Wife bought me a nice little book cheaper than the original cover price ,decided nice little paddle tug would be the next project enlarged the drawing in the book to desired size hull will be 30"(760mm)long keel and frames were laser cut will build the hull and plank then cut out for the paddle boxes ,don't know if this is the right way but it made sense to me

keel frames and deck together ,couldn't remember if you planked in two halfs and then joined together so put it together and will plank alternative sides some fettleling and sanding to do first .

while the paddles are on the drawing board being redrawn as I drew them with 8 spokes then realised there should only have been 7 thought i would have a stab at the paddle boxes ,bendy MDF and bendy ply yah beauty made it slightly easier to get the curves .long live the wood workshop scrap bin or as the good lady calls it the back bedroom .

after a few attempts trying to master the CAD drawing malarky i think I finally got it to do what i wanted ,it was so much easier with a pair a of dividers , pencil and a ruler but alas the laser doesn't do old school .Very pleased with the results .👍

Started to put the wheels together ,joy of the laser is it fitted together nice and neat👍

So while things dry on the paddles started on the superstructures, yard manager on board with hands in pockets old school no hard hat .next stop decking and hull

Whilst things are sticking and drying ,I noticed in the book it mentions "at bow and stern were short "turtle deck" covers ,the drawings not very clear and looking on internet got lots of info about garden decking. So question is,is it a curved cover as seen on the bows of trawlers? or am I barking up the wrong tree. Any help appreciated book also says these were removed later on in her career so I can omit them if need be.

Cheers Marky

Well it took a little while but the planking on the hull starting to take shape ,planking is 10mm strips of 1mm thick aero birch ply, nice and bend, time to order up the family size tin of filler.

Hot off the laser the sheets for the decking ,have used strips (coffee stirrers )for decking previously but thought if I can access the technology why not use it.decking is 1.5mm thick oak faced ply sheet 1m x500 lasered every 5mm then cut to the desired sizes

Came home today to what looked like a disaster but after a few well chosen words it wasn't as bad as first thought for some reason known only to the glue one side of the hull timbers had come off the ribs, the same glue was used on all the planks working from the keel up, alternating sides ,anyway a liberal application of gorilla glue at the effected area and some ratchet straps seem to have done the trick will leave the straps on for 24 hours and hope for the best.👍