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Here’s a surprise – a carvel-built The Edge member of the Mouseboat family being built in Nha Trang, Vietnam by Jacques Molinari.
I don’t normally write about Mouseboats here. They’re simple little boats intended to be made from plywood that I designed years ago for people without either money or skills who wanted to construct a little boat and get afloat. In fact, the first Mouseboat was originally designed for teenagers and children to make!
I’m delighted that some of the Mouse family designs have been very popular, but although some have been built to very high standards and many have been used for purposes very far from my original conception, I don’t generally see them as belonging on a weblog that focuses on boats that either are traditional, or which include a clear traditional element, and which also likes to celebrate old-fashioned rather than new-fashioned craftsmanship – so they rarely feature at intheboatshed.net.
But this particular scow-bowed spritsail Mouse is an exception, for it isn’t being built by stitch and glue, not least because plywood is difficult to obtain in Nha Trang. In the absence of the dimensionally stable and easy to work 20th century wonder material Jacques has clearly used the offsets from the plans, and is building his boat in the traditional way. He plans to be in the water in December, after the hurricane season is over.
Great good luck Jacques!
I’m greatly looking forward to seeing how this project goes; it’s terrific to see this boat being built in this way, and The Edge is one of my favourite Mouseboat designs, even if it hasn’t been built as often as some of the others.
For other stories relating to Mouseboats at intheboatshed.net click here.
If you’d like to join the Mouseboats forum and download the plans, click here.
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