# My Ozarkian



## rustybottoms88 (Oct 21, 2016)

I was gifted this boat from a friend of mine. He bought it new in 1979. He said it is a "Kenzie" built boat. I live in Northern Arkansas near the White River, particularly the Bull Shoals section of the River. These little boats were being built by everybody and their brother back then and these days only a few company's have survived one being the Shawnee Boats. I was not sure if it is considered a skiff but it doesn't seem to fit anywhere else. It is a fiberglass boat. It needs some wood replaced along the top edge of the sides of the boat but I do not see any obvious holes. It has been sitting in his yard for who knows how long, long enough for the the trailer wheels to completely rust out. This boat was laying upside down on the ground next to the trailer. Anyway I am not a fisherman or really know anything about boats but it was free and I was honored to receive it. My wife and I are expecting a baby soon so this boat will probably sit in the barn for awhile until I hit the lottery.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Has the shape of a John boat. Keep the baby out of it till it's a good swimmer. You could have fun on Bull Shoals if your careful


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## rustybottoms88 (Oct 21, 2016)

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permitchaser said:


> Has the shape of a John boat. Keep the baby out of it till it's a good swimmer. You could have fun on Bull Shoals if your careful


It certainly does resemble a Jon boat. Although it's much longer and narrower then any I have seen. And most of the Jon boats I see are aluminum. I guess you could say it's a skiff/Jon boat hybrid. Lol


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

That is an Ozark drift boat. They are longer than a regular Jon boat and fairly narrow for their length with a bit of rocker at both ends. You pole them up stream and drift down stream while a guy sitting in the stern steers with a paddle... ...or in the good ol' days, hillbillies like my grampa drifted down stream for a couple of weeks, then pulled the boat, loaded it on a train and went back home. That was back before Bull Shoals even existed. Newer designs can be motored up stream, but they are displacement hulls, so don't expect a speed boat. Even if you are not a fisherman, drifting down an Arkansas river is a pretty good way to pass a day.

Here's a link to a similar design with a bit of back story.

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jim/ozarkian/index.htm

Nate


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

Bull Shoals is a cool lake. It is freakishly clear. We watched a dinky carp swim along the bottom and then looked at the depth finder and saw we were in 30' of water. That carp wasn't so dinky. This was back in the summer of '87. I hope it hasn't become eutrophic since.

Nate


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## rustybottoms88 (Oct 21, 2016)

WhiteDog70810 said:


> That is an Ozark drift boat. They are longer than a regular Jon boat and fairly narrow for their length with a bit of rocker at both ends. You pole them up stream and drift down stream while a guy sitting in the stern steers with a paddle... ...or in the good ol' days, hillbillies like my grampa drifted down stream for a couple of weeks, then pulled the boat, loaded it on a train and went back home. That was back before Bull Shoals even existed. Newer designs can be motored up stream, but they are displacement hulls, so don't expect a speed boat. Even if you are not a fisherman, drifting down an Arkansas river is a pretty good way to pass a day.
> 
> Here's a link to a similar design with a bit of back story.
> 
> ...


I new I had came to the right place to learn more about this boat! Nate thank you for sharing. I am excited to try it out on the local creeks and rivers. We have no shortage of them: Crooked Creek, Buffalo River, White River. I recognize some of the pictures from the link as the Buffalo River. If you are over this direction stop by the Gaston's Vistor Center, they have one of these old boats they drug up from the bottom of the White River. It was very well preserved in the cold water.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Can't wait to see it with a pp platform a casting deck and a motor. Keep it out of rivers with rocks


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## zthomas (Jan 14, 2014)

Wow, cool old boat. Yes, definitely a classic Ozarks jon. I've never heard them called Ozarks drift boats before. They do obviously differ from a typical aluminum jon, but the locals still call them jon boats. In fact, it's fairly widely believed that jon boats, or at least the term "jon boat," originated in the Ozarks.

BTW, I'm not talking out of my a**; my wife grew up on the Buffalo River in north-central Arkansas, where her family has lived for who knows how long, and I spent eight years in Fayetteville and Fort Smith. I never owned one of these, although I always wanted one. I did most of my floating in canoes on smallmouth streams, but a couple times a year we'd go over the White and rent a jon boat and do some trout fishing, which was always fun.

Permitchaser, all the rivers have rocks, and they're all shallow. But these boats run damn shallow. Here's me (who's now 8) helping steer on a chilly spring day near where Sylamore Creek comes into the river.

Thanks for sharing, rusty -- that was cool to see.


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## rustybottoms88 (Oct 21, 2016)

zthomashome said:


> Wow, cool old boat. Yes, definitely a classic Ozarks jon. I've never heard them called Ozarks drift boats before. They do obviously differ from a typical aluminum jon, but the locals still call them jon boats. In fact, it's fairly widely believed that jon boats, or at least the term "jon boat," originated in the Ozarks.
> 
> BTW, I'm not talking out of my a**; my wife grew up on the Buffalo River in north-central Arkansas, where her family has lived for who knows how long, and I spent eight years in Fayetteville and Fort Smith. I never owned one of these, although I always wanted one. I did most of my floating in canoes on smallmouth streams, but a couple times a year we'd go over the White and rent a jon boat and do some trout fishing, which was always fun.
> 
> ...


Thank you guys for the insight and information. Your right we have always called them jonboats but when I got this one I started searching the net for ideas of how to rebuild it, everyone else's jon boats did look not like the ones I am used and they were all aluminum, to so that lead to me asking more questions. 
Your very right all the creeks and rivers have rocks. All the fields have rocks, all the roads have rocks, we have rocks everywhere!


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## zthomas (Jan 14, 2014)

I remember my wife showing me the "field" where her family grew strawberries when she was a kid. It was basically a 30-degree slope completely covered in fist-sized limestone chunks.


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## rustybottoms88 (Oct 21, 2016)

I am the county agent. I know very well the type of fields your talking about. Lol


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

I don't think this one is made to plane. There is no motor mount and it looks like there is rocker toward the stern, although less so than the bow. It does like there might have been a trolling motor mount on the stern. I would keep it simple and just replace the rub rail and patch any ugly spots.

Nate


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## rustybottoms88 (Oct 21, 2016)

WhiteDog70810 said:


> I don't think this one is made to plane. There is no motor mount and it looks like there is rocker toward the stern, although less so than the bow. It does like there might have been a trolling motor mount on the stern. I would keep it simple and just replace the rub rail and patch any ugly spots.
> 
> Nate


Most folks run a 9.9hp outboard. That is the largest you can get by with on the Buffalo River. I have no outboard. I have a brother inlaw that says he is going to give me a 4.5hp johnson if I want it. It will need a throttle kit and something else....my memory fails me at the moment. But I do have an ancient trolling motor that I will see how far up crooked creek it will get me before it dies. I live within 5 miles of crooked creek. 
I will agree with you in just keeping it simple. I will pretty much do as you say, replace the rails and patch any spots in the fiberglass that look suspect. I would like to paint the inside of the boat with something to give it more of a finished look. I am thinking something in white or off white.


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## petersd (Aug 8, 2014)

I grew up in Jonesboro. I suggest you try to restore it to the original. I thought seriously about buying a new Ozark Jon boat for the marsh. The are stable being so long. I've fished out of them several times. A 9.9 hp is all you need. I suggest putting in cypress wood because it is so rot resistant. If I ever move back to Arkansas, I will buy one of those immediately. Take your time and restored it well. Have fun with it.


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