May Reports  

By Duckworks Readers - all over the place

January - February - March - April

6 Metre Whaler

Your readers might like this picture. Its the new "performance" gaff sloop rig on the 6MWhaler. I had to get the builder to move the mast but she now balances perfectly and the guys tell me that she is deceptively quick.

Charlie Whipple was down in Wellington this weekend for the Plimmerton Classic Boat Regatta (more JW boats there than all the others put together) and had a ride, tells me that the helm is one finger light and even with 6 old fat guys aboard really trucks along.

Yours, John Welsford

April Tools

Just a quick note about the Sixth annual April Tools Boatbuiloding Challenge - April 28, 2007 Seafarer Millennium Park Madeira Park, BC

Along with the quick and dirty boatbuilding, we are hosting a small boatbuilders show this year. There will be several boats in the water for the public to try, including my new Cosine Wherry, (your oarlocks and sockets; thanks). We have just started a website, at https://www.maritimeheritage.ca/, which showcases both the April Tools event and some of our other community projects.

All the best from the Sunshine Coast (that would be liquid sunshine this time of year)

Rick Crook

A New Project and an Old Friend...

Hello Chuck,

I'm thinking of building a Trover or a Clarence River Dory for some commercial fishing on Narragansett Bay. Do you have any first-hand experience with either of those two designs? Do either feature straight cut (parallel edges like on a Bolger Teal) side panels? I ask because I want this to be a true quick-and-dirty project to work boat finish standards and I love those straight cut side panel designs for simplicity.

I am attaching some photos that might catch your interest. Hopefully, they won't offend you. Your old Tennessee was great in her original incarnation but I reached the point where I wanted something else and had to make some changes.

Regards,

Seth Macinko

.....in praise of small boats .....:^)

Thanks Chuck. I enjoyed reviewing your website and magazine. Long been a fan of the Hess Bristol Channel Cutter and was immediately drawn to the looks of the Ennavigo 33 – a beautiful boat. I’ve attached a picture of Greta. She is a partial decked daysailer, late fifties sloop 20 feet long and 6’ wide at her widest point.

Mike Murray

This aint no fishin' boat

Hey guys, If word of this ever gets to Powell we are in trouble.

Jim Thayer

Larsboat down under

Peter Page

My Fleet

click to enlarge(left) Bolger-Payson Teal. This is my oldest boat. Repairs to the transom are in progress, so her name , Dulcinea, has not yet been re-painted. (right) The General Houston is an 8 ft. pram/dingy and is my design. The boat was overbuilt and is too heavy for the child it was built for. Takes two grown men to pick it up. (behind) An as yet un-named 8 ft pram/dingy of my design. It was built from 3/16th door skins to replace the General Houston and is my first all stitch and glue boat. It’s very light. Two children will be able to wrestle it around and I can easily tote it over my shoulder.

 
General Houston...

click to enlarge

 
click to enlarge

La Patita. This was my first self-designed boat and is my main boat right now. She can be rowed or sailed, and I’m considering registering her so I can see how she’ll perform with a small outboard.

 
Aft view, La Patita . Note fancy, high-tech trailer light stanchions..

click to enlarge

 

click to enlargeDetail, La Patita. The mast belonged to my first Teal and is a ripped-down spruce 2x4 with a V2 in. plywood lanination. I use it in both Dulcinea and LaPatita. But I need to build another mast for when kinfolks come and we want to take out both boats.

Tyson in Galveston

Looking for Shantyboat builder

This has nothing to do with how to make a boat. My father used to make shantyboats, and his father did too. In 1900 and the 1950s they lived on them until the 60s.Ii was hoping that you may have heard of them. I know very little about them.

My mother died and we children had go live with her sister so I am looking for anyone who might help me. Edward Mcallister was my grandfather and my dad was John D Mcallister. They called him John D. He lived in his boat on the east end of Cincinnati Ohio until his death. I was hoping one of your readers might have known him.

thank you,

Linda Beckelhymer

Little Laker

Hi Chuck
Please find attached a progress photo of the Little Laker I'm building (I bought the plans from you last August)

click to enlarge

Cheers
Murray Taylor

Press Release & Photos on Admiral Dingy

Hello, Chuck Leinweber:

Remember Admiral Dingy? The man who built the 9-foot/11-inch boat with which he planned to circumnavigate the world?

Well--an update on him is attached to this e-mail--complete with a press release and a couple of publicity stills, just in case you would like to review and subsequently share with your readers.

