the puddle duck racer build is in motion

Since getting involved in a boat build (see Peter Novak's Eureka Blog and my 18 April post), I have been researching and planning to build my own wooden boat. I have been a irregular reader of the Boating section on the Australian Woodworking forums. I have read numerous books on boat construction and general sailing. I have been to boat shows and skimmed the internet for ideas and advice. Through this process I have narrowed down a list of boats I would one day like to build.

At the top of the list of 'truly possible and practical boats I could build with the time, space and funds available to me at my present skill level' is the Oz Mk II Puddle Duck Racer, otherwise known as the PDRacer. This Oz Mk II version of the PDRacer is designed by Australian boat designer Michael Storer. This boat has been designed to be:

"cheap, creative, and [...] fun on the water".

If you're interested in finding out about this boat and its history, there are two main sites you can read. The first is the official PDRacer site and the other is an Australian PDRacer site.

The current plan is for Peter Novak and I to each build ourselves a PDR. My hope is that we will be able to help each other at various stages of the build. Peter has already completely built and added modifications to his Eureka canoe. Therefore he has a little more experience than myself. He also has the garage space to build things in! I probably have more experience in sailing than Peter, having sailed a comet as a kid. I suspect we will both learn how to sail these boats pretty quickly.

Now while it is regularly said that the boat looks like a matchbox, I think the great thing about this design is its simplicity. We estimate that one boat only cost us about €400 in materials to build - 3 sheets of plywood, some epoxy, a trailer tarp for a sail and a few other bits and pieces. The A$20 plans provided by Michael Storer are extremely detailed, so the complexity in construction is drastically reduced. The materials used in the construction are reasonably easy to acquire, although we have had to think about locally available timber varieties for the boat.

Today the build officially started for me as we started sourcing the various materials required for construction. First on our list was some fibreglass. Since we will be sailing around Slovenia, we had to purchase some extra fibreglass to cover the bottom of the hulls - most lakes and seas around here have some serious rocks around the shores. Therefore we need to provide some added protection to the bottom.

The planned setup for my PDR will also include a lug rig sail (see picture on left). I am particularly interested to try this design as the Goat Island Skiff (another boat on my dream list) uses such a sail. Since I am aiming for a cheap boat, I plan to build a hallow mast too.

Overall I am pretty excited about this build. Due to my current space restrictions (i.e. my wife will not allow me to build the boat in our living room), we will start constructing parts of the boat which can be stored away easily, that is, the centreboards, rudders, masts, yard and booms, as well as the sails. Hopefully by the end of summer we will have moved into another apartment which has its own lockable garage. This is when I will start building the hull.

I hope I will be able to take enough pictures so you can enjoy the build with me. I'll even show you pictures of me being a sawing hack!

boat spotting

Last month I went to the Classic and Wooden Boat Show held at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. There were a heap of different wooden boats of all sizes and designs. It was a great opportunity to observe the various different styles of yachts, power boats and craft which have been built or restored.

I particularly enjoyed a few designs and yachts that were shown. The Halvorsens are a particularly beautiful craft, although I doubt a novice like myself could build one. It would be great to spend a week travelling up and down rivers in one of these boats.

Another magnificant craft on display was Whisper, a 10' clinker dinghy designed by Paul Gartside and built by Denman Marine. This beautiful dinghy is made out of Huon, King Billy, and celery top pine. The craftsmanship on this craft is exceptional.

Denman Marine had also brought their Iain Oughtred designed Caledonian Yawl. I must have spent a couple of hours just gazing over the various parts of this boat. Again the celery top and huon pine construction looks amazing.


Since the show, I have been looking at the various Oughtred designs and my dream is to build a Tirrik. This is a shorter version of the Caledonian Yawl, although I am sure numerous fans of these boats would outraged by such a summary. Grapeview Point Boat Works is the only website I am aware of which details the construction of the Tirrik (no comment on the quality of their photos). Hopefully in the future I will have the skills (and finances) to undertake the construction of one of these beautiful designs.

Overall I was very impressed with the Classic and Wooden Boat Show. Since I am more interested in the construction side of wooden boats, I probably spent more time talking to folks about the designs rather than checking out the yachts. However I hope one day to get to the stage in life when I can turn up to such a show and display some of the craft I have made. Until then, I'll continue to be happy to observe.

Trim - another beautiful design and build

the eureka build

My close friend and work colleague Peter Novak is also a keen woodworker. He particularly enjoys making boat models. At the end of 2007 Peter started to talk about building real boats. Although I was a little sceptical about our ability to build anything that could float, Peter researched our options and decided to build a Eureka canoe.

The Eureka is designed by Michael Storer from Adelaide in South Australia. It is built using the 'Stitch and Glue' method - according to the great detailed plans provided by Michael (Peter bought the plans from the Duck Flat Wooden Boats website for A$90), you cut out five sections of the boat from marine plywood. Four parts are glued together with epoxy into two long sections using butt strap joints. The three long sections are then "stitched" together using wire. Once the basic frame of the boat is together, the joints are secured with fibreglass tape. The panels are coated in epoxy to seal the wood from the water.

I was able to help Peter in these initial stages of the build (however I had to return to Sydney for 6 months so I missed the second half of the project). It was a great introduction to modern boat building and very easy to do. For further information on building a Eureka canoe, you can visit Peter's blog (written in Slovene) or a very informative site by Peter Hyndman.

When I return to Slovenia (mid-June 2008), I hope to get into a few boating projects with Peter. I am unsure what we will start with - maybe my own Eureka to travel with Peter, or another Storer design. I will share my boating and woodworking dreams another time.

Peter's Eureka Canoe