TOPIC: I'm thinking Popular Mechanics

I don't know what to make of this thing...so naturally I had to buy it.

Looks like a PM plan boat to me. It's mainly plywood with a fiberglass skin...so of course the fiberglass skin is peeling off in sheets.
It's powered by Ford V8 - I think - which is closed system cooled by means of a radiator and fan. No - really.
Propulsion is furnished by the primordial sterndrive that you see. Any thoughts on what that is will be most appreciated. It does not tilt. It rotates by means of a lever in the engine bay.
Steering is accomplished via about 80 feet of bicycle chain from the helm to a shaft - back to the transom - then to the sterndrive unit.

As big as it is it's not very heavy. I've towed far worse - although nothing this goofy.

Ok - guys - now what?

Peter
Livin' the Dream
in Denver

you know how to find em Peter! LOL Wow that is cool. Looks pregnant whatever it is. Probably Pop mech like you say.
cool
Jim

OK,
Call me crazy, but I am a fan of the old plywood PM type projects. My last set of plans I purchased was for the HB20 sold by Bateau. I like the box type house looking boats. They are fantastic for shallow draft slow cruising on sheltered waters, and they are light as you know.
I think it is great !!!!

I know....it's really kind of interesting....and it's actually rather solid..it might not have to become the coolest playhouse ever.

I'll have to fill a thermos full of Rum and Coke and spend the evening plumbing the depths of Popular Mechanics.

When you think about it...the builder spend some serious money for that sterndrive and V8 setup. You'd expect to find an outrigger and twin outboards wouldn't you?

Peter
It's a conundrum
in Denver

Marty Loken has identified it!!!

It's a Voyageur. An outboard boat Designed by William D. Jackson, a Naval Architect from Bass Lake Indiana.

He's regarded as the father of Plywood Boat Design.

Here's the original plan listing

www.dngoodchild.com/5181.htm

Here's a piece about him...
www.floatyourboat.info/jackson.html

Amazing what this here Interweb can produce huh?

As Marty said - there were probably very few built and fewer still survive. This could be the only one - and with that bizarro sterndrive.

Peter
Just what I needed - a legacy boat
in Denver

WOW !!,
Now that is some great history there. She may well be worth saving and using. It makes me wonder how many plywood boats are still out there sitting in an old shed or barn, still complete and with minor damage? There were MANY wooden boats built from plywood. My last plywood boat was a boat I built from a design by Jim Michalak. I frequently cruise by Duckworks and look at the wood boat projects. Wood can last a LONG time when properly cared for. Honestly, no material is stronger pound for pound than plywood. It deadens sound, takes a beating and is easy to sand and paint whenever you like a little color change.
I actually broke out the HB20 Bateau plans at lunch and now you have me all excited to go build something. I think a bearcat 55 on the back of the HB20 would be the ticket!

It would be my guess Peter has one of the boats built by the architect. Most people wouldn't paint the boat exactly like the pictures shown in the magazines. Or would they?

The old girl looks good in the water. I kinda like it.

Dan Smith wrote:

It would be my guess Peter has one of the boats built by the architect. Most people wouldn't paint the boat exactly like the pictures shown in the magazines. Or would they?

That would be awesome and apparently Jackson did build one of almost all of the boats he did the plans for.
I've wondered about this...it's built very well. The door to the head doubles as the door to the cabin and it's straight and true as it swings and fits into two jambs. Whoever built it knew what they were doing.

But

The windows aren't the same and the boat in the plan presentation is outboard powered. The piece even states performance with an Evinrude 30. This one has a Ford V8 with what might be an Eaton sterndrive.

That I/O unit got my attention big time. I spent a few hours trying to identify it but had no luck.

If I can't even identify it, parts must be flown if from Mars or somewhere even farther.

Hmmm - reverse engineered in Area 51 eh?

Indeed - and you have resources and experience.

