I built a 3 man fishing boat from scratch using only basic tools and then I took it fishing. Ok maybe its not a 3 man boat (1 huge man and 3 kids boat). This type of boat is called a coracle boat.
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00:00Luke here at the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel and today we're building a
00:04fishing boat but not just any fishing boat. We're building a fishing boat for
00:09less than $120 using only tools and materials you can find anywhere. I'm
00:15going to build a coracle boat. Now what's a coracle boat you ask? It's a
00:19traditional boat found all over the world that's made using woven wood and
00:24waterproof skins. The first time I ever saw a coracle boat I was on a safari in
00:29southwest India and when I was going down the Kibini River we were in a
00:33giant woven basket coracle boat. I said this is so cool I have got to build one
00:40of these. Well now 14 years later here I am. I'm gonna build a coracle boat but
00:45I'm gonna do it the American way. You're gonna build another boat? Wait, wait, wait.
00:51You're gonna build another boat? You already have eight boats. Eight boats? That
00:56doesn't seem right. Seven hours later.
01:02Okay, a boat. Becca, boats are like shoes. You can never have too many.
01:12Don't mind if I do.
01:25Remember guys, rookies buy chocolates and flowers. If you want to get something
01:30done right, you buy shoes.
02:11Well getting to this point in the project was a lot of work. I had to redo
02:20the back of the boat three times and I learned something really important. The
02:24back lower corners of the boat have to be rounded. Without rounded corners you
02:30can't get the ribs to fit inside the boat.
02:35Additionally I learned that you have to take some sort of piece of wood and zip
02:45tie it across the middle top of the boat to help it keep its shape while you're
02:49building the boat. Otherwise each time you add a rib the boat gets more and
02:54more out of shape and eventually try to just lay flat like a plate.
03:04I did a lot of experimentation to try to figure out the best way to connect PVC
03:30pipe. What turned out to be the best was taking the heat gun and flattening the
03:34end of the PVC pipe then drilling a hole and then using a zip tie.
03:40Hands-down the most time-consuming part of this entire project was using the
04:02heat gun. It was about 15 minutes to heat up the PVC pipe, mold it to the proper
04:07shape and then cool it down. This had to be done multiple times on a single
04:11piece of pipe. Each one of the ribs was custom shaped and unique.
04:37There was over 900 zip ties used in this boat so I spent a lot of time
04:53zipping and clipping cable ties.
05:53I
06:21want all the zip ties to stay in place and not slide around so I've got a
06:25little bit of this PVC spray adhesive. You can use just about anything
06:37waterproof to cover your boat. I ended up using this tarp but I've seen people
06:41use canvas soaked in tar, plastic bags and I even considered using the heat
06:46shrink they winterize boats with.
07:16Wow! That looks legit!
08:16Well she floats like a cork but that's because I ain't in it. I'm not sure
08:38what's gonna happen when I put 250 pounds of me inside this thing. I'm
08:43really concerned it's just gonna fold up and sink down so this is gonna be
08:47exciting. No matter what happens Becca know that I love you.
08:58Watch out boys. What do you think Becca? Is it working? I think it's working. Hey
09:20guys do you want to come ride in the rowboat? Step in towards the middle you
09:29can't step onto the wood. If we all die don't remarry. Jacob did you want to come
09:39too? Well we have 350 pounds of boy in here
09:49and we seem to be doing okay. It's a little tippy but it's not bad.
09:56All right let's see if I can get out without flipping. Well guys I think that
10:22worked. Well we've tried the boat out and it works but now we need to break it
10:26in and to do that we need to catch some fish in it because that's what boats
10:30were meant for. So we're gonna go out and try to catch a big old carp or catfish
10:34out of this thing and my wife thought of a nice name for it. She was trying to
10:39refer to it as the thingy-do and accidentally called it the dingy-do and
10:43I think that is that is perfect. Becca's gonna be driving the pontoon boat so
10:47that she can film me here so hopefully we'll give her something to film other
10:51than me drowning.
