Since I enjoy making my own boats and paddling them I contacted Matt at JEM Watercraft about designing a different type of a boat for me. Which he did and it is a cross between a Kayak, Canoe and Pirogue. We named the boat Swamp Girl after an ole time song about the swamps that I like. The Swamp Girl is easy to make requiring an average knowledge about building wood boat's using the stitch and glue method. I have built six boats (a kayak, canoe and pirogues) previously using this method.
The Swamp Girl when done was tested out on a local lake and it paddled like a dream, very shallow draft and really responsive to the canoe paddle. For a lot more speed I tried a kayak paddle and we really scooted along. The thought going thru my mind was how will it be with a weeks worth of camping gear in it and that test was coming up real soon on the St.Mary's River between Florida and Georgia.
Arriving at the St.Marys River and getting on the water with a fully loaded Swamp Girl was a pleasure. She handled the load like it was not there, paddling down River I crossed sand bars that some of the other boats would get hung up on and had the same luck with trees which were blown down across the river. A couple of the guy's that were on this trip also tried paddling her and all they could say was "What a Boat" they liked the way she handles as much or more then I do. They were paddling some boats that were not as responsive to the paddle.
She is 15 1/2 feet with a 32 inch beam giving her 13.4 feet of waterline and the way I made her she is under 40 pounds (36 pounds). This also makes her a great boat to car top and then carry back into the smaller lakes that no one fishes, but only if you like catching fish.
