Bitterroot Pram

An Original Design By Dave Archer

Cooler nights, mid-day hatches of baetis and the stirring of nimrods in the field signal the return of Montana's seasonal conundrum - hunt ducks or fish for big browns.  For working class stiffs, Friday evening means decision time for Saturday morning's trek to the river or marsh.  Bordering on schizophrenia, some hunting and fishing partners take on the weekly dilemma of Marty and his friend in Patty Chayefsky's play of two aging bachelors.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, Marty, what do you want to do?

"I don't care.  What do you want to do?"

Some aficionados of both sports opt for a "blast and cast" day on the river.  Ditching their high-sided drift boats or brightly colored rafts, they hunker down in the underbrush for some morning pass shooting, followed by mid-day volleys of streamers up against the banks or into the deep pools of autumn.  Missing from this scenario is a boat for all seasons, a blast-and-cast boat.

When my youngest son graduated and moved out of state, I lost my duck hunting partner.  The 14-foot, fiberglass duck boat that I had built for my two sons, myself and our retriever was just too big and cumbersome for one hunter.  The flat-bottom, pumpkin seed hull was limited to still water hunting.  What I needed was a versatile, two-man river pram that would serve both as a fly-fishing riverboat and a duck hunting boat.  My goal in designing this boat was simply not to sacrifice the qualities of either design.  After a series of quick turns on the Bitterroot River on my maiden launch, I knew at once that this boat was the finest boat that I had designed during a 30-year span as an amateur boat builder.  Named the Bitterroot Pram, in honor of my home waters, the pram provides comfort and versatility for two sportsmen on the river or in the marsh.

The Bitterroot Pram has a centerline length of 12'-8" with an 8-inch bottom rocker and a side-height of 11 inches, although the true height is 20-inches to the cockpit rim.  The bottom floor width is 48-inches and the side-width at the sheer is 60-inches.  Keep in mind, however, that the cockpit gunwale is the real freeboard measurement at 20 inches.  With two large men and gear, the craft drafts only five inches.  Fully loaded with three men and two boys, whose combined weighed exceeded 740 pounds, the waterline was nine inches at the oarlocks, two inches below the sheer line and nine inches from the lip of the cockpit.  This weight capacity test was conducted when I gave a ride to a party of floaters who had just sunk their drift boat on the Bitterroot River during the spring of 2000.  Although it was a little sluggish and cramped, I was pleased with the boat's performance as I ferried the wet, somber party downstream to the takeout at the Florence Bridge.

I would be pleased if some day I should see a copy of my prototype drifting down some Montana river.  I offer the following instructions and photographs for those of you who can extrapolate information from this shortened how-to description; the only fee I will charge for my design is a photograph and a short note when the boat is completed.  If you live in Montana and would like an expert to build the Bitterroot Pram, contact Stuart Williams.  Stuart is one of the premiere drift boat builders in the Rocky Mountains.

Steps for Building the Bitterroot Pram