JEM Watercraft

Kayak Jack and I took a little trip on the Brazos last week I was in Matts T-V Wow what a boat, since I had a partner I decided to load her and see what she would do. The only thing not below the decks are my sleeping back and rain jacket for easy access


I weigh 215 and this is a list of what was onboard I figure 200 lbs of gear
Observations on the trip
The Coleman extreme cooler preformed well I froze 8 small water bottles 8 small gator aides and dumped the ice out of the ice maker on the fridge in the cooler Monday morning this morning 8 days later some of the waters still were half ice . It was worth build in a spot in the yak. Had way to much food in the cooler there was two packs of beef sausage, 2 pork chops 2 steaks ground meat for four burgers, sandwich meat
cheese, mayo olives and the water a gator aide that was frozen.

Other food in the yak 8 small cokes, frito’s, 2 packs of Pringles two packs of saltines three gallons of water salt pepper 1 pan 1 bowl silverware coffee cream sugar coffee pot ,cup 2 cans spam,1chilli,beef stew,blackeyed peas with peppers pinto beans and peppers flour tortillas bread 2 cans soup sauerkraut 8 cans of propane roll of garbage bags grill 5 oranges 4 fruit cupps paper plates paper towels. I had enough food for 10 days easy

Camping gear
Tent cot sleeping bag pillow machete clothes bag combination gortex parka extra paddle lantern single burner stove (propane) first aid kit extra paddle pfd .2 tarps 8 propane canisters

I loaded this yak heavy I wanted to see what she could carry and still handle while I had someone else with me The T-V aka Brazos Queen did fantastic paddle well stable glided better loaded, wood is the king, cooler worked fantastic you can have fresh food for at least a week loved my fold out seat .
Great trip no real snag’s and meet a new paddling bud
I can't recomend this boat to highly on a scale of 1 to 10 it comes in a solid 15

G'day Ron,

Real glad you and Jack had a great trip. Even happier that your boat does all that you want from her. She is definately on my "to do list"

I think I may have asked this before but I forget the answer. What is the maximum beam on your boat?

Yesterday, I recieved an email from an aussie bloke asking for a comparison between laker and your boat. I have encouraged him to register here and ask you the same questions that he asked me. You are the only bloke I know of who has built and paddled both boats.

How do you think your boat would work in a more open configuration? ie more like a canoe with mini decks?

Matt:
do you still have the picture I emailed you on my TVD you designed for me? This might be what Mick is asking about on the previous post.
jheger

D'oh! D'oh

Matt & JHeger,

You are evil men. You bloody KNEW when I saw that, I would want one.

One question. WHY IS THIS BOAT NOT LISTED?

Go out the back and give yourself three sharp uppercuts.

It is magnificent! Matt, I think the boat drawn just as shown here is an absolute winner. Soon as you list the plans one will be getting ordered. (and I am certain that it won't be the last one to come to Oz.)

If it is wide enough, it is exactly what my friend is looking for.

Seriously Matt, You need to get this one onto your site. Trust me on this.

Hmm intersting, nice work JHeger and Matt, would be interested in some measurements off've this one. Finished my Laker about thirty minutes ago Haven't wetted it yet and I'm feeling lost already!

John:
This boat originated from the touring pirogue T. Matt used that boat and added a slight "V" bottom. From that you get the TV like Texas River Rat built. I didn't have enough smarts to design a deck so I ask Matt to do that and we decided on one that looked kinda like the South Wind. Now we have the touring pirogue TVD. A touring pirogue T with a V bottom and a deck.
Ron, AKA Texas River Rat, was smart enough and came up with his own deck design that he liked and thats the boat he has been using on his Brazos River trip along with Kayak Jack.
One of the great things about building your own boat is you can do what you want or pay Matt pennies to have him draw up the plans so you can do it. I took the easy route and used Matt.
The measurements are the same as the touring pirogue T. 15 ft long, 29 inches wide and bottom at 24 inches. Mine weights about 44 lbs and is built with cheap and I mean cheap luan. If I build another one, I will work another day or two and buy the okoume. In my opinion this boat deserves the best material you can buy. Hope this helps.