Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Whipray hull 2 but really 1 production skiff

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

This is the first production Whipray hull # 2 built with the side console and the Yamaha that I asked for. Hull # 1 being the one that I built with the rough deck with the first hull out of the mold. This engine had no where near the power for hole shots and speed that the Mercury 25 had. Of all the Mercury engines the 25, 40 and 60 were the best. But! Sheesh could they be a pain in the butt to start at times. I always cringed when doing a test ride with them as it could sometimes take a bit to get one going. I have in my dighys always used Yamaha 15 two strokes which always start on the first pull. By the time I have around 3,000 plus hours on them I give to a friend and get a new one.
In this picture I am poling Rachel around in the new skiff with Flips push pole that has a natural wood crook in it for the foot.
I gave to Chris Petterson owner of HBBWs all the original photos of building the molds and skiff # 1
That was done in St. Augustine Florida under a simple plastic visqueen shed. It would be nice if he posts them some day on his site. More to come.....

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Boat Plans And Patterns | Shallow minded sailing

Boat Plans And Patterns

The past few days Lillian my daughter and I went out for a few days exploring with our sea dog Bequia on the Hogfish Maximus . The island that we live on is one of 18 in a small bay on the north coast of Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. From our house we can see about half of these with the farthest one away being 7 miles. All have good anchorages in their lees depending on the wind direction. The best all weather anchorage being the landlocked harbor on Royal Island. The entrance to Royal Island has a small rock island almost in the third middle of the channel. The entrance for deep draft is to the west side of this rock. But when entering the east third looks so logical that lots of competent and lesser seaman think this is the way to go forgoing the pilot books and guides. Unfortunately just under the water in this part is a nice big shoal that has enough keel grooves in that the guest book it must have is in volumes. I love sailing in and out of here when the harbor is full of newbies at anchor on Hogfish Maximus she looks to have a deep draft which most times is drawing a bit over 7 with her board down. We know the bottom by heart so always go in and out the wrong way with all the crowd giving good advice as to the danger ahead via VHF radio . Reading old sailing yarns like Peter Pyes Moonrakers cruises , it is neat to know that he made the mistake and ran Moonraker up on this ledge too. I like diving along its length feeling the limestone ledge, with its multiple colored scrapes along it and think of old Moonraker here in the 40s stuck with no one to see her embarrassment.

I being a very cautious navigator have never run aground, but there has been multiple times when there has not been enough water to go where I am headed. This is only a temporary setback which we are used to being in the mode of calling out water depths in inches . An inch under our bottom is plenty but it can be slow going as the mass of displacement sucks the water away and we kind of inch worm along stopping and filling back in and going and sucking and stopping with a messing dusty underwater wake. This is not running aground its just not having enough water. When we do run out of water its really no big deal as the HFM just sits upright as solid as a concreat parking lot. With a 9 wide bottom you dont  lean her over you just climb down aft into the water hopefully with a Sandy bottom with only your shorts gettin wet. If in mud then its a bit deeper . My usual thing is to wade to the bow squatting  down with my back to the boat grabbing the chine with both hands behind me and lifting a bit. By lifting up just a couple of inches the boat rocks aft and with the added displacement of the stern sections an inch of draft is gotten and so with the 32,000 lb boat now floating I spin her around and push her back into deeper water, something like 28". This is why I say we never run aground. The times we are being inconvenienced by not having enough water to go when and where we want I just blame on the moon as not keeping in sync with us.

Dont ever follow us as we take a lot of short cuts . We have found that in a simple breeze pif the seas are not breaking a bit or the swell is not giving a slight hump then there is enough water for us to go. So on we press but only in daylight and not over coral reefs or steel ship wrecks.

When we are sailing with the daggerboard down fully the HFMs draws 710"s. We have hit many unmarked sunken boats in far off harbors when tacking into them. This usually stops us dead in our tack- tracks... But only for a moment as we quickly let go the floating daggerboard down line and up pops the board and away we go with one of us quickly cranking the board back down. Most times nobody notices us in our impromptu bottom surveying of this new harbor. 

When racing and cutting corners on shoals , cruising and thinking we can make it over some shoal the same drill happens with only a little less glass on the tip of the board, a shagrinned skipper and off we go. That is another reason why we never run aground.

Anchored off of Egg Island in 7 

Looks shallow but at least 7 here

Nothing like clear water

This is actually 4 of water.

