Guys,

Thanks for interest shown in the Aus Wooden Boat Festival thread about my little Puffin "Miss Mouse". Thought I would start a new thread to share a bit more about her.

This was the second boat I had built. The first was a Paul Fisher sticth & glue Stornoway 12 which turned out OK and is a perfectly functional little boat, if maybe not quite as pretty. Since "Miss Mouse" was finished I have also built one of Paul Fisher's canoes for my daughter.

However, I wanted to have a go at glued clinker construction, and love Iain Oughtred's work. Chose the Puffin because it is just beautiful, but in hindsight maybe the Guillemot would have been a better choice because it is a bit bigger and the Puffin is a tiny bit small for Dad and kids that have quickly grown into full sized humans!

"Miss Mouse" took me 3 years worth of weekends and some evenings. This was about a year longer than expected, but I did have a few other distractions along the way and actually left the construction for a couple of months without touching it at one stage. Intention was to have here ready for the 2009 AWBF but didn't have here ready in time.

Was a great honour to have her there at the 2011 AWBF and to have Iain Oughtred himself cast an eye over her, talk about her finer points and shake my hand. Will remember this moment for the rest of my life.

Here are some photos of her, including a couple on the water and some construction notes I prepared for AWBF. Had a continuous stream of people looking at her the whole 4 days and I was overwhelmed by the interest.

Thanks again for compliments in the other thread.

Cheers, Cameron.