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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Picton, NSW
    Posts
    143

    Default Eureka V's PDRacer?

    Hi all,
    I am after a bit of advice from those with more experience than I have.

    I am wanting to build a boat with my two sons, age 11 and 14. I have no boatbuilding experience myself, and only a bit of woodworking experience. I bought the plans for a Eureka 155, and then started reading all the great reports about the PD Racer, being a cheep and easy boat to build. I bought the plans for the Oz PDR MkII, and they scared the willy out of me.

    My question is, is the PDR as hard as it looked to me at first glance? Which of the two would be the best as a "First" boat building project?
    Perhaps I should just forget the idea of beginning a boatbuilding hobby and instead just become a collector of boat building plans? (The GIS looks nice!)

    Has anybody built both the Eureka and the PDR MkII? How do you compare them in terms of simplicity and ease/speed of construction?

    Thanks for your advice
    Ian

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Minbun, FNQ, Australia
    Age
    66
    Posts
    12,881

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Walesey View Post
    ....Has anybody built both the Eureka and the PDR MkII? ....
    Bitingmidge, but he is away at present.
    Cliff.
    If you find a post of mine that is missing a pic that you'd like to see, let me know & I'll see if I can find a copy.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Australia and France
    Posts
    8,175

    Default

    Walesy,

    Sorry about the delay in reply, but as Cliff said, I've been away!

    Both are very simple boats to build using very different techniques.

    In my case, two PDRacers were launched in a few weeks, but took a year to finish!

    The Eureka on the other hand sits forelornely in my study, waiting for a final coat of varnish at the end of an eight year journey!

    I would look at the use your boys are likely to get first and foremost, as the boats have very different end uses. If your nearest waterway is a few metres wide with overhanging branches, a sailing boat would not make a good choice!

    To answer your question though:
    The Eureka is a very simple boat to build, and should take no more than a few weekends to produce a fine result. The only "accessories" needed are a couple of paddles, and Michael has a free set of plans available for download on his website.

    The PDR is also simple in the extreme, I suspect that in an effort to document every step of construction, the plans may make the process seem a little more complicated. It's really a matter of gluing some sticks onto some ply, and screwing it together temporarily while the glue cures. All of the joints are at right angles, so there's no tricky joinery either.

    The mast and foils (rudder and daggerboard) need a little more patience perhaps, but are still very simple to do.

    I would guess that the hull construction time of both would be similar, with another weekend or so needed for the "sailing bits" of the PDR.

    In both cases, you'll need as much time again to paint them!

    Good luck, and keep us informed.

    By the way, The Goat Island Skiff isn't that much harder than the PDR and used the same construction techniques, so if you are thinking of going that way, maybe you could use the PDRacer as a "warm-up" project!

    Cheers,

    P

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Portland, Oregon, USA
    Posts
    334

    Default

    I have no experience with the Eureka. I do have a PDR hull that's nearly done. Also several fellow Ol' Coots (our boating club) who've built them. I have also built a Goat Island Skiff. The hull for the PDR went much quicker than the GIS. The GIS is a much, much more useful and competent boat - not to mention being twice as long. I built the GIS with a friend & my two boys (ages 11 & 16 when we started). It took one winter (maybe eight months), working one evening a week, to get it launched with outboard & oars only. Truthfully, as a professional woodworker, I'd estimate that it'd take me just about the same amount of time to do solo. But then the boys wouldn't have had the experience. It's now almost two years later, and we are just wrapping up the sailing rig. The middle year we just loafed, and this year has been a bit slack as well.

    My opinion? the PDR is a fun toy, but I wouldn't build one unless there were others in the area to play with and race against. It's fairly limited, other than as a sail toy. Can't put an outboard on it. Doesn't row very well. Best on very small waters. The GIS, on the other hand, is a Real Boat. Rows fairly well. Works fine with an outboard, even though that's not its forte. Can fish out of it safely. Can swim out of it, and reboard safely. Can take more that 1-2 people (we've had as many as nine bods in ours - ran out of physical space before we ran out of capability/stability). Will sail at any level you want, from leisurely daysail or picnic boat, to very competitive club racer. We plan on sailing local lakes, the Willamette & Columbia rivers, Puget Sound, coastal boys, and the Pacific - off the coast of Oregon. We're even contimplating launching it thru the surf on a calm day. The GIS hull will certainly take longer to build. It's not complicated, nor technically difficultd, but is bigger and has more pieces to fabricate and put together.

    One other consideration - the PDR can be car-topped. Our GIS has been car-topped for the last two summers, but I really wouldn't recommend it. It takes both myself and my oldest son at a bare minimum. It's not too bad loading to go. After a day or weekend of watery activity, it gets Quite Heavy!! We bought a trailer for ours.

    The research and anticipation are lotsa fun. Whichever boat you pick to build, it'll be a voyage of discovery which you will not regret.

    "No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stary, or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit" -- Helen Keller

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