This will be first prize. Second place will be a one on one pirogue build and I will supply everything with room and boarding, food and drinks for the weekend at my house. And third prize will be that short party/tail gating pirogue I built a few months back.

I guess I will try to sell 1k of tickets at $5 a pop. I'm hoping to get everything in place by mid September to have the drawing before teal season.

My brother has so much on his mine and whatever I can do, I will do to ease him of any pain . I'm praying he makes his 61 birthday Dec 24. It shock me yesterday when I went to see him and it wasn't good. After talking to his wife, SIL, I found out that they burnt all there savings due to him not being able to work. He has been hiding this from our family.

I emptied my checking acc for him and hope to help him more.

What ever it takes, I will make it happen.

More work done today.

At this point, it's time to eye the bottom. When I said "eye", I'm looking at the batten line making sure I have a smooth running line. If not, I will plane down more after marking with a straight edge. I find it best to use a wooden yard stick. Any adjustments will come from the splice and out from there. Mark all ribs across and plane down as needed.

I use 3/4" plywood blocks up under the seats. The first seat will be split above the splice. My blocks are two different sizes. The one over the splice is the same width as the splice. Height is 3 1/2" from the top of the batten. Top and bottom is cut at 20 degrees. The second piece top part is cut at 20 degrees, but the bottom is straight 90. That will fit right on top of the batten.

Repeat the same for the other side. Then glue and clamp.

The other seat, I just eye were it will go to balance when two people are on board.

Plywood blocks, 31/2" tall and 10" wide. The bottom of them will be 90 degrees, but the tops will be 18 degrees.

Make sure that they are even when installing them. Measure from the bottom splice to do that. Glue them in place, clamp.

NOTE!* Always block with scrap wood when clamping!

Cutting the seats! I use a circle saw for this. Using 1"x6" #1 pine for the seats.

The splice joint seat, I measure for one side of the splice towards the center of the boat, across to the other side. Then measure 5 1/2" towards the center of the boat on the side and then make another measure across at that point. The widest point, I will mark that on my board. I then split that in half and draw a straight line across. That is center! The shorter measurement, I divide that in half and split that in half for the other side of the board. That gets your side angle. To get the other angle to match the side, I just set my circle saw on top of the side and adjust to blade to that.

The other piece, just repeat. Same goes for the other seat.

Using #6, 1 1/2" brass screws, glue and screw.

After that, cut the top sides of the bow stems like I did on the bottom of them.

Update 8

Time to cut the bottom sheets. Long side cut to long bottom. Line the wide in even with the spliced sides. Put a temp nail or screw on one side, line out the out side, temp nail or screw. Then put a temp nail or screw into the bow stem.

Then take the other sheet of plywood, butt it at the splice and repeat temp nailing/screw.

You should have something like this.

Trace the bottom using the side all the way around. Then remove nails or screws and flip over.

Should have this.

Time to cut. NOTE!* When cutting, cut NO LESS then 1/2" outside the line. Always start at the widest part of the plywood. Set the saw blade to about 1" deep to cut.

Should have this.

Once I got them cut out, I filled everything in with putty. Let it cure and sand.

Time to go back and address everything to make sure that the plywood bottom will rest flush on the battens/sides.

Time to glue and screw or nail.

NOTE! Start at the splice. Draw a line across it and only apply glue to the side you are installing. Apply glue to everything the bottom will come into contact.

Note! If nailing, back up the splice and ribs. I use a piece of 2x4 that reaches the ground under the ribs to nail.

NOTE! Once started nailing, start at the splice, then nail 5-6 on one side and then do 5-6 to the other side. Work your way towards the bow back in forth. Space nails about 6" apart.

This is the glue I'm using. I mix it to a runny peanut butter.

I did start installing plugs into all the screw holes that are on the sides.

I didn't have enough washers and nuts to install the second half of the bottom. I'm just waiting for the glue to cure before removing from the other side.

This post was edited on 8/22/14 at 12:31 pm