Ontario’s twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo both have downtown parks that surround small lakes. Waterloo Park, founded in 1893, was built around Silver Lake and upon completion was dubbed the “Jewel of the City.” Three years later and two miles distant, in what must have been a bit of twin rivalry, Kitchener created Victoria Park by transforming a plot of swampland on the site into Victoria Park Lake. Kitchener officials declared that the park built around the lake was “The City’s Crown Jewel.”There was, unfortunately, a bit of a lapse in civic pride through the 20th century and both lakes filled with silt from the creeks that fed them. Waterloo’s “Jewel” became known as Mud Lake among the locals and was so foul in the summer of 1995 that hundreds of waterfowl that had settled upon it died of botulism. In the fall of that year, motivated by the dead ducks, the city created a seven-year plan to dredge the lake and restore the wetlands around it. Kitchener eventually followed suit and decided it was time to dredge Victoria Park Lake, and in 2011 scooped over 85,000 tons of sediment from the lake bottom.
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Stay On Course
This is a very unique and interesting boat. I cannot envision the design of a sail rig for it. Does Matt have any photos of the rig and of him sailing to share with us? Great job on the design.
Hi there, Nels,
You can see more photos of the boat experimenting with the sailing rig, and videos of Matt sailing here: https://urbanboatproject.weebly.com/
Phil Bolger, in Boats With an Open Mind, designed a take-apart boat that is divided longitudinally rather than crosswise, his reasoning being that sometimes it’s width rather than length that creates space challenges. The boat is only 5’6″ long, and has a narrow center section, with two “sponsons” flanking each side. These are fully enclosed, making the boat as unsinkable as a rubber raft. When disassembled, the sponsons stow inside the center section. He shows it carrying one or two people, with two rowing positions. He concedes it is quite heavy, but says it rows well, up to the inherent speed limit of such a short boat.
I have built a couple of very short dinghies, one a 6′ 6″ V-bottom pram by Al Mason, the other a 6′ flat-bottomed pram by Billy Atkin. Both boats rowed nicely, carrying well between strokes of the oars. At the anchorage, I could easily outdistance anyone trying to make do with a little Livingston dinghy. The Livingston stopped dead between every oar stroke. Atkin claimed his, dubbed TINY RIPPLE, could serve as a lifeboat, with a couple of built-in air chambers, but if I had to stake my life on one, I’d pick the Bolger boat.
At first sight I was struck with the beauty, engineering and craftsmanship of your captivating work of art!
The strength and lightness are immediately evident and the nesting is very neat.
Your illuminated boat looked fantastic outside your home, quite unique.
The Brompton is the perfect tow vehicle, being compact enough to stow aboard and was my choice for towing an amphibious bicycle camper.