thanks for the kind words folks,
I'll try to answer your questions as best I can, feel free to ask more if you like
first the short, easy ones........
It's a 1957 John Deere model 620 that belongs to a friend of mine who collects John Deere's and probably the best sounding tractor I've ever heard
the dugout is the one we made this spring
On to pirogues
South LA has had thousands of pirogue builders starting with the dugouts of the native American Indians, the introduction of iron tools by the first Europeans in the 1600's, the use of planks and nails starting in the 1800's, plywood starting after WWII and the more recent fiberglass, aluminum and other materials.
Moving away from the dugout era, where the shape of the boat pretty much had to follow the shape of the log, plank building gave the builders the freedom to customize the boats for the specific needs of the person wanting the boat. The result was a wide variety of pirogue styles. The old boat builders kept their plans in their heads. Their design- even though it may be handed down for several generations-was their secret and many were extremely reluctant to let it out. Friend Keith and I know an 87 year old boat builder that still building boats whose lips are sealed when it comes to his design.
We've even run across a couple of strippers from the late 1800's - one built in Hackberry and one built north of New Orleans - no epxoy and glass, the strips were 3/4" X 3/4" edge nailed. Narrow, flat bottomed pirogues with soft chines. One even had a place for a sail.
The style that many folks identify with a pirogue - plywood, flat bottom, near vertical sides, 3 or 4 ribs - was not a widespread design. It's been popular for 20 years because it's easy and quick to build and the advent of glass and resin has made it an ideal boat for a beginner with limited woodworking skills. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not dissing the boat or the builders.
Back to the pics i've posted,
The swamp pirogue has 24" bottom, 26 degree side flare, ribs and a couple of inches of rocker
The marsh pirogue has a 24" bottom, 36 degree side flare, no ribs and almost no rocker
The swamp pirogue was made - obviously - for folks navigating the swamps. The boat beam was narrower for squeezing thru the trees and stumps, The rocker gave it the abilty to turn easily and the ribs added strength. The ultimate swamp pirogue, built by a man that actually the logged as a young man, had 9 ribs and about 4 inches of rocker. That was the proverbial "brick outhouse" of pirogues and it was strong enough that if a tree limb fell on him while logging, he could still get home.
In the marsh, the trees may be half a mile apart so there's not a lot of need to maneuver. The marsh man is looking for stability and load capacity given by the wide flare, tracking given by no rocker and he could make a lighter boat - no ribs -because he wasn't worried about anything falling on him.. The man in the marsh spent a lot of time poling instead of paddling. That little hump in the bow gives you a little more wave breaking ability that is needed in the marsh but not needed in the flat waters of the swamp.
There were as many different styles as there were boatbuilders, each style tweaked to the builder's preference. Even though we may build something different, it's likely that's it's not a "new" innovation.