Our friends the Underwoods summer camp house on Egg Island

When the tide goes out we would be on the bottom. No big deal if the wind stays this way. If not when the water comes back we would have about a half an hour of bumping before lift off. This we have done with both Hogfishes at least a thousand times. These boats were designed and built for this.

One of many small islands in our bay. Water is 3 deep here now . As they say in the Bahamas  

  " We have lots of water here, its just spread out very thin."

Beach coaming treasure ! A free cleat from a wreck.

It sure is nice having a shoal draft vessel but if your draws a bit more then you will be anchored out a bit farther than us. The fun difference between keel and non keel boats is that when you run aground you are aground, no lifting your skirts and moving on. Sorry

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Boden Boat Plans Australia | Composting Toilet

Boden Boat Plans Australia

As of press time, deciding the toilet type was one of the more thought provoking decisions made on the boat build to date. Every boat Ive been involved with has had a macerating type toilet. Every boat owner I know has a macerating type toilet. Every boat owner in my neck of the woods whom I spoke with regarding composting toilets thought this to be a foolish idea ( I guess old habits are hard to dump). It is for all of the reasons I just stated, and a few ideas of my own, that I decide to utilize composting toilets on the trawler.

Im not going to go into a ton of detail on this toilet, but I will say that it is a simple device that is well thought out in regard to use and maintenance. I was a little nervous about going this route, but after installing the unit and giving it the twice over evil eye, Im feeling pretty confident that this composting toilet is going to make life on board more simple.

I went ahead and installed and finished the toilet area of the bathroom so I could have a working toilet while I build the boat. The toilet has a 12 volt fan built in to power air into the composting bin. The fan only pulls a few mill amps of current, so I decided to power it off of the circuit for the shower sump. I installed a simple set of 12 volt thumb screws in a wall box to make the connection to power the fan. This is a fast, simple connection that is reliable and looks pretty decent. Before I sheathed the walls, I installed a 1 1/2" PVC vent line to vent the composting bin. The vent line will eventually exit the front wall of the wheel house. After one drops a bomb in the composting bin, a stainless steel handle needs to be cranked a few times to mix the material in with the peat composting media. The handle can be used on either side of the unit, but since we are all right handed, I used the right side. Under normal conditions, the unit can handle about 80 events ( gotta love being politically correct while trying to talk about defecating). The science behind this is simple: keep the solids and liquid separate, keep oxygen moving in all the right places, good ventilation and moist composting media. This thing will work.

Im pretty much sold on this idea, but I still installed a 1 1/2" schedule 40 PVC transport line from the bathroom to the main holding tank of the boat. Getting that line installed was a pretty simple thing, and because I used rigid PVC, the line will last as long as Im on this world. If the composting toilet fails, I got a huge piece of infrastructure in place to use a different style head.

I read every post on every boat cruising forum I could find regarding composting toilets. I could not find one negative thing written about this style toilet. All post Ive read by hard core cruisers and live a boards all agree that those who switch to this style head do not switch back to the macerating, vacuum, or manual style heads along with the associated holding tanks. A large part of my excavating business is installing septic systems form homes, and Im pretty happy that I wont have the mini version of a septic tank on the boat. I now have two gray water tanks for a total capacity of 135 gallons, and 8 fresh water tanks for a total capacity of 360 gallons. It feels good knowing that none of the precious fresh water will be needed for flushing.

As the hour meter starts to tick and time begins to accumulate on the composting toilet, Ill start giving some updates on the performance. A few of you out there might be thinking that Im jumping the gun by getting a working toilet on board at this stage in the game, but the truth is that Im psyched to have another place to sit and ponder.

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Dinghy Boat Plans | Bathroom update

Dinghy Boat Plans

All the foam in the bathroom has vanished behind the finish work.

I had some green bead board left over from the kids cabin and installed that for the ceiling. I think Ill tone the green down a little and paint it a more neutral color such as a tan. The access panel for the 4" exhaust fan is finished along with the port light trim ring. I also finished the trim work around the cabinet. Its so nice not to see foam anymore.

Since the ceiling and ceiling trim is installed there was no reason not to install the shower fixtures. The shower is now functional including the wiring of the shower sump. I still have to address the faulty sump switch, but someone told me Rule has an excellent replacement policy and as long as the switch is less than a couple of years old, theyll replace it with no questions asked.

I have the hatch framed in out of Cherry, so Im ready to fabricate the hatch that accesses the shower sump and valves that direct the sump discharge. Im going to install a new floor in the bathroom as Im not happy with the Cherry plywood I have under the composting toilet. The fit is less than great, and it bothers me. I ran into a hard wood floor installer I know the other day and he has enough scrap of Brazilian Cherry in his shop that will do my floor. I only need about 15 square feet and the few dollars a square foot I"ll pay him is extremely fair to me.

