Wednesday, September 8, 2010

My Puddle Duck Racer

We (wife and I) were driving past the canals and lakes here on Queensland's Gold Coast and wondered why we never saw anyone sailing on them. L turned to me and said 'You know, we should get a canoe and we could paddle around out there. It would be fun'. I heard '... we should get a canoe and you could paddle me around out there. It would be fun'.

I thought it would be hard work, so started to look around for plans for a small, cheap sailboat that I might be able to build myself that took some of the pressure off me paddling. The smaller the better and if it could be man-handled by just me into the back of the ute and into the water, so much the better.

Found the Puddle Duck Racer and eventually, the OZ MK II plans and decided that was the one. I purchased plans for the MK II from Mike then stumbled across the MK III and decided I'd give one of those a go. So, thought I'd better start a blog on the construction and adventures of my OZ MK III puddle duck racer (PDR). Everyone else does.

Though technically not a PDR as the hull shape is out of tolerances due to design improvements by Mike Storer (see 'The schism explained' below), it is the easiest way to refer to the little boat and have people understand what you're talking about.

For reference look in these places:
L's not that impressed as the PDR is a bit of an ugly duckling. If it works out and I like this sailing thing, I'm going for the Goat Island Skiff next.

BTW - the boat will be named after the little girl we sponsor in Mozambique through World Vision.

5 comments:

  1. Ahoy Captain Patch. I want a puddle duck racer too. Then we could race. After I finish the aeroplane I'll knock one up. (-:

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  2. I have to teach myself to sail first. And get a natty hat. Then we can race. After that... Brisbane to Gladstone, win on handicap!

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  3. Hi! I've just noticed the link to my OzPDR website is the "old" one, which will "go dark" when Apple closes the site in June 12.

    I have moved it in the meantime, and it can be visited at http://www.pdracer.info

    Cheers,

    P

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  4. I've updated the OZPDR Website link but it still ends up going to your 'mac' site (even if I type www.pdracer.info into the address bar). Might have something to do with my cache, or it might sort itself out in June. Anyway, I tried.

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  5. Glad I found this blog! I've got the Mk II and Mk III plans as well as the Goose plans...hated to see Mik leave the PDR community and am glad to see his attention returning to these neat little boats. Warmest regards to all, Steve

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