The Chronicles of the Wooden Shoe- year one pg16

[flashback]

Is the graphite done with threads or cloth? You have built a truly beautiful thing.

[Nevs]

1.) The bottom is 3 layers of 7oz fiberglass sheets with epoxy. That alone makes it essentially bombproof, but it also has 2 additional layers of graphite filled epoxy for extra slickness. Some guys out west that have to deal with more can openers and less sand/gravel go to the linex store and get a coat of that which is equivalent to Hyde’s G3 bottoms but even though it’s still plenty slick, the graphite filled epoxy is better for not sticking on logs, etc.

2.) you should do what I did and just start working on one. The wife will complain the entire time- including but certainly not limited to the garage being covered in sawdust, her not having covered parking when it’s -10 out, and you drinking with your friends too much in there. BUT, when it’s fimished she’ll say “you know, it is pretty cool you built that”. Steamin’ knows what goes on and can attest to my wife’s sharp tongue but I can assure you having a wooden bote you built is worth it.

3.) edit- and I’m not sure why this wasn’t blatantly obvious before... I think the biggest problem here is owning a glitter boat in the first place.

Your answer proves satisfactory. I wouldn't own the glitter boat, if it wasn't free. With my Grandpa's health starting to fail he decided he would rather give it to me than sell it. It is nice for taking out on the lake though, a 4 or 5 mile trip in a wood driftboat on still water would suck, and trolling motors work a fair bit better for chasing around schools of white bass.

[-G-]

Is the graphite done with threads or cloth? You have built a truly beautiful thing.

The graphite bottom is actually just graphite powder you mix in with your epoxy. For the entire bottom I think I only used about 5-6 tablespoons of graphite since you don’t want to thicken it too much and not be as smooth. The fiberglass bottom/ sides are all cloth and layered in epoxy.

[-G-]

Day trips


(Aside- in my attempt to romatify the boat previously naming it autumn, steamin called it the wooden shoe after some comment related to how ill probably serve cheesy casseroles in it being a western Michigan dutchie, and likeall good namesdo, it stuck, so the wooden shoe it is.)


The word “Day trip” almost doesn’t do these days justice, as they typically encompass about 18 hours of the chosen day. These days start around 4:00 to 4:15 after a night of restless sleep, and look kind of like this to start things off.



Bear and I planned on fishing some low density trout water on the duck opener with a shotgun in the boat just Incase we flushed any.

Around the coffee table the idea of catching a big trout and shooting a mixed bag of mallard and woodies sounds perfectly doable. Then when you’re on the water you’re either focused on the fishing, and realize the time it takes for you to set your rod down, pick up the gun, remove the safety, take aim, and fire is much longer that you had ever thought. And in the mean time your sink tip has now taken residence in a log jam. Or, you float down a perfectly stained, swollen river with a gun at ready only to see no ducks, then realize In hindsight you just bypassed several miles of swollen river on an overcast day you’d kill to have any other outing.

So, our plan was to keep the gun in the boat while we fished, then finally ready it while we were pushing out at the end.

But first, coffee.



This particular day it rained, spat, and rained some more. Which is just fine because rain, low skies, and a rising river make trout happy.



What's even more important than a good rod in the front and a rower who always keeps adequate distance for a full retreave, and proper pace is Attitude. In water like this you can go many trips without encountering an animal. As soon as you start to doubt your chances it's over. If it's sunny, hot, cold, low water, high water you need to fish with the same confidence and positive additude or else you might as well just be floating down the river with the rest of the drunk canoeists in July.

With no trout seen, we nestled the shoe up to the bank.



And made our shore lunch in a dark cedar swamp thick enough to keep us dry. Shore lunch would be slow-cooker jambalaya.





And Busch light




We fished until both of our stripping fingers were bleeding, and caught nothing. The nice thing, is we’ve grown to kind of expect it when in water like this so we were in great spirits all day and chalked it up to good juju for a good day someday this fall.

On the way out we shot a woodie, and schemed our next trip to hunt for a big trout.

[fatman]

stellar

[austrotard]

ashtray.

speaking of which...

[speybait]

G,
Does that have a transom on it suited for a low hp outboard or is it strictly a rower?

Looking for a wooden project to hand multiple duties.

[-G-]

G,
Does that have a transom on it suited for a low hp outboard or is it strictly a rower?

Looking for a wooden project to hand multiple duties.

You could throw one on, the transom joint is probably the most reinforced joint on the boat (thickest ply too) but I’d just have a metal plate on it so you don’t indent your wood with your mount.

[Waderfunk]

Been following this thread all the way through and just figured out how to log back in. This is badass! Really makes me want to start working on a boat.

[austrotard]

if you call it names you get one free pm.

[-G-]

Been following this thread all the way through and just figured out how to log back in. This is badass! Really makes me want to start working on a boat.

You should, and post In the Suk about it. It honestly was much easier than I thought. The only skill required was patients.

[austrotard]

that's a fiver, dr.