# Ausable River Boat



## Scott Tschirhart (Mar 23, 2016)

I've been wanting to build a traditional Ausable River boat but have been unable to find plans for the layout. I've searched the web and only found articles from years back ( fun read). Can anyone help me with this?


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## STONE FLY (Feb 26, 2001)

Ive yet to see any plans for that boat. Most guys just make up a custom design. Its a really simple boat. Its just plywood, glue and stitched together. I posted this on my boat build a while back, this guys shows some steps of him building one
http://www.guilttrip.com/html/the_au_sable_river_boat.html

My guide buddy had this one built.


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## STONE FLY (Feb 26, 2001)

This boat here is a little taller and wider than alot you might see. This allows for standing up in the boat and he also has a 5h.p. motor. That thing scoots with a motor on it. Mostly he just uses a poll. Figure out how tall, how wide and how long you want it. Get some thin cardboard and scale some 4x8 pcs that would be your plywood. Probably get 1 strip for the side, 1 strip for the bottom from each sheet. I would make maybe 3 temporary braces with the side angle width and height. when you put the sides on a angle and then bend the ends in you will get the rocker curve for the bottom. Make it out of thin cardboard. To join the sides to the bottom, a easy way is to just drill holes and use zip ties. Then the inside gets fillets of epoxy to hold it all together. Remove the temp braces. I would glass the outside. Some strips of wood for the rails, make up some seat benches.


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## Scott Tschirhart (Mar 23, 2016)

Thank you. I've been researching boat building and I hope to start a build late summer. My plan is to do a simple skiff just to get experience. An Ausable boat and a drift boat are hopefully in the near future.


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## STONE FLY (Feb 26, 2001)

I would suggest, if you have your heart set on a Ausable or a drift boat, I would not waste the time and money on anything else. Time is one thing, but the materials are not cheap. You`ll spend almost as much on a small skiff as you will a Ausable boat, and close to the same amount of work. You could build a stitch and glue drift boat for alot less than a framed drift boat, and alot less time too.


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## Scott Tschirhart (Mar 23, 2016)

How durable are the stitch and glue boats. I'm having a hard time rationalizing a glue together boat and its durability. Can you give some insight on that?


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## Scott Tschirhart (Mar 23, 2016)

Do you have preferd plan makers? I've investigated spies and glen-L.


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## STONE FLY (Feb 26, 2001)

Scott Tschirhart said:


> How durable are the stitch and glue boats. I'm having a hard time rationalizing a glue together boat and its durability. Can you give some insight on that?


They are very durable. That ausable boat is like 10 yrs old and he guides out of it, alot...The guy down the street from me has built 20 drift boats, thats his hobby, he has built show boats, framed boats, but he only builds stitch and glue any more. They are plenty tough, and he uses his alot, and its old too. I almost went that way myself, but I had my heart set on the framed boat. He doesnt even glass his boats, just uses epoxy on everything and paints them, he doesnt do any fancy joints in the plywood, just butts the ends and glues a pc on the inside to back up the joint. The epoxy is stronger than the wood and will outlast the wood too. He doesnt even put any rocker in his drift boats and they fish just fine here in Mich.

I have no info on plans. I cant ask this guy either as he doesnt come back from Fl. for another month or so.


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## Scott Tschirhart (Mar 23, 2016)

STONE FLY said:


> They are very durable. That ausable boat is like 10 yrs old and he guides out of it, alot...The guy down the street from me has built 20 drift boats, thats his hobby, he has built show boats, framed boats, but he only builds stitch and glue any more. They are plenty tough, and he uses his alot, and its old too. I almost went that way myself, but I had my heart set on the framed boat. He doesnt even glass his boats, just uses epoxy on everything and paints them, he doesnt do any fancy joints in the plywood, just butts the ends and glues a pc on the inside to back up the joint. The epoxy is stronger than the wood and will outlast the wood too. He doesnt even put any rocker in his drift boats and they fish just fine here in Mich.
> 
> I have no info on plans. I cant ask this guy either as he doesnt come back from Fl. for another month or so.
> View attachment 209133


Once again, thank you.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Scott Tschirhart said:


> I've been wanting to build a traditional Ausable River boat but have been unable to find plans for the layout. I've searched the web and only found articles from years back ( fun read). Can anyone help me with this?


I built this one and it is not to hard. I just traced the lines from a friends boat, This one is cedar stripped , but you could easily build a plywood boat. The mid section is flat and the ends rise up from 4-6 inches. some boats are 24 feet long and some are 20. mine is twenty with a 12 foot mid section and 4 foot ends that rise 5 inches. 30 inch wide botoom with the 12 inch high walls beveled out at 7 degrees. the transom is 10 inches wide at the bottom. Get a roll of constuction paper from home depot and draw it up. Use a batten for arcing smooth lines.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

brushbuster said:


> I built this one and it is not to hard. I just traced the lines from a friends boat, This one is cedar stripped , but you could easily build a plywood boat. The mid section is flat and the ends rise up from 4-6 inches. some boats are 24 feet long and some are 20. mine is twenty with a 12 foot mid section and 4 foot ends that rise 5 inches. 30 inch wide botoom with the 12 inch high walls beveled out at 7 degrees. the transom is 10 inches wide at the bottom. Get a roll of constuction paper from home depot and draw it up. Use a batten for arcing smooth lines.


Woops forgot to add the picture
its for sale by the way probably cheaper than building one and the trailer. 3500 bucks


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