21/05/2017. "Justcantakit" By Roger Alder. Length 41" Weight 2.8 Kg.
Roger designed and built the original boat some 36 years ago for his kids to sail on the Murray river near Ulupna Island in Australia,its a place of stunning natural beauty the river is wide and deep with a walking pace flow. The idea behind the sub is to utilise the river current by towing the boat against it from shore, pull hard and she dynamic dives, ease up and she cruises on the surface,her position mid stream is maintained by putting the rudder hard over and by using the different towing eyes on the fore deck, the slab side of the hull acts as a leeboard. To quote Roger, " A bit like flying a kite ". Unfortunately the original boats fate is unknown, so when Roger sent me a sketch I just had to rebuild her. This sub is simply brilliant, the fin, planes and rudder are made from a stainless steel bread bin I found in a skip the wooden hull is a piece of 4"x 2" hewn from a branch of Beeyancue, the paint drying being the longest part of the build. For me, this boat represents everything that is great about scratch building, if you want one? build it!. I have really enjoyed this project it was an absolute pleasure to do. I hope my repro passes muster Roger.