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NORTH ATTLEBORO - If you hear a public works employee talking about the department's new boat, rest assured they aren't talking about the kind of boat you'll find floating at a marina.

Dubbed the SSN. Attleboro, the recently constructed boat is about 2 feet long and has been designed to float down the town's larger sewer mains carrying a video camera that checks for leaks, corrosion or other trouble spots in the pipes.

The wooden boat, which actually has a set of rubber wheels to help it in shallow water, was designed and built by public works employee Rick Masse in a do-it-yourself project that saved the town almost $900.

The town has long had the $15,000 in camera equipment and has used it to inspect of the town's 60-plus miles of sewer lines. But some of the larger pipes, which can be up to 36 inches in diameter, have high flows of water, meaning the camera apparatus would sink, making it useless.

"We've looked at 75 percent of the lines, but we couldn't do the others because of the high flows," said Jim Crowley, a foreman with the sewer department. Crowley previously worked in Newton and knew that community had a piece of equipment called a boat, which would float the camera on top of the water.

Crowley borrowed it and brought it around to various fabricators, receiving estimates of $700 to $900 to have one made.

Masse, who enjoys building things and tinkering with his motorcycle in his spare time, took a look at the boat and came up with a better idea.

After spending a weekend in his garage, he built a wooden boat for $20, which saved the town almost $900.

"People have asked me what I got out of building it, and the answer is nothing. I just love the challenge of trying to make something," Masse said. "It was fun doing it."

The camera equipment is used in the department's inflow and infiltration detection program, which investigates the town's older pipes to see if groundwater or rainwater is seeping into them.

Even though the water is considered clean, once it is in the pipes, it has to be treated at the wastewater facility, meaning it ultimately costs the town and system users money.

Robert Norton, a member of the board of public works, said Masse's boat is just one example of the way public works employees pitch in with their skills and talents to cut down on costs to the town.

"I like the fact they took the initiative to do something that will save money for the town," he said.