Results 1 to 19 of 19

Thread: Tule boat

  1. #1
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Bay Area/Sacramento Delta CA
    Posts
    1,155

    Default Tule boat

    I was bored last summer and curious what it would be like to make and use a tule boat used by native americans in the San Fransisco bay area. I made it on a local island in about an hour and paddled it about a mile back to my house. Definately needed to be bigger with more tules but I didn't invest much time in it lol....100_1965.jpg100_1968.jpg100_1972.jpg100_1976.jpg100_1979.jpg


  2. #2
    Senior Member Sparky93's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Southern Indiana
    Posts
    1,434

    Default

    Cool, thanks for sharing. That is pretty nifty!
    "Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."
    Thomas Paine

    Minimalist Camping: Enjoy nature, don't be tortured by it. Take as little as you need to be safe and comfortable.

  3. #3

    Default

    perrty cool thanks

  4. #4
    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    SW Ohio
    Posts
    4,004

    Default

    That is impressive!

  5. #5
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    That is cool,....and looks effective.
    As a young man rafts were kind our speed, as we didn't have enough bucks for boats, but never gave this this type a thought.
    Thanks for posting.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  6. #6
    Super Moderater RangerXanatos's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Northeast, Georgia
    Posts
    1,970

    Default

    Nice. I would like to try that on our lake.
    What's so crazy about standing toe-to-toe saying I am?
    ~Rocky Balboa

  7. #7
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Bay Area/Sacramento Delta CA
    Posts
    1,155

    Default

    Just tie three individual bundles, then tie the three together in a "V", and push the tules out to make a hull. I sat higher flipping the "v" over and sitting on it upside down.

  8. #8
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    So what you are saying lt's like a raft.....how come nobody talks about rafts?

    I built a raft with the idea that I could float down the stream, to a river to a big river, to the Gulf of Mexico.....Great idea, not so much in actual excution. LOL
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  9. #9
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Bay Area/Sacramento Delta CA
    Posts
    1,155

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by hunter63 View Post
    So what you are saying lt's like a raft.....how come nobody talks about rafts?
    I have no idea. I tried a few as a kid but always failed. They looked great until trying to get on them and sinking lol..

    How do you make rafts? This one would definitely not been good for a long voyage. By the time I got home it was so water logged it weighed a ton and I was sitting in the water, but I did use maybe 1/5th of the ammount of tules I should have. According to the article I read the originals were used for a couple days and tossed out.

  10. #10
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    Trick is to use wood that is relativity dry to start with........Pine seems to float better than say oak or hard woods.
    Some wood just about only floats it's own weight.

    Raft in question was built using a ceder light poles, cut in about 5 ft pieces as I recall.
    they were about 8" in dia, 5 of them, held together by simple nailing a couple of 2X4" across the logs.

    It was so buoyant was kinda like a cork and acted as such.
    Of the rafts that set out on the cruise that day it truly was the only one that would hold the weight of a 10 years old, all others simple sunk or flipped over.

    Of course there was really no good way to control it, so it was kinda a hold on and ride deal......for about 100 yds, till I/we came to a large log across the creek.

    The current was pretty fast as it was Easter break, snow run off made the current fast....so the raft got sucked under the log, with me sort of crawling/jumping up on the log........end of trip....Cold, wet, and of course disappointed.

    fast forward about 30 years....location of the sinking of my raft was behind a friends parents house, they owned the land, which he had inherited.
    Stopping by to visit, he greated me in the drive way by running up to the truck and dragging me out behind his shed.

    He had been cleaning out the creek, removed that big log,,,,and there before my eyes was my raft...still intact, but very water logged....after all these years.

    And did that look small!

    As he was part of the orginal crew that cast off that day, he knew exactly what it was.......LOL

    Had to have couple of brewskies on that one
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  11. #11
    Senior Member SARKY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Oakland, CA
    Posts
    2,636

    Default

    The last raft I made was shaped like a Klingon D-7 war crusier. We used in the "Kenebec Whatever River Raft Race" (Maine)
    I know what hunts you.

  12. #12
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by SARKY View Post
    The last raft I made was shaped like a Klingon D-7 war crusier. We used in the "Kenebec Whatever River Raft Race" (Maine)

    LOL, somehow that just seems right! if it floats, it's good.
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  13. #13
    Senior Member tipacanoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    513

    Default

    I'm not sure what killed it, but the "what ever race" in no more. I think there got to be too many rules, and people that couldn't follow them. I was something to watch for several years.

  14. #14
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    I would really like to try a reed boat/, but i don't think we have enough of anything small enough, long enough, and enough of it here in Wisconsin to give it a try.
    Still a cool idea.......
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  15. #15
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    58,832

    Default

    I had no idea what a "tule" was. I had to look it up. We call them Bulrushes. Now I know. Of all the crap we threw in the Middle Fork and tried to make float as a kid Bulrushes was not one of them. Looks like a pretty good job to me. By the way, you lost a shoe and someone wrote on your arm with a marker while you were asleep on the boat.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  16. #16
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    SE/SW Wisconsin
    Posts
    26,866

    Default

    So, what was the reaction of the kayakers when you pulled up?
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
    Evoking the 50 year old rule...
    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
    Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27

  17. #17
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Bay Area/Sacramento Delta CA
    Posts
    1,155

    Default

    That's my girlfriend and little brother. We took kayaks to the island, I build it there, and we paddled back.

    Rick- I have one foot bigger than the other and one bootie was hurting my foot.

  18. #18

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RandyRhoads View Post
    I was bored last summer and curious what it would be like to make and use a tule boat used by native americans in the San Fransisco bay area. I made it on a local island in about an hour and paddled it about a mile back to my house. Definately needed to be bigger with more tules but I didn't invest much time in it lol..
    Very impressive. When I saw this thread title I assumed it was just about theory but here you are actually doing it!
    I am familiar with the plants that grow along the Sacrameto delta. Looks like you have some sort of rush there, either tule or bulrush. Next summer you might look into using the dry rushes rather than the green ones; they would probably float better.

  19. #19
    Senior Member RandyRhoads's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Bay Area/Sacramento Delta CA
    Posts
    1,155

    Default

    As far as I know from reading once they turned brown they were regarded as "no good" and discarded. Tule boats where only a very temporary means of water transportation, made from fresh tules

    I did leave it on the levee after bringing it back where it dried out. After tightening up all the now loose cords I put it in put it fell apart pretty quickly. Very crumbly. But at the same time the fresh green ones were already water logged by the time I got home. Next summer i'll have to do some experimenting to see what the best way is. Maybe cutting and letter dry a little for a day?

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •