A little jealous

[f6john]

This would have been heaven for me as a young kid.




At that age all I had was a radio flyer red wagon, a Super A Tractor and a lawn mower to tinker with. Now if I had access to some torches and a welder I could have made a real mess!

[Robert]

One of the most valuable tools I see in that picture is the relations that made this possible. My father was not around much and he did not have the abilities to do those things or I had no brothers to do some of the things in the pictures.

They tried to support me in doing much of the same things and finally was able to but it took much longer. I learned all of it on my own and had fun in doing it, but there when you have someone to help and teach you lean much faster.

Great picture, thanks 

[f6john]

My father was always around, we just didn’t have money for “extras” but we had enough. Dad was a good mechanic and was the neighborhood fix it guy. I learned the basics from him at an early age which has saved me thousands over the years. Poverty produced a lot of jack of all trades, over the years!

[carolinarider09]

For some reason I was very interested in amateur radio in my early teens.  Got my Amateur Radio License at maybe 13 or 14 (WA4KPK).   We had a lake behind your house.  My dad did purchase a boat so he could fish.  I used the boat just for fun.  We also fly model airplanes (U-Control)

But at 16 or 17 (I forget which) I got the hankering to do something real.  I started to build a 15' Knockabout Sailboat.  Got the plans and used a drawing board (I also built) in my small bedroom to blow up the plans to real life and built the boat in our car port. Just me but dad helped with some tools, like a drill powered screwdriver. 

I don't have any pictures (well at leas that I can find) of the sail boat but here is a link to what it was like. 

The only two things I did not make myself were the sails and the centerboard. 

https://www.vintageprojects.com/sites/default/files/articles/15-foot-sail.pdf

And yes it did sail.  We sailed it on the small lake (then called Pine Lakes) and also in Murrells Inlet.