The Journey of Designing a Fuel Efficient Alternative...
Since my childhood, I had traveled, hunted and fished out of double ended and square stern canoes in Northern Maine. This was a very popular choice of boats for our many rivers, lakes and streams. None of my family used jet boats. In fact, I’d never seen one being used on our shallow rivers. I moved to Alaska in 2002 as a young soldier stationed on Ft. Richardson. My job in northern Maine working at a canoe paddle mill didn't pay enough. I remember talking to a guy at a gas station that was fueling up his river boat. He told me that I would need a jet boat if I decided to hunt or fish on rivers in Alaska. He was fueling up 55 gallon drums of fuel for the large boat. I found this to be absurd. I later understood why there was a preference for jet boats when I tried to take my first square stern canoe (a 17.5 ft. long x 43 in wide Old Town Discovery Sport) up the Little Susitna River and the 20 mile river: I broke the shear pins and damaged props on my first attempt. Rather than spending all my saved money or getting a bank loan on an expensive jet boat, I decided to stick with what I know.
After talking to a couple old canoeists in Alaska, they had described to me the “jack-ass lifts” that were used on 19 ft. Grumman square stern canoes. When I decided to make my own lift version, I was able to go many more places with my 6 hp, and 9.9 hp motors. They consumed very little fuel, due to the efficiency of the small motors combined with the canoe shaped hulls. In 2008, I had harvested my first moose, a small spike fork moose on a shallow river. I was able to pull off this 70 mile trip burning only seven gallon of gas. The going was slow with the moose, usually only 6 mph on flat water. Faster sections of river slowed down the canoe substantially. When I exited the small river, I entered a series of large lakes. The wind generated waves were a challenge. There were a few times when I was taking water over the canoe and getting tossed around by the large waves, that I wished I had a bigger boat. That was a great year of learning. I fly-fished, duck hunted, dip-netted hooligan, and harvested a moose on that first year in my first motor powered canoe in Alaska. I was hooked!
After talking to a couple old canoeists in Alaska, they had described to me the “jack-ass lifts” that were used on 19 ft. Grumman square stern canoes. When I decided to make my own lift version, I was able to go many more places with my 6 hp, and 9.9 hp motors. They consumed very little fuel, due to the efficiency of the small motors combined with the canoe shaped hulls. In 2008, I had harvested my first moose, a small spike fork moose on a shallow river. I was able to pull off this 70 mile trip burning only seven gallon of gas. The going was slow with the moose, usually only 6 mph on flat water. Faster sections of river slowed down the canoe substantially. When I exited the small river, I entered a series of large lakes. The wind generated waves were a challenge. There were a few times when I was taking water over the canoe and getting tossed around by the large waves, that I wished I had a bigger boat. That was a great year of learning. I fly-fished, duck hunted, dip-netted hooligan, and harvested a moose on that first year in my first motor powered canoe in Alaska. I was hooked!