I've ruled out Eaton...I can't find a photo of a Muncie but I don't think it's that...For sure not Volvo...somebody suggested first generation Mercury...The casting is Aluminum - not brass or bronze. Maybe it, too, was a Popular Workbench Project. "Save Money - Make Your Own SternDrive!"

There is an ID tag on the top that's been covered over with epoxy paint as was used on the hull. This weekend I'm going to try to gingerly remove paint to try and see if I can find anything out without destroying what's underneath. There's a number on the side of the leg - also under epoxy - looks like FD150-53. I also got a better look under that awful plastic fin - the cavitation plate is huge! I'll have more over the weekend.

So, with an outbd the draft is 3". With a Martian I/O, the draft must be a few inches more. Still very shallow.

I would think of 2 negatives:

1) It must ride a bit rough.

2) Slow speeds in a cross wind must blow you sideways like right now.

But with that said, you have to take into account the intended use of the boat. Back when designs like these were conceived, it was not intended to be a deep V hull to navigate chop, and the design was surely never intended to be used on open waters.
The primary advantages of this design, were incredibly shallow draft, most not more than 2 to 3 inches, maximized interior space due to the hull shape being so boxey, and the cost of construction. The link below shows an early Mechanix Illustrated design from 1973. This design was the basis for the HB20 design currently sold by Bateau. Many of these boats were built and in most cases served the purpose of a sheltered waters shallow draft family fun platform that could be kept close to home on a local lake or slow river. Owners of these boats understand well that you don't take a chop at 30 MPH with one. You also don't take one out in heavy wind and expect it to hold position and not act like a sail.
My last bill of materials for this design showed a materials cost of about 2500 for all the wood needed. It could be cheaper if you used all exterior grade plywood and not marine ply. For a boat like this, I would use exterior AB grade ply. Here is the link to the free plans for the 1973 budget houseboat from Svensons.

www.svensons.com/boat/?p=MechanixIllustrated/BudgetHouseBoat

Hopefully someone can use them. Svensons has many free plans for wood boats from days gone by.

But before you build one you'd check out these...
charlotte.craigslist.org/boa/1801154641.html
huntsville.craigslist.org/boa/1794733963.html
springfieldil.craigslist.org/boa/1798512837.html
louisville.craigslist.org/boa/1792558945.html
southjersey.craigslist.org/boa/1794839439.html
minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/boa/1782995357.html

It's amazing what's out there for houseboats.

These exceed the $3,000 it'd cost - not including labor - to build the one you cite - but they're very interesting...
Living in Redwood City for $550/month?
or the houseboat from Cape Fear?

sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/boa/1799747180.html
sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/boa/1796266998.html

Peter_Crowl wrote:

But before you build one you'd check out these...

minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/boa/1782995357.html

It's amazing what's out there for houseboats.

So, I just got home from the lake, Lake Chetek, Chetek, WI and read this post. Interesting...

There have been over the years a few houseboats. I suppose I've seen it at one time or another.

Jim

There sure are a lot of them out there and if you avoid ones that are
"Stick Built" I think some in the $3,000 price range could be a good buy.

I had a Yukon Delta that suffered from wood rot - it wasn't a lot of fun. But there are those that are fiberglass and don't have flat tops that pond and fail.

There is something about those 50's Plan Houseboats though. They remind me of Mom's kitchen from those days :~) I imagine they're a heck of a lot of work to build though...but then any of the $3K Houseboats you find will require restoration. Maybe not as much as Heathers but...:~)

Oh - and - the sterndrive has been identified.
Muncie.
Credit where credit is due - Dave Moerke found it.
This one would seem to be a smaller unit - mine has a larger cavitation plate and is behind about twice the horsepower.

I have to agree with the comments made concerning the cost of "restoration". Once you purchase a houseboat such as a Yukon Delta, you will most likely find that the repair costs will run you into the thousands easily. I had the chance to buy several old houseboats over the past few years for pretty cheap. My biggest hangup was the cost of repairs, compared to the cost of raw materials that are new.

