Bunny R. / Laura B. Lobster Boat
Hello everyone,
Now that my father's getting close to finishing his "Spur II"
rowing boat(I'll post some more pic.s soon in Bolger4photos group
files section-there are some new one's showing all the planking
done) he's about to embark on a slightly larger project!, A "Bunny
R." / "Laura B." Gloucester Lobsterboat.(28' x 10' x 2'9") designed
by Bolger (Of course!) from the plans in Harold "Dynamite" Payson's
book "Boat Modeling, The Easy Way, - A Scratch Builder's
Guide". Yes it will be a fullsize one, not a model, built from
premium Tasmanian boat building timber. Yesterday he went up to
Smithtown in the far north-west of Tasmania and paid Britton Bros.
Mill a tidy some of money for just about all the timber needed to
build the boat and got a really good deal as all the timber is fully
seasoned and the timbers for the backbone (Tasmanian Oak) have
already been dressed, so that'll save a bit of time and cost. Also
when he was up there the manager of the saw mill took him aside and
showed him some unseasoned celery-top pine(really good boat-building
timber) that he could have for free! enough to do all the ribs in
the lobster boat and more, maybe even build one or two small boats
from!(My choice would be for a car-toppable, Bolger designed strip-
planked "Wide-Stern" motor canoe as featured in Bolger's
book "BWAOM".)
I'm still waiting on Phil and Susanne to finish the plans
for "Silver Blaze" a 26'0" x 6'6" fast "Torpedo-Sterned" inboard
runabout based apon the "Snow Leopard" model plans, so when they're
ready(When, who knows?!!) the construction of that craft might have
to be delayed a bit(Until the Lobsterboat is finished).
I reckon that with some help from my brother and myself, a year to
18 months will be all it'll take for my father to build the Lobster
Boat. Last time I talked to Phil and Susanne on the phone I told
them not to hurry over the design!- maybe a mistake as I'm fairly
keen to see it.
Anyway the Lobsterboat will be a good boat, almost twice as fast
as my father's "Merlin" aka "Marina Cruiser" from "BWAOM" and will
allow us to get to the Furneaux Island group(Flinder's Island etc.)
in Bass Strait in a bout 8 hours cruising from Port Sorell in
Northen Tasmania.The fishing around these islands is very good
indeed!. All up the finished Lobster Boat will probably cost us
about $25000.00c (AuD) which is about $18000.00c (UsD) really good
value when you consider that here in Tasmania a 18' Aluminium
runabout fully fitted out with motors and accessories and trailer is
about 30-35K (AuD).
I'll let everyone know how the progress is going and post some
picture when the construction starts, maybe in a month or two. Maybe
a new Bolger group (Bolger5) will have to be created as I've noticed
that there is only a limited amount of space left in the files
sections of all the Bolger groups, except the Bolger "Coffee Lounge"
and Bolger "Rants" group, but these two groups have very few members.
It's a pity there couldn't be one large group site for all the
Bolger Boat photos and Files etc., but I suppose that would have to
be a subscriber, pay as you use site, which considering that I don't
have any credit cards wouldn't be of much use to me!
Hugo Tyson, in sunny Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
Now that my father's getting close to finishing his "Spur II"
rowing boat(I'll post some more pic.s soon in Bolger4photos group
files section-there are some new one's showing all the planking
done) he's about to embark on a slightly larger project!, A "Bunny
R." / "Laura B." Gloucester Lobsterboat.(28' x 10' x 2'9") designed
by Bolger (Of course!) from the plans in Harold "Dynamite" Payson's
book "Boat Modeling, The Easy Way, - A Scratch Builder's
Guide". Yes it will be a fullsize one, not a model, built from
premium Tasmanian boat building timber. Yesterday he went up to
Smithtown in the far north-west of Tasmania and paid Britton Bros.
Mill a tidy some of money for just about all the timber needed to
build the boat and got a really good deal as all the timber is fully
seasoned and the timbers for the backbone (Tasmanian Oak) have
already been dressed, so that'll save a bit of time and cost. Also
when he was up there the manager of the saw mill took him aside and
showed him some unseasoned celery-top pine(really good boat-building
timber) that he could have for free! enough to do all the ribs in
the lobster boat and more, maybe even build one or two small boats
from!(My choice would be for a car-toppable, Bolger designed strip-
planked "Wide-Stern" motor canoe as featured in Bolger's
book "BWAOM".)
I'm still waiting on Phil and Susanne to finish the plans
for "Silver Blaze" a 26'0" x 6'6" fast "Torpedo-Sterned" inboard
runabout based apon the "Snow Leopard" model plans, so when they're
ready(When, who knows?!!) the construction of that craft might have
to be delayed a bit(Until the Lobsterboat is finished).
I reckon that with some help from my brother and myself, a year to
18 months will be all it'll take for my father to build the Lobster
Boat. Last time I talked to Phil and Susanne on the phone I told
them not to hurry over the design!- maybe a mistake as I'm fairly
keen to see it.
Anyway the Lobsterboat will be a good boat, almost twice as fast
as my father's "Merlin" aka "Marina Cruiser" from "BWAOM" and will
allow us to get to the Furneaux Island group(Flinder's Island etc.)
in Bass Strait in a bout 8 hours cruising from Port Sorell in
Northen Tasmania.The fishing around these islands is very good
indeed!. All up the finished Lobster Boat will probably cost us
about $25000.00c (AuD) which is about $18000.00c (UsD) really good
value when you consider that here in Tasmania a 18' Aluminium
runabout fully fitted out with motors and accessories and trailer is
about 30-35K (AuD).
I'll let everyone know how the progress is going and post some
picture when the construction starts, maybe in a month or two. Maybe
a new Bolger group (Bolger5) will have to be created as I've noticed
that there is only a limited amount of space left in the files
sections of all the Bolger groups, except the Bolger "Coffee Lounge"
and Bolger "Rants" group, but these two groups have very few members.
It's a pity there couldn't be one large group site for all the
Bolger Boat photos and Files etc., but I suppose that would have to
be a subscriber, pay as you use site, which considering that I don't
have any credit cards wouldn't be of much use to me!
Hugo Tyson, in sunny Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.