THE AUTHENTIC AMERICAN JOHBOAT : How to Build It, How to Use It.
By Larry Dablemont, Published by David McCay Company, 1978.
Larry Dablemont writes a weekly Outdoors column for the Ozark Headliner News, so I’m pretty familiar with his families past, and his philosophy toward river craft of all kinds, but I didn’t have a chance to read this book until I spotted it over at the Christian County Library. In the past Larry has voiced his opinions about canoes not being half as good a watercraft for the outdoorsman as an authentic johnboat like the style his Grandfather and father before him built. In this slim (88 pages, with index) book he does a pretty good job of backing this opinion up by starting with the origins of the Dablemont clan right around the time of World War 1, then the beginnings of the Dablemonts’ guiding float fisherman and hunters.
In chapter two he gets into the technical (if you can call it that) aspects of building one of these boats, covering different types of wood, sealing methods, how many seasons a boat would last, whether to store the boat in the water or out, and much more. He even gets a little into the other well known Ozarks’ float fishing/johnboat building on the James and White with the legendary Jim Owens, and then laments the fact that the lower James and all of the White are now under large reservoirs. This topic has been well covered by yours truly and nearly everyone else even a tiny bit interested in the history of the Ozarks, but you have to remember this book was published in 1978, when the dissatisfaction was a little fresher.
Chapter 3 is an entire step-by-step instruction booklet for building your own 14-foot johnboat. The photographs and diagrams are well thought out and straight forward, anyone who has any carpentry skill could build one of these boats without any problem using the book as a blueprint.
Chapter 4 is where I have the bone to pick with Larry, but it’s a common point of disagreement between someone like him and myself. He compares his families johnboat design against other river craft, and basically says that there is no way to avoid “crashing” (flipping) over a canoe. Of course there are canoes, and then there are canoes. I seem to remember paddling a 17’ tandem ( double ended in his terms) canoe at summer camp right about the same time this book came out, and it was a typical canoe of the era, with style being more the point of it’s design than ability to be efficiently paddled, or it’s stability. This would be similar to the canoes he is referring to, and to his credit, most of the canoes of that era weren’t the best. We have much better designs of canoes (and kayaks) than ever before, it’s rare to see a new canoe that isn’t at least a usable watercraft, and several companies make so many different designs that it’s easy to find one to suit your needs, as long as you know what they are, that is. The wooden (or aluminum ) johnboat is by comparison a heavy boat best served by a small outboard, or for only put-it and take-out by several people, or for fishing slower sections of river that are more lake-like, in my opinion.
All in all it’s a good book, the part I like best is the historical look at the Ozarks after the turn of the last century, and the men who helped shape it. I’ll buy this one when I can find it at Amazon.com or wherever, but again, largely as a historical reference. I won’t be building a 14’ wooden paddle john any time soon.
