this is my first post and this is the closest place i've found to post this. i'm an old old duckhunter and have hunted out of and used what we, in the bootheel of missouri, called paddle boats. if some of you are from that area then you may know what kind of boat i'm talking about. way back then a paddle boat was the only thing some of the duck hunters had to get to their hunting places. i knew two men back then that built them and they were brothers. i had each to make me one. cypress was the lumber used. i've always wanted to try my hand at building one but i could never build a square duck blind much less a paddle boat that one of the brothers said every board is cut on an angle. and it is. we had old houses and barns on the farms there that over the years i've torn some down and saved some of the lumber. i still have several cypress boards i "put back" for the day when i might build a paddle boat. these boards run from 14 to 16 ft long and some are 24 inches wide. the old houses were built in the early 1900's or eariler so the boards are out of first or old growth cypress that came off the st. francis river there. i'm amazed at the boat builders here because building a paddle boat has become a lost art where i lived. i've got the boats to go by and may still try my hand at one. for those that have never seen one they are similar to a pirogue except they have square front and backs and about a 6 ft flat in the center and rake up from there to each end. one of mine has about 8 inch side boards and the other about 10 inch side boards. have any of you made paddle boats like i described?
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