Duck Boats- sailing & rowing

[bmwbill1]

Lake Superior- 3- 5 miles of protected , shallow Water [3 to 15 ft , for the most part on the crossing]. very large Bay - some exposure -hunting shallow rice beds
2 to 3 guys / dog with equipment
would be nice to be able to seel on it with 2. could cross in afternoon /hunt next morning
replace sea kayak in summer?
have very large shop to bulid
only buildt strip canoe and a few houses- mostly small power tools, but can get what I need
Bill

[bmwbill1]

sorry about double post
Bill

[Thorne]

Thanks for giving us the specifics!

I'll guess that your problem will be that a boat large enough to carry 3 guys, one dog (?) and 100 decoys (?) will be too large to row comfortably.

You can row nearly **anything** in a calm, but something that can safely carry that cargo and sail will be an outboard/trolling motor sorta thing when dealing with wind or waves.

Off the top of my head I'd say you have two main ways to do it -- either build a duckboat/jonboat/garvey that can be rigged for sail, or build a sailboat that can be rigged for hunting.

There are sailing garvey designs around, but whether they'd really be suitable for what Superior can dish out is your decision. You could also try a motor garvey with leeboards, short mast, spritsail, and rudder.

http://www.selway-fisher.com/Kingfisher18d1.gif
http://www.selway-fisher.com/SharpieDory.htm#CORN

In the sailboat category, Welsford's Pathfinder would be a safe bet for the load, but don't know how hunting out of it would work. You might have to use an alternate sailing rig to allow the spars to fit in the boat, or that clever curved mast idea.

http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz/plans/pathfinder/index.htm
http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz/projects/pathfinders/P-Pf-19.jpg

[Eric D]

See the thread above regarding sneak boats.

the traditional sailing boat is a Barnaget Bay Sneak box which generally is a 1 or possibly 2 man boat, but 3 is out of the question. See the forum mentioned by me at the bottom. There are several guys that build these either strip built or ply. there are several different plans available, Mystic has some for example.

I question your area that you want to hunt though....If you are hunting rice beds, i would think a sail boat of the size you discuss (3 guys and a sleep over) would be too large to effectively hunt unless you drop down to the 2 guys and no sleep over. (unless truly protected seas) the BBSB mentioned above have been sailed and motored (I would not go out in late season Lake Superior without at least a motor for back up) so you can look at all the plans out there.

Lastly, I hunt Lake Michigan and Green Bay so I do understand a bit of the water and weather that you will face and I don't tread lightly, especially in a small boat.

good luck this season...listen for the rip of their wings....