Has anyone ever made one? I want to make a little one for trapping rats in the dead of winter in springs that are about 3ft deep and run kinda little a ditch to the big river.

Yes, you'd be better off with a kayak. Should be able to get a kayak for under $100 on Facebook marketplace. A large sled will also float if your just looking to wade with gear

Never made one but knew a guy that had a smaller version of a drift boat he used to trap out of.

I was thinking I would have been beter off not busting ice in my kayak to check beaver sets when I was wasting deep in ice water and rifle on the bottom of the pit lake at the time.

But now I have a cool story and I recovered the rifle a few weeks later with magnet.


Basically your corect cheaper and easier the route i took. But Be careful in unstable boats in the winter. It can get dangerous pretty fast.

My opinion? Find a used, light weight 12' jon boat. Makes a good sled on ice and will become a boat if you need to float a stretch..

I've made some, and duck boats, depends on what your doing, if wading and pulling behind you a 6 foot otter sled is tough to beat, or a 10' alu john boat, for a little more stability. if you plan on being IN the boat much, a 12' Alu john boat is even better..wood gets heavy fast....

Just remember these are all toy boats, extreme caution needs to be used, especially getting in and out of them or on more open waters...

I built a canoe in my living room. Fun little project. No woodworking skills necessary.

You can build one pretty easy. Just keep it as light as possible, resist the urge to include doodads that add weight. Lots of plans on line. Use glue and screws as well as marine grade plywood. Not treated plywood, marine grade. It doesn’t have knot holes and voids between the layers. Voids in regular plywood fill with water, when the water freezes the expansion causes delamination.

As said in above posts, there are a lot of easier and probably cheaper ways to go, but it’s pretty satisfying to build your own boat. Everyone should do it at least once imo.

Awesome build Tatiana!!!

Not sure if buying the “no woodworking skills required” LOL

Most of them that I have seen are flat-bottom and have poor initial stability and flip quite easily and quickly. Not a good thing to happen anytime, much less the dead of winter.

I am sure you will get a lot of recommendations on here. I am going with Muskrat's recommendation of a small, used Jon boat.

Tatiana-Beautiful work! Reminiscent of my Old Town 18" Guide Canoe hanging in my garage. Had it professionally refurbished and have not gotten to use it with my wife's medical issues. Gonna get sold one of these days. I also have to commend you on your choice of PFD and jacket for your passenger. Nice and bright-colored. We used to sea kayak on Lake Superior and too many times I saw other wearing blue PFD's and they tend to disappear when in the waves.

Moosetrot

If you were closer, I’d give you a 10’ jon boat.

I built this B runabout and raced it, destroyed it in a race in Michigan and rebuilt it to race again. Mahogany marine plywood and Mahogany. Boat name, "Smoke on the Water."

How fast is that thing, Flipper?
Sure doesn't look like a comfortable ride.

Right at 60 in a 10' boat, knee pads, elbow pads, it beat the crap out of you. Like trying to kneel on a dolphin and ride it. With 12 boats in a heat, it got very rough. I had to lay out on the left to get the boat on the chine to get it to turn. If someone crossed in front of you the rooster tail would feel like a fire hose in the face. It is like a lot of racing, adrenaline rush and very exciting going into the first turn.

Look up Pram Boat . They are small and easy to build 8 foot long.

That's pretty cool, and would take some guts to race.

For some reason, when I try to.post pics, comes out a black.box.

Anyway, click.on link.

https://www.unclejohns.com/boat/

My son's built this style when they were little, but out of a sheet of 1/4" luan, and scrap for rest, with drywall screws and covered with returned paint from the hardware store.($5/gal)
Maybe had $20 in each, lol, and they beat on them.hard, lasted a few years.
Made their own paddles too.

Oldest boy was already 200#.
He had VERY little freeboard, but he could've probably pulled skiers, lol

Found a pic
Green boat, but all built the same.
They race with two.kids per boat too, so.pretty good load

I'm kind of bored in the early summer so I'm going to build one of those Prams. I looked online and got the patterns.
I thought about building one of those cedar strip canoes but it seems a little out of my building skills.

Nice build Tatiana.

Thanks for the advise!

You did good Tatiana It will last.