Duck Flat Wooden Boats were my main plans agents in Australia these are photos and comments from a recent visit – they are working on a fast plywood trimaran, 40ft steam liveaboard boat, kayak, rowboat and a Hartley Powerboat restoration
See this link for current details of where to get Storer Boat Plans and Kits in Australia.
I’m in Adelaide to go to a friend’s wedding. It’s a bit surprising to feel winter! I have managed to avoid winter for a couple of years in my travels.
Anyway … Duck Flat is always interesting for the variety of wooden boat and wooden object items they are building. Anyone for a new wooden chassis for a Morgan roadster?
Ducks are busy with a number of significant boatbuilding projects. I’ll go through them one by one.
Fast plywood trimaran designed by Bob Forster.
Very nice lines for a cold moulded plywood trimaran. Similar in some ways to the Farrier trimarans. Light ply skin over stringers and has a folding system for trailering.
It’s built in a female mould in two halves then the halves are united. It is going to be a very sleek and quick little boat.
Steam Launch “Blinky Bill” 40ft by 10ft.
This is a big project. It will have a steam powerplant based on a Vosper unit. The steam plant was built by Len, the current owner’s father. The hull is very light and narrow to minimise resistance. That’s the secret of the economy of these types of boats. Make them wider or deeper and they are expensive to run. It is expected that on the river the 10hp steam unit will give the boat about 8 knots based on a series of simlar boats that Duck Flat has done over the years.
Restoration of a Hartley half cabin Launch.
A couple of years ago Pat (the owner) did a simple restoration of an older Hartley Speedboat. Now they are doing the same for this hull that was brought down from Queensland.
This is the previous one. The idea is to retain as much as possible of the original structure, but consolidate the structure with epoxy boatbuilding methods then seal it with epoxy to produce a low maintenance hull. The aim in never to change tooo much of the boat so it looks very much like a 1960s boat still. This is the previous one they did.
CLC LT17 Kayak and Oughtred Acorn 15.
These two are part of the ongoing weekly classes. A group of six student builders are putting these together over the next six months. At the end the boats will be for sale. If you are interested in doing a course but are not so local the vacation Spring and Autumn boatbuilding schools that have been going for years are a good idea – build your own boat. 10 solid days of boatbuilding.
Slideshow of Duck Flat Visit
