Plan Decision

[teke]

I am ready to build my first boat.

Use will be for fishing, shallow saltwater around galveston texas and a few of the creeks that feed the bay.

I already have a bay/offshore boat but want a paddle craft to take my young children (5 and 4 year olds) on short fishing trips in mornings.

I posted a while back and Jem responded the Pirogue 500 would be a good choice.

As for capacity, I am about 275 and the kids are roughly 50 and 40 pounds.

The pirogue is my choice due to easy build for a first boat.

Now the real question: I am not trying to be rude, but just have an honest question.

I have looked at the plans here for the pirogue 500 and have also view the Uncle Johns Pirogue plans and the Brand X pirogue, which is also a pirogue.

The thing that concerns me about the Pirogue 500 is the 2 support pieces that run from the gunnel to gunnel. I am concerned these would in the way and a bit of an annoyance.

The Uncle John pirogue has the frame running across of the floor, which also seem to be a little in the way and the one has none at all.

I can not seem to nail down a maximum capacity of the 16' Uncle Johns, and the other does not have that information listed either. Which of these designs is going to over the greatest weight capacity and is there anything else that I should be comparing?
I plan on completely glassing the boat inside and out using epoxy and 4oz glass.


Thank you for your replies and opinions.

[LIGHT KEEPER'S KID]

While I'm not a Piroque expert,I can tell you that I have the Uncle Johns Plans and that it state's that at 14' it max load is 336# and compared to Matt's 500 over all for what you are planning to use this boat for is probably the best choice. (1) it's wider and will be more stable with small children moving around and at the same time carry all the gear for your outings. (2) the braces that your worried about would make great rod mounting spots and I don't think you will find yourself putting your kids or yourself forward or aft of those braces while paddling because it would make the boat harder to paddle and control.(3) It would make a great overnight river camping boat also for yourself because of it's cap. (4) Those braces could let you cover those area's for dry storage with hatch's installed very easily. As your first build this a good choice but,if you would like to challange yourself some on your skills a very good choice and very versatile build for what you want would be the TV 15-32 I have this plan myself as a planned build in the future and this would give you a better looking and faster paddling boat


Hope these ideas help,Mike

[teke]

I am not very concerned about the building aspect of it. I am a hobby woodworker with a 3 car garage full of tools and space. I tend to do a ton of research prior to taking on projects and feel that the epoxy and glass work will be pretty straight forward. So I wouldn't be against taking on the more complex boat first.

The only 500 lb vs 575 lb capactity of the TV 15x32 concerns me a bit, but I am guessing that it probably shouldn't.

Is there enough room in the TV 15x32 for me and the 2 kids?

I had assumed that I would build this first usable boat, then if I enjoyed it, look at one of the SOT designs.

decisions..decisions...

Thank you for the replies.

[LIGHT KEEPER'S KID]

Diciding on a Boat Plan is a very hard decision,and took me about two months and I ended up skipping the basic build and went for it all up front with a Wadefish ,which was a steep learning curve but had a lot of help from others here on this forum I would ask this of yourself first do you realy think you would safely be able to handle both children at once on board or just maybe one at a time on short trips which would leave you with a better boat overall I know I can barely handle my wife in her own boat while we're fishing Then if your wife wanted her own for the other child and herself you would be half way there

Mike

[teke]

The answer would be yes and no. My daughter loves to fish and would be/is calm and would sit tight and fish for hours. My son (4) would probably lose interest quicker and be tougher overall. But 1 hour trips 5-10 minutes from house are an opportunity to get out and fish a little before things get busy on the weekends.

So the answer is I would not want to invest the time to build something that i know would not adequately satisfy taking both of them, even if it would be difficult to control them.

[LIGHT KEEPER'S KID]

Well i would say give tx river rat a PM he is the TV expert and could tell you if the TV 15-32 would work for you,as he has a TV and grandkids and is one of the many that have ordered the TV 15-32 He'd be glad to anwser any question you have on it or maybe he'll see this post and chime in

Mike

[jem]

Trapper or Townsend 18?

I edited the name of one competitor from your post. Uncle John is a great guy and I don't mind having him mentioned in the forum.

[CrkdLtr]

The thing that concerns me about the Pirogue 500 is the 2 support pieces that run from the gunnel to gunnel. I am concerned these would in the way and a bit of an annoyance.

I can tell you from having built and used the Pirouge 14-29 that in a Solo situation they will not be in your way. As a matter of fact when I broke one of the support pieces on a fishing trip (from leaning back on it) I used that opportunity to make a solid wall there so that I could lean back against it and hold a couple of pvc pipes to act as rod holders.

The Uncle John pirogue has the frame running across of the floor, which also seem to be a little in the way and the other one has none at all.

The frames running across the floor should not be an issue as you would not want to stand up and walk around in your pirogue. If you do that means you have supeior balancing skills and navigating over these ribs should not be an issue.


Good luck

[lilmoe]

I have built 2 of the UJ's-both the 16' version, but one has 3 ribs, the other four. The four rib is just a bit wider, but either one will handle the weight you are considering. My wife and I frequently fish out of one boat-220 lbs. and approx 170 lbs. You should have no problem with that.

[LIGHT KEEPER'S KID]

But there's one changing factor here,the children are growning by the second Just like they grow out of thier shoes

Mike