Building the West Mersea Duck Punt (Episode 17)
Series by Rusty Knorr
What a looong process. The boat that I thought I could crank out in a conservative six weeks (and the design which Dylan Winter built in only ONE week) has taken me over six months! Granted, as the name of the blog clearly states, I am (or was) a first-time boat builder, so perhaps my original assessment of my ability to build a boat was a little optimistic.
There were challenges associated with having to build it out in our courtyard, with all the schlepping of tools back and forth, and no ready electricity. There was the stubbornness of having to do the entire thing by myself, without any help from others. There was the frustration of only having a few hours a week to work on the boat between my job, music, relationship, and all the other things that fill up your time while living life. There was the challenge of trying to figure out what all those lines were on the 8x10 sheets of paper that were all I had for a building plan. There was scheduling when I could borrow a truck to pick up the materials that I needed (and the ones I needed again when I made some dumb mistake!) Oh, and speaking of...all the mistakes, those wonderful learning opportunities which came up again and again. Sigh. Paint masks myriad things, thank goodness I wasn't ever planning on varnishing!
Well, it is certainly not a show piece, and it will never win any awards, but it is good enough for a first boat build, and I am happy enough with it, if not exactly satisfied with how it came out. I have to keep reminding myself that I built it as knock-around boat, and it is going to get pretty beat up in short order, and a Duck Punt is a Duck Punt, not a swan! I still need to put some additional coats of paint on the interior but I am going to wait until spring when it warms up again and call this thing done for now! Enjoy the finished pics and expect my next post to be from the water!
The stern brass skid plates. I don't know why I used two, I think it looks cool though. I should have used countersunk screws but I was out. I'll fix it later.
Here is the bow skid plate. It doesn't fit perfect, but it fits as good as I could get it considering I had to do the bends at work away from the boat.
A boat that is ready to sail! View from the stern quarter.
And from the port bow.
I still have no idea if I can even get this thing on top of my car. It is really heavy! Maiden voyage will be dependent on decent weather and getting over a little illness I am struggling with. I am a little nervous about sailing it, to be honest. The Duck Punt sails completely different from any other boat I have owned so I have a lot to learn about how it is handled. I hope it is a fun process! Stay tuned! •SCA•
You did well. The first hurdle is finding a place to build. My condo association does not allow projects, which is why Nereid is being built for me in the City.
You should add reef points. Mother Nature tends to sneak up on you.
I have found that scandalizing a small spritsail tends to make the sail next to useless because the material from the peak completely ruins the shape for anything closer than a beam reach.
Nice boat,looks like you did a beautiful job on it! I have never sailed one I suspect some reefing points will come in handy somewhere along the adventure! You are going to have a ball!