Small boats and smaller boats

And one really big boat. Here's the speed boat that made an attempt on the Grand Canyon record this week. Six sliding seat stations, a cockpit for the steersmen, and a pad for one person to nap between shifts. Unfortunately he low flows did not allow their heroic 38-hour marathon attempt to break any of the records. But they had a flawless clean run and had a great time.

Back in the shop, poor Cricket fell victim to an irresistible offer on Craigslist: a Glen-L Peewee. It's the cutest little motorboat you ever saw, and came with two 1940s Johnson Sea Horse motors. Stay tuned--we should have her up and running before long.

The 2-horse Johnson looks pretty good on one of our bookshelf dories.

We got the hatches on Spooky hinged and latched, then rolled her over to begin her paint job. We are trying out the inverse of Peekaboo's pattern and are loving it.

While the paint was drying we began a series of 1/6-scale models for the Powell Museum in Page. We are starting with the boat we know best: the Briggs Grand Canyon Dory. Here is Cricket affixing the ribs to our adorable little strong back.

Fine tuning a side-panel.

With the panel shape determined, we form two of them and glue her up.

More name painting.

My full flock of lofting ducks crushing the floor to the mini-Briggs.

And on with the decks.

Lovable. And laughable.

We are going to replicate the paint job on the original Briggs boat, the Emerald Mile, as she looked before her big crash.

Oh those Briggs boat lines...

And on to the Nevills Cataract boat replica.