Where Are The First Three Puddle Ducks Now?



Puddle Ducking is about quickly building a boat, and then going to sail and play with your friends. The boats we build are usually made fast and cheap - here is an explanation of how the puddle duck was designed. Ducks can last a LONG time if taken care of, but sometimes life circumstances have us discard a hull and rebuild another one to replace it. Here is the current status of the original three hulls.



Hull #1 "DUB" built by Doug Day

Doug had built her very quickly from leftover materials, and was planning to build a better hull soon. Because of the replacement on it's way, just left 1 outside, upright, and rain water filled the hull. The hull quickly fell apart, and Doug chopped it up and threw it away. Unfortunately none of it was saved. "DUB" stays for Doug's Ugly Boat. In 2005, Doug lost his battle with leukemia and passed away.



Hull #2 "Ugly Duckling" built by Ken Abrahams

After Shorty moved away, the group racing ducks in Houston sort of went dormant and Ken offered hull #2 up for adoption.



Bill Giles went down to Louisiana to pick her up. Bill has taken #2 to participate in:

Midsouth Regional race in Knoxville, TN in 2007

Messabout PDR race a Magnolia Beach, TX in 2008

World Championship at Allatoona Lake in 2009 - for Shorty to use, since Shorty was flying in from out of state.



Something that might not be well known, is that Bill was in the process of building another duck to use in that competition, but had a small accident with his table saw and because of possibility of infection, his doctor strongly suggested he not participate in the boat race. So Bill drove all the distance and brought hull #2 for Shorty to use, and just watched the race from the shore.

Marc Blazer took her from Allatoona to Myrtle Beach, SC

A few weeks later, Tim Cleary picked her up from Marc and transferred her to Paul Herbert at Roanoke, VA

Paul took her back to his town near Harrisonburg.


Paul's daughter Edith, took her home to Indiania.
In 2010, Edith took #2 to the Mount Storm messabout in Virginia.

Currently Hull #2 is with Edith, at her home in Indiana.



Hull #3 "BucketEars" built by David "Shorty" Routh

In 2004, Shorty had to move away from Houston, and did not have enough room in the moving truck to carry Bucket Ears. The HIN was removed, the remaining hull was given to a friend who sailed her a couple of times and then she sat in his back yard with a number of other hulls. After a few years, she was given a viking funeral with some other old plywood boat hulls.

After settled in the new house, Shorty built hull #30 to use as a replacement, and the HIN from #3 is currently above the door in the workshop, hibernating with plans to be reborn as an all-fiberglass hull. Fiberglass seems to last forever, I have another fiberglass hull that was build in 1968 and it is still strong today, even though has lived outside, in the sun, every day of it's life.

Please don't be upset by the idea of a plywood hull being burned, this is a common occurence for old plywood boat hulls. Repairing a hull that is falling apart is often more laborsome than simply building a new hull. Now if you are in an area of active boat builders, there ends up being a lot of old hulls being passed around. So when a wooden boat hull is beyond it's expiration date, a viking funeral isn't that bad of an option. Most people use plywood that is created from trees that grow quickly like pine. And speaking of how fast pine grows, I have a friend that is a christmas tree farmer and also grows pine trees intended to be harvested for use in plywood. He describes them as a crop, just like corn.

We specifically have the ability to transfer hull numbers so you can completely rebuild your hull and move your number over to the new hull. Have you ever heard of the Phoenix? It is a bird that burns and then re-births itself - if that bird can do it, so can our ducks.

The best way to make your hull last a long time is to protect her from the weather. When not in use, you can flip her upside down and cover her. Another option unique to the duck class, is you can stand her upright (or on her side) in your garage to fully protect her from the weather.