When Dan, a Small Boats reader, left Seattle three years ago to relocate in the Midwest, he had to leave behind the pirogue he’d built, so he gave it to his friend Phil. The boat needed some work, but Phil wasn’t equipped with the tools and the boatbuilding skills needed to put it in good shape and for the past year the pirogue sat unused in a fenced-in storage lot near a launch ramp on the west shore of Lake Washington.When Phil’s interest turned to larger boats, he decided to let the pirogue go. He turned to Dan for advice, and Dan emailed me asking for help finding someone who might be interested in having it. The 16′ Bolger-designed pirogue hasn’t yet been reviewed in Small Boats, so I suggested I could take it off Phil’s hands, write it up, and then find a new home for it.I met with Phil at the lot, and after we took the cover off the pirogue, I gave it a quick look. It was much older than I’d expected. I didn’t know at the time that Dan built the boat in 1995. Although it was showing its age, I knew I could, as I had intended, launch it for sea trials and photos, write the review, and then pass it along to someone else. Phil and I lifted the pirogue on to my roof rack and I brought it home.
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The paddle board I built in 2020 got water in it due to a worn spot at the stem and sitting out in the rain for three years, which made the plywood punky in a small area. As I was cutting out the damaged ply, replacing it and sealing it up again with fiberglass and epoxy, I thought, “wow, I really miss doing this stuff!”
A few days later, my wife asked me what I was going to do that day and I said, I didn’t have anything to do. She asked what did I want to do and I said, “build a boat.” She gave me a sideways glance and a smirk. Hmmmm, maybe this fall…..
There is a particularly nice feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment in bringing a boat, or any other object, back to usable life. This is a different sort of warmth that is similar to, but uniquely its own, the creation of an entirely new object. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that one is resurrecting the original builder’s dream/accomplishment. The restoration acting as the means for helping another person live just a bit longer.
Lovely Boat, I understand the feeling. I have never been able to “leave well enough alone” when it comes to boats, new or old. Something like the Pirogue, in my hands, would be going through the same treatment as yours.
As I have not yet come close to mastering my duckpunt, even after two years of trying, I may look to the pirogue for inspiration for a rudder and off-set dagger board.
That looks like a fun boat, roomy, and simple to maintain and repair. We are glad you had room for it.
And somehow another Tilley appeared. Maybe we need folks to send in pictures of their Tilley for a special issue.
Does the boat have a name?
No name came with the boat and I haven’t come up with one yet.
Since your review, I’ve seen four or five of the Tilley Airflows.