Freestone Skiff

Is the Freestone Skiff the same as Buffalo. It appears lower sided and appears to have less Rocker. What is the history and whom is the designer?

Freestone skiff is similar, but not the same as the Buffalo boat. Plans for the Freestone skiff are available from Cajune Boats. You may also want to take a look at Down Home Boats, they have several models suitable for class I and class II rivers.

Also, look for Drift Boats and River Dories by Roger Fletcher. He has plans for several boats including the Rapid Robert that might work. His book is a wealth of information on western dories and construction of framed boats.

Yes I've seen Roger Fletcher and he seems to be an interesting writer with a great deal of experience. Ironically Zelinskis boats are what steered me towards the Buffalo. Buffalo is a bit shorter, and in proportion wider, than the Ludwig and Buffalo appears lower sided than the Ludwig.
Hey Thanks for the info.

The Buffalo Boat can be as low-sided as you choose.

I have an old one that migrated back in my possession after a zillion years, with several different owners in between. I plan to cut it down to about 12 or 14" inches high and deck it, so I have a two person boat I can step onto and off of without grunting, that will won't care a bit about big mid-river waves. Because they'll wash right over like flies on a Buffalo's back.

Sandy,
I'm a new poster here but have been lurking in the shadows for some time. Came across your decked buffalo idea through searching the forum. When you cut the buffalo sides down, is there anything else that needs adjusting on the buffalo plans other than transom height? love the idea of decked, but how would a decked buffalo compare to the traditional version for fly fishing?

A decked Buffalo Boat exists in my mind only. I have the boat upside down on my shop deck. I have to finish my other 18' footer first.

I've been. I have not been in good health, last few months. Not much has happened except at my keyboard. I'm on the mend. So. That my excuse for not getting anything done.

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I think of a decked Buffalo Boat as a bigger Dayak. I've done Desolation Canyon twice now, at high water May, with that little boat. A decked Buffalo Boat would be awesome. Actually I've done Deso a half a dozen times all together but only twice in the Dayak.


Fishing? You'd have two swivel chairs. The guy up front would also have a fence made out of aluminum tubing put together with raft frame hardware or maybe soldered with the new Map Gas aluminum solders they're selling......so he or she could stand and cast without falling off the boat. There would still be 14" inches or so of vertical space below the deck for storing stuff. With hatches. Also like the Dayak.

That's my idea........just make this guy a bit bigger and longer:



That's me at Joe Hutch in May a few years back. I went through and then got out to watch a big raft go through. They got sideways and went sideways vertical for a bit, and tipped a woman out who had to swim pretty far before they fished her out. So I congratulated myself on being so cool. And then proceeded to flip the Dayak at Wire Fence a mile later. Wire Fence isn't that hard. You need to go way river left to miss the big wave train. At river left, just past the 8' waves there is a little soft spot you can canoe through. That's If you want to miss the big waves. I got scared and tried to sneak right and that was a soggy mistake. Dave and Whit Inskeep fished me out. Everything was flip rigged and I didn't lose anything. Except my cool. Even kept my hat and glasses on.

'Preciate the insight and detailed response. What you are describing with the lean bar reminds me of some of the outcast/pac style fishing setups but with the storage advantages of a decked vessel. Trying to decide if I want to chase that or stick with more traditional buffalo. Hope you get to feeling better- wealth of knowledge.
Thanks again,
-Greg

Roger and Dave Z. have met each other and worked together on boat design years ago. Dave Z infrequently posts on the Woodenboatpeople.com web site but he has posted many useful pieces of information there. Search for Dave's page and go from there!

Rick N