# Finally finished my pirogue!



## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Well, I finally finished the pirogue I've been working on for a while. It'll be nice to have the garage space again!

The last thing I've got to figure out is what kind of seat I'm going to put in there. Any thoughts, experiences? Right now I've just got the flat bottom, 2 ribs total, and the plywood butt joints in the middle as attachment points.


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## trodery (Sep 13, 2006)

Very nice looking boat you have there. You should be proud of yourself!


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## FLAT FISHY (Jun 22, 2006)

looks great I myself have been kicking that idea around would ya do it again ?


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## davidb (May 10, 2006)

Very nice, that Lab looks pretty comfortable already. I saw a design in a book about someone on Caddo Lake buiding pirogues. His had a bait well, live well and a seat that looked like the top of an adirondack chair that fit over the ribs. I think the book was called By Southern Hands, about traditional crafts. Maybe someone else knows the reference.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Haha, uh, maybe? I thought about making another one and donating this one (or the second one) to my little brothers back home (7, 9 yr olds). My wife vetoed that idea. Apparently she wants a dinner table pretty bad?

I would be willing to send you the plans and coach you along the way. The whole process is remarkably simple. Total price tag came in right around $100 bucks.


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## neckdeep (Oct 12, 2004)

can you e-mail me the directions ?


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

neckdeep, PM me your email address and I'll have'em on the way.


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## troy merrill (May 21, 2004)

My BIL built several of those a few years ago and used or sold them. They were watertight sho nuff.

He had some plastic boat seats mounted in the bottom (not exactly sure of the mounting system). The seats he picked up at Academy I am pretty sure. Worked well enough. Used milk crates for storage boxes.


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## bullethead (Oct 24, 2006)

looks great, I built one 7-8yrs ago using luan (sp?) - still cruising in it.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

That looks great and you should be very proud of yourself for being able to do that. 

I saw one that was similar to yours that had seats that sat down in the boat but hung over the gunnels, if that makes sense to you. The seat was in the middle of the boat and it hung down about 8 inches and the hangers were on each side of the boat.

Anyway looks great and good job.

TH


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## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

Nice rig , but thats pereaux....................


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## redlegg (Jan 31, 2005)

Awesome


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## coachlaw (Oct 26, 2005)

Having owned, loved, lost, and found many pirogues in my life, I had to say something. I rarely come over here because I'm not a hunter. I used my pirogues back home for chasing redfish in the marsh. All of my wooden ones came with simple board seats nailed onto a rail screwed into the inside of the gunwale. Some hunters like to sink their pirogues in their blinds, so keep that in mind before you add any floatation. My second favorite ever was a handmade red cypress 14 footer I found in the marsh. Served me well until Hurricane Danny took it along with the fishing camp. I've got some internet links if anyone wants them, just PM me. Places to get plans and such. - Coach


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## reel lax (Apr 26, 2005)

It looks really nice bet you can't wait to try it out.


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## coachlaw (Oct 26, 2005)

Hey Y'all, I've gotten a few PM's about what I had regarding pirogues, so I thought I'd post some links. By the way goat, "Dat's a Nice Peerow you done made!" Here are some of the the best pirogue websites I've found. I may not ever own another because I don't have a fishing camp anymore, but I still love to look.

http://www.applegateboatworks.com/index.html

http://www.unclejohns.com/boat/default.htm

http://www.cajunsecret.com/

http://www.gatorboats.com/

http://www.glen-l.com/designs/canu-row/pirogue.html

http://www.pirogue.com/

http://groups.msn.com/WoodenBoatBuilder/pirogue.msnw

Some of them are for plans and some are just good reading about pirogues. I'm sure there are more out there, but these are the ones I've run across. - Coach


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## TimOub007 (Jun 10, 2005)

Nice job, especially on the camo. What pattern is that as I like it better than what I put on my home built tunnel hull?

Good looking dog too.

T


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## coachlaw (Oct 26, 2005)

Just thought someone might be interested in this. In my opinion, it is WAAAAYYYY overpriced, but I have not seen it in person. The seller says it is real cypress, something that is nearly impossible to get today. - Coach

http://houston.craigslist.org/boa/262573002.html


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Finally a comment on the camo! I actually spent almost as much time on it as I did the boat! It was my first time to try and camo anything, so I wanted to go all out.

That pattern is a homemade/copy of a pattern. I painted the whole rig the dull green, then I had a pattern I "borrowed" from Mossy Oak Shadow Grass (I copied a sample from a website, blew it up, printed it out, then laminated/cut it out) This is the far background

I then used acrylic paint from the craft store to paint the dark twigs going diagonally with a small brush. I felt right up there with Leanardo Da Vinci! This is the ?middle ground?

I then drew my own grass stencil and used it for the foreground. (I drew it on an 8 x 12 sheet, then laminated and cut it out)

The three layers gave a really good 3-D effect. I used 2 shades of green, 2 shades of beige (all spray paint, one can of each got the whole boat done), a dark brown/black (licorice actually) acrylic paint and a light brown acrylic paint.

Here's a close up of the camo. I wasn't paying attention when I took the photo, but this is a spot that I had to touch up. I taped and painted the railing before I put the clear coat on...so some of the camo peeled up with the tape. Probably one of the worst spots on the boat really.

I tried a couple of different combinations...i think the key was to even break up the camo patterns themselves with different colors. I painted the whole back light green, then the background stencil with dark green. Before moving the stencil, I spritzed on some of the beige and some of the light green. I then tried to paint the twigs as sharply as I could with the small brush to really stand out. Then came the grass stencil...a gold/dark beige went on as the base, and the dark green and light beige were used to spritz on.

I just didn't want it to look cheesy like some of the stuff you see! Like deer stands that you might NOT have seen had it NOT been for the camo! =)


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

*Here are the pics:*

...


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## neckdeep (Oct 12, 2004)

now the $100.00 question - will that thing actually float ?

 just kidding


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Ha! We'll find out in 2 weeks. I'm in Poland right now, but will be back on Saturday. The last weekend in January we've got a trip planned down the Navasota river.

It's gonna be cold if it doesn't!!!!


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## neckdeep (Oct 12, 2004)

you better wear a life jacket in that bucket ha ha

a friend of mine flipped one duck hunting when I was a teenager, he was cold and about to drowned until I told him to stand up and he found out the water was only waist deep


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## TimOub007 (Jun 10, 2005)

Cool, thanks for the detailed description on how you did it.

I still need to camo the inside of mine, but I've had some paint adhesion issues. Seems that it didn't agree well with the car wash. 

T


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