Please be advised that on Saturday, March 31st, Admiral Dingy made his public debut at SEASPACE in Houston--and was quite a hit with the public. He enjoyed pre-Event publicity via the FOX Network affiliate in Houston (KRIV-TV). He was interviewed by news insert host, Lanny Griffith during the morning news show, which aired between 5 AM and 9 AM on Friday,March 30th.

If you would like to watch Lanny's interview with Admiral Dingy, Click HERE.

GONE FROM REEL TO REAL:
ADMIRAL DINGY & DINGHY SET TO SAIL
ATOP WORLD’S OCEAN STAGE

HOUSTON, TEXAS. . .William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage…”.

Admiral Dingy (whose real name is Daryl Colinot), is one man who has taken the Bard’s adage to heart by leaving the stages that Hollywood offered him in the past to devote his time and energy to prepare to set sail onto the world’s ocean stage and to prove that indeed Shakespeare was right. After all, keep in mind that neither Hollywood, nor its stages existed at the time when Shakespeare wrote his famous quote.

But the oceans did exist back then; and have existed until modern-day, alongside Shakespeare’s famous quote.

Unlike those who have sought fame and fortune by packing their bags, along with their hopes and dreams to head toward Hollywood and stardom, Admiral Dingy—a former resident of Hollywood-- has done quite the opposite. The former dancer, film actor and film lab owner has packed his bags along with his hopes and dreams and has headed away from the reel world and has headed into the real world to cast himself into a real-life role of a lifetime atop the world’s ocean stage.

And that role is about to begin.

Every boat has a home port, and the home port of the 65-year-old Admiral’s Dinghy is Hollywood. Poised to begin the first leg of a 14-leg world-circumnavigating Voyage, the sea-action adventurer will also be attempting to set a Guinness World Record for solo-circumnavigating the smallest boat around the world to date. His “set” on the world ocean stage, will be his one-of-a kind 9-foot/11-inch boat which he designed and built to survive on the savage seas. It took him six (6) years to build. “And she is strong!” he says. “Her construction is fiberglass-layered, with woven-roved cloth, and matt.” For flotation and insulation, he is relying on six-inch closed-cell-foam—which is yet another building block of his custom-crafted, ocean-going Dinghy.

The Dinghy’s sail, which he also built himself, is a Chinese junk rig--a style that dates back 2,000 years. He chose its type, he says for its ease to handle. The Dinghy’s worldwide circumnavigating cruise will be powered by two (2) twenty-four (24)-volt electric motors built especially for use in salt water and continuous run; as well as by three solar panels, plus a wind generator and a motion generator.

His wardrobe will include a survival suit, along with an array of 15th Century sailing regalia, which he also, unlike Hollywood hopefuls, designed and tailored himself. In fact, he purchased the fabric and sewing supplies at local fabric stores in Louisiana and Texas, and tailored his suits without the aid of a clothing pattern.

Sewing he did by hand and on a portable sewing machine.

The script for his role-of-a-lifetime, will consist of 14-legs (or installments), to be performed atop the world’s ocean stage and about which he comments, “Now, this role that I have cast myself in can be considered more like a treatment than anything.”

(Treatment is a term used in the television and motion picture industries which refers to a preliminary outline of a film or teleplay, laying out the key scenes, characters and locales). The Admiral continues, “It will be reality-based—and with Mother Nature co-starring, as well as assuming the role of self-appointed set decorator throughout all 14 legs or installments of my Voyage, my ocean stage and action is liable to change from being a calm and serene scene at sea one moment, to being a thunderous and life-threatening fight for survival scene in the middle of a savage sea the next. It will be Mother Nature’s call every time. What happens from moment to moment will be revealed to me and to my audience at the same time—so they will want to stay tuned!”

Following the first leg of his Voyage--the USA (a trailer-sail Cruise), he will continue with Leg #2 of his Voyage by circumnavigating Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. Then he will trailer-sail west across Mexico, heading onto and across the Pacific Ocean toward Tahiti, Australia, Japan, China, the Indian Ocean and Africa. The Red Sea will follow, along with cruises around Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain and Gibraltar. A final leg on the Atlantic Ocean will allow him to cruise onto Miami’s shore, which he has penciled in as the final destination to complete his around-the-world voyage.

The Admiral is also generating his own audience with the establishment of Admiral Dingy’s Nautical Mile Trackers’ Club whose card-carrying members will be entitled to play an active role throughout his worldwide Voyage via Nautical Mile Sponsorships. Club member/sponsors will not only be able to keep track of the sea adventurer’s whereabouts, but they will also have as much access to him as possible via the Internet as he cruises along. To join Admiral Dingy’s Nautical Mile Trackers’ Club, visit his website at www.admiraldinghy.com.

