Pirogue

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Building this in my spare time at work. Almost done and it won't be pretty I'm sure. I'm more concerned with whether or not it'll float.

Thinking of naming it "Turd Floater", but I don't even know yet if it's gonna float, and that name kinda implies the person riding in it is the turd.

All that's left is trim out the bottom, glass the seams, add bow plates on both ends for more rigidity, and slap on some industrial epoxy paint I've got laying around somewhere.

Going to be a basic, semi disposable bayou boat. Total investment, about $80.

[Lipripper]

Looks good to me and are you following some blueprints or just makeing it up as you go along.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

A little of both. Looked at some blue prints to get the general gist of it, and now I'm just winging it.

[Pacific NW Ron]

It should float just fine.  It may not handle very well.
If you're building this at work it's a good thing you don't work for me.  You've got way to much slack time at work.
Ron

[SteelHorseCowboy]

It should float just fine.  It may not handle very well.
If you're building this at work it's a good thing you don't work for me.  You've got way to much slack time at work.
Ron

Don't judge me, my job, or my work ethic for slapping together a crappy little boat over the course of what will be two weeks worth of lunch breaks by the time I'm done. This is based off the "Six Hour Canoe" (google it if you're not familiar), and only take a day. Obviously it takes a bit longer when you're only spending 10-20 minutes per day on it.
I'm the assistant supervisor at my current job right now, and I didn't get here by screwing off on the clock. Everywhere I've worked, construction, security, steel mills, pipelines, Marine Corps, I've worked my way up from the very bottom into leadership positions by getting things done. I promise you my professionalism and performance aren't slacking.

[West6550]

It should float just fine.  It may not handle very well.
If you're building this at work it's a good thing you don't work for me.  You've got way to much slack time at work.
Ron

I thought the same thing lol

But I also understand having downtime at work sometimes and using your lunch breaks. Nothing wrong with that!

Nice little boat! I hope it works for you.

[FloridaFishinFool]

If you seal it well it will float, but it does appear to be designed to tip over easy. And you will also have to be careful to not damage the seal where the bottom panel is connected to the sides. To avoid that sort of damage will you install a sub floor across those brace frames??? Your foot could conceivably go through the bottom of the boat unless there is a sub floor of some type to take that kind of weight off the bottom panel.

I was wondering how you were going to join that bottom panel the sides??? Epoxy and fiberglass cloth wrapped around it??? Never mind, I went back and reread your post and it answered my question... and just in case:

For high quality epoxy sealers Paul Oman is the epoxy professor and always available for questions... I used his knowledge and epoxy on my boats over the years. High quality product and information from the professor!

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/

[Pacific NW Ron]

Sorry Cowboy.  I Didn't mean it the way you took it and you didn't say during lunch. 
Ron

[SteelHorseCowboy]

You meant no offense, sorry I took offense.

FFF, I have considered building a sub floor in it as you describe, but I'll be float testing it in shallow water before I decide. The method and materials for this project are pretty standard and seems to work well judging from the experiences of others. Actually, this one is already a bit overbuilt compared to a few of them I've seen. I've seen several that have no frame in them at all, simply a bottom, two sides, and bow plates with the seams glassed and surfaces sealed. I've seen a few that were just two sides and the bottom, but with more than one layer of fiberglass covering all surfaces, not just the seems.

The next one I build is going to be something like a shallow English punt. Shorter and wider than this pirogue with a squared off bow and stern. Probably 3' wide and 12-13 feet long rather than two feet by 15. Think of a jon boat except with both ends sloped up. I'll be taking my time with that one, putting a lot more thought and care into building it, make it more stable and purdier. May even make it with strips instead of plywood.

[FloridaFishinFool]

...I've seen a few that were just two sides and the bottom, but with more than one layer of fiberglass covering all surfaces, not just the seams

I would also go in this direction. The entire boat would be epoxied outside and inside and the bottom board and framing and sides would all be epoxied together so it would not easily split apart from hull stressing which your weight and cargo could do in the water.

