Shop Talk: Mowatt has a lot going on in his shop – including a scratch build

Like many of the rest of us, Bill Mowatt’s shop sounds like a bit of a beehive with all of its activity.

As we all get ready for the Roger Newton Memorial RC Boat Show at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum this coming February 18, Mowatt has several projects in the works.

First, he made some changes on his 1968 checkerboard Bardahl in 1/10 scale, the real boat having been driven by Billy Schumacher in 1968. Mowatt added some structure in the bottom to try an alleviate the flexing which makes the boat unstable in the straightaway causing it to lift and flip over.

He also started work on his first scratch build the 1/7 scale checkerboard Miss Bardahl. This is a Russ Nachtweih hull design. Bill gives loads of thanks to Mike Hughes for all of the help on his build. Mowatt is also grateful to Craig Mullen for giving up the registration for the 1/7 Bardahl. And Mike McIntosh for laying up the cowl.

So if Bill wasn’t busy enough Len Taylor has let him purchase the 1/10 modern hull being built by Craig Bradshaw. This will be the 2007 Beacon Plumbing. All three boats Bill will be running in 2023 will have a checkerboard design, and he’s plenty excited about it.