My first Real boat.

Hi All,
I was down at are local boating lake thinking about all you chaps, then thought what started you all off on model boating ??

My Story is.

When I was about 9 years old at a beach with my parents I found a plastic toy catamaran, it was no more than a foot long blue and yellow with no mast and no rudder, then I thought I could make this work. So I took it home and set about thinking what can I do for a mast? My dad was a carpenter and made flooring with tongue and grove, so I thought if I cut the tongue off the wood then I have a mast and a boom with a hook and eye to make the link from my mums curtain stuff. Then I found a bit of copper in my dads shed, this I made into a stiff rudder.

Next Was launch day at the paddling pool on Southampton Common  

I was Sat on the bus feeling very proud of my model with my new boat on my lap, I was on my way to a lifetime of interest in model boating.

The launch was very successful and the wind took it away and back, now I was hooked into the magic of making things work.

PLEASE TELL US YOUR STORY OF YOUR FIRST DAY.

Bernie.

My first day... 

well mines a little different, 

Saturday mornings were always my fav when i was little, used to wake up super early and get all the cardboard from the top of the kitchen cupboards, pinch dads masking tape and what ever else was laying around in his draw, copper wire, solder all sorts of odds and ends, and ended up spending all morning making little objects such as cars, trains, even houses. i used to get into so much trouble using dads masking tape always remember when dad took his monthly trip to trago saying to me ''if i buy tape you wont use it this time will you?!''
my reply obviously was ''k dad i wont use the tape'', next Saturday morning one roll vanished again   

in between i used to dabble in plastic kits, my first ( well that i remember) was of a red arrow, obviously i think many were, i remember watching my dad help me in the sink putting the water slide transfers on. 
I do remember a school project when i must have been about 9 when the school wanted us for a DT project to make little cars, i was so proud of what my dad made for me all from scrap ply, little motor and battery directly hooked to the wheel, rubber bands on as tires, my little cars ran the whole length of the schools gym, 
Few years later i was into cars, holidays away my dad used to buy me little cast car kits, you could stick them together with screws and heating up the plastic spur ends into the frame work. then i had a toy to play with on holiday i built myself.

wasn't until i hit 15 until things changed, i was more into roller skating and bike riding with my mates, then girls came along and well most things went out the window, when i was 16 my mom and dad gave me cash for my birthday, ( first time parents gave me a chunk of wedge as a birthday present) next day i was into town and brought up a tamiya kit ( it was the tamiya mini) which i do still own today and is still in excellent condition.
after a couple of months of racing that around i saved what money i had and brought up a nitro RC car, dad said if i was going to drive it i had to take it to a club, so off i went nearest club was outside of Plymouth but it got me hooked, left school shortly after and started working part time in between college, then with extra cash i was able to buy 4x4 nitro buggys, ( again i still own it and its in a good condition) tamiya trucks, the transaxx 4x4 monster truck in nitro and i was just always at comp racing. until i was 18, then i hit the big leagues and went 5th scale!.
In between cars outdoors i had also made quite a collection of 1:72nd scale trains! 

Then things changed, life happens, college ended and by the time i was 21 i was a Father, had a full time job and just couldn't keep affording to go out every Sunday, buy 2 gallons of nitro at £40 a pop and spares which i was chewing through. all while paying rent, bills and everything else in between, in the end i just hung it all up and did nothing for a while, but boredom started to set in so my old man suggested i take up something smaller to contend with, in the end i suggested he show me his racing boats, sadly for me he only had 1 left that survived all those years from his racing days, but he still had his engines some very pretty 4 strokes, all custom made for him during the 60'70's i did suggest he get back into it show me whats what, he was adamant he had ''retired'' after his racing days.. by that xmas my mom and i had brought him a club 500 kit and that was it he was hooked, while i ended up building my first boat which happens to be a fairly huntsman which i converted to a huntress. After that its need a never ending cycle of boat after boat..
After my first couple of boats some friends liked my style ( well i guess it was style) so they asked me to build them boats too in the end i had a waiting list! 

Since being 21, i've built and owned 22 boats, 9 current outstanding projects, and have build more then 50 boats for other people! ( some were just little ones you can knock out in a weekend like the club 500, the seaport conversion tug ( admiralty yellow linked in the tug section here and many others) my most famous build many will remember was when i was asked to build dean marines S.S Komet... that boat sucked 2 years of my life and nearly forced me to quit models for good!

After a little time to reassess i've been back in full swing almost since 2008   one day i might finish one of my own builds without having to pick up another for someone else!

Sounds great Road runner , ANY MORE ???