New to me Scaup

jode hillman

Well-known member
I've been a happy Roy boat owner for going on 15 years. Both high and low boxes suit the majority of my hunting and fishing needs.However I have built plenty of boats in the past, including several Devlin designs. When I saw Rich Ambile advertising his recently built Scaup for sale it tempted me. Needing a bigger boat to take the wife and kids along, I decided to snap it up.

Rich was upfront with me. He told me the woodworking was solid. But the glass work has gotten the better of him. I made three hour trip to North Jersey to check it out. Rich lives in an awesome spot. Literally on a dirt road on the top of a mountain! Not the place you would expect to find a sneak box.

He's a great guy and showed me around the boat and what needed being done. The deck glass needed replacing. It's a big job for one guy and Hard , Especially if you don't have a warm heated area to pull it in and work on it.

My friend Adam and I hitched up the boat and beefy trailer and made the long trek back to the South Jersey low lands.

The first order of business was to give her a shot and see how seaworthy she was. I slapped my 30 horse Yamaha on the back and took her for a cruise on the local creek. Wow. It jumped on a plane quickly and ran close to 30 miles an hour with nary a wobble or a porpoise!

From there it was a four-man job to carry her off of the trailer and move her into the workshop for Re glassing the decks and other work.( Notching the transom corners for Motor clearance etc.)

I gave myself a week to get it done and back on the bunks. My son, daughter, and neighbor all lent a hand in helping get her stripped,re glassed and up to snuff.


The first few trips were toting thirty 110s to catch muskrats. The large cockpit of the scaup and the open layout made this task a breeze.

Perch fishing, clamminh, and soon to be crabbing are all tasks I feel this boat will handle admirably.

I found a junked 30 hp Yamaha with electric start, so I bit the bullet, bought it and added e start to my good running motor.

While it will not Replace the concealability of my roy boxes. It will add a larger boat to the fleet that will allow me more versatility in the areas I am able to hunt. Especially in the realms of bigger water.

I appreciate your work Rich, and I will take good care of her from here on out.



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Nice to see a boat staying within the DHBP family.

How's 'rat prices these days?
 
Carl said:
Nice to see a boat staying within the DHBP family.

How's 'rat prices these days?

Not great. Between three and five dollars depending on the size and color. I catch a few rats every year for the table. As I enjoy the flavor and texture. The fur from this year is going to be made into a set of mittens.
 
Hard to believe we were getting $8-12 back in 1985 for them!
I never cooked one back when I was trapping, always wished I had.
 
Seasoned and cooked right they,re delicious. I had completely forgot about my yearly spring rats till this post. Now i,ve got to check the couple restaurants within 25 miles that serve them and see if they,re still on menu./ Last spring you literally had to reserve your muskrat as evidently pelts weren,t bringing enough for trappers to set for them in my local area. Restaurant owner told me back then most pelts went overseas and between virus screwing with shipping and price he couldn,t hardly find any from his suppliers.
 
To keep this derailment going [smile] I read that many lots of furs went completely unsold in Spring 2020 and the outlook is bleak this year too.
One of the auction houses actually went under this last summer.
 
roy brewington said:
Seasoned and cooked right they,re delicious. I had completely forgot about my yearly spring rats till this post. Now i,ve got to check the couple restaurants within 25 miles that serve them and see if they,re still on menu./ Last spring you literally had to reserve your muskrat as evidently pelts weren,t bringing enough for trappers to set for them in my local area. Restaurant owner told me back then most pelts went overseas and between virus screwing with shipping and price he couldn,t hardly find any from his suppliers.

One of our local fire companies has an annual muskrat dinner that's been going on for nearly 40 years. This year it was take out only because of the pandemic. It is normally sit, all you can eat. I guess they wanted everyone to be satisfied because I swear my takeout portion must've contained six whole muskrats! And the sides are so good. Apple coleslaw, cornbread , potatoes all local Homestyle specialties .

Carl, there's plenty of buyers out there for fur but it's not the major auctions. If you do a little work for them, put them up yourself and display them nicely you can get better money for them and be proud of the finished product

A few black rats with some oysters
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Sounds delicious but i,ve got to have some Hominy/w gravy and some greens and wet cornbread with mine. Got to call those restaurants tomorrow, you,ve got me drooling!
 
Ah, the famous black 'rats from the east coast! We only had browns up in the Pocono's, we drooled over the premium price y'all got for blacks!!
 
Nice work on the boat Jode. You do quality work.

Enjoyed the muskrat side story, brings back memories. Trapped many as a kid and young adult, but have to admit to not eating them. Working a trapline, especially in the salt marsh, is a great learning experience for a young outdoorsperson.
 
We all know one boat can never answer every call, but those Scaup lines are really hard to beat, at least in my opinion. Great all-around 2 person boats, ample floor space and safe enough to run bigger water with on selected days.. I hated parting with mine (but Dave has done her proud with his modifications). Enjoy Jode, it is certainly in capable hands!
 
Nice looking boat, and it's good to see it will get used as designed. And that is a honking big white perch! Sea-run? We used to see sea-run white perch in a lot of the coastal rivers up here, but they seem much rarer now.
 
Steve Sanford said:
Gorgeous work, Jode!


I admire the short turnaround on this project. Too many "Spring things" grab my efforts at this time of year.


And, I could not help but spy your (very familiar) drill press....






All the best,


SJS

One of my favorite tool Steve! Mine is a full-size Floor model that has a Mercury switch foot pedal. Very convenient when working on two handed projects.
 
Jeff Reardon said:
Nice looking boat, and it's good to see it will get used as designed. And that is a honking big white perch! Sea-run? We used to see sea-run white perch in a lot of the coastal rivers up here, but they seem much rarer now.

Thank you Jeff. Yes it is white perch season here in southern New Jersey. They are on their spawning run fresh out of the ocean/bay.They are one of my favorite springtime treats. The fresh roe is something I really look forward to. My favorites are the fish that are as round as they are long! We catch them regularly all summer long. But the springtime fish are simply the best.
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Troy Fields said:
We all know one boat can never answer every call, but those Scaup lines are really hard to beat, at least in my opinion. Great all-around 2 person boats, ample floor space and safe enough to run bigger water with on selected days.. I hated parting with mine (but Dave has done her proud with his modifications). Enjoy Jode, it is certainly in capable hands!

The use that you got out of your boat Troy, was one of the factors that weighed heavily in my decision to buy this boat. I felt fortunate to get it and Dave has been a source of knowledge and inspiration thus far.
 
Richard Lathrop said:
Jode,

Your talk about muskrat reminded me of the 1964 show on Salem NJ. They were selling it in the local fish market.

Rick

That's a great sign. There are still plenty of rats around Salem and slightly south towards nuclear plant. The biggest concentration of them now are in and around the phragmites stands
 
SJ Fairbank said:
Nice work on the boat Jode. You do quality work.

Enjoyed the muskrat side story, brings back memories. Trapped many as a kid and young adult, but have to admit to not eating them. Working a trapline, especially in the salt marsh, is a great learning experience for a young outdoorsperson.
MThank you.

I am fortunate enough to have my son and a couple other local kids that enjoy walking around in the mud. It helps take some of the burden off checking those far flung traps up the ditches. Laugh out loud.
 
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