DIY canoe/pirogue

[austin1990]

This is a little something I been working on the last couple weekends as time allows. Hopefully will have it finished by next weekend and be able to fish and hunt out of it some! Heres a few pics of start to now. I've done one layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy on the outside now, hopefully tonight I'll get a second and 3rd layer on and then will epoxy the inside.

 

[always89y]

Sweet!

 

[Nutterbuster]

That's cool! I've always wanted to build a 2 piece, nesting jonboat. Something that you could throw in the back of a shortbed truck and close the gate or slide in the back of a SUV. Pair it with a little internal-tank 2 stroke like what I have on my canoe.

Word of warning though, if you've never been in a pirogue, they're nowhere near as stable as a canoe or kayak. I sat in @Swampsnypers in a calm pond and felt like I was going to tip it. Never felt that way in any other boat, and I've been in lots of small craft.

 

[gcr0003]

My father and I built one similar when I was younger. It is still doing just fine, I refibergalassed and painted it two years ago. They are great little boats. Awesome build, looking forward to seeing more.

 

[gcr0003]

That's cool! I've always wanted to build a 2 piece, nesting jonboat. Something that you could throw in the back of a shortbed truck and close the gate or slide in the back of a SUV. Pair it with a little internal-tank 2 stroke like what I have on my canoe.

Word of warning though, if you've never been in a pirogue, they're nowhere near as stable as a canoe or kayak. I sat in @Swampsnypers in a calm pond and felt like I was going to tip it. Never felt that way in any other boat, and I've been in lots of small craft.

Yep. That is due to the light weight versus the displacement(buoyancy) of the pirogue. What this does is moves your center of bouyancy away from your center of gravity making it less stable. The benefit to this is that because of that displacement(buoyancy) and low weight you can run in skinny skinny water. Of course, you can alter your CG and CB in a few other different ways, trading off stability, speed, how shallow you can run etc.

 

[Weldabeast]

I was on this path before I found the cheapo on craigslist....
Looks nice. Is the bottom finished or u make keel?

Imagine how easy with sheets of aluminum and the plooper gun

 

[austin1990]

That's cool! I've always wanted to build a 2 piece, nesting jonboat. Something that you could throw in the back of a shortbed truck and close the gate or slide in the back of a SUV. Pair it with a little internal-tank 2 stroke like what I have on my canoe.

Word of warning though, if you've never been in a pirogue, they're nowhere near as stable as a canoe or kayak. I sat in @Swampsnypers in a calm pond and felt like I was going to tip it. Never felt that way in any other boat, and I've been in lots of small craft.

Yeah pirogues can be tippy for sure. Most I've been around and seen had a 24"-26" bottom, I made this with a 33" bottom so that should help the stability a good bit. Or atleast that's what I'm hoping for lol. If I find a good running 2 stroke motor I may put on it, but right now I'm planning on a troller and rigging up some foot steering for it. I'll paddle the majority of the time, but itd be nice to be able to use the troller when need be

 

[austin1990]

I was on this path before I found the cheapo on craigslist....
Looks nice. Is the bottom finished or u make keel?

Imagine how easy with sheets of aluminum and the plooper gun

I've been looking for a cheapo for nearly a year and there is NONE around AR and even less now due to the Coronavirus. Most I see are nearly new price, even with holes that needed to be patched, so I said screw it I'll just build one. I'm going to add a keel once the bottom is done fiberglassed, just to help it track straight hopefully. I had the thought at first of building it out of aluminum and just welding everything, but decided against it for the noise, heat, cold and everything else that comes with aluminum.

 

[Weldabeast]

 

[Nutterbuster]

Yeah pirogues can be tippy for sure. Most I've been around and seen had a 24"-26" bottom, I made this with a 33" bottom so that should help the stability a good bit. Or atleast that's what I'm hoping for lol. If I find a good running 2 stroke motor I may put on it, but right now I'm planning on a troller and rigging up some foot steering for it. I'll paddle the majority of the time, but itd be nice to be able to use the troller when need be

yeah, a 33" bottom is wide. Heck, a 1436 jonboat is only about 30" at the bottom. The height of your sides is a big factor too. A canoe feels safe to me because of the relatively high sides compared to a pirogue or jon.

I used to run a 55lb minnkota on my canoes. It couldn't touch the power a 1.5 evinrude mate put out. And by the time you add the weight of a battery, the outboard ended up weighing less than half what the trolling motor did. Even my 3.5hp only weighs 30lbs or so plus fuel. And it'll push 2 people 9mph on a hog-backed square stern. But foot-steering is much easier to DIY on a trolling motor. I had a Creek Boat that was set up with foot pedals and a knob by the seat to control power. If that boat hadn't weighed over a hundred pounds, I'd still have it. Neat for trolling around pan fishing and duck hunting small creeks.

 

[austin1990]

That's awesome, one day I will build my own aluminum boat, just gotta get the mrs to let me start on my shop! Lol

 

[austin1990]

yeah, a 33" bottom is wide. Heck, a 1436 jonboat is only about 30" at the bottom. The height of your sides is a big factor too. A canoe feels safe to me because of the relatively high sides compared to a pirogue or jon.

I used to run a 55lb minnkota on my canoes. It couldn't touch the power a 1.5 evinrude mate put out. And by the time you add the weight of a battery, the outboard ended up weighing less than half what the trolling motor did. Even my 3.5hp only weighs 30lbs or so plus fuel. And it'll push 2 people 9mph on a hog-backed square stern. But foot-steering is much easier to DIY on a trolling motor. I had a Creek Boat that was set up with foot pedals and a knob by the seat to control power. If that boat hadn't weighed over a hundred pounds, I'd still have it. Neat for trolling around pan fishing and duck hunting small creeks.

I built it with 12" sides, almost went with 14" but decided not to. I have no doubt it'd be more power and equal or less weight. If money were no object I'd like to get one of the new lithium 12v troller batteries. But I'm broke and dont have that kind of money to blow, but size, power and weight wise it would be awesome.

 

[Nutterbuster]

I built it with 12" sides, almost went with 14" but decided not to. I have no doubt it'd be more power and equal or less weight. If money were no object I'd like to get one of the new lithium 12v troller batteries. But I'm broke and dont have that kind of money to blow, but size, power and weight wise it would be awesome.

I have a buddy with a lithium battery. It's nice on the weight. But I can literally paddle faster than his 55lb motor pushes him. 12v is 12v.

I really wish they made something like the ppf wood duck mud motor, but with a 3hp engine. The only downside of an outboard is you're limited in running depth by the foot, and you suck junk up into the water pump. A 40lb mud motor would be the ultimate canoe/pirogue pusher in my mind.