Boat Construction Competition - December

So ... here's a photo update on the construction between Rick Lentz and Nelson Holmberg -- both of whom are building wood models of Dr. Ken Muscatel's Silver Dollar Casinos boat (two different versions). Rick's boat will be the 2002 Silver Dollar Casinos; Nelson's the 2004 Silver Dollar Casinos present Miss Rock (KISW).

And now, Mark Gran has joined in on the fun! Mark is building the 1980 Turbine Pay 'n Pak. 

Competition bases the motivation for each owner to get their boats finished this winter, in time for the 2009 ERCU season, and provides for fun monthly updates throughout the offseason.

Rick had a heat start, going into the project with a hull that was substantially completed, but needed work, while Nelson started from scratch. Mark also had a hull under construction when the competition started.

Nelson's 2004 Silver Dollar Casinos present Miss Rock

Wait a second! Didn't this boat have a center section last month? Where did it go?

Answers to those questions: Yes...and here it is.

What happened? You ask. Well...Rick discovered on his hull that the engine tub was off center (per the plans), but on the real boat, it was not off center (by much anyway), so both Rick and Nelson made the move to re-do the center sections and make that change. While making the change, Nelson managed to break the transom in half, so now he'll need to start all over again with the center section...and he hopes to glue and nylon bolt the already finished canoes to the new center section.

Rick's 2002 Silver Dollar Casinos

Here's Rick's boat. He's making progress with the adjustment of the engine tub -- without damaging anything.

Here's another shot of the 2002 U-25.

Mark's 1980 Turbine Pay 'n Pak

Here's a couple of shots of Mark's construction, which seems to be going very nicely. He's obviously a pro with cutting the wood, foam and other parts so precisely.