Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Modifications to mini tug




Last time we used the little tug the seating arrangements were not real good, so modifications had to be made.

The cabin had to be raised and a steering wheel put in a new seat made and the hull needed stiffening.

The wheel was acquired from an antique shop and the black plywood from the rubbish tip.

I had the pulleys and rope up at Gundagai and bought them here.

It looks a bit top heavy but wont know until I relaunch her. cheers Stewart

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

mini tug and jettys

Jetty at rileys flat Gundagai

Polly the dog on jetty at Gundagai
This is Rosie on another jetty I built with the owners son Andrew in Wylangta in Tasmania this one was made out of rounds and wired together.


This is the jetty I built on the river bank at Gundagai.  It was made from timber from the rubbish tip, I bought and some screw rod to put it all together at a cost of $8Au. The river was down and it will have water under it for a couple of months of the year when they are irrigating out on the riverina. cheers Stewart



mini tug part four and final episode

Launch day arrived and the tug performed to all expectations on sharp turns it would submerge the transom corners and spin like a top. It took spray over the bow and wet the windows and it remained dry in the wheelhouse:)....I think that the journey was worth the effort and would recommend anyone to have a go, the tools used were Titon table saw, Dewalt drills and saws but any brand will do. Total price including boat would come in under $300 Australian....cheers Stewart

mini tug boats


mini tug part three
















All the screws were taken out and replaced with Australian red cedar dowels ,the windows glued in with silicon, the use of pva glue for the dowels as immersion into water is unlikely.This took about three days to complete...cheers Stewart



mini tug boat part two


Measuring up and getting it right and gluing the top pieces on.Anyone can do this with old scraps and an old boat maybe an alloy boat give it a go.cheers Stewart

Wednesday, August 12, 2009


mini tug boat part one

I started building this about two months ago I picked the hull up for twenty dollars with a deck that wouldn't fit so the deck was turned into a garden bed .I screwed the deck down with bronze screws and when it was finished it rained and the bronze screws rusted and all had to be removed and plugged with dowel there was a thousand of them the morel of this story is buy bronze screws not steel ones


Monday, September 14, 2009

little boats I built


This is a steel boat I built for prawning on lake Illawarra,It was built from scrap.So was the trailer.