Thread: PDRacers and other boats in Pennsylvania

Hi Jonathan,

Very nice to run into you again!

These boats always make a stir at the launch site. People don't believe they will sail. Earlier this summer we had all three out racing each other!

I still have that problem on the Woodenboat forum sometimes even after all these years and all the photos and videos.

Photo is from when Jonathan and family were back in Africa.



PDRacers in Africa - the Bornman family builds three boats - a set on Flickr

From your site it looks like you are doing some boatbuilding on demand. Is this a career shift for you?

MIK

Before I moved to sunny Florida, one of my favorite sailing areas was the Susquehanna, where it dumps into the bay and getting chased out of the proving grounds by the USCG. You must have that nice comfortable water above the dam . . .

For now this is not really a career change but more like simply a step in that direction. I would love to build more boats and can't afford to keep on making more boats for myself. Nor do I have room to store them. If I can build a boat for someone else I get the joy of building and they get a nice boat. Perhaps this will be a help for someone who wants to sail but is not ready to build.

Jonathan

I've always like the Marisol - a nice example of a pretty clinker hull.



MIK

Originally Posted by PAR

Before I moved to sunny Florida, one of my favorite sailing areas was the Susquehanna, where it dumps into the bay and getting chased out of the proving grounds by the USCG. You must have that nice comfortable water above the dam . . .

We do have nice water above the Safe Harbor hydro-electric dam. The sailing is great with either a northerly or southerly wind. If the wind is out of the east or west the high hills block most of it. Lake Clark (also known locally as Long Level) is popular with power boats on the weekends in the summer. Generally we go out on week night evenings. Now that Labor day is come and gone, I think most of the power boaters will put their boats away.

Labor day week end we took out our Jim Michalak designed kayak along with friends and a borrowed canoe to the islands in Lake Clark. Shallow water keeps out the power boats, it was peaceful and beautiful.

The best is yet to come!

Jonathan

I have just started on another small boat to and to the Pennsylvania collection. It is a Payson Pirogue, designed by Philp Bolger. I am building it from the miniature plans published in Payson's Instant Boats.

I will post pictures when I get some and learn how to post them.

I have marked out and cut all the plywood parts.

I have just started building the Payson Pirogue, designed by Philip Bolger. I am using scrap plywood from my stash. It includes part of a packing crate (4mm luan) used for the bildge panels, door skins salvaged from a door I took off a trash pile (used for the side panels" and a piece of 3/8" plywood that I used for the bottom panel. I have used PL Premium for gluing the butt blocks and for attaching the sides to the stem and stern posts. I am debating about epoxy or polyester resin. I have never tried polyester and since this is a cheap boat I might try it.

I am building from the miniature plan published in Instant Boatbuilding with Dynamite Payson. I have found a few errors (or I simply can't read things that small). Dimensions are missing from the aft mold layout and I had two sets of layout marks not on a fair curve of my batten when I was laying out the bottom panel.

Picture update on the Payson Pirogue build in Pennsyvania.

Besides using all recycled materials I also decided to test out polyester resin instead of epoxy. I won't do it again, too thick and not nearly as workable as epoxy. Thus the ugly fillets. Jonathan

I choose a paint scheme more daring than most of my previous boats. I masked everything to paint the black on the gunwales and thwarts. My son came in the next morning and said, "I like the colors." Other family members concur. Let me know what you think. -Jonathan