Gearing up for Teal Season 2020

Getting aggravated at site-been attempting to attach pics(useless right now)and instead of wasting time attempting,in vain,to attach pics will give narrative,instead!!Getting close to Teal Season and knowing what I know about how crazy busy my Consultant Schedule typically gets just prior to Teal Season,I decided to get a jump on some of the work needed on one of my fleet of three Chapman pirogues.Got one from 1981,probably one of their very first and she has gone through two sets on gunwales,now on third set and newer one,2002 era,needed upgrade as her original cypress gunwales getting weaker by the day and not worth risking damaging perfectly fine Chapman by NOT replacing gunwales and got neat set of thick vinyl gunwales from Steve Geraci,owner and resident of Slidell-makes it easy for those of us not wanting to make the haul to Chalmette.Newest Chapman is about year old got her at last season's Delta Waterfowl Banquet,NShore Chapter and she has the nice and thick vinyl gunwales,bullet-proof,in my estimation.Got newer Chapman ready for installation of vinyl gunwales and also got her sanded and painted interior and exterior with duck boat green,Crescent Color,Mandeville store has great oil-based paint that is extremely durable!Can't wait to scout for teal an turns out decent amount of teal seem to hang around not that far from some sight-casting redfish spots!!Wish I could attach pics but does NOT seem to be allowing me,even went to Google Chrome as my browser,to NO avail!!

Mandevillian

I need to do the same. Replaced the rails on three Chapman's in the past. Kind of tricky by myself mixing resin and bending rails into shape. I need to look into the plastic rails this time. I need to repair a flat back and a king. I hate to even ask how much for the rails. I made them out of cypress in the past Doug

$110 for rails and caps and rivets. Should be relatively easy to install. I replaced set twice Two sets of hands would be ideal and will likely get older son to lend a hand. Steve Geraci is gem of a guy and told me I can call anytime for assistance. Let ya know when I install em.

Mandevillian

duckdough,I am about wrapped up with the camo stencil job and next step gonna be to install fine and thick vinyl gunwales and got plenty of nice black rivets to handle the job.If I can ever figure out what the issue is regarding my inability to attach pics will attach some before and after pics,I love working on pirogues,wood-working,etc and have become quite self-sufficient and once I find decent amount of free time,gonna start custom pouring swimbaits,been communicating with a gent who saw my posts here and he has been quite a gem,giving me PLENTY advice and he was supplying TWO bass pros with incredibly effective and CUSTOM baits and ask any bass pro worth his salt about CUSTOM vs off-the-shelf lures and ya aint gonna be surprised at what dem pros tell ya!!!

Mandevillian,NEVER satisfied with AVERAGE!!

Terrebonne Marine sells Chapman here in Houma. I might check to see if they can get the rails. Hard to believe over $100 for plastic. Oh well it's just money, time and effort.

duckdough,I tried to respond this am,before CCAguns and I headed to Bayou Lacombe,but reply did not got through via I-Phone.I am having a world of issues with this site as well as attaching pics,not sure what the issue is but will see what I can do.Too bad I am unable to attach pic of 2002 era Chapman with camo stencil job,new paint job interior and exterior(nice oil-based extremely durable paint from Crescent Color in Mandeville)and dry-fitted thick vinyl gunwales and front and rear caps.All I have left to do is drill pilot holes and install black rivets and I would bite de bullet and plunk down some coin for what is no doubt the LAST set of gunwales ya gonna have to install.I did the drill on 1981 era Chapman,twice replacing the gunwales and Steve Geraci did see the second set I installed as I brought antique Chapman to his house so they could redo floor(buddy of mine borrowed her when she was brand-new and cracked the floor and we did our best to patch her but best solution,ever,was to let the pros at Chapman redo floor)and my second set of gunwales lasted long time but eventually rotted out(pressure treated)and set on her currently about 2-3 seasons ole and in awesome shape.Certainly,the wooden thicker gunwales make pirogue not only tad heavier BUT much more stable,no a doubt in my mind.The down-side is they WILL eventually rot and $110 not bad for permanent solution,my 0.02!!Your choice but if and when I can attach pic ya might be swayed towards permanent set!!

Mandevillian

Think issue resolved,here are few pics of fine 2002 era Chapman,dry-fitted with fine,thick vinyl gunwales and vinyl caps,need to get ya a set pronto!!

