BUILD YOUR OWN BOAT

  1. BUILD YOUR OWN BOAT
    1. A Square Boat Is A Sailing Class?
    2. Adding to this site
    3. The UNPDR Plans
    4. Other Useful Content
    5. Related PDR / Sailing Sites

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The PD Racer is the easiest boat in the world to build.

It's about 8 foot long, 4 foot wide, and an infinite amount of fun.

This site is intended to provide a guide to building the easiest class legal PDR possible for the complete beginner. Some of the PDR builders have never built a birdhouse while others make their careers designing boats. We want to help the completely unitiated and completely scared get on the water as fast as possible in their very own boat.

A Square Boat Is A Sailing Class?

When you first get curious about sailing, you'll see terms thrown around about like sailing class, hull shape, etc. A sailing class is a specification that a boat must be built to in order to be able to be raced against other boats of that same class. In the case of the PDRacer, the class is defined over on pdracer.com on the class rules page. Here, you'll find the technical details that define this class. A lot of larger classes have many more rules detailing sail type, materials, exact dimensions... And that's great for certain types of boats. The PDR, though, actually encourages experimentation within the class. Want to try a completely different type (shape/material/color?) sail during your next race? Go for it. Want to make your PDR sides 3 ft high? Do it. There are just a few rules that have to be followed, and you can find them on the class rules page.

With that in mind, it can be really intimidating when you're starting to dream about building your own boat. That's why this site is here. It's here to guide you step by step in building the Simplest of the Easiest Sailboats To Build. These plans are free to use. The great thing about this site is, it's free to change. If when you're building your boat, you find something that's easier, add it to the instructions. That way, the next builder that comes along learns from your experience.

Adding to this site

This is hoped to completely be a community effort. If you see something on a page here that needs improvement, click "edit" at the bottom and improve it. :)

You can leave your name as "anonymous" when you edit, or put your real name. Whatever you're comfortable with. You can also click on "settings" at the top right and put your name and email there and click "save". It will remember that for you when you edit the next page.

The UNPDR Plans

You'll probably want to read these in the following order:

  1. ToolsAndWorkshop - tools and work area related discussion for building a PDR
  2. MaterialsList - lists and discussion about the needed materials
  3. CutPlan? - how to loft the plans onto the wood and then cut it all out
  4. HullConstruction - step by step guide to building the hull of your new boat
  5. HullProtection - a guide to covering the hull with a little bit more protection after it's built
  6. SailCreation - a guide to creating your sails and rigging
  7. RiggingAndFittings - once it's all built, you need to know how to get it all together
  8. NewbieSailingTips - so you've built the boat, now, how do you get it moving?
  9. AdvancedSailingTips? - once you've sailed a bit, this is a little more advanced concepts

Other Useful Content

  • UnOfficialRecords - Records you can compete to hold if you build a PDR
  • ClassicThreads - this is a list of threads that are worth reading from the pdracer yahoo mailing list
  • DesignPolls - polls for the group to vote about different issues for the boat design
  • HoldingArea - this is just a page that's sort of a staging area for other stuff until it grows big enough to get a page of it's own.
  • DucksOfWar - ideas about highseas combat in a PDR (tennis balls of fjeer!)
  • DuckHatch - organize a hatch and build multiple puddle ducks at a time, then race them all!

Related PDR / Sailing Sites

  • www.pdracer.com The Mothership! This is the official site of the PDRacer sailing class
  • www.pdracer.info Home of the OZ PDR. A good looking class legal PDR design. It is also a high performance model. And the plans are basically a boat building guide with techniques you can apply to any small boat
  • www.duckworksbbs.com Duckworks Boat Building Supplies. Great site for the small boat builder to find small boat bits
  • http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/pdracer The official mailing list of the pdracer sailing class
  • http://waderweb.com Willamette Area Duck Racers - the Fleet page for Oregon. This site has several plans.
  • http://summerlandpuddleducks.org British Columbia Fleet of Puddle Duck Racers. The only organized fleet of Puddle Duck Racers in Canada. Organizers of the Third Annual Summerland TimberMart? Puddle Duck Hatch, the longest running, largest Multi Duck building event in the World. Home of the Canadian Puddle Duck Champion, and Acting World Champion.