JEM Watercraft

It's been a very hectic week or so getting to this point. I would say it's between 95 and 98% percent finished. It still needs varnish but I'm going to fish it a few times to figure out of I need to change anything before I apply the varnish. I needed to reach this point today because we are off on vacation tomorrow and this will give everything almost a week to cure while we are gone. This is a good thing because at this point I don't know if I could just look at it for a week. Shoot I'm ready to put it on the water now, right now, surely water won't hurt wet epoxy, right?...hehehe....


the final graphite coat


I built a taller base for this seat than the one I use in the other boat, if I don't like I will cut it back down. The base isn't getting mounted to the boat for a couple I reasons, makes loading and unloading lighter, plus I never could decide on a design to make it adjustable that I liked. I did put some rubber/vinyl stuff on the bottom to keep it from sliding around or scrapping up the hull.

Remove the masking tape before paddling it

I let my boats go for about 30 days before varnishing them , this makes sure the epoxy has set and evaporated as much as it can before varnishing. The up side is when you have to varnish it , it needs a light sanding so any scratches you get on it between now and then are gone when the varnish is on there.

After a week I paddle mine and like I said , any scratches vanish ( you will scratch it with the sanding ) when it is varnished. Besides why build a boat and then wait so long to try it.

Chuck.

Looks Great Looks fast sitting still

Mike

Please note that all comparisons will be made against the two previous boats, the green pirogue, and the yellow plastic boat.

I launched this morning just as the sun was coming up. Took a few minutes to get a feel for her then took off.

First impressions, this boat is worlds more stable than the green boat. If you start trying to lean it over it leans a little then it feels like you have hit a wall. I will say I did mange to stand in it briefly, that being said it was very brief, I don't have real good balance.

Speed feels pretty good, or rather I should say ease of paddling. I tend to amble along more than cruise or race, but it feels real easy to get moving and keep a decent pace.

Handling, this boat will turn on a dime, I mean think about turning and you are. In comparison, in the green boat is a bugger to turn. The green boat also has no bow sway and will glide straight as an arrow. This boat has a small amount of sway and sometimes glides straight, sometimes veers off in one direction or the other. The differences between the boats, the green boat has little if any rocker to it, at just a glance this one looks like it has a fair amount of it. I'm also still playing with trying to figure out how to trim it, but it does react worlds different depending on where the seat is.

Overall impression is that it's a great boat, especially for messing with jugs. It is almost effortless to put in motion and like I said it will turn on a dime. It came in at 58lbs with the depth finder mounted, which puts it about 20lbs lighter than the green boat, and a pound or two lighter than the plastic boat.



Even managed to catch a few fish this morning several perch (no pictures) and then these. yes I know he's little, but he is a fish and I am a fisherman, actual size about 8" long. First fish caught that wasn't meant to be bait

Then this one, he went 16"


I hope to conduct more field trials tomorrow morning at sunup
kevin

That is fantastic! Just awesome.

58 lbs: Pretty good considering you added longer deck and a few extras.

Great job. You should be proud.

That is a real nice looking boat.

Test paddle and slimed all in one shot Great build

Mike

This is ironic... instead of working on the boat I made a dozen of those catfish noodles the other day!

Congrats on getting her slimed.