Here are links to other steps of the Puddle Duck Build

• Part One, What's a Puddle Duck?
• Starting to Build
• My Puddle Duck Racer goes 3D It's official, I get my hull number.
• Next, I add flotation compartment.
• Bottom gets fiberglassed and Gunnels are added.
• Daggerboard case and seat get made.
• Making the daggerboard.
• Adding weight to the daggerboard
• Making the kick up rudder along with a tiller.
• I made a wooden sprit
• Finishing the carbon fibre mast I made a few years ago.
• Replaced the Broken Carbon Fibre mast with a wooden one.
• My PDR gets a mast step, plus side and front decks and more glass
• Finally Finishing the hull
• The Duck gets some hardware
• I make a Sail for the Puddle Duck
• My Puddle Duck Gets Launched!!

I clamped the front, back, and sides together to see if things go together. I have a corner angle jig that helps me clamp angles accurately. I also have a good set square to check that everything is square.

4 sides glued and temporarily screwed. I used string on the sides and diagonals to pull in the pieces. Once set I glued on the top chine on the front and back. These are glued proud of the bottom edge so the angle can be adjusted to follow the hull curve and give a good area for gluing. The blue crosspiece is an aluminium extrusion I'm using to check that the angle is the same as the side.

There are various angles where the sticks meet so a few places have to be fitted. I used a combination of plane and belt sander to cut the angle.

The whole assembly is pretty wobbly at this point but the corners are well glued and square. Many people have tried Polyurethane Glues such as PL Premium. It works well particularly if there are screws to clamp the pieces. People also used ring nails instead of screws and leave them in.

I made sure the pieces were square and carefully put the bottom on but with no glue yet. I made sure the bottom was still square then put a few temporary screws in to check the fit. Since my bottom is oversize I don't have to worry about lining it up perfectly. The screws will help align the bottom on when I have applied the glue.

I made sure the pieces were square and carefully put the bottom on but with no glue yet. I made sure the bottom was still square then put a few temporary screws in to check the fit. Since my bottom is oversize I don't have to worry about lining it up perfectly. The screws will help align the bottom on when I have applied the glue.

Once the bottom was temporarily screwed on I checked the alignment. Then I removed the screws at the front end of the boat and glued about 4 feet. First I painted the surfaces with liquid resin, then added the thickened stuff. I put my screws back in but not overly tight. Epoxy likes to have a loose clamping so that it is not starved of glue. I used my foot to pull down the bottom while I screwed the temporary screws in. I could have used weights. I then went to the back, removed the screws there, put my glue on and replaced the screws to tighten the back end. Doing the assembly this way helped keep the boat less floppy and aligned properly. I'm working alone so it's not easy to just lightly drop the bottom on without disturbing the sides. At this point my boat was 3-D and I was entitled to apply for a hull number. I sent an email to Shorty with a photo of the boat assembled, he's the designer, and he sent me back my hull number. I have hull number 457! My boat will be called Kwaker Jack.

For a list of international PDR builders list, check out the official website.

In the world of Puddle Duck Racers, once you have assembled your basic hull you say it is 3-D. You then take a photo and send it to Shorty at the pdr official website and he assigns you a hull number.

When I screwed the bottom on, I used little squares of plywood to prevent the screw from marking the bottom. After allowing the epoxy to set up I removed the screws and the little plywood squares. Some had gotten glued on but I used an old chisel and knocked them off.

I used the router with a cutting bit and a guide bearing to cut the bottom even to the sides.

I used my Makita router to cut the bottom to size on the sides since they are at right angle. The front and back I cut with a Japanese saw. I then used the orbital sander to smooth out the cuts. I now have a bottom that fits perfectly.

I expect I will round the edges slightly because I plan to use very thin fiberglass cloth on the bottom and bring it over to the sides about an inch. My boat club is quite rough on boat bottoms.

Being an old fart who has tinkered all her life, I'm lucky to have a good collection of tools. This is not necessary for building a Puddle Duck Racer. If I had to list the basic minimum required I would say, a jig saw, screw driver, a caulking gun if you plan to use pl premium glue, a drill is nice, a random orbital sander is nice, a small block plane is useful to trim the angle of the boards to fit the boat together but I suppose you could sand it with coarse paper, clamps and more clamps, a measuring tape, a square, rubber gloves for epoxy, painting supplies. It's useful to know someone who has a table saw to cut down lumber and help make masts and spars. Access to a computer is also useful because there is lots of info online and many Puddle Duck Videos on Youtube.

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emails: Christine

This web site reflects my personal ideas and doesn't represent anyone else's point of view.