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the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:38 pm
by TexasZeke
bowgarguide suggested we posted 1st reviews of new boats here too, so here it goes.

A couple of things I forgot to mention in the original post that should be pointed out. My original target cost for this boat was around 150.00. I hit that one pretty close exact cost is hard to figure because I had some of the wood used laying around the shop already, but I also bought some stuff that I never used. I had hoped to do it in a week, ended up a week and four days. I will be the first to say, you get what you pay for so to speak. For a pretty as Darrells boat and all of the others are, mine is just that ugly, but this has always been the test vehicle, the prototype. Not only was/am I trying to learn what I want in a boat, from a boat, but also about building a boat. I have followed every post on build, and the people posting will never know just how much I have learned, or thank them for the free schooling. Oh yeah, the boats name "Amy's toe", my wife doesn't like boats and as I was building it I kept teasing her about her paddling it. She told me she wasn't even going to put her toe in it.

This should be the last report on this post. Managed to get out for a few hours this afternoon and try the boat out. Did it perform to expectations? Not really sure how to answer that one because I'm not really sure what I expected. From the amount of room in the boat I was plenty happy. It did turn out a little more tippy than I might have liked, but I don't think it is any worse than my plastic boat. I will say this, even with about a 15mph cross wind it will pretty much stay on track like it's on rails. It is harder to turn than the plastic boat but it is also 4' longer than the plastic boat. Take about two strokes with the paddle and it seems like it would glide across the lake, in a straight line no less, the plastic boat always wanted to turn one way or the other. It seems much faster than the other boat, but it's hard to judge when your fighting the wind the whole way. Plus it's been about 2 months since I had the other one out. I did manage to pull one tiny cat off a jug, couldn't get anything on rod and reel

Loaded and ready to go
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the set
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the payoff, well kinda
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a snake, so what kinda snake is this
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my biggest complaint is about loading and hauling, that one I'm gonna have to work on

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:55 pm
by gerald
Man...the boat looks beautiful to me. It's floating, you're fishing--what more can you ask for. Hey...pick up that pet snake from the stump and take it to bowgarguide....

What lake were you in?

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:12 pm
by DarrellS
There is not a thing wrong wiith that boat. Like Gerald said it floated right and you already caught the first fish out of something that started as a pile of wood on the floor. That is the coolest part, you built it.
My first boat ended up tippy also. It is a 14-29 Pirogue.

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 8:56 pm
by Night Wing
The photo with the stump and snake in it is a good one. We have quite a few snakes that look like that in Lake Robbins where I work on the Waterway.

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:14 pm
by TexasZeke
I was in Renyolds Creek on Lake Waco. Trust me, I'm not really knocking the boat, it just falls more into the Volkswagen class than the Porsche class. Truthfully other than being more tippy than I wanted, I'm really pretty happy with it. I took two different sets of plans and combined them to build the size I wanted, built the way I wanted to build it. It has a ton of room, tracks like an arrow, easy to paddle. As I use it more I will figure out what changes the next one needs

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:50 pm
by barditch
TexasZeke wrote:Truthfully other than being more tippy than I wanted, I'm really pretty happy with it. I took two different sets of plans and combined them to build the size I wanted, built the way I wanted to build it. It has a ton of room, tracks like an arrow, easy to paddle. As I use it more I will figure out what changes the next one needs
8) The last sentence says it all! I built bunches of rifles for myself and other people. Every one I built for myself was supposed to be "the one". Well, so much for that stuff! Your tastes will change, your goals will change, and your attitude will change, but...you'll still be building the next one "...just to see what if...". The best part is, as long as there's material out there and the odd can of epoxy, you're only moments away from a new keel laying, as it were! Great stuff, man!

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:13 pm
by DarrellS
In the first pic is that the old boat ramp and if so can you still drive to it.
Darrell

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 4:39 am
by Strider
Diamondback watersnake. Lake Waco has bunches of them and some are huge. I call them "Texas anacondas". Curious as to what your boat weighs? The name is a classic :D

Kim

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 9:26 am
by Pogo
TexasZeke wrote:For a pretty as Darrell's boat and all of the others are, mine is just that ugly, but . . . .

But nothing! I still say there's no such thing as an ugly homemade boat. Maybe a homemade canoe built from aluminum scraps will make you feel more loving to your creation? This guy wimped out and got a store-bought paddle, though, sheesh. 8)

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 1:44 pm
by Light Keeper's Kid
Reminds me of the Jonny Cash Song "One Peice at a Time" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mike

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:44 pm
by Redeye
Nice looking boat!

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:58 pm
by TexasZeke
DarrellS wrote:In the first pic is that the old boat ramp and if so can you still drive to it.
Darrell
Yeah they opened it back up a year or so ago. For a 30.00 permit you can launch or fish from the bank all you want for a year. The permit applies to all COE lakes, not just waco

Re: the first sailing of the "Amy's Toe"

Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 6:07 pm
by TexasZeke
Strider wrote:Diamondback watersnake. Lake Waco has bunches of them and some are huge. I call them "Texas anacondas". Curious as to what your boat weighs? The name is a classic :D

Kim
don't know how accurate this is but me standing on a bathroom scale, holding the boat and trying to read the scale, I come up with about 70lbs. Which is heavier than I had hoped for