Prior to and in between his departure on the first and second legs of his 14-leg Voyage, Admiral Dingy will be available for personal appearances and speaking engage-ments at group meetings, private parties and public events. In addition to his entertaining personality, he will offer updates on his voyage status, as well as talks about the building of his Dinghy, the rescue and emergency equipment that he will be relying upon to assure his safety while at sea; and he will also focus on the design and construction techniques that he used in the tailoring of his 15th Century-style wardrobe.

And if William Shakespeare were still around today, he would surely be applauding Admiral Dingy’s accomplishments thus far; and would be eager to see more.

For personal appearance and speaking engagement information and bookings, contact Admiral Dingy’s land crew via the Speaking Engagements page online at www.admiraldinghy.com.

###

For more information, please contact Nora Gutierrez—Public Relations Counsel to Admiral Dingy at (713) 377-2006.; or at ngharrah@yahoo.com.

Introducing Work Sharp WS3000
The Wood Tool Sharpener

Professional Tool Manufacturing offers NEW Cutting Edge Sharpening Technology - Work Sharp WS3000, The Wood Tool Sharpener

Ashland, OR – Professional Tool Manufacturing, best known for the Drill Doctor drill bit sharpener and the Darex industrial sharpener, has introduced The Work Sharp Wood Tool Sharpener for sharpening a broad array of woodworking tools including chisels, plane irons, spoke shaves, carving tools and lathe tools. With the introduction of Work Sharp, the message is clear: Professional Tool Manufacturing is the company that makes sharpening easy, fast and precise.

Designed for both woodworking hobbyists and fine woodworking professionals, Work Sharp solves several common woodworking problems associated with sharpening hand tools: inconsistent results, grinding/honing the proper edge, keeping bevel edges square and grinding the entire bevel face.

“This is a major advance in sharpening – just like Darex and Drill Doctor – with tremendous impact on woodworkers and how they work,” explained Kevin Blodgett, Director of Marketing, Professional Tool Manufacturing. “We developed this tool to simplify basic sharpening principles, deliver consistent and repeatable results for proper angles while keeping bevel edges square and grinding the entire bevel edge.”

Industry research has shown that woodworkers are faced with challenges that are so highly complicated that only the best sharpeners could do a superb job. People either set aside their tools to be sharpened later, forced their way ahead with inadequately sharpened tools or had to send them out to be sharpened.

Work Sharp reduces sharpening time dramatically, eliminates the mess and hassle of sharpening and lets you shape and hone with a single simple machine. Woodworkers can sharpen and get right back to work – without losing momentum. Utilizing cutting-edge technology – including an air-cooled, dry-sharpening system, a tempered glass grinding wheel for adhering adhesive backed abrasives to and a powerful 1/5 hp motor with a gear reduced wheel speed of 580 RPM. Work Sharp’s sharpening port provides woodworkers with a maintenance-free, easy-to-use method that delivers precise and repeatable bevel angles of 20, 25, 30 and 35 degrees for chisels and plan irons up to two inches wide.

To make this dry system effective, Work Sharp cools while it sharpens – using routed airflow from the motor and a heat sink design – so heat is dissipated by the sharpener instead of damaging the edge you just sharpened.

Work Sharp comes with two double-side tempered glass wheels so you can quickly switch between 4 grits of abrasives as you move from rough shaping to honing. And when you need to replace the abrasive, just pull off the old one and lay down a new one. These six-inch adhesive backed abrasive disks are widely available or can be purchased from Work Sharp.

Work Sharp also offers an innovative slotted ‘see through’ wheel, which allows you to see the cutting edges of carving and lathe tools as you sharpen. This is a breakthrough in sharpening technology and provides the user with optimum control, visibility and versatility. Work Sharp provides slotted abrasives for this innovative wheel design in 4 different grit abrasives so you can grind, sharpen and hone all using this slotted ‘see through’ wheel.

Priced at $199.95, Work Sharp offers an affordable and dependable option to other methods and tools which range from a simple stone and honing jig to top of the line sharpeners that retail for more than $400.

How Work Sharp works:

  • Determine the tool type and sharpening angle
  • Set the angle of the sharpening port to desired angle
  • Select the right abrasive for the job
  • Flatten tool back on top of wheel
  • Place tool in sharpening port
  • Slide tool into sharpening port between fence and guide rail to contact abrasive
  • Repeat process until tool has reached desired finish or sharpness

Professional Tool Manufacturing, located in Ashland, Oregon, is an industry leader in sharpening tools and technologies. For more information, visit www.worksharptools.com.


Jack Rubinger
Media Relations
4415 SE 30th Avenue
Portland OR 97202
503-788-7325
jackrubinger@comcast.net


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