Five Passengers Set Sail That Day

Christened by our motley crew with a pumpkin sippy-cup, our vessel sets to sea for the Portsmouth Halloween Parade. The boys be sportin fine threads courtesy of their saucy mom.

Just Add Pirates!

Aye, she be a fine vessel fit with a 48"x30" sail, and can even be pulled by this wee Jim Lad. (If the wheel wasn't chocked with that 2x4, of course)

Hull Complete

Here is the completed hull and custom pull-bar - the stock bar was straight and did not clear the bow, so I made a new one out of 1/2" threaded steel pipe using a 45-degree elbow to provide clearance around the bow. Plus the wide t-bar handle will allow two people to pull at the same time, since this thing is going to be heavy loaded down with at least 5 kids! Next up is the mast and sail!

Hull Construction

Here are some more shots of the hull coming together:

Avast Maties

Time to turn the wagon into a Pirate Ship for Halloween!

I started with a frame for the bow and stern that slips over the existing side rails of the wagon. This way there is nothing permanently affixed to the rails and hopefully will not scratch the woodwork. There are also vertical blocks on the side that will keep the hull slats from rubbing the woodwork.

Next I cut slats for the hull from 1/4" luan plywood. On the back side of these I made some 2mm relief cuts to make the plywood easier to bend.



Then it was time to start forming the hull: