small boat project

Paul Meisenheimer

Paul Meisenheimer

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I have been absent from the site for a while but I haven't been idle. Over the years this site has been a great inspiration to me and I have had a lot of fun following different projects and threads. Boat builds in particular keep me fascinated. Last year I decided to build a little puddle punt/sneak/rowboat that I could throw in the back of my truck and drag into the many prairie sloughs and weedy lakes that I like to hunt but hate to wade. Steve Sanford's pond box and Yukon Mikes rowboat were a good starting place for my ideas. I wanted a small, light, boat that I could row, drag, laydown in, and otherwise use for waterfowl hunting.

Knowing that flat bottom boats are notoriously bad to row, and also knowing that sailboat hulls are generally fairly efficient in moving through the water, I looked for a sailboat dinghy plan that would meet my needs. I found it in the D4. I started with the free plans and then made it my own through extensive modifications. What I ended with has been a lot of fun. So without further ado, I give you the Dirty Ducker. lol


View attachment 61445074123__46D5FA4D-B9B3-4E79-931C-B40BE8808DFA.JPGView attachment 58767140855__E26F4930-8AC9-48E6-A120-AB6C9616BEF5.JPGView attachment 58778050752__2182DE07-890A-46BB-937C-EE1696F502D2.JPG
 
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Very nice,I built one similar to that but had no plans, lol, just eyeballed it and put it together, could have been a sister ship to yours...Lost it in a big tide...

Good job..
 
Sorry to hear you lost it. I read the plans and promptly threw them away but it did give me a good place to start from. And for the record, I did not use a level. It was simply a straight edge for me.
 
Jeff Reardon said:
I like that. Is the rowing seat removable for when you hunt?
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Thanks Jeff. The seat slips out and becomes the backrest. The floor is also removable if I don't plan to lay down. It keeps the weight down by a few pounds.
 
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Paul~


Great vessel!


I appreciate your using existing plans as simply the starting point. Building one's own thoughts, ideas and experiences into the design - and the building itself - is a bit part of the fun.


All the best,


SJS

 
I'm reminded of a small duckboat I built 25 years or so ago. The general plan was from the old Canadian magazine Rod & Gun. It was about 45 x 90 inches 1/4" plywood covered with fibreglas. It handled OK but I didn't use it much because of the decking. I couldn't get it up on the roof racks; it would have been OK if I had had a truck.View attachment duckboat_edited.JPG
 
Paul

That turned out really nice. We have a WMA that restricts outboard and your boat would be a perfect solution for that rule. Congrats on a job well done. By the way, I just featured your build on the duckboatsdotnet Instagram page. Well worth sharing to that community.

Eric
 
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Eric Patterson said:
Paul

That turned out really nice. We have a WMA that restricts outboard and your boat would be a perfect solution for that rule. Congrats on a job well done. By the way, I just featured your build on the duckboatsdotnet Instagram page. Well worth sharing to that community.

Eric
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Thanks Eric

I have a small lake just down the road that I frequently hunt (appropriately called Weed Lake) and motors of any type are prohibited. I use it there a lot.
 
RobertPammett said:
I'm reminded of a small duckboat I built 25 years or so ago. The general plan was from the old Canadian magazine Rod & Gun. It was about 45 x 90 inches 1/4" plywood covered with fibreglas. It handled OK but I didn't use it much because of the decking. I couldn't get it up on the roof racks; it would have been OK if I had had a truck.
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That looks great Robert. When I think back over the years I can imagine lots of places I would use a boat like that.
 
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