I’d go fishing with these guys any day.
This post goes out to Derek Diedrekson of RelaxShacks.com aka Kid Cedar. He’s been deep into shanty boats lately and who could blame him. These things are just cool! They they take me back to Tom Sawyer days… or at least what I imagine what they’d be like. This boat is really cool, I especially like the ratcheting gang plank to beach it anywhere. Old Tom didn’t have big aluminum jon boat with a 4-stroke motor pushing his though. As they elude to in the video you need thrust when navigating most rivers. A rudder won’t due at least on the rivers I’ve been on. Every bend in the river has a different sand bar and if you get close, you may be getting stuck for a while. I grew up near the Skagit River and running aground in a boat isn’t great but it’s possible to get off with a few guys hoping out and pushing. This shack could get really stuck so I would think avoiding sand bars and strainer logs would be the name of the game. On the upside, getting stuck in this shanty could be quite comfortable as long as you could cast your fishing pole into some deeper water 
Where ever you are, there you be.
One thing I’d change about these shanty boat designs I’ve been seeing is I’d make a bigger deck so people could get some sun and some fresh air! I’m pretty deep into boats, I don’t talk about them that much in the blog… But I’ve owned 4 of various sizes not counting the canoe you’ve seen me in. I currently have a 18′ fiberglass fishing boat with a 90hp outboard and a 12′ aluminum which I row or use a 15 hp Suzuki outboard on it. If I’m not on my boat in the Puget Sound I’m on friend’s river boats in the Skagit River or Al’s wakeboard boat in Lake Washington, or on my father-in-laws 27′ Nimble sailboat. Where am I going with all this?? Well we have a short boating season up here in Washington State so when people are out on any of these boat types, they want to enjoy the sun and fresh air that only a boat can offer. The sailboat is mostly cabin with a small cockpit that holds 4 people comfortably. Yet 6 people cram themselves into the cockpit because they all want to be in the sun enjoying the views vs in the cabin. Also look at boats with fly bridges, most people will be up there checking out the views and getting some sun. Wow this is a long paragraph but in closing if I designed a shanty boat or a mini-house boat I’d make a much larger deck for people to hang out on or even better a roof deck for diving off.
I’m thinking for propulsion the boat is the back is a good idea but it forces someone to be in the boat all alone. I’m thinking 2 small 10 hp motors on the back of the boat one on each end. These are the most common type of small outboard and they have forward and reverse. I’ve seen people link 2 together so they and both steer the same direction. The main reason for 2 of these is maneuverability. One could be put in reverse and the other in forward and spin the boat almost in it’s own length. Also these type of barge boats are very heavy so you need a alot of thrust. So two props give you twice the thrust, think traction on the water.
