Your pram build is coming along nicely.

I look forward to hearing how you like the boat after the first row.

Dan

[stromborg]

"Poppy" got launched last night. Good little boat, rows well and tracks a lot better than I expected. All around nicer than my similarly sized Feather Pram. Plus, I can heft the boat up onto one shoulder (it is right around 35 pounds) and walk it from the back of the Suburban the beach while also carrying the oars. The buttons are too small and need to shift up the looms, my thumbs collide mid-stroke. Next up is taking the mothership out with tender in tow.

[jpatrick]

Very sweet, Steve. She looks much better on the water than in the back of your Suburban, and she looked mighty good there!

Jeff

[johngsandusky]

Beautiful!

[The Jeff]

Looking good!

[DBthal]

Steve,

Your Portage Pram looks great! Glad that you like the way it rows.

I’ve used my Portage Pram on two cruises this year. It rows very well, but can be a bit squirrelly when my wife & I are climbing in/out from a boat.

I’m also trying to settle on gunnel protection.

1673EFF1-6F62-459A-8E82-02C30FD94924.jpg

I’ve strung some sailboat lifeline cushions along the sides.

Dan

[stromborg]

Poppy, alongside Marianita, they seem to get along well even if they both wore the same dress to the party.


Out for a first tow.

Notes from said tow:
Noisy: the slap-slap-slap of waves on the bottom got to be just a bit annoying...this from a lapstrake boat sailobr />
Drag: not much but definitely enough to have an effect on boat speed and

Tacking: Marianita needs all the help she can get in the kind of sloppy 1-2 foot chop we had most of the day and that drag coming from the aft end really messed with my success ratio yesterday.

Tracking: There may have been a lot of noise back there but she tracked right behind, I remember the Feather Pram I tried this with had a tendency to shuttle back and forth a lot but that boat has a very round bottom and when under oars you have to pay attention or she'll head off in random directions.

Once back at the dock I practiced getting from one boat to the other and went for a nice extended row as the sun set over Eagle Harbor. All told a pretty nice way to spend a summer afternoon. I did not opt for the sailing rig, I would have to practice a lot more yoga before I think my 6'-0" self would fold down into the boat to do that. I doubt Poppy will be coming along for the vast majority of my sailing adventures, but for the extended cruises I keep telling myself I'm going to do I think she'll be quite handy.

[Jack Loudon]

Beautiful job on the pram, and I hope she proves to be a useful companion around the harbor and behind your bigger boat.

[DBthal]

Two beautiful boats! I hope the Portage Pram serves you well.

Dan

[AJZimm]

Steve,
Thanks for bringing us along on the build and for the operational report following the launch.

[Liberty53]

Yahoo! Great work!

The two sweeties go together very well.

Derek

Scamp #169

[hawkeye54]

Steve, in post # 46, you mention the sound of the waves hitting under the bow transom when the pram is towed . Could the noise be mitigated / deadened if you were to stuff the forward flotation tank with some closed cell foam pieces ?


Rick

[Andrew Donald]

Very nice job Steve, could you use the mizzen from mothership in Poppy? Gotta be some sorta record - boat built and launched inside two thread pages!

[Rob Hazard]

That annoying slap-slap of the flat bottom may be part of the reason why Joel White designed the Nutshell pram's bow the way he did. Heavier for sure, but quieter in chop. There is no perfect boat; every boat is a compromise.

[Breakaway]

A longer tow rope will lessen what you hear of the noise.


Nice job!

[Andrew Donald]

A longer tow rope will lessen what you hear of the noise.


Nice job!

maybe, but I reckon it’ll just give the jet skiers a challenge

[stromborg]

If the tow gets long enough to appreciably reduce the noise I'd probably have to re-do the running lights. Just one of those things I'll get used to hearing, Marianita's laps are pretty good at letting me know they are there too. I don't think putting foam in the flotation tank would do much for the noise while towing and when I'm rowing it sits deep enough in the water that it isn't an issue.

The designed sailing rig for the pram is cool looking but I have opted to keep her as a straight up rowing tender. I think the mizzen, yards and sail from the mothership might double the total weight.

I left Poppy on the dock today but it would have been interesting to see how she handled. We had a 10 knot northerlies with an unimpeded fetch from Whidbey island to Bainbridge, steep 2' chop predominating with a chaotic undercurrent of ferry/cruise and containership wakes sloshing back and forth against the fairly steep shoreline. Not a place for motion sensitive people.