SAUNDRA MAE

John Laudano Jr. of Middletown, Connecticut, designed and built this 61″ model runabout, with some help from his dad, over the winter of 2014–2015. SAUNDRA MAE has sapele planking on plywood frames. John made the windscreen, steering wheel, and fittings from scrap aluminum. He gave the boat six coats of varnish, and “many” coats of auto wax. John and his dad launched the boat last spring on Dooley Pond in Middletown. They powered it with a modified water-cooled 20cc model aircraft engine. You can see SAUNDRA MAE’s launch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaNAZsa6Zc8.