Sail/Camp Adventure #2: Part 2: PDR Designs

[Note: Some of these links go to Duckworks Boat Builder’s Supply and various designers. I don’t get a red cent from any of them. However, both Michael Storer and Duckworks Supply were so awesome that you should immediately throw bucket-loads of cash at them. It was customer service of the most awe inspiring levels! Also, there is oodles of information at PDRacer.com. If you’re confident (or laid back) PDRacer.com has everything you need to build and it’s all available for free. I probably read every word on  PDRacer.com and it helped. I tossed a small donation their way to thank them for their troubles. If you want to build a boat, do it now. You’re not getting any younger… just do it. You’ll be glad.]

Just for fun I’m linking a few design plans for variants of the little sailboat I made. At it’s most basic it’s called a Puddle Duck Racer (PDR) and they’re specifically meant to be easy to build yet perform pretty well for their size. (I’m impressed that it doesn’t sail or feel like a toy. Small? Yes. Dumb little toy? Nope!)

Everyone who wants to make a boat should make the leap. Don’t let people talk you out of it! If I can make a boat it’s pretty much within any monkey’s grasp. Though I do suggest cheap simple squarish boats are the perfect way over the hump for a novice builder.

Various boats have digressions from the same basics and every builder makes things as they wish (which is pretty cool if you think about it!). If you want to “get your feet wet” don’t overlook the smallish boats of the odd Puddle Duck Racer style.

These are part of a set of free plans for a variant of the Puddle Duck Racer sailboat design called Simple 18 or BucketEars. I didn’t follow these plans but they’re a good option and free is a damn fine price. The image is linked to the source. You’ll find them at http://pdracer.com/free-plans/bucket-ears/

This is the image from Jim Michalak’s plans ($27.50) for a PDR variant he calls Catbox. Image is linked and you can find it at https://www.duckworks.com/product-p/jm-catbox.htm.

This is an image of one of the earliest builds of a Michael Storer variant of the PDR called OZ Racer RV. The image is linked to the plans (which cost $30). You can also find the plans at https://www.duckworks.com/product-p/oz-ozracer-rv-id.htm. I bought his plans and (since I knew nothing about anything) I followed them with the care a person might use to defuse a bomb. Shockingly, Michael Storer personally responded to e-mail queries with my dipshit newbie questions. How cool is that? As far as I can tell, boat design people try very hard to be super nice to even the most incompetent boat builder. It was customer service the likes of which I haven’t seen in ages!

Honorable mention for the OZ Goose: I made Michael Storer’s variant of the PDR and I’m delighted with it. The story behind all of these PDR-like critters is they’re humble 8′ beasts that are constrained by the “single sheet of plywood” limit. It’s almost like it was a game for various boat designers who got sick of 40′ cabin cruiser for millionaires? (I’m new to this shit, I’ve got no idea. I’m just glad they started slumming in my price range!)

Storer ignored the “single sheet” limit and made 1 1/2 sheet thing that looks like a stretch limo version of a PDR. The 12′ variant is a whole new animal he calls the OZ Goose. His internet posts sound like he’s on a one man crusade to to generate armadas of happy boat builders/owners/sailors. I just made one in my lonely garage. Storer is helping groups make them in batch lots; think dozens and dozens of ’em.  He’s active in the Philippines and elsewhere and I can’t believe he took time to answer my dumb e-mail questions.

With the 12′ OZ Goose it seems like he’s hit on something very cool. The OZ Goose purportedly has hydrodynamic performance that vastly exceeds it’s near twin of an 8′ OZ Racer RV. I’m not sure what kind of parabolic math physics crap is going down in that extra 4′ but it’s a thing. I’ve personally seen an OZ Goose on the water and it was sailed by a dude who knew what he was doing. That bad boy was impressive! If you’re thinking of a PDR but aren’t afraid of joining two sheets of ply (which, now that I’ve made my boat, seems pretty piddling easy) take a good look at the OZ Goose:

I told ya’ he was creating armadas! These are all 12′ OZ Goose sailboats. Unlike me, who wants to chug along with a bunch of camping gear these folks wring them out! There are tons of people racing these plywood boxes with all the glorious abandon that only people who are sailing something so cheap that they can replace/repair for pocket change can muster. The plans are $36 and the image is linked. Or you can go to https://www.duckworks.com/product-p/oz-goose-id.htm.