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  1. #1
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    Default Hello from Texas

    I was doing some searching on wooden boats and came across this site. I am not sure if anyone here can help but maybe you can point me in the right direction. I am an avid kayaker and yesterday while on an exploration trip me and a mate ran across this boat and I am trying to determine the time frame it was built and the type. Can someone here help or at least point me in the right direction.

    I believe this to be the stern because it was down stream.


    looking down


    And this to be the bow.


    The whole thing


    A better shot of the keel

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  3. #2
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    Jul 2005
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    'Delaide, Australia
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    Default

    Very artistic shots.

    Almost looks like someone had tied it up and never came back to collect it!

    Cheers
    Michael

  4. #3
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    Apr 2008
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    NSW
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    Default

    All I could say is that it appears to be a "carvel " type hull.
    That means the outside planking is placed edge on edge to create a flat surface.
    The close spacing and heavy size of the bulkhead knees seem to indicate a home made vessel.

    Boatbuilding techniques are sometimes historicly connected to the areas where the boat is built.
    So you need to find a boatbuilder in that area or a historian of boatbuilding to get any real handle on when it may have been built and for what purpose.

    It looks as if it may have been a pole skiff . You stand up and pole it along in shallow water.
    They were popular in Florida and the swamps and may be as long as 20 to 30 feet.
    This one looks to me like it was quite long as its remains appear to be right up on the bank also.

  5. #4
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    Feb 2008
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    Eustis, FL, USA
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    Default

    Looks to be an old drift boat. They were built massively if intended for rough water. Can't tell much else, she's way too far gone.

  6. #5
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    Default

    Thanks for the responses to my questions. I have sent an email to one of the College's Nautical Archeology departments. Hopefully they will shed some light to the subject.

  7. #6
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    Could be the bottom part of a yacht hull with everything that was above the water gone.

    MIK

  8. #7
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    I'm reasonably sure it's a drift boat Michael. It would be typical of the area and one of the few boat types that could navigate these back waters. The general shape of the bottom (you're correct in that most of it's topside planks are gone), flare, end rake and apparent scantlings are of the type.

  9. #8
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    Dec 2008
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    Default

    I pretty sure this is a double ender. From what is left of the side I dont think it was much more than about 4' tall.

  10. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by PAR View Post
    I'm reasonably sure it's a drift boat Michael. It would be typical of the area and one of the few boat types that could navigate these back waters. The general shape of the bottom (you're correct in that most of it's topside planks are gone), flare, end rake and apparent scantlings are of the type.
    I respectfully dissagree, Drift boats & River Dories were wider in the beam , shorter and you sat inside them .
    This boat in question is way longer much narrower in the beam , low freeboard , double ended and its construction suggests that it was never built to sit in . It would have had a partial half length deck like structure to stand on built flush with the gunwales and pole it along . If you sat down it was on the deck with your feet in the bilge.
    They were made narrow to enter clogged channels and if you got stuck you just turn your body around and pole back the other way . Double ended.
    I still say it looks like Pole Skiff similar to the ones made around Florida and the swamps.
    AKA. Pole boats, Glades skiff.

    It does not look like the remains of a yacht hull because there is no keelson or central support for a keel of any kind that I can see. The creek looks a bit on the shallow side for anykind of yacht.

  11. #10
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    Default

    It certainly could be a pole boat, but the scantlings on this one don't appear similar to the ones I've seen or have plans for.




    You'll note this one, built in 1985 has a transom stern.

    Both pole boats and drift boats (which are basically adaptations of the dory) have evolved into several distinct versions, some beamer for more capacity, like the Colorado drift boat compared to the McKenzie, others with transoms of differing shapes. Some carried beam amidship, others moved it around to accommodate crew, stores of use, more or less rocker, etc.

    Considering it's massive framing, you may be correct. It could be a logging pole boat, which were very heavy built for the requirement of moving among the "flow".

    The current ideas on a drift boat are shorter in length then their predecessors, which of course creates a proportionately beamer craft in smaller sizes.



    This is a modern variant.

  12. #11
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    Dec 2008
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    Just an update. I still have not gotten a response from the college. This weekend I am going back to the site and remove some of the debris and take some more photos. You guys have helped alot and I appreciate it. There are a few other kayakers that have passed this wreck and are curious about it as well. To me when I saw the boat the first thing I thought of was that it was a life boat similar to what was used on the wooden sailing ships. The area around here is rich in pirate history so coming arcoss something like this lets the imagination run wild. I have worked in the boating industry and work in the marine industry now and I agree that this thing seemed to be over built like a work boat of some type. I have searched and searched but have not been able to find anything similar to it on the internet. More than likely it is because I am not calling it by the right name or asking the right questions in my search.

  13. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by PAR View Post
    It certainly could be a pole boat, but the scantlings on this one don't appear similar to the ones I've seen or have plans for.




    You'll note this one, built in 1985 has a transom stern.

    Both pole boats and drift boats (which are basically adaptations of the dory) have evolved into several distinct versions, some beamer for more capacity, like the Colorado drift boat compared to the McKenzie, others with transoms of differing shapes. Some carried beam amidship, others moved it around to accommodate crew, stores of use, more or less rocker, etc.

    Considering it's massive framing, you may be correct. It could be a logging pole boat, which were very heavy built for the requirement of moving among the "flow".

    The current ideas on a drift boat are shorter in length then their predecessors, which of course creates a proportionately beamer craft in smaller sizes.



    This is a modern variant.
    If you look at all modern pole skiffs and pole boats they have a transom stern for mounting motors , 1985 is modern . This wreck is much older than that.

  14. #13
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    I've a fair amount of understanding in the differences between the types and their evolution.

  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by PAR View Post
    I've a fair amount of understanding in the differences between the types and their evolution.
    OK , then why does this wreck have such a long slender bow and possibly stern ?
    I rekon it is closer in hull shape to this kind of pole boat that has possibly been converted to a transom stern.

  16. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by PAR View Post
    I'm reasonably sure it's a drift boat Michael. It would be typical of the area and one of the few boat types that could navigate these back waters. The general shape of the bottom (you're correct in that most of it's topside planks are gone), flare, end rake and apparent scantlings are of the type.
    Howdy Paul,

    The floors looked massive to me ... scantlings suitable for a yacht from here!

    Actually I am wrong ... there could be a sizeable keel under the water, but then there would be sizeable bolt holes in the floors!

    Thanks for talking about it more above.

    I am starting to think it is a Fantail Launch Built by Vinaigrette about '32. (I'm joking). Good discussion above .. at least a couple of types there that I was not aware of at all! Keep going guys.

    MIK

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