11:05All right well the Sun is setting really quickly and I've got a long ways
11:10to go so I am contemplating having the boat tow me. This will be really sketchy.
11:21We're going a little faster.
11:25That poor woman is having to film, drive and fight children.
11:37Well you know now I'm just sitting in this boat I'm I'm noticing it's you know
11:41it's doing pretty good. Don't have a lot of water in the boat and this tarp does
11:46well. That pipe right there seems a little a little skawampus.
11:56Okay I'm gonna put this in my rod holder over here.
12:08I think we got a chance of pulling in some big big fish today we'll see what
12:12happens. We're gonna be fishing for carp and catfish today so I've got a package
12:16bait that works excellent for both. It's strawberry jello, panko breadcrumbs and
12:22sweet corn mixed up into a kind of a doughy bait and I've got it packed under
12:26what's called a method lead and I've got a little hair rig with a fake piece of
12:30plastic corn.
12:36You know I cut these rod holders into the boat but they're really unnecessary.
12:41I can just stick my rod anywhere I want. Oh look at that, look at that, look at that.
12:49That is a little baby channel catfish. That's a little dinker. Yeah that that barely
12:56hit the water and they came in. All right Becca's anchored up right over there so
13:00she can help film me and tell search-and-rescue where I went down.
13:04Don't remarry. Well guys the Sun is just set and it's getting properly dark.
13:11Now's the magic time. All right Becca, hit the lights.
13:18Oh he popped off. Oh man that felt like a carp. Well it wasn't exactly what we were
13:25looking for but we weren't skunked and the dingy-doo caught a dinky little fish
13:30which I guess is kind of appropriate but it is now officially a fishing boat.
13:36Well that was fun but I want to improve things a little bit. First off I think we
13:39need to put an engine on the back of this boat. So I'm gonna modify it, slap an
13:43engine on the back and try this again.
14:09So we're back here at the park and we are gonna try our new and improved motor
14:39motorized coracle boat. I got rid of the rod holder and man it just makes it a
14:46whole lot easier to take it on and off the roof rack now. This wooden bar right
14:52here is missing. That was really important when I first made the boat
14:56because the PVC pipe ribs wanted to go and spread out like this and so that bar
15:02was helping the boat keep its shape. But after it sat in my front yard for a
15:06couple days in like 90 plus degree heat and full Sun the PVC pipe heated up and
15:11then relaxed and so now it keeps its shape without the spreader bar which is
15:15great because now it's just so much more room and it makes it a lot easier to get
15:20on and off the top of the car.
15:23Let's give it a try.
15:47What I really need to do is fabricate some sort of tiller arm extension so I
15:52can operate it out here to the side instead of straight over my shoulder.
15:55We're not breaking any land speed records but we are moving and this boat
16:00gets a lot more stable when it's actually moving at a couple miles per
16:04hour. It's kind of like riding a bicycle. Well one nice thing about this setup is
16:08I am so much stealthier than that pontoon boat. I'm gonna sneak right up on
16:12these fish.
16:21Well that didn't take long. Got a nice little hit going on right here. That is
16:31the tiniest little channel catfish. Let him go. There we go not a big channel
16:47catfish but at least this one you could technically eat if I wanted to. There we
16:50go. Be careful not to drop this thing and have him poke a hole in the boat.
16:57Well it's gotten kind of quiet so I think I might pull up the anchor and
17:00just let the current drift me down to the other side of the tree and see if
17:04that's any better.
17:21Slightly bigger channel catfish. A little eater size. Look at the spider I found. He's huge.
17:29Come on guy. Holy mackerel. He is massive. You can do it. I believe in you.
17:37Whoo-hoo. Well it's getting late and I've got to get going home but man this
17:42project's been fun. This boat's quirky it's got some limitations but gosh darn
17:45it it works and I've caught fish out of it so you know that's pretty cool and I
17:51hope you guys enjoyed this video as much as I enjoyed making it. Don't forget to
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18:14Pup goes Sweezle.