Small boats constructed

By John Arendt - Summerland Review - April 24, 2008

o Puddle Duck Hatch will take place next month

A building bee scheduled for next month will add more puddle duck boats to the province’s fleet.

The Summerland Timber Mart Puddle Duck Hatch will take place on the weekend of May 23 to 25 at the Summerland Curling Club.

Gordon Seiter, organizer of the event, hopes to have at least eight boats constructed.

This would bring the number of the boats in the province to 29, more than anywhere else in the world.

Puddle duck boats are small sail boats which can be built cheaply and easily, Seiter says.

On the Friday, teams of at least two to three people will cut the wood and assemble the hull.

On Saturday, they will manufacture the rudder, keel board, mast and sail and will paint the boats.

On Sunday, they will take to the water.

There are now around 240 of the boats registered worldwide, including several in Summerland and the rest of the region. Seiter believe the appeal of the boats is in their basic design.

“We keep it extremely simple,” he says. “It’s the simplest boat you can build and race on a regular basis.”

This is the third year Summerland has hosted a boat building weekend.

In addition, Summerland hosted the world championships for puddle duck racing last year.

A total of eight boats were in the race, all from within B.C.

This year, Seiter would like to arrange for a contingent of boats and boaters to attend the Toledo Wooden Boat Show in Toledo, Oregon.

Email | Print | Letter to Editor | Share on Facebook

Small boats constructed

Most read in your Region

Most read across BC