Mik's Handy Punt Questions

[Ramps]

Hi Mik and any others the might be in the know.

I have a cousin in Tas that is looking a building one of your punts as a lake/river boat for flyfishing.

Questions:

What do you think of the practicality of the vessel for such a purpose (if it's not you can blame me for suggesting it to him)?

He would like to know how many hours it would take to build for a person with limited hand tools and limited woodworking experience (but a practical plasterer)?

What would you be looking at for the cost of materials ... ball park ... all materials bought dimensioned (no thicknesser etc)??

What is the minimum tools required for such a venture (could be a good excuse to increase the shed contents but I don't know if that's his intention as it would be mine)?

[Boatmik]

Howdy Ramps,

The punt has huge stability for standing upright - a great platform. For that size and beam of wooden boat it is quite light.

http://www.storerboatplans.com/Punt/Punt.html

Anything lighter will also have less waterplane area - ie will be smaller in plan view and that will cut down on stability as well.

http://www.storerboatplans.com/Punt/Christmas%202%20050-1.jpg

Punt would be pretty bad to row but a motor will drive it well. You could make the middle seat larger (which would require some more ply) and it would become a great fishing platform.

Hours to build - maybe 120 plus painting but this varies hugely from builder to builder so can't be anything more than a vague response to your question.

The main tools powerwise are
cordless driver/drill with clutch
random orbit sander
jigsaw

Essential hand tools
a plane - #4 or a block plane
sharpening stone

The rest comes down to things like a hammer, a chisel, a straight edge, a tape measure, a pencil.

Don't need any clamps because you can use the cordless drill and gyprock/plasterboard/drywall screws to hold bits together until the glue haredens up then wind them out and fill the holes.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything obvious.

As far as cost - I don't sell the timber etc but Duckflat probably have the cost on their computer.

MIK

[Ramps]

Thanks for all the input Mik. Sounds ideal to me with a little 9.9hp on the back :2tsup:

Just doing a bit of a look around for the prices

Prices so far
$115 for plans
$116/sheet of ply x 4 =$464
$86 6L epoxy

That's $665 so far

Haven't seen price on Oregon but 18 odd metres of 45x20
or other assorted timber that would have to price locally

[b.o.a.t.]

Hi Mik and any others the might be in the know.

I have a cousin in Tas that is looking a building one of your punts as a lake/river boat for flyfishing.




G'day Ramps
I'd be concerned about suggesting _any_ small boat as a fly-fishing platform in Tassie lakes or rivers. Anything less than about 16' x 7' anyway.

Every year people die of cold in Tasmanian lakes when they fall out of, or tip over their small boat. In summer. Falling into the high-country lakes is akin to having your genitals belted out the top of your head with a hammer. And THAT is when wearing a wetsuit in a kayak & being able to roll straight back up out of it. Being stuck in the water any distance from land is close to a death sentence.

Small boats are for transit to a fly-fishing spot. Or for sitting down in.

MIK's punt looks great for that. At worst, it might get a bit lumpy if a front comes through while out on a lake.

Hope this doesn't rain on your parade, but better to visit Tas for the fishing than for the funeral. :)
cheers
AJ

[Ramps]

Thanks AJ
that's the sort or comments I was hoping to attract (on top of MIK's comments of course). :2tsup:

[Boatmik]

Good points by AJ.

Initial stability of a punt like this is very good - much better than a vee bottom tinnie of similar or bit bigger dimensions.

But they are little light boats - so even though initial stability is excellent the total stability - ie the one that stops you from flipping right over depends more on weight and size.

As ever - it is up to the user to make the right decisions about the day and how far out they go. One of the biggest growth areas is going fishing using slightly wider than normal kayak/surfski type things. Those people will be choosing the right days and areas too I would expect.

Same too for sitting and standing. I spend a lot of time standing when sailing small boats - that's in the right conditions. If in any doubt I'll be sitting down as you suggest.

Also Ramps don't worry about getting Oregon - it is really expensive now unless it is salvage. Hoop pine would be fine and if you can get Paulownia it would be good for all the internals. If can't get Paulownia then do everything in Hoop or other good gluing straightish grained softwood.

MIK