JEM Watercraft

G'day Jimmy,

Good job mate! Beautifly clean lines and lovely finish. well done. I think you will be very happy with this boat.

Mate I am glad my build thread was of some use to you. Thank you.

Far as I know, yours is the second one built. Ans she's looking good!!

JW:
She is looking good, you will love her. I plan on building another one. What type of material did you use for the gunnels? Also, what does your boat weight if you have it? Again, great looking boat, you made mine look second class.
jheger

The gunnels were made from some pine trim that I got at Home Depot. The trim started out about 2.5 inches wide, but I had to rip it down to about 1 1/8 to get it to bend to follow the curve. The spacers were cut from a piece of 1 1/8 inch dowel. The thwarts are probably ash. The breasthooks are a very dense heavy wood that I think may be teak. I don't have a scale here and will have to take it over to a friend's house to weigh it. It is built from 3/16 plywood.

PS: I looked up the properties of teak and thats not what the breasthooks are made from. It looks a bit like cherry, but I don't think that it is.

She floats!
This is a great boat Matt. I haven't built a seat yet, so I just paddled it kneeling and squatting on the floor. It feels a little tippy at first, but you get used to it very quickly. I leaned it over until the bottom of the tumblehome panels touched the water and it firms up at that point. I was paddling with a single blade paddle and it will go straight paddling on only one side with just a little correction at the end of the strokes. It will turn around quickly when you want to turn. When you quit paddling it seems as if it will keep gliding along forever. I could stand up in it. (I first tested that in some very shallow water.) I even paddled it a little ways while standing. I had it in a little private pond and there was no wind, so I wasn't able to test how it will do in wind or waves. I am very happy with it, it is everything that I wanted it to be. This is my first build and I highly recommend it to anyone to start out with. It would also be good for an experienced builder who wants a great pirogue.

P S: I still haven't weighed it, but I'm guessing about 40 pounds. I can easily pick it up and balance one gunnel on one shoulder and carry it.

Nice job, Jimmy. You're going to enjoy that boat a lot.

Nothing wrong with that, beautiful!