Perhaps you are right!  ...  I'll look into this further, as the long rods
I saw on the canal boats had to have been longer than a few feet and if I
recall, actually followed the curve under the bottom of the barge.

I did find an on-line description of drift pins which sound like the same

"A drift bolt (or drift pin) is a long pin of iron or steel, with or
without head or point. It is driven into a bored hole through one timber
and into an adjacent one, to prevent the separation of the timbers
connected and to transmit lateral load. The hole in the second member is
drilled sufficiently deep to prevent the pin from hitting the bottom."
http://www.wood-handbook.com/wood-handbook-chapter-7-9-fastenings

Also, see:
http://www.lcmm.org/site/mri/mri_arch_projects/missisquoi_bay_barges4.html


Speaking of Chesapeake log boats, you have seen the one at Kerr Place in
Onancock, MD?  I was fascinated by its construction techniques.  I don't
recall drift bolts, though.

         Dan W.



>I believe the iron rods you mention are called drift bolts. They also
>were used to secure the logs in multiple-log Chesapeake Bay canoes.
>
>A barge spike was a tool.
>
>At 3:30 PM -0500 2/15/04, Daniel H. Weiskotten wrote:
>>
>>I think that barge spikes were larger than boat spikes, but I also think
>>that barge spikes are the long rods that are driven down through the
>>planks, from plank to plank, to hold them and give them much added
>>strength.
>
>--
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