clearly canoe sailing is increasingly popular
but canoes are designed to paddle – not to sail
now that I have owned and sailed a duck punt for a year I feel genuinely sorry for the canoe sailor who has to contrive leeboards and rudders
I have tested the purity of the hard chine and oar
I know what it is to gently heel the boat and feel it come up towards the wind
steering the boat with the smallest movement of a leg
I have also experienced the pleasure of fine reaching in four inches of water
and felt the bow wave lift me over a sandy spit.
I have even enjoyed paddling occasionally
so lads….
Duck punting is the best fun an old bloke can have on his back
you can build a three 6mm sheet punt using 1×2 for all the other timbers for under $150
you can assemble one in 18 hours using cascamite and self driving screws
buy an opti training rig for $150
or borrow one
by next weekend you could be a duck punter
load it onto the roof of your car
become the envy of your friends
no-one has ever kicked sand in the face of a duck punter
but don’t take my word for it
believe this brilliant boat builders
http://duckpunt.wordpress.com/
believe these hard drinking East Coast sailors
http://www.duckpunt.org.uk/
believe bill
http://bills-log.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/duck-punts.html
this boat designer
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?140673-West-Mersea-Duck-Punt-simple-S-T-version-first-studies-and-paper-model
utterly free plans here
Here are some pdfs of the plans courtesy of the Duck Punters of West Mersea.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/keepturningleft/WestMerseaDuckPuntSheet1.pdf
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/keepturningleft/WestMerseaDuckPuntSheet2.pdf
.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/keepturningleft/WestMerseaDuckPuntSheet3.pdf
.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/keepturningleft/WestMerseaDuckPuntSheet4.pdf
.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/keepturningleft/WestMerseaDuckPuntSheet5.pdf
yours
the Supreme Punter
Well, I got a pic in at least! My punt is done and I have had it on the water twice so far. Brilliant little boats! Build one folks, you won’t be sorry!!! -Rusty
Builders blog (with crappy video) at http://www.ridingonadonkey.blogspot.com
can anyone sell me decent sized plans of the Mersey duck punt . have tried printing them off the screen but they are illegible. help will be very welcome as I am stuck. will reply with address and phone number
if you download the pdfs and take them into your local print shop they will run off A3 versions for you at a very low price
But does an A3 print give you the proper scaling? One sheet says FS i.e. full size.
Thanks Dylan I got plans from that lovely man in the Shell Bungalow.Regads Mike
It’s finally dawned on me that I too, need to build a Duck Punt; be fore I do that though, I’d like to find out a bit more about them – and there seem to be few, if any, sources of information about the various boats from the past. Aside from estuaries on the east coast, I have in mind using mine to explore some of the fenland rivers around where I live, so ideally the boat I end up with would need to row or paddle reasonably well too. Any thoughts?
It does both brilliantly
in west mersea they paddle two up in races
However, I discovered that by turning the boat around- sitting on the mast step she paddles beautifully with the kayak paddle
the fastest build was 18 hours
v happy to help with info in anyway that I can
they are bloody brilliant little boats
D
Well, that’s certainly one issue resolved; the rivers here range from narrow to absurdly narrow – which really means that rowing, paddling or poling is literally the only way forward – especially with a foul wind (not just that supplied by the dog…). The sprit rig might well help deal with the various low bridges round here, too.
It won’t be all fen rivers though, as I’d like to explore some of my old haunts on the Deben, Orwell and Stour again. The Milgate shape looks a bit simpler at first glance than some of the Lucas boats I’ve seen in the past. Not only did they appear to have a bit of hollow in the bow, but they also had a bit of a curve in the bottom athwart ships – as well as a bit of rocker; I think I recall being told that this was to stop the hull sticking, when being slid over mud. There also seems to be some debate on the subject of de King and buoyancy tanks.
