Kids Build a Boat at the Houston Boat Show January 3-12, 2014
This is the 6th year of “Kids Build a Boat”, an increasingly popular feature at Houston area boat shows. This free-to-the-public event, and the brainchild of member John Platou, began with the Keels and Wheels Concours Show every May and continues at the huge annual Houston Boat Show each January. These events are co-sponsored by Southwest Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society and the Texas Chapter of the Antique Outboard Motor Club. See all the photos in the gallery at: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/?p=2670.
The process begins with member Jeff Workman prebuilding an 8’ wooden dinghy he initially assembles with minimum hardware. The finished boat construction is ¼ “ marine plywood over a combination oak/pine frame with joints to be sealed with construction adhesive. Club members bring the boat to the show where it is taken apart and reassembled by any and every willing kid attending the show. Each kid builder gets to drill and countersink holes and no kid goes away without putting at least 2 screws in the boat.
As you can imagine the installed “hardware” becomes extreme overkill as screws get placed down to every inch available. Over the two weekends of the recent Houston show, we had over 350 kids help build this boat. This dinghy normally calls for about 150 total screws. A cry went out on the final Sunday for more #8 ¾ “ screws as we had gone through 800 and needed some 300 more. This is truly the shot gun approach to boat building, as can be seen in the photo of the transom with over 220 screws in it! 
We carefully and firmly hold the drill and only let kids pull the trigger. Our coaches maintain complete control of the drill and screw gun. If the kid looked like they had never used a power tool, we hold the tool firmly and have the child test-pull the trigger away from the boat before drilling or screwing.
Our lead building coaches include members John Platou and Alan Bischoff. Jeff Workman (recovering this year from foot surgery) normally is the lead coach spending max time on his knees with these kids. John’s grandsons Jack Toole and Ty Bayless, both 7 years old, were the top recruiters to invite kids into the booth and help. Both boys are building 8’ prams of their own. Ty’s 8’ pram was on display, along with his 1960 Johnson 3hp and Jack’s 1959 Evinrude 3hp. Nonmembers Gabriel Radvansky, as well as Jennifer and Phil Himes also helped coach the kid builders.
As a serendipity, our booth was directly across from the Lake Houston Marine Police display and the patrol members allowed us to let some of our kid builders have pictures taken on the police jet skis, with the blue enforcement strobe lights flashing away.
Fun Facts! Our builders were 60 to 70% girls. Ages were 18 months to about 12. Youngest was John Platou’s grandson at age 2 ½ months! Most kids were 3 to 7 or 8. This has been true all years. Girls far outnumber the boys in terms of excitement! Although this is a free event, we issue raffle style tickets to each participating kid. At the conclusion of the show, we draw a winning ticket and deliver the boat to the lucky winner.
This year’s Houston Boat Show winner is George Williams, age 9, from Spring, TX. We invited George and his family to John Platou’s swimming pool were we launched the craft and grabbed some photos of the happy skipper paddling his pram. Then we delivered the boat to George’s home. George will also receive a complimentary youth membership to the Texas Chapter of the Antique Outboard Motor Club. Now we need to get him a motor!