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We knew she floated, as we had tried her out several weeks earlier in a local lake, but we did not know how would she take to moving water. The intended purpose, of course, of any driftboat. After spending so much time building her, 225 hours between us, we were desperate to get her to a river, any river. The annual Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited North Fork trip was approaching and provided me a release for my McGwire-esque anticipation. The Mid-Mo. group is a fantastic group of folks who, for being a relatively small group, do a disproportionate amount of fantastic work for our watersheds. I was an active member when my wife and I lived in Columbia and feel fortunate that they still allow me to share this weekend with them since we've moved to St. Louis. Unfortunately, my Dad could not make it for the maiden river voyage.
She is a 14-foot wooden driftboat that is perfect for floating two people (one on the oars, the other fishing, holding on, or drinking a favorite beverage). It is a relatively small boat when compared to the bruisers the guides use out west. However, those big boats aren't able to be portaged around, say, Patrick Bridge. Our boat is. Granted, at ~240 pounds a long portage is out of the question, but low water bridges, poor accesses, and rootwads don't stop the
T.R. She is made with marine grade plywood for the hull and douglas fir and white oak for the gunwales, seats, floorboards, etc. The bottom is coated with a sheet of UHMW plastic (super tough, super slick plastic) that protects her from the unforgiving rocks of the Ozark streams. An anchor hangs off the transom. The anchor rope runs through the transom to the inside bottom of the boat via three pulleys, under the rear floorboards and oarsman's seat, to a foot pedal that allows the oarsman to release the anchor while still on the oars. The angler's area has a seat with removable backrest, a fly line deck and "horns" for support when the angler is standing.
There was about a dozen of us down to fish the North Fork that weekend and most of us floated on Saturday. One group of six floated in three canoes from ROLF to Patrick Bridge, while our group of four floated from Patrick to James Bridge in the
T.R. and Mike Kruse's two-man inflatable. When the upstream group got to Patrick, they took my truck/trailer downstream to James to get us at a prearranged time. Believe it or not, this worked perfectly. |
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To be honest, it was good to get that first boat to rock contact the hell out of the way. Dad and I said many times during construction: "We are building a fishing boat", implying that the "thuds" would not bother us. It still was a little painful that first time. But once I realized that the boat was completely unaffected and not, as one gruff fly-fishing personality stated, a fragile piece of furniture, the pain quickly evaporated and I was ready to fish/oar. |
