The skeg and the strips on the bottom would scare me to death for drifting. Both could set up a condition where you would “stick” or turn the boat on rocks if you are riding down a chute anyway but straight. All the river boats I’ve ever owned or built had a minimum of gluvit or uhmw on the bottom. flat slick and easy to slide.
Just my prefernce but more than once I’ve felt, heard and sometimes even watched the floor flex while sliding over a ledge on the Upmqua or rock on the Deschutes. Then, looking at the bottom when its out of the water and seeing the groove or scratch on the gluvit or the plastic sheet convinced me a long time ago that drift boats need two thing to handle well and work through shallow rocky rapids: chines and a flat slick bottom. you might even find that the boat would row better in flat water with at least 3/4 of chine cutting the path for you on each side.
I had a pram like that one and fly fished all over Washington state in it.
Great little fishing boat. So easy to handle and maintain.
I could almost out-run a small outboard while rowing in that little Pram.
Dick
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The skeg and the strips on the bottom would scare me to death for drifting. Both could set up a condition where you would “stick” or turn the boat on rocks if you are riding down a chute anyway but straight. All the river boats I’ve ever owned or built had a minimum of gluvit or uhmw on the bottom. flat slick and easy to slide.
Just my prefernce but more than once I’ve felt, heard and sometimes even watched the floor flex while sliding over a ledge on the Upmqua or rock on the Deschutes. Then, looking at the bottom when its out of the water and seeing the groove or scratch on the gluvit or the plastic sheet convinced me a long time ago that drift boats need two thing to handle well and work through shallow rocky rapids: chines and a flat slick bottom. you might even find that the boat would row better in flat water with at least 3/4 of chine cutting the path for you on each side.
i dont understand what you mean needing chine as in 3/4 chine cutting the water. i want to build one of these but have never built a boat before
I could almost out-run a small outboard while rowing in that little Pram.
Dick
I have a captioned Picasaweb album set up for this build. You can find it at
https://picasaweb.google.com/100979049839058959925/KittitasFlyFishingPramConstructionSequence#
(make sure to copy and paste the entire URL)
pc
I had a pram like that one and fly fished all over Washington state in it.
Great little fishing boat. So easy to handle and maintain.
I could almost out-run a small outboard while rowing in that little Pram.
Dick
Send me more information about this boat
Drift Pram info: https://www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=738