¨pirate¨ boat question

I'm not sure what you think this is Sail102, but it is a place where many of us know each other and/or have developed relationships of years of participation. Without some light hearted jabbing, a place like this would die quickly and folks like you would be in a different boat, possably literally.

It's all meant to be in good fun, Sail102.

No harm intended.

As children we had lots of fun rowing, but the boats we had were double-ended, lapstrake wooden boats with two pairs of oars, designed for rowing. Not PDRacers with oars. Building a traditional Swedish lapstrake boat is far more work than building a PDRacer. Nowadays there should be plans for stich-and-glue plywood boats that perform reasonably well as rowing boats and that are not too cumbersome to build.

I suggest that you find plans for a stich-and-glue plywood boat that:
- has two pairs of oars and can carry two adults
- is about 4 meters long
- is a double-ender at the waterline
- is narrow and easy to row rather than stable
Such a boat will be useful for you, your brother and his friends also when he gets older. It's still small enough for him to handle alone.
Focusing on stability is not necessary, low resistance is more important. Children will find the point where it capsizes anyway. Better to enforce the rule of using life vests.

If you are dead set on a PDR, stay with sail or possibly a small outboard. I'm sorry I can't point you at a suitable stich-and-glue design myself.

Good luck,
Erik

Among the numerous Phil Bolger designs, there is a boat specificly aimed at kids and pirate boats. He calls it "Pirate Racer". It is a stitch and glue skiff 14'-6" x 4'-0 with a faux clipper bow, lee boards, and a piratey looking lateen sail along with jolly roger flags and such. Rowing is permitted. Where fleets of these simple boats exist, there are pirate regattas complete with rules of competition. Refer to the Bolger book; Boats With an Open Mind. Page 94 Simple boat, easy build, fairly safe and comfortable for two kids, could be built on the cheap.

hoytedow said:

It's all meant to be in good fun, Sail102.

No harm intended.

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I know why do you think I put up that pic of davy jones on my other post

sail102 said:

I know why do you think I put up that pic of davy jones on my other post

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Okey dokey, then.

rwatson said:

"Olaf, when we land the boat on the beach - you are in charge of the plundering, Sven - you are assigned to pillage, Klaus - your job is ...."

"Oh no - not **** agaaaaaiiiin !!!!!"

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Explain to Klaus that he can retire at 65 -- and that no good deed goes unpunished.

Depends on how good you want the boat to be. Nothing wrong with a PDR if simplicity and economy are among the front end factors. If done fairly well the PDR is a safe boat that will sail. You can put a small motor on the PDR but if you do, then the kids learn very little. The sailing rig will cause them to understand some things about boating and wind and waves (and piracy) that a motor could never do.

A boat that will have additonal uses, after the kids get tired of the pirate thing, is the Phil Bolger design that was done specificly for youthful pirate fleets. It is described in his book; Boats With An Open Mind and elsewhere. It is a flat bottomed skiff that would make a very adeqaute fishing or camping boat when the pirate craze is over. It is also a simple build and will not cost an arm and a leg. It would make a far better boat for sail, oar, or power.

When my brother an I were little pirates we really got a kick out of those two seater plastic paddle boats. Safe cheap power needs no gas and can get wet.
Maybe one with a sail. The fact that their quiet would be an added bonus. Though I have to admit I was a little envious of the kids that had an outboard.

Another use after you've outgrown the PDR, is when pouring a new driveway, as it's perfectly shaped as a concrete mixing tub.

when my kids were small I built them a military type tank out of cardboard and duck tape, painted it camo, installed it on their wagon. I made a great cannon out of a length of ABS pipe, with a plunger that pushed forward with some bungee cords (worked like a sling shot). they would launch candy out it. Won first prize in the kiddie parade on 4th of July.

You can make several canons like that, easy and cheap, could launch tennis balls, rotten fruit, water balloons, etc. perfect projectiles for budding pirates.