PDR "Shredder"

Hey Chuck,

Here's a link to Andrew Linn's photoessay on the Puddle Duck Racer event last weekend. It included fotos of my new PDR, "Shredder", hull # 77, which was launched that day for the first time. I was still attaching hardware and figuring out the rigging until it was time to start the race. I got tangled up with someone milling about at the Start line, and got off to a very late start, but eventually made up a bit of ground and finished 4th. Not bad for a brand new boat, eh? I attribute much of that small bit of success to the OZ PDR influence... lug rig & rudder. It certainly wasn't the skipper!

I had the hull shell done way before Mik came out with the OZ PDR. Just hanging on my shop wall. When Andrew begged and bribed me with a sail, I finished it off with 82 sq. ft. balanced lug rig & rudder per Mik's spec. The leeboard is a clip-on of my own design... that converts to a rowing thwart. Just pull if up outa the water and flop it down on the seat risers. Voila'. My hull weighs maybe 45 pounds. It has a 3/8" bottom. The hollow square mast that Mik designed is amazingly light. Very nice.. They are a lot of fun. The performance came from two factors, I think: First, that's a lotta sail; Second, I think I did a fairly good job of keeping her flat with both transoms out of the water.

David Graybeal

Swampscott Dory

- funny how that works.
I should have known right away when I started to defrost frozen chicken
for supper.
I dropped it into the sink of warm water and went about the final little
things that in sure a highly successful first launch.
Later it defrosted to chicken broth.
Can't BBQ broth.

I was so excited.
Then I got a call from son number two, can't get away.
Wife has other commitments, just popped up.
I don't care. I'm going to the lake 7 miles, easy ramp, almost always
empty.
Everything went fine.
I backed in on the third try. And the boat floated off.
I had to quickly wade in to fetch it.
A kid held the rope and I parked a ways off.
Now there is no dock so wading in is just fine.
Settled in I rowed off from the ramp.
The boat, a 16 foot Swampscott Dory, looks great, rows straight and
true.
She is a little tender with the board up. And the tiller follows easily.
There is a little well where a cut down trolling motor just slides in.
The box needs to be a little higher. The water level is high.
When in place and turned on woooo the level gets even higher, splashing
over the top.
The box needs to be a little higher.
However the trolling motor does its job and the boat moves right along.
Shifting the movable ballast (me) helps but then reaching the tiller is
out.
I tie a line to the tiller and this is better, a whole lot less water
coming in.
Out in the lake I will put up the sails.
Well, reaching out over the bow to connect the forestay and jib need to
be changed.

The snotter/boom is all miss aligned and the main sail flops, on me.
There must be a leak somewhere, could be the centerboard pivot bolt.
When I was in the bow all the water moved to the front.
There is a substantial amount.
Now with the sails lines and boom all corrected what little wind
...disappeared.
I am in the lake about a mile, row?
Motor! Do your stuff
This is enough time and I have a list of modifications,
This place is now filling with happy boaters.
The wait is getting annoying.
The boaters are getting annoying.
Finally I get out and back on the trailer.
I forgot about a drain plug.
Bailing with a cut down soda bottle takes a half-hour.
I'm tired, hungry and finally am started home.

Don't you just hate it when things are going semi-badly and you hear
that sound telling you, pow, laugh, laugh, laugh.
That's the sound of a boat trailer wheel blowing its guts.
'I just had both those wheel checked'.
Tomorrow.
There's another day tomorrow.

GerryB

12-1/2' Kayak

Were you wondering what I did with the fiberglass and epoxy I ordered? Some of it went into this 12 1/2 foot kayak I built for my daughter. Splash date was Sept. 1, 2008.

I designed it based on the principles presented by Thomas Firth Jones in his book Boats to Go. What a thrill to see it floating, with daughter aboard, right where I planned, with the heel of the stem just clear of the water. In the photo, the stem looks higher out of the water because the water is so clear.

I built it with cedar strip bottom, fiberglass/epoxy inside and out, 5 mm luaun sides, and 3 mm sapele deck. I didn't get it weighed but she says it is light. The rub rail is vertical grain yellow pine cut from roof beams I salvaged from a school being remodeled. It's beautiful wood.

I call it a pond boat, not intended for any kind of rough water so no provision for a spray skirt. I also made the paddle, which she is holding upside down in the first photo.

Vince F.
Too Far North, Michigan

Kayak Tri "Three Amigos"

This was my solution for a light air/car topable cruiser for the summer winds in my area. I have a single and ketch rigged kayak but wanted more performance. I thought about building a hull and amas due to the more complicated spacing of hatches, masts, akas, and cockpits, but arthritic hands and the snails pace I painstakingly work at convinced me to find a finished boat. It's an 18' Seda hybrid double kayak I fitted with Balogh sails and 10 foot inflatable amas made up by a river rafting co. The 3 sails toal 106 sq.ft. It has 2 leeboards, and also has a 75 sq.ft Sailrite spinnaker I made but haven't finished rigging for this boat. The rudder, tiller, and it's connection parts I made as well as some other fittings.

Speeds are pretty good. 6-9 in 5-10+ MPH winds reaching, and it hit a max speed of 13.9 MPH on a broad reach in 15+ gusty conditions. I took a video showing the locations of all the control lines while sailing it (might post it on YouTube).
When the wind dies, I paddle 3mph with it fully rigged.

As kayaks go, storage is very good due to a large front cockpit/hatch and with it's volume provides a comparatively dry ride.

The boat is kevlar and weighs 55 lbs. Rigged it weighs 125. The cart I made has 16" Rolleez balloon wheels and I roll it fully rigged and loaded to the water.

This is probably more than you wanted to know but who doesn't like to talk about their own unique set-up!

I just wish there was a small boat Raid type event here in the NorthEast as I think my boat would be well suited for the adventure.

Hard to beat the beauty and conditions you have for the Texas 200. Makes me want to move South.

Brad

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