Then of course, there’s the question of steering with a hick; aside from whether or not a thole pin is necessary, I’ve seen punts being raced at Stour SC – and have often wondered about how on earth you can sit out – and still reach the hick to leeward…? The boats appeared not to be crewed by gibbons, but it was blowing quite hard, and my International Canoe was getting distinctly frisky, so I never got the chance to look too closely!
If you look at the films from west mersea punters they sail in really strong winds
14 stone in the bottom of a 3 foot wide flat bottom boat and an optimist rig
uber ballast
because the mast is unstayed you can feather the sail right off the wind
so just let the mainsheet go and all drive drops out of the sail
it really is the most wonderful
boat to sail
my advice is to build it as light as you can
4mm ply and 2 x 1
exterior grade ply is fine
D
PS – duck punts can handle any amount of wind but they do need flat water – they slam like a shed door in any sort of chop
Just got wind of these Punts. looks so much fun, as I have had knee probs and now back issues from dinghy sailing, I took to sailing an Illusion great boat and great racing but moving such a heavy boat has played havoc with my back. A W M Punt looks like I could cope with ashore and on the water movement. Is it about time that a Class association was formed, and organised some racing, that would really make me build one. Incidentally my Illusion is now up for sale and its called ‘Dylan.
Keep up the good work
JH
By the way, I forgot to mention that I’m a fairly regular contributor to Water Craft, Classic Sailor and so on – and have received a commission to put something together on the Duck Punt for a US title; do you fancy getting involved with that?
Cheers,
Marc
v happy to chip in – feel free to lift any images from ktl or any words -v happy to knock out 400 on what I think of the little beauties
That’s great – do you have a direct email address, so that I can give you a bit more background about what they want for the magazine? It would also be really good if we could organise a photo shoot.
Cheers,
Marc
Hello!
Being inspired by your experience I started to build a smaller (12 feet) version of this great boat. My progress is not so fast as yours (I am in the 6th week) but I hope to be soon on water. See a pictorial story of the build here: https://www.facebook.com/gheorghe.tolan.9/media_set?set=a.982138035256577.1073741845.100003811708294&type=3&pnref=story
Hi Dylan,
Just to let you know – I have at last completed my W.M Duck Punt (though still tinkering with rigging options etc).
You may recall in the dim and distant past that you offered to lend me your punt to attempt my dream of being the first to navigate from Shefford (Bedfordshire) to Kings Lynn since the Ivel Navigation was abandoned on 13th July 1876?
Stunning vessel – almost floats out of the water.
Just wanted to say a big and sincere ‘thank you’ for promoting, and making available this amazing craft.
This is my first ever boat build, so cock-ups a’plenty. But she looks pretty cool, and paddles and sails indecently well.
You’re a star, thank you!
https://sheffordduckpunt.blogspot.com/
SL
Dylan
good to be talking again.
I’m a bit puzzled as to why all the WMD punts I see on the net, although claiming to use Opti rigs appear to be rigged wrong (compared to the Optimist instruction manual) in many, many ways.
Everyone I’ve seen sailing their WMDP do not use any sail ties at all on the foot of the sail, and I don’t see any boom or halyard preventers?
Is there a WMDP rigging guide?
The Opti rig, given that it’s designed to teach kids to sail, seems very ‘fiddly’.
Lots of people sailing WMDPs hyper successfully, so I’m beginning to realise that slavishly following the Optimist rigging guide puts me on a hiding to nothing.
Too much high priced stupidly thin bits of string (with impressively technical names).
REAL duck punters appear to use fairly ‘ornery’ rope, way on the ‘thick side’, and lots of it!!!
I’d appreciate your take on all this (strongly suspect I’m trying much too hard).
Would appreciate a reality check!
Regards
Steve Lines
yu re overthinking it
the oppy sailors race in fleets of 100 boats where one per cent of drive is a massive amount, The kids weigh 6 stone in a tiny dinghy with foils. You are a 12 stone man in a wooden box. Think tiny barge sail rather than racing oppy.
Clearly, a duck punt is not an Optimist.
So where do I draw the lines rigging-wise?