He owns a large tract of land just west of Little Rock, Ark., and has always been a good enough fellow to let me store most of my boats, trailers, RV's and all the other junk that a duck hunter needs to survive. Clay Hiett is one of my best friends in the world. The south Louisiana swamp/bog hunter thinks nothing is finer than a 14-foot hand made Cypress Pirogue, whereas the Brant hunter on the eastern shore dreams of a 24-foot Goliath with a big nasty 150hp on the back.Ī shot at the perfect duck boat came out of necessity for me but was really sparked after I decided to rewire my big boat in February just after the season was over. The gap in preferences from one to the other is miles apart. It's perfect.īut because the places waterfowl live are so diverse, we all have different ideas of the perfect mode of transportation to that perfect spot. The dogs pick them all up cleanly, just in time to shake off and catch an ear rub from us before we hit our next set of notes talking the next group into giving up. In this dream, we always shoot perfectly-colored drakes and everything falls belly up and our dogs perform like national champions. All duck hunters dream of that perfect hole that no one else has ever seen where the ducks pile in everyday. This may be a big part of the reason we all love it as much as we do. Unfortunately, most of these places are all but impossible to reach. Thank you all for your input and sincere consideration!.Ducks and geese rest, eat, and loaf in a myriad of places. Could those frames inside the Kara cockpit be taken out? Maybe a thin sheet of ply could be laminated to the cockpit floor for rigidity and wear?Ĭould the Kara be rowed, or is that silly? If fiberglassed, could a person lighten the Kara, or any other boat, by doing 1x, or 1.5x, instead of 2x wood? I did see someone suggest plywood, rather than solid wood. One of them being Ray's contribution of the Guenther Garvey: Įd: You stated 'bout the Kara: ' If I ever build another one I'm going to design a stitch and glue version from the ground up and really push the envelope on weight.' Do you have a link to how one converts a framed boat plan to SnG? Here are a couple of interesting things from: p.2 Thanks, Dennis, but I'm really wanting some sort of sneakbox.Ĭody: I went to Mallard Marine to look at the Marsh Rat and Mag and he's taking two years off production to put into his family. possibly take this boat and stretch it out: I'm thinking of an 11'er, with a 42' bottom? and flared sides? I won't be in much chop.Ĭould I essentially modify the Kara, making a punt out of it? I was thinking of taking a canoe design and lopping off the back end then bring the bow up, with a flattened nose. And no, I don't want a straight-sided jon boat.

So, I'm interested in a flat bottom boat. I've been looking at and gleaning much info from the Kara, Devlin's Broadbill, Ed Askew's Peregrine, and Cody Williams' shallow water boat. I'd like to be able to pull it up on shore as in the pic below. I want a light weight boat to slip through the flooded fields, or lake margins, 'round the bulrushes. It would be for me ~215# dog~95# waders/dozen dekes/gun, etc. Looking to build a row, or trolling motor boat for ~ 375# max., but let's call it 450#. I've been 'processing' much about boat designs and have some ideas I'd like to run passed you and get your input.

Marsh rat boat