Mandevillian

Looks brand new. I think that I will try one set and see how it goes. Do you thing the vinyl is heavier? I will do the flat back first because its needs it the most. I would think that the vinyl would be easier to install. I used Resin with angle hair to repair the cypress rails. Not easy bending and holding in place before resin starts setting up. MESSY

duckdough,Check out the most current pic of 2002 era Chapman with her warpaint and new light-weight vinyl gunwales and caps fully riveted down(doggone cheap rivet gun died on me with 4 rivets left to install-Harbor Freight in Covington was open,thankfully).The vinyl is super-easy to install,provided ya grind down excess resin that ya might have on gunwales.Wifey gave me a hand yesterday and I dry-fitted em yesterday after camo stenciling last few panels of 3-stencil,5 color camo stencil kit.I would take off gunwales on my 1981 era Chapman and install these but I did such a job using 5200 marine adhesive that it would be a chore removing gunwales and caps I epoxied on.Gonna leave ole gal for those hunts where we need three Chapmans and having two light-weight Chapmans,ready and willing to serve,gonna be super-nice.The way I cut groove in pressure-treated gunwales for antique made it fairly easy to curve them and honestly,the antique is the MOST sturdy of the three,no doubt due to the structural integrity of wood vs vinyl but wood is much heavier and subject to deterioration,over time.I cut extra-wide groove in pressure-treated gunwales and laid in thick layer of marine 5200 adhesive,incredible stuff and Steve Geraci was very impressed with the second set of gunwales I fashioned.Check out the newer gal,ready well before Teal Season!!

Mandevillian

Mandevillian those rails and camo looks great. Every year I reseal the cypress to baby the rails a little longer. I love the cypress look but digging out a large splinter from my hand every once and a while makes me think about the new vinyl rails. I guess that I will bite the bullet and try a set. I have hunted out of many different pirogues and prefer my Chapmans mostly because of weight but I did have a couple of wooden ones that I preferred. I think they paddled a little better. Might be because I was built a little more aerodynamic in those days. Doug

duckdough,Thanks for the compliments,I pride myself in my workmanship and next project on my agenda is total rebuild of power trim system on SouthFork.Seems powertrim waited til last week to finally bite de dust and when Wifey and I put her under her boat cover and I went to trim up motor,noticed she was not going up like she should and I saw tell-tale puddle of hydraulic fluid.Fast-forward to today and it has been quite a chore,probably impossible,to extract top stainless pin at top of hydraulic cylinder!!Brother-in-law came over just yesterday with awesome tool,slide hammer,and the pin is threaded on starboard side to put in bolt and use slide hammer.We busted out tails and were not able to budge pin and I could tell whoever tackled rebuild last time really bunged up the port end of pin.From viewing numerous You-Tube videos,looks like I will be able to totally rebuild trim hydraulics without having the remove top pin,looks like cylinder bolted to the stainless rod and I should be able to remove and replace ALL O-rings from the underside and I did purchase new hydraulic motor,why not change everything at same time as it makes NO sense to leave rusty ole motor next to rebuilt hydraulic cylinder.Think first rebuild ran close to $550 and with all the parts and my free labor,might run way less than half that doing it myself and should be not that big a deal replacing O-rings and making sure to keep fluid clean!!Let ya know when job complete-o-ring kit set to be delivered tomorrow,motor assembly next week and I bought marine spanner wrench to remove cover of cylinder!!

Mandevillian

Update-doggone power trim on ole SouthFork decided to go S about 3 weeks or so ago and it has been a chore to get the unit rebuilt,mostly due to the unfortunate situation caused by the boat mechanic that rebuilt unit about 6-8 years ago,they apparently did NOT have correct spanner wrench to loosen and tighten cap on hydraulic cylinder and I had a very difficult chore getting cap off,basically destroyed cap using pin punch(not the correct tool but they had wallowed out the four holes so badly I had NO choice)and older son used his Gorilla grip with big azz channel lock pliers.Good news is that not only did Wifey and I and older son get the unit rebuilt,we got fine thick brass cap,compliments of 5 Star Marine and it dresses up unit tremendously.Next step is complete re-paint of entire motor,cover,transom bracket,lower unit,etc and about 80% finished with painstaking process of wet-sanding and getting surfaces thoroughly prepped.Gonna use quality Moeller zinc phosphate primer and their OMC paint and ole gal gonna look nice with brand new set of decals and gonna shoot quality clear coat on motor as well!!!

Mandevillian