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I find, even with zero current, a pirogue will continue to move even when you stop paddling unless you make an effort to stop all motion. It will slowly turn out of position or ease on past the perfect spot. I flyfish mostly, so I need to be a little more fussy about boat position. My thing...

I tried drifting, but it seems all I get is one, MAYBE two good casts to a likely spot before it's gone. I like to hang around a good spot a little longer and cast to the bank and try different retrieves. I'll even cast parallel to the bank out in deeper water and let my fly sink down to 4...

Pete, I never tried the trolley system. It seemed too cumbersome to me. My favorite is a 3-5# anchor dropped over the side with a single wrap around a jam cleat. 5 seconds to drop anchor and fasten. Maybe 10 seconds to weigh anchor. A handy item is a cleat attached to the inside gunnel at...

Good to hear from you.

Models are the way to go. For an approximate answer, just continue the side profile shape of the rocker you have on the moccassin by adding the new length of that half of the boat. I'm sure that will put you within an inch or so of the finished rocker of the longer boat. If you're not super...

Well, I've been using a kayak paddle in my pirogues and kayaks for 15 years or so. Every once in a LONG while, I'll pick up the spare canoe paddle and make a few strokes. That's about as long as it takes to remind me why I like the kayak paddle so much. Kayak paddles alternate full power...

Pete, i'm like that too about "pretty". Sometime it's worth it a sometime it's not. To me, the significant extra time it takes to make something really pretty and "perfect" is just not worth it for ME. To some, near perfection is an end in itself and that's OK too. An instrument can be...

YEARS ago, I worked at an Ace hardware and went to their "Paint College". Learned that most any paint is about 5 times more weather resistant than most any varnish. Latex paint is more effective than oil based paint on objects that move, that is, expand and contract.......houses, boats, etc...

I guess you could dig them out after the glue dries. My first instinct would be to maybe countersink them a bit a putty over them if going with clear varnish. If painted, I don't think that little bit of steel would harm anything. Or maybe just screw them down in a few places and remove the...

Shooting a couple of brads here and there wouldn't hurt a thing. But , if you put all the clamps on and go back and time or two and true everything up, I haven't found that they slip at all while curing.

I just looked at a couple of videos of wood/canvas canoe construction. It seems to me that the cloth and filler (paint, I think) are just there to smooth out the hull and add some waterproofing. It seems the hull doesn't depend on the cloth and filler for any structural stregth at all. It...

I'm ashamed to say that I've descended to less than a handful of days a year. Years back my average was much higher........possibly 20-25 trips a year.

I'd like to see a study sometime on the correlation between canoe/kayak/pirogue frequency of use and weight. I would bet that at , say, 60 pounds or so, use drops off steadily. At 80 pounds I'd bet the graph drops like a rock. Of course, younger folks would have a different graph. My buddy...

To make a light boat EVERY component needs to be scrutinized. Here's what I do. Can this piece be made half as long/wide/thick and still do the job? If not, how much can I get away with? Nails or screws every 3" or every 8"? Rails..... 3/4" x 1 1/2" or 5/8" x 1 1/8" ? Paint or...

Flyfishing while seated in a pirogue is not the best but doable. The thing that worked best for me was 3-5# anchor dropped over the side and a couple of quick wraps of the rope around a cleat.......just a little something to keep you in position. Invariably, if you stop paddling and start...

.... and if my buddy builds it.......TWICE as much.

Just as a guage, here are some of specs on various boats. 14 foot x 22" wide pirogue.... 1/4" sanded pine ply and WRC chines, gunnels and stems....46#. 16 foot x 25" wide pirogue..... 1/4 " sanded pine ply with sinker cypress chines, gunnels and epoxy filleted stems......56#. 16 foot x...

Pete, flexible and flimsy are definitely not the same. The sides and the rails have to flex in order to make the shape of the boat. When all nailed, screwed and glued together, it makes a much stronger unit. Unless you're hauling anvils around, it doesn't take as much wood as you might think...

I used Western Red Cedar for one pirogue and figured it was about the best strength to weight ratio out there. I had originally bought SYP and it struck me how darned heavy it was moving the boards around. I returned them and got the WRC. Probably saved close to 10 pounds in the finished...

I've used the sanded pine plywood on 3 boats. I found the tools worked better on it than on fir marine ply. It also had way less surface splits than fir. I never found many interior voids if I took my time and looked through the stacks. I wouldn't use fir now even if it was the same...