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Editors Note: The following letter is printed with permission of the author
See Matt’s MiniMaxed Photo Gallery here

I started this project as a “Father-children” project but found my kids didn’t have as much interest as I had hoped they would. However, I persevered on and the more it took shape the more interested they became.

Being the first boat I made from a set of plans, I was a little hesitant. I spent hours reading over the Glen-L MiniMaxed plans, reading the instructions, and envisioning how each step would come together. I found that it came together just fine without any real surprises. This design is very forgiving of minor mistakes or variances and the final product runs great! Glen-L’s plans were great and when I took the time to thoroughly think through the plans, I found that all of my questions were answered in the simple plans and instructions.

The steering from Glen-L works great. Although it is a little tricky to make sure that there is constant tension on the lines as well as to stagger the pulleys on the bulkhead so that the two cables don’t overlap. The largest challenge was finding an outboard that would take a remote control adaptor kit, finding the kit (most are obsolete), finding a compatible control box, and then finding cables and adaptors to fit the kit and control box. I ended up piecing this together from four different sources. I used a 1986 OMC Evinrude which is the perfect size for this boat.

Sea Trials: I was surprised how buoyant it is. The boat screams along with a 6 hp OMC outboard with my 165 pounds in it and 3 gallons of gas. The only thing I would change is to add a 2 inch coaming around the cockpit. From time to time a small wave will catch on the front and the water will wash up the deck and into the cockpit–nothing major–just a little irritating. Even in a moderate chop it performed fine.

I will use it on a chain of lakes in Orlando, Florida. I would recommend this project to anyone looking to build a personal boat. I will feel fine about my kids driving this alone after I install a kill switch this week.

I would be happy to answer any questions any prospective builder has about constructing this design.

Matt FitzGibbon
Orlando, Florida
mfitzgibbon@mac.com