Flat Bottom Canoes
A canoe is a lot of fun for both kids and adults and easy to transport and launch. they are great fro fishing, riding down a lazy river or just paddeling along the bank to see what you can see.
I started building these by building one for myself about 15 years ago in Florida. Somebody liked it and begged me to build one for them. It just took off from there. Most of the sales came from people seeing the one on top of my truck rack or from people who gave them my email address or phone number. Now that I have retired and moved to Texas, I been thinking about going back to work so I guess maybe Ill go back to building canoes.
These Flat bottom canoes or Pirogue
or however you spell it, are very stable. That is why the low sides
which cuts down considerably on the wind resistance. Although walking
around in any boat, much less a canoe is definitely not recommended,
This Video will show you just how stable these are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-84Nxfvgua8
As you can hear in the video it's pretty windy the day we did the
video on top of walking around in the boat. You actually have to hang
over the side to tip it over. Being made of wood they are a lot more
quiet than fiberglass or aluminum for fishing. Also wood floats so it
won't sink. I can add additional flotation if you like.
I build these boats in Springtown,
Texas and sell them locally. Even though I do sell them this is not
my business so please don't ask to order one or make a deposit on
one. When I have some for sale you can find me at the Local flea
market. If you want to contact me and ask questions about them you
can contact me at rbodell AT gmail DOT com. You can leave an email
address and I'll let you know when I have some available.
They come in lengths from 8 to 16 feet.
Prices very according to materials. If I have some materials left
over from another project, I don't charge for them. A 14 footer like
the one in the video will run someplace around 300 to 350 dollars. Go
price a 14 foot fiberglass canoe, my prices are very reasonable so
don't think that because I display them at a flea market, I just want
to get rid of them. Your attitude has more to do with price changes
than anything.
These canoes are tie and tape
construction. It is easy and quick to build them so I don't charge a
lot for labor. When possible I build several at a time which also
brings down the price too. You can save a little money of you want to
get one unfinished and paint it yourself.
