JEM Watercraft

G'day Surfman,

Your boat is looking great mate. I really like the clean, uncluttered lines.
Simple, functional and elegant - beautiful. Well done mate!

Thanks Mick, I know I am going to get years of fun fishing out of it.

Surfman, about 8-9 years ago, I was paddling one of my plywood kayaks on Rice Lake, ENE'ly of Toronto, just S'ly of Peterborough. A boat was approaching me from the left; he was going slow and obviously trolling. I changed direction so as to not run over his line. He changed direction and we circled each other. As we spiraled in I said, "I'll bet we have the only two wooden boats on the lake." His was a cedar stripper run-about with high sides.

He was in his upper 70's or early 80's. He cut his engine, and told me that a boat livery on the south shore used to make all the boats for all the resorts around the lake. But, when fiberglass and aluminum came in, resorts moved away from wooden boats. His was the last boat built there, and he intended to fish until either he or the boat failed. He grew up on the lake hunting, fishing, trapping, canoeing, etc. He loved that boat.

I met him once more under identical circumstances two years later. Neither had failed yet at that time.

Thanks Jack, I took it out on our lake and used the electric motor that I have. It is not a very good motor and only about 24 # thrust but, it would push me around at about 2 MPH. I am going to see if I can find one with 48# or higher. Although the slow speed was pretty ideal for trolling.

I know it has been a while since I posted but I have made a few improvements to my Stalker 14. I had planned to do this and finished this work a while ago I am just now getting around to posting the pics.

I needed to add some rod holders,





For some reason this pic only shows one holder.



I used the grey PVC I thought it would look better than the white and it does. I thought about using something like bamboo but decided not to. I thought it would be too much trouble finding exactly what I needed.

I also added a drain hole. This was the hard part.



It turned out good though.

Matt, are the plans for this still available?

I really quite like the idea of this.

I can sell these to you. Purchase the Muskoka but in the notes sections, ask for the Stalker.

OK - decision made. The plans have been ordered from Matt.

Stalker project initiated
New thread will be started in due course.

Cool, on a side note I did make a few changes, I added the seat/battery compartment and I modified the front cap. I over did the cap and if I was doing it over I think I would just go with what was designed, I have thought about cutting it off but really don’t want to go there. Here is a more recent picture with motor and seats installed.