Building the Algobear: First of all I wanted to build a radio controlled ship that I could sail in my spare time and also to reflect my interest of the ships that my Uncle ( my dad's brother) built in the Collingwood Shipyards as well as the ships that sail the Great Lakes as well. Second of all my dad builds boats as well for Kanter Yachts here in St. Thomas Ontario where I live and was also a Commercial Fisherman for 14 years his other brother was a Commercial Fisherman as well but unfortunately drowned up in South Hampton on Lake Huron. The Algobear was actually going to be the Algoway but I decided against it and went with the name Algobear that Scott Tomlinson Suggested. Building her took really no time at all she is actually built out of pieces of scrap wood that I found laying around where my dad works that the carpenters had thrown out. I cut the frames out and attached them to a flat bottom that was cut out in the shape of a ship. After the frames were in place I attached the deck of the model to the top of the frames, the deck is in three parts starting from the foredeck, the amidship deck ( where the hatches are), and then the aftdeck. The only parts of the model the weren't scrap are the sides of the model they are two separate sheets of wood the start from the stern and then bent around to form the shape of the bow. The bulbous bow was added later on but wasn't an actual design that I wanted to do in the earlier stages of the building proccess, I added it when I moved the pilot house aft to make her look like more of a ship. Next came the Stuffing tube and the Stern tube, the Stuffing tube is made out of stainless steel and the stern tube is from copper. The propeller shaft and the rudder which is now Kortz nozzle are made from Stainless as well all of the metal parts were made by hand to ahving to order stuff in and wait for it. The motor was originally a Power Wheels jeep motor but I burnt it up after only three runs do to too much stress on it from the bite of the water. I now run a 24 volt car A/C fan motor that has lots of grunt and power and drives Algobear with no problems at all. Power for the motor and running lights comes from a 12 volt Snowmobile battery. Even with a 32 pound battery and the weight of Algobear herself she floats realtivaley high in the water she looks like a ship that is unloaded and sits there with half the prop in the water. This adds to her unique look when she is tied up at the dock. To get her lower in the water I have to add Nearly 100 pounds to her just to egt her at that fully loaded look. Well I better go I hope this is of some help to you.

Garrett LaFrance