I once read a statement by a boat designer that said, "if you build a boat so large you can't move it, you'll likely never use it".
I agree with that statement since most larger houseboats in the 24 to 34 foot range are well over the 8 foot 6 inch wide mark which makes them difficult to move around. Once you acquire a permit to trailer it, you have to leave it docked somewhere and pay a slip fee. I personally like to pull my boats out of the water after use and trailer them back to the storage location.

I can see both sides of the coin, but my personal feeling is that building something from scratch such as this great old PM boat, gives a person the opportunity to know exactly what they have when it is done. It may take 6 months working a few hours a week to do it, but half the fun in this hobby is the journey IMHO. Wood can be sealed and protected using many different materials such as copper napthenate and other well known preservatives. They are good at what they do. There is a reason that the good ole military uses copper napthenate to protect wood and canvas. That nice moth ball smell lets you know the copper is there.

Sorry to rant on. I just have a passion for the old houseboats, but I suppose my passion has to do with sawdust and the sense of accomplishment when it is finally done and floating.

I found this on the net and think it's brilliant. Best read in the voice of Red Green :~)

December 15, 2000
A Few Small Boat Opinions
Advice For Amateur Boat Builders
By Robb White
I have an ad in two boat magazines where I say that I am a small boat builder. Because of those ads, I get a lot of mail from people who want to build a small boat or a bunch of small boats. Since I have been struggling in this business for nearly forty years, they think I know what's up and they have a few questions. Because I believe that the beautiful work of capable amateurs is the best thing to keep the old craft going, I do the best I can to help out. Here is what I tell them:

First, there ain't no money in it. The nearest thing I can think of like building small boats for a living is writing poetry for a living. I tell them they need a mentor. My wife fills that role for me. She is a school teacher and is very generous with her money. She knows how to live poor too.

Second, anybody who thinks that any person can build a boat as cheap as people in a factory can is a fool, Even if you use sheathing grade plywood on stud grade "Paul Bunyan" fastened with drywall screws and "liquid nails" and then paint it with latex house paint, unless your time is worthless the boat is still going to cost you more than a cheap aluminum butthead (appropriately called a "Honkey Drownder" around here). So you say... "I don't like aluminum boats".

Well, I don't like temporary boats made out of trash. I wouldn't participate in any "Quick and Dirty" Contest even if first prize was a whole case of polyurethane crack filling dook even though I would be a shoo-in since I once (when I was 30 years old) completely planked an 18'round-sided, lapstrake dory skiff in one day. Of course, I had pulled and plarled the lumber the day before. What I am getting at is that a boat that you build yourself is going to become very dear to you no matter what kind of a piece of junk it is and when it self-destructs, it will break your heart. Since you can't build a boat as cheap as a bunch of desperados with chopper guns sucking the juice from a pallet load of fifty five gallon drums, you might as well do what no factory can... build a boat that is far better than any manufactured boat ever was.

Any capable amateur can do that. It is even possible that you might able to starve along until you can attract the few widely scattered people in the world who will pay what it costs to have the best small boat ever made. Strip-planked wood boats, properly glued and sheathed inside and out with epoxy and fiberglass are the strongest and longest lasting small boats ever within the reach of an amateur builder. Though building a boat like that is not easy and takes so many hours that few professionals find it profitable, it is possible to build a truly wonderful boat with little previous experience.

Here is what I would do if I were starting out right now. I would build one of those little strip planked Wee Lassies from a kit. You can worry about your dignity so much that you never do anything in your spare time but wash the car, cut the grass and participate in political discussions. Until you have wedged your ass tight into something like a Wee Lassie and paddled off up a little creek somewhere, you ain't really got the goody out of life. You can drag one of those little things through the bushes with a string and put it into a piece of water that has never floated a boat before. AlI the wonderful things you can do with such boat is beyond the scope of this advice but your great grandchildren will jump for joy when they find that tiny wonder... still as good as the day you made it.

