Building a Small Boat

Sure! there is 2 huge lakes one bigger than the other by me, not to mention all of the little ponds and rivers! There is a river directly behind my house, big enough to float my boat also!

 

Be sure to take a class in safe boating! We don't like losing forum members most of the time. Always wear your life jacket. Not an order, just advice.

 

Have you seen this?



Plans--> http://www.angelfire.com/ego/lewisboatworks/html/Chugdes_a.htm

Sizes and variations--> http://www.angelfire.com/ego/lewisboatworks/html/Chugger_Variations_a.htm

 

The smiley face on the bow transom needs finishing.

The hull is a PD Racer on steroids. The builder looks to have stretched the original 4 x 8' sailboat to 4 x 12' and added a motor. There are a lot of PDR's around the world especially in Oz. Although ugly they can do the job on small lakes, slow moving rivers and no doubt canals too. They have even been taken on quite long sea cruises, but that is a risky thing to do.

I would not recommend taking such a craft on Lake Meade or any place it could be exposed to waves much bigger than a foot high or the wake of a powerful fast-moving motor boat. There are real boat designs that are almost as easy to build, much nicer looking, will go farther and faster on a tank of gas and be safer to boot.

 

The TIMS is basiclly built the same as the Chugger.It just looks more like a freighter than a cabin boat.Both use 2x material for frames and ply to sheet it.Both are flat bottom.Both are 4' wide and the chugger can be built to 16' like the tims.The TIMS is actually built in two section and bolted together.That kind of seems scary to me but it can be built as a single solid structure.I do see how the Chugger looks cartoonish and the TIMS looks more work boatish.I've looked at both of these designs for the small shallow lakes around my area, for fishing duty.

 

Ben2go: TIMS reminds me of the narrow boats used on the UK canal system. There are a surprising number of them surviving; I was on one many years ago in London, gave me a nice ride around the canals that still access the backs of many of the older warehouses and can't be seen easily.

I have nothing against flat-bottomed boats, having built one myself recently. I tried designed them myself but it is not as easy as it looks. I've nothing against the PDR by the way, I was tempted to make one last year actually.

Richard: I have never used the negative point feature myself, and would prefer it to be removed. It's too easy to hit the minus button in a fit of pique, perhaps to regret it later. I see it happen to my points once in a while, it's not always identified, so don't know who and don't really care. I'm much more interested in the positive points; it's nice to be appreciated and I like to know who bumps them up once in a while and my thanks to those kind people who do so. The system won't let me put a few of your's back yet.