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Doug, that is a great article! i enjoyed reading it very much.

I also enjoyed looking at your bog and the videos you made. I didn't watch all of them but plan on going back later. That 10 # carp was really a nice one. I believe a carp gives more battle than almost any other fish.

Thanks Bill, I don't know if it will make the cut at Duckworks. Doesn't give much play to their products except the mention of piccup squared plans, is a bit off the wall compared to the usual fare they have.

It's just that when you spend long hours writing inane text full of keywords to try and trick the search engines for content purchasers ( it don't work, when my blog was focused on being an affiliate site for Sea Eagle it came up on the first page of google results with no paid placement and no keyword stuffing or spinning. Just plain ole content - yet I digress) when you write for no pay then freedom can come at a price...

Truthfully, never really understood catch and release until I caught seven pound carp on a four and a half foot shakespeare microspinner ultra light set up with four pound test. Then it all made sense. I discovered those little "gadget" rods and it became an addiction.

But it's the simple adventures that boats like the big tortoise were made for. I cant wait to hook a surface feeding carp on a fly rod from the Mary Margaret. :

" Well Mr. Carpetbagger, here we have a thing called the Delaware Boatride" YEEHAW!!! Can you imagine a twenty pound carp upset about the fake bug you just hooked them with pulling a little skiff like mine? That's fun on a stick!

Well, if it doesn't make the cut the fact that you built a Big T instead of a Piccup would be the only reason that I can think of. As you know Business is Business and selling plans is part of Duckworks business.

Sooooo...you are an expert on key words! Hummmmmm!

I'm sure that you can think of a dozen unique key words for my web site! I have about exhausted the "Potter" key on my computer.

Boy, some Harry Potter fans are surprised when my boat web site appears!

Well, keywords are no substitute for content. The programmers that work on and engineers who design the search engines are constantly trying to defeat those who try to increase their rankings via any method except for relevant content. At the same time they are trying to defeat the tricksters, they are attempting to promote the genuine content providers.

So my standard advice it to concentrate on meaningful content with likely search terms artfully worked in for cases where doing so contributes to meaningful content for the visitor. The only people who were listed ahead of me on Google for the search "Sea Eagle 380 Explorer" were paying for the privilege. Some who did pay were listed after me.

Whatever the boys at google are up to this week has John Kolb's page http://www.kolbsadventures.com/tortoise.htm coming up on top when I search for Bolger Big Tortoise. My blog is in the second page of results and for some reason I did not find this forum thread mentioned in the first eight pages, even though it's linked from my blog.

Search engine manipulation is a spy vs spy business, I would rather just lay down content. The geeks are always on your side in that case.

Looks great to me!

Alan

Well Kids,

Chuck did publish the piece, today on duckworks magazine http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/09/col ... /index.htm

Hooray! Article looks great!

Thanks Bill!

I need to get my butt to the porch and get to work on the subject of my next one - Modeling!. Need a Dory model to go with my other two.....

Did you notice that the Mary Margaret also makes a dandy model stand in those pics?

Indeed I did notice that! Gives a nautical salty background for the models.

In lieu of making a new model....why not write another article?

I want a picture of the model for my article... kind of a different spin on model making from what I have read. looking at it as part of the design selection/dreaming process rather than strictly preparatory for the build.

Here at the dog compound, we are on a pretty tight budget with the times and all. Still, I think it's cheaper to buy a few books and sets of plans and make models to help determine exactly what you want to build.

I read a few books and modeled ( silly as it sounds ) a pdr ( the OZ hull ) , the brick, and the tortoise out of soda carton cardboard then decided to make the tortoise as it would mostly be used for the pond where the pics were taken. She might even get a pedal powered transport if I can find one of those adult trikes at the right price.

While the PDR and Brick are both fine boats, modeling helped me define my requirements for that build. For Derby Pond, the tortoise is the best boat for me.

Going forward, another two books and at least two sets of plans have been purchased in deciding on a car top row/sail boat to compliment the Mary Margaret in the dog compound fleet.

My thing is it's not only cheaper to make your mistakes at scale, it's also cheaper to build the boat that while nice, might not be the one you really want at scale.

Besides all that, model making is a hobby in it's own right that compliments boat building. Just think, Jethro could get a lot more NCIS work done if he would build models in his office instead of boats in his basement.

Hey Doug,

Congrats on the article!

* I built a model of the Gloucester Gull... She's stunning. That's a must build for me even if I have to turn around and sell it.

* LOL about Gibbs...

Alan

ALan, years ago ( about the time when Mark Harmon was named one of the 'sexy' folks by PEOPLE magazine) there was a guy who worked out at the same gym as me ( never took me for gym rat did ya?). He was forty years old, a student, starting wide receiver at George Mason U., and a dead ringer for Mark Harmon.

Chatted with him online recently. I thought it was weird when Sly Stallone talked about Rocky Fans in Philly getting offended if Sly was not in character when they talked to him.

Well, my old fellow gym rat has people walking up to him on the streets asking him what the does with those boats he's been building. He says the seem to be really dismayed when he tells them he's not Gibbs or even Mark Harmon. He feels like he has ruined their whole day, but isn't much of an actor and doesn't think he could pull of an in character response.

See??!!! There's another problem that would be resolved if Jethro would just build models! _DUH_!

Well, the Mary Margaret has been out to her home port of Derby Pond a couple of times. Last night was a fishing expedition, my good friend Don was rounding up some vittles so a youngster named Curt and I headed out to do Van Damage to the panfish population.

The first thing that happened was that my young compadre found out that his 40lb thrust MinKota on his 14' sea Nymph was no match for an old fat busted up bald guy in a mighty Bolger designed Big Tortoise with five foot oars

We got to a nice spot and Curt and his incredibly hot young lady were smashing the yellow perch and odd crappie. Finally my topwater fly paid off and five fat hand sized ( or better ) sunnies fell to my three wieght and fur ant. Then as the light faded I thought I had a minnow sized sunnie when all heck broke lose. This fine crappie was on the line and ran towards the boat until he saw it... I decided to make that my last cast and quit on a winner.

Our friend was delighted with the fish we brought in and the Mary Margaret is still a dry boat, may find herself in a bass tournament before the season ends.

Wow! Doug, I'm impressed with your fishing skills!

It's nice learning that MM is still bring joy to her builder.

Best wishes for more of the same!

Thanks Bill, the best advice that I can give my fishing buddies is;

1. Never build a boat!

2. Never catch a fish on a fly rod!

It's better to become an alcoholic and they have a treatment plan all worked out! Us boat building and fly fishing types are doomed to a life of addiction I hope you and babe enjoy a great day out soon, I am going to skip the OBX130 this year and build the Gull instead. Decided to spend some time under oars before I get out thar under sail