Stern Paddle Wheel Box Boat

Article By Tim Pickles


Tim Pickles sent me these pictures of this stern paddle wheel boat he built.



Also from Tim:
I tried to build these "Christmas boats" with a 2 foot radius for the 1/4 inch plywood. Good God! Don't do it! I made one that way and could barely get it glued up. My wife and I were both sitting on the plywood trying to weigh it down and screw it into position. We just barely were able to get it into position. I ended up using a 3 foot radius on the bend for the others and that was much more "doable." Here's my overall plan - I am building 4. One for each niece and nephew. They will be big enough to hold the niece/nephew and a parent for safety reasons!!

Note from Shorty:
Aren't they just addicting to build? So simple, so quick, yet they really work great as boats. I showed a non-boating friend of mine my plank rat and he just loved the idea. He was a very handy guy, and had all the raw materials at home. That night, he described what he was going to build and his family thought he was crazy. So he got out the saw, a couple of planks and quickly nailed one together. They were all pessimistic till he put it in their pool and gave it a shove. It floated across the pool, then one of his daughters climbed in and claimed it for herself ! The had a neighbor's kid over, and that kid left the yard running, came back with his father a couple minutes later and turns out his father was a "real boat builder", who was making a large lapstrake boat, which he had been working on for the previous 2 years.

At this point, the whole family changed their mind, and all wanted one, even the neighbor kid. So he built 4 more of them over the next couple of days and then went camping that weekend. They all had a fun time paddling them in the river and camped on the shore that night.