Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Drift Pram?

Thinking of staring a new boat.  This time a lo-side Drift Pram.  My requirements are- 1 rower, 1 angler, simple interior, no more than 48" wide bottom, flat on both ends for surface area and interior space.  I'm thinking of using the "light board and batten boat" form Rogers book as a starting point.  or a rapid robert as a staring point, but whacking down the side height and pointed end.

Will be used on still water and slow moving small rivers. 

I got the idea for this after rowing a (gulp) Hyde Rock mountain skiff.  As far as glass boats go, this boat was a very nice, roomy, easy to row and easy in the wind boat.  But, I want one in wood!

anyone build anything like this?  Similar tot he freestone skiff that Jason makes, but not S&G.

Dave


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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on August 29, 2010 at 12:23pm


Dave,

You will love your river pram. Here's one that rolled out of Jimmy Farmers shop here in Jackson Hole several years ago. Ray and Cyrus kitted out the hull for us and we fitted the interior. This was designed as a Snake River Fishing Pram and it is a kick. We designed it to be big river capable and it is. Great on any of the great fishing streams in the Intermountain West. This is a bit bigger than you are suggesting but you get the idea.
Tom Montgomery was along for the sea trials, hence the unwrapped oars.
Permalink Reply by geno_86ed on August 31, 2010 at 7:57am
AJ, Ray, Cyrus,

This boat is stunning. Are there plans offered or only a kit? I think this is exactly what I am looking to build.

Geno
Permalink Reply by Roger Fletcher on August 29, 2010 at 5:16pm
Hi, Dave. At it again, eh? Take a look at the boat on pages 44 and 48 in my book, then re-read the first two or three paragraphs of that chapter on page 43. This is the boat I built with my grandson several years ago - taking the lines off this boat, modifying them a bit, and then bullding the thing. It is probably higher sided that you would like but given the water you are talking about I'd remove a good bit of the rocker this boat has. Doing so would reduce the profile and flatten the bottom. The boat is light (bottom length of 8' with five frames), will fit in an 8' pickup bed, and can put you inplaces the bigger boats won't. Randy and son, Sandy (Dersham) took my lines, refined them a bit, and built the boat. They did a lovely job with it. If you decide to get serious about this boat, let me know. I'm sure I can uncover and dust off the lines.

The light board and batten may come closer to the profile you desire. I'd look at lopping both ends of that boat at convenient spots to obtain a 8' bottom length. Only problem with this boat is it's pretty tender with a bottom width amidship of 3'-. And the idea of moditfying any one of ther other boats in the book could work for you. In addition to the RR I'd also look at the 16' double-enders, OR one of the dories.

And then, of course, you can lways try to talk Jim Farmer out of the lovely pram A.J. references,but knowing you, that wouldn't be as much fun as designing and building your own.
Permalink Reply by Dave Z on August 29, 2010 at 5:31pm
Yeah! That's it, EXACTLY!!!! AJ, that pretty much is the boat I'm longing to build.

Roger- I'm going to re-study the book. You are right, I recall the boat you and your grandson built. Flattening it out and taking a few inches of side height off would do the trick.

I knew someone had to build the boat I'm thinking of.

I rowed the Hyde rocky mtn skiff last week at the bighorn- It was a lovely boat to row and not much trouble in the wind. I rowed a regular high side drift boat out there for three days and it was a dog. The skiff got me thinking about my home situation- there are three untapped/drifted rivers here that a guy coudl do good on with a light shallow boat.

That guy is me! haha!

Hey- go visit my blog at www.thtchronicles.blogspot.com for a full Bighorn river report.

Dave
Permalink Reply by Dave Z on August 29, 2010 at 5:34pm
AJ- any closer shots of that inner rail setup? what I see there is your sliding seats rest upon a fir 1x4 or so, and the space between the frames is filled in with some decking to make gear pockets. I like it and was thinking of doing something similar to a few of my rigs.
Permalink Reply by Jesse Ronnow on September 14, 2010 at 11:17pm
Dave,

I have attached some pics of what I think may be the same boat, however Aj will have to verify that, from the Boat show in Wy this spring. I, like you, am looking into building a similar boat. I fish the South Fork of the Snake and see a lot of prams on the river that catch my eye. One thing these pictures don't capture is what a great layout this would is for a pure fishing vessel at least that is what caught my eye at the show this spring.

I took these photos with my iPhone so they are sideways and I could not figure out how to rotate them on this site. Anywho, I hope these help. I have a few more, if you are interested let me know and I will email them all to you.

JDR

Permalink Reply by Eric Loudenslager on August 29, 2010 at 5:55pm
Also, take a look at the Koffler Rocky Mountain Trout Boat - at their website, and the Morgan Skiff at the Montana River Boats site. They are both aluminum, but are functionally what you are describing. I just gave my Koffler RMT to my son-in-law since I've run out of boat storage......it is a really nice boat. I suspect you have the skill to figure out frames for one of these designs.
Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on August 29, 2010 at 8:10pm


These prams are exactly what you are describing. Here's the interior. They were made in 12ft and 10ft.

They were very popular in the 60s and 70s. No plans yet but I could put together a set. Notice two sets of oarlocks so you can either row from the center by yourself or from one end with room for a passenger.
Permalink Reply by Troy Nicolls on September 27, 2010 at 8:37pm
So are there plans available for this yet? I just gave my first build ( a trapper) to my son and daughter in law as a wedding present. Looking for another project before my wife makes me start on an entertainment center...ugh! Not sure if I want to build another pram sized boat or a nice 16' to replace my 16' rebuild.
Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on August 29, 2010 at 8:30pm


Prams RULE!

Here is my adaptation of the boat that Roger has in his book.

I think it was Ken Baker's. Please correct me if I have that wrong. Ken brought it to the McKenzie River Boat Show a couple of years ago and Sanderson and I fell in love with it. We had to make a version of that boat.

I took it down the Rogue wild and scenic last October with Sanderson and friends. I have never had so much fun in a drift boat.

We have four of them going together in the shop right now.


Here's a link to Tubby going through Black Bar Rapids on the Rogue in Oregon.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VIDEO
Permalink Reply by Roger Fletcher on August 30, 2010 at 7:26am
It was Ken Brown - not Ken Baker. He built Tubby in 1972 from Harry Lagerstedt's plans, the boat's originator. Ken's boat is still in use. The pic is Ken running Black Bar Falls in 1978.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on August 30, 2010 at 10:53am
Thanks for the correction Roger. I always seem to get the first initial right and then the rest of the name wrong.

I love that photo and that boat. Lots of fun.

Also Roger is right about us matching his boat closer than Harry's. Harry's plans call for the frames to fan. Roger's boat had more traditional straight frames. We took Rogers approach and then added a traditional pram treatment to the wide end just for looks and we turned the handles into more old school cut outs.

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