JEM Watercraft

I ordered the plans from JEM in March and finally finished it enough for the sea trials in June. I still need to permanently install the seat. The maiden voyage was in Shepard Lake, Idaho on 07/04/2008 (thats 2008/07/04 for the rest of the world ).

I chose this boat as a simpler build to test my theory that you can build using cedar and pine strips from just about any plan. Also, I have an abundance of cedar and pine. It is more labor intensive and takes longer to build than plywood, but is much quicker than building a cedar strip boat using the taditional method of forms and a strongback. Also, there are no vertical seams and no need to find expensive plywood. However, the boat probably is not as strong as a plywood boat. Therefore, I uses a layer of 6 oz on the bottom of the hull along with a layer of 4 oz cloth on the bottom and outer sides. Six oz completely covers the interior.

Here I am preparing to take my current youngest for his first boat ride. If you notice there is no wedding ring on my left had, its because it's in the bottom of the lake somewhere. The wooden thing hanging of the back is what the transducer is mounted on. I made it to be adjustable in depth so it can be used with both my cedar strip kayak and the pirogue.



Here we are heading out



Lots of fish on the fish finder but none ever made it into the boat.



Here we are coming back to shore. And no, its not a white t shirt I'm wearing, I just don't get in the sun much!



And to top it off, we had a beautiful sunset.



The plans were easy to build from and I enjoyed it (except for the sanding). Thanks Matt. I hope you don't mind me deviating a little from your plans .

Craig

ps, It also tracks like a dream .

G'day Craig,

and welcome aboard.


Maaaaaaate,

That is the prettiest pirogue I have ever seen The beautiful scenery allmost does it justice, but not quite.

I bloody LOVE your boat.

Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Hairy. I found this site in January and have been routinely visiting it. I found it by googling "home built sit on top kayak". I stumbled across one of your build threads. I wanted to get a fishing kayak but I just can't stand plastic. I have read every one of your build threads and i take it as a great compliment that an accomplished builder such as yourself likes my pirogue. Your review, along with the photo of you and the little one in your touring pirogue is what sold me on building this one. I needed something i could easily take my boys out in.

I have built a couple of other boats. One was a plywood jon boat and the other was a self designed cedar strip kayak. I wanted to try this method on a simple design as a proof of concept. I wish I would have posted it sooner, but wanted to be sure it worked first. I didn't want people attempting to try one of my off the wall ideas without me spending the money and making the mistakes first. I will attempt to post a thread ASAP for anyone else interested. I have seen a lot of people having difficulty finding good plywood so this may be the answer to their problem on some of the simpler builds.

I personally wanted to try this method on a less expensive design prior to trying it on one of Matt's other designs. I thought of building either the wadefish or the sabalo. I would use plywood on the bottom, lower side panels, and internal structural frames, but was tempted to try this method on the top half. Do you think it would work?

Well, seems I hijacked my own thread. Back to the topic.

Although we didn't catch any fish from the boat, my oldest son caught several bluegill from the shore. He is sponsered by Cabela's, shimano, and Rusteez bumper ointment (from the movie Cars). JK.





I need to have the three year old hold all my fish, he makes them look bigger.

Craig

That is a beautiful boat. Thanks for showing it.

Jimmy

Wow!!
Love the third picture of the first post.
Did I already say Wow!!!?

DM

craiggamesh...

There must be something about March when folks get good ideas. March 06 I got my hands on some 1 x 4 redwood boards , with a jig saw they became 1/4 by 3/4 strips.

From them I made a Red Wood Stripper Pirogue. I really , really know what you are saying about the sanding , I thought I would never get done with the sanding but the end did arrive. That alone made my wife happy since there was not a dust trail threw the house when I would come in.

I have to say that yours is a lot prettier and the detail in it is out of this world , it is one beauty. It clearly shows there was a lot of thought and work that went into it , a whole lot.

Chuck.

That's a beutifull boat Craig! WOW

Coogs

that's not a boat... that's art!

That's a sweet ride. Great job on the build!!

Lee

FANTASTIC
Looking forward to Your builders log