After you get that done and learn all about little pieces of wood and epoxy and fiberglass, then you can hunt around for the plans for a little more boat. I'll tell you something for a fact though. The joy of boats is inversely proportional to their size. The dwindling starts when you get to where you can't carry it in one hand and the fishing pole in the other and keeps on getting worse from there until you get to the bottom-job and joker-valve stage.

There ain't no joy left when they get big enough to grow oysters on the bottom and have a plumbed in toilet and deck leaks and electrolysis and lightning struck electrical system and rusted out exhaust elbow and fuel in the bilge and osmosis blisters all over the bottom and mold on the mattress and mushrooms on the stem and leaks in the deck and frazzles in the running rigging and cracks in the swage and leaks in the deck and galled shaft in the stuffing box and penetration in the core and deterioration of the hoses and cormorant doo-doo on the teak and leaks in the deck and stoppages in the fuel system and worry in the the thru-the-hulls and leaks in the deck.

You know, having a big boat is kind of like what happened to... well.... it is a little attractive at first thought I guess, and there is probably a little thrill to it while it is still in the oval office stage, but you know what is going to happen... serious trouble. Best thing to do when you get thinking about something that will get you in a bad fix is to buy one of those big shiny magazines and just look at the pictures. You can build any kind of boat by the strip-plank method. It is not all that hard to carve a model and take the lines off, loft them up and build to your own notion. Or you can adapt the plans for any round bilged boat to work with strips. I'll give you a hint for the second boat after you have built the tiny ca-noe. Weston Fanner published the plans for a sport boat type skiff called "Dolly Varden" in the old Science & Mechanics Magazine. It was designed to be strip planked. One nifty trick with that boat was that the garboard strakes were shaped so that once you got them done, even though all the other strips were parallel sided, they did not have to take the cheap-shot of running out on the sheer. A skiff like that, epoxified inside and out with fiberglass sheath-ing, will stay with you and be such a joy that it will become a treasured heirloom.

I checked with young Wes Farmer (damn near as old as me) and he does not have the plans for "Dolly Vardell" but I bet a little relentless pursuit would scratch up Boat Builder's Handbook put out by Science and Mechanics Magazine, 505 Park Ave., Department 2196, New York 22, NY (for what that's worth since that address was way before they invented zip codes). "Dolly Varden, Craft Print Project 179" is on page 103. The plans were $1.00, post paid in 1960 but if you can find that book you don't need them because my old hero, Weston Farmer, gives you all the plans you need and tells exactly how to build that wonderful boat in his clean concise style right there in the article. Of course, epoxy has changed all that and you can leave out the frames and all now.

My last opinion is to ignore all the opinions of others including mine. If you want to build a boat, build it just to suit you and I give you joy of the relentless pursuit.

HERE HERE !!!!!

Well said and THANKS for a great article. Nice digging on that one mate !!!!!!

Hmmm...I find I must eat my words. In the " ugly boat thread", I surmised that a marine architech was not involved in the design of that boat. Apparently, one was. The engine appears to be a Ford
"Y" block, introduced in 1954 and available over the years as 239, 256, 272, 292, and 312 cubic inches. It's certainly an unusual looking rig !

glad to see it went to you peter and will get restored

thank thad

glad to see it went to you peter and will get restored

thank thad

Wow. What an interesting find, and commentary.

I'm curious what the thinking was behind the radiator rather than just sucking cold water out of the lake. "Designed" for use in salt water perhaps?

A previous poster is correct. This site www.svensons.com/boat/ is an excellent resource for FREE old handyman boat plans.

One site I visited who sells old boat plans just emailed back indicating to me that one I was interested in is a reprint of the same article available at that site.

I've picked one, the PARTI-O [ ], for my first wood boat project but am redesiging it into a pre-nuclear era space explorer/house boat [seen below]. I don't think anyone has done anything like it before.

I've never built a wood boat but figure the fiberglass Batboat is the next closest thing except I'll be putting a skin over the structurals.

For those like me who are intimidated by wood boats and $$$ the expense, there is a guy on youtube that shows step by step in painstaking detail how to build one; "redbarnboats"[/color] www.youtube.com/user/redbarnboats