I look forward to seeing the finished results and your description on how stable it is in the water with you in it.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

That's exactly what I'm doing. The frame has a couple of screws in it too, and all the seams will be glassed inside and out. The frame's not going to buck away from the panels very easily.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Had it on a table painting the bottom half. Was slapping on the last coat of paint and the wind blew it off. Not even going to worry about the grass, I'm more concerned with the fact that it went "BOING!" instead of "CRAACK!" I take that as a good sign.
Battleship gray of course.
Side note, I helped repaint some patches on the USS Whidbey Island. I firmly believe that ship's held together mostly by paint.

All that's left to do is adding the plates on either end, painting those, and touching up the rest. That should take about twenty minutes or so, then it'll get to cure for at least 24 hours before I get a chance to take it out.

[Lipripper]

Had it on a table painting the bottom half. Was slapping on the last coat of paint and the wind blew it off. Not even going to worry about the grass, I'm more concerned with the fact that it went "BOING!" instead of "CRAACK!" I take that as a good sign.
Battleship gray of course.
Side note, I helped repaint some patches on the USS Whidbey Island. I firmly believe that ship's held together mostly by paint.

All that's left to do is adding the plates on either end, painting those, and touching up the rest. That should take about twenty minutes or so, then it'll get to cure for at least 24 hours before I get a chance to take it out.

Looking good and BOING is always better than CRACK  Can't wait to see your report after you take her out for the first time.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Looking good and BOING is always better than CRACK  Can't wait to see your report after you take her out for the first time.

I hope to video it. I have a little throwaway phone someone gave to me that I wouldn't mind losing if the worst happens.

[cortman]

Looks neat and is extra cool since you built it yourself. Looking forward to hearing a maiden voyage report!

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Officially completely done!
I didn't have enough leftover plywood to make full plates across the ends, so I settled for cross braces about two feet from either end.
Had to use rustoleum spray paint for some of the touching up. It's pretty much the same stuff as I was using, just not quite as durable. I ran out of the industrial stuff, lost most of it when the boat blew off the table. You can see the evidence on the ground.
The youngest wants to hit the range tomorrow, I gots stuff to do Saturday, so it's looking like maybe Sunday afternoon. At least that's plenty of time to cure.

[Lipripper]

All right will be looking for a report from her first trip out.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Couldn't find a suitable paddle anywhere, believe it or not.
Plenty that would move a boat. But they were all too short, too long, too expensive, or a few homemade boards that looked like a drunk monkey with a belt sander went to town on 'em. I'd resigned myself to using a broom with the handle cut down.
Felt like a friggin fairytale involving bears or some crap.
Eventually, I was given one that was juuust right. By a fella known as "Porno Rick". Plain wooden paddle, 4'.
Blows my mind. I was calling and texting everyone I know asking if they had a boat paddle, and a former B-lister porn actor turned welder who doesn't even have a friggin boat just so happened to have one in his truck.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Today's the big day, but this is the view from my front porch.
Yes, I know I need to cut the grass.
The radar makes it look as if this isn't going to hit us too hard, but I can hear the thunder.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Got about a minute of hard rain, and it's already looking like it's clearing out. That should be the end of it.

[Lipripper]

Grass looks fine  Hope it clears off so you can get out and test for leaks.  Don't worry about the grass it's not going anywhere. 

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Got 'er out!
Strapped it to the roof of my car, and it handled well on the ride over. How ya like them pool noodles?
It floated perfectly fine of course, and was more stable than I expected. I paddled around for about an hour or so.
I didn't take any pics from the boat, because I forgot my freebie phone and didn't want to lose this one if I sank. Of course I kept the pool noodles with me, just in case. Glad I didn't need them!

[Lipripper]

Thanks for the float report and glad to see she was ship shape and sea worthy 

[SteelHorseCowboy]

This my usual fishin spot. As you can see, it  really is "standing room only".
May not even be able to tell. Straight off the bow and a hair to the left. Little brown spot where the green meets the water. That little brown spot is a muddy finger where I cut down a bush, you can barely make out the bush stump.
And I caught my first fish from my little boat! Wooo!

[cortman]

Cool man! Have you considered making some outriggers for it, for stability so you could stand? You can make them out of a pair of buoys and some wood or steel.