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Permalink Reply by Chris Patterson on December 7, 2010 at 8:18pm

I used to see similar boats on the upper Teton between Victor and Driggs, ID. The guides from the Teton Valley Lodge used to use them there. Anyone know if they still do?

They would use a couple poles pushed down into the slit to "anchor" the boat in the slow current. They would work downstream hole to hole and then fire up the outboard to scoot back upstream to the lodge. It worked pretty darn well.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Thompson on December 8, 2010 at 4:52am

I grew up on the Current river near Doniphan Missouri. John boats were the craft of choice on that river. By the way, "cow chain" (as it was called) is a light chain made from wire bent into loops, it was used to tie up your cow and also as a mooring chain on the boat. No one trailered their boats back then (1950s) but would just tie them to a tree by the river and let them float. They wouldnt even bother to pad lock them because no one would steal your boat. I recall there would be 6 to 12 boats tied to the same tree just a 1/2 mile West of town. I remember their being at least one boat builder there in Doniphan, I don't remember his name though.

There is a interesting history of those boats that can be found at this URL:
http://maa.missouri.edu/mfap/articles/johnboat.pdf

Jerry

P.S. I have a set of plans for a 12 foot John boat, using plywood. I will be happy to share them if I can figure out how to up load them. The boat is built "free form" much as a drift boat.

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Permalink Reply by Riverman on December 8, 2010 at 5:44am

How I would love to float on the Current River in Missouri...

As you said above... "No one would steal your boat". Growing up in the deep south in the early 50's, I remember those good morals that everyone had.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Thompson on December 9, 2010 at 5:26am

Plans for the 12 John boat

Attachments:

• 12 foot John_boat.pdf, 5.3 MB

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on December 8, 2010 at 7:30am

Similar to the Ausable River Guide Boat used almost exclusively in the Ausable region of Northern Michigan. In these boats, a fisherman is seated up front, in the rear the guide would use a canoe paddle to maneuever. They also would drag sections of chain to slow the boats down. We call em "chum wagons" for this reason.... not only do they slow the boat down, but they "chum" up th enymphs and such so the trout downstream get turned on to eat.

http://www.guilttrip.com/html/the_au_sable_river_boat.html
The ausable and the surrounding rivers are weird. tea colored waters, very few if any boudlers and rocks. most of the bottoms are tiny gravel or sand. Oddly, they are bug factories. They never "blow out" or turn to chocolate, but after a heavy rain, they will rise. There is little if any run-off.

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