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I felt that my other boats were probably not a good choice to turn my grandkids loose with on the pond so I've built a Bluejacket Maine R/C Lobster Boat for them to use. Like the originals it's fairly simple and robust so can take a decent amount of abuse without any problems. Other than finishing the included lobster trap and a little lettering it's ready to be condemned to its' fate soon.

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Very much like that Larry.

Why that's lovely Larry. Only reason I'd let my g-kids play with something that nice, is because I don't have any!  ;c)

What'ca got for power in that beauty, and is it R/C?

Very Nice!!!

Thanks Daniel, I'm sure it will be many many years before my grandkids appreciate what they've been given access to and possible inheritance of in regards to boats and trains and steam engines - hope they catch the fever and stay with it in the future. It is radio controlled and the power comes from a Mack Products 5045 12v 5 amp motor - won't be a speed boat but it should be fairly quick.

Nice work Larry  I hope the bug bites one of your grandkids

Thanks Nick, you've hit on one of my big worries. I've always expected to give my son (and therefore my grandchildren) all my collections of trains and boats and steam engines and pocket watches and woodworking equipment but so far the fire is just smoldering for him as he is into his work big time. The grandkids are hit and miss as I would expect at their age but I still hold out hope for the future - otherwise someone, hopefully real aficionados, will probably get some bargains down the road.

Larry, I lived for 6 years in coastal Maine and will vouch for that being a very typical design of lobster boat...well done !

roger

Glad to hear that Roger - sometimes that isn't necessarily the case with kits. The one thing I did leave off was a small porthole on each side of the cabin......didn't want any extra way for water to get in and I didn't think it added much to the look of the boat to begin with.

I've got a rescue Vac-U-Tug named Jim Dandy for when the machinery breaks down and, unlike Gilligan, I used waterproof epoxy to build it so I'm halfway prepared for the worst - besides the pond isn't very deep Bret.

Vac-U-Tug is a brand name of low cost easy build boats that are great starters for kids, big and small. Mine is named Jim Dandy after the old song "Jim Dandy to the Rescue" and has the optional "big motor". When you have a very expensive boat out in the middle of the pond or whatever and it quits running you send out your rescue tug. It has 10-12 feet of floating fishing line with a bobber on the end and you go out and around and around your boat until it becomes snagged in the rudder or propeller. Then it's just a matter of towing it to shore. So far I've only used it once and it worked great.