Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dave Z on April 8, 2009 at 5:58pm

Carlos,

Welcome here. You are in the right place for wood drift boats. Your English is good.

I think you will be limited to building a boat from plans, but there are many plans available- Rogers book, Drift Boats and River Dories is a very good place to start. Roger also sells individual plans. I have built two boats from his plans and am working on a third. You can see my boats at this link: www.thtchronicles.blogspot.com

I believe there are a couple other guys from your country on this board.

It is my dream to fish in your country.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Carlos Lopez Casanello on April 8, 2009 at 10:14pm

Thanks for your welcome Dave! Y saw your blog and your boats are fantastic! I hope some day to build some one like yours.

Saludos
Carlos

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Permalink Reply by Felipe G. Ch. on April 8, 2009 at 7:22pm

Hola Carlos!
I´m from Argentina too!
I´m also trying to build my first boat this year and have been doing some research. Send me a message and I´ll gladly share the data I´ve gathered so far.
This place is great!
Abrazo!
Felipe

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Permalink Reply by Carlos Lopez Casanello on April 8, 2009 at 10:12pm

Hola Felipe!

I know you from the rodmakers forum. I saw your work with bamboo rods and is excelent! Im sure that if you use your skills in this proyect, the results will be perfect.
Bamboo rods is still something pending for me, Im still working with my tools.
I write you tomorow !
Saludos!
Carlos

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 8, 2009 at 8:35pm

Hola Carlos! Welcome to Wooden Boat People! I do not know about your rivers but I think that you will find that others on this forum do. When Felipe joined AJ from Wooden Boat Tours shared his knowledge from his experiences guiding in South America. Good luck on your search and welcome again.

Rick Newman

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Permalink Reply by Carlos Lopez Casanello on April 8, 2009 at 10:17pm

Thanks Rick for your welcome!

Carlos

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Permalink Reply by Karl Mueller on April 14, 2009 at 10:14am

I'm pretty sure Don Hill is still selling plans too . . . . I've found mine to be a really good whitewater boat. They are really similar to the Tatman's. The rocker is a bit more pronounced on the Hills (I think) and the angle at the aftmost rib is, I believe 1 degree different, with the Hill being steeper. I don't have much experience rowing any other boats besides mine so I can't really comment firsthand on differences in handling characteristics.

Any of the plans for boats with a good reputation for performance around here will probably be adequate for your needs. For you, I think the most important things to think about is the character of the rivers you fish. The faster/wilder the water, you would want a more pronounced rocker which allows the boat to pivot faster and be more agile, the downside is that it won't track as well in calmer water. Another thing to think about is size. The traditional Mckenzie, 16x48, is a good all around and versatile size and is perfect for fishing with one other person. If you are regularly carrying two passengers you would probably want to consider a 17 x 54.

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Permalink Reply by Carlos Lopez Casanello on April 17, 2009 at 1:38pm

Thanks Karl for your information, its helping me a lot to decide which boat to build.
Like Felipe I plan to use my boat to fly fish in mid to big size rivers of Patagonia like like Limay and Chimehuin.
Those rivers have a few whitewater in the beginning but most part of it are a tipical steppe river with some dificults like rocks and runs

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Permalink Reply by Karl Mueller on April 20, 2009 at 10:46am

Another thing to think about is how windy the rivers you are fishing are. In areas of consistently high wind with less intense whitewater, the driftboats have lower sides. These are the Rocky Mountain style drifters. The wind can really push a driftboat around and diminish your enjoyment of the experience. In Oregon we don't have the luxury of fishing these low profile boats as our whitewater is rougher and more of it than the rivers where the Rocky Mountain boats are in common usage.

I'm not really familiar with what a steppe river is all about but it sounds relatively calm. For versatility though I'd go with a standard design. I guess it depends on how and where you are planning on using it most. Good luck!

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