I installed one 7 watt LED can light in the bathroom. In a perfect world, another light would be ideal, but the one light does the job and gives the room a nice glow. All the lights on the boat are controlled by wall switches, and I prefer that much more than having a switch on the light. The can light pivots, so we can direct light either in to the shower or in to the cabinet above the toilet.

I think the next move after I complete the bathroom is to do some DC electrical work on board. I want to get the battery cables installed along with the battery control panel for my three battery banks. I can now install the lower air conditioner along with the duct work and then button up the starboard chase way.

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Small Boat Plans And Kits | Guest cabin updated 3 Storage

Small Boat Plans And Kits

For the cabinetry Ive built on the boat prior to building the guest cabin, Ive used frame and panel construction. The cabinets Ive built in the guest cabin are what I would call frame less construction.

There are four bunks in the guest cabin. Each bunk is 6 6" long with a minimum width of 24". The overall average ceiling height in the cabin is 6 8". Underneath the lower bunks are two cubby hole frame less storage spaces. Underneath the port side bunk Ive added a large drawer, and one more not so large cubby. The 45 gallon gray water holding tank is underneath the starboard lower bunk so no cabinets were able to be built in that space. Between the port and starboard bunks is another cubby on the same elevation as the other lower cubbies. Each set of bunks has a bulkhead. Because of the the standard bunk length and the left over space I had after laying out the bunks, I created a large blanket chest forward of the two lower bunks. The blanket chest is a huge storage space, and all the linens for the cabin will easily fit in this space. All the linens for the rest of the boat could also go in this space. The lid of the blanket chest serves as a step to gain access to the anchor chain locker when one needs to get in to that area. Since Im using a deck winch, I see the anchor chain locker becoming storage for one thing or another. To both port and starboard of the anchor chain locker, I created four more cubbies that are behind the bulkhead of each of the upper bunks.

For the drawer and not so large cubby, I stuck with the frame construction method. I could have probably made a frame less unit, but the framed method seems to work best for drawers. Ive not yet built the drawer, and this will probably be the last major wood working project I will do in the guest cabin.

It seems like a battle is being waged to gain every inch of storage space on the boat. In all honesty, there is a tremendous amount of storage space, and it is kind of fun to develop it. Once I get finished with the cabinetry in the engine room, the salon, the wheel house, the companion way from above , and the lazzerette, I see us having to develop a chart or map to inventory where we store all the "stuff" we are going to stash on board.

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Boat Plans Aluminum | No water for a bit

Boat Plans Aluminum

When the tide goes out from under your boat you want a nice soft spot for your boat to sit on for the next 10 hours or so. Sand is great, mud is nice but muddy. Round rocks ok , but move the conchs out of the way if you can. Not for the boat but for them as 16 tons is a lot to bear for the duration of the tide.

This is our latest project boat. Its an Irwin 31 built in1968 of solid fiberglass. Nice lines , shallow draft, good sails, 800 hrs on the engine, and bought for less than the price of a used 6 hp outboard. Here she is saving us $ 400.00 on a one day haul out to put in a new stuffing box. Sheer legs made from beach wood and line straps to aft chain plate. She draws 36" . As she sits she is solid as a rock.

This boat will be our Bahamas boat to keep at our place so we will always have a boat to use when here even if we are off somewhere on Hogfish M.

A day at the beach in Abaco at Bill and Leslies on Manjack Cay.

In shallow water so we dont have to use the dinghy. This is Saddle Back Cay in the Exumas. We were caretakers there for 3 years 20 years ago. Have gone up and down on this spot twice a day ....a lot .

Kinda shallow

 

Looks like a big Heron from this angle sitting on brown sand.

Sitting on the beach in cold water to scrub the prop and bottom. 

Nothing like a nice sand beach to let the boat have a rest on. Kinda like looking at a big ole square Elephant Seal here resting from all that time at sea.

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Boat Plans Aluminum | Passage door update 2

Boat Plans Aluminum

All five passage doors are hung in their openings and have two coats of urethane finish on them. Another fairly large job can be, for the most part, checked off of the list.

Because of having to build the boat in two sections ( hull/ wheel house @ salon), I cannot install the ceiling in the hallway and master cabin. Because I cannot finish the ceilings, there is no point in casing the doors, so that job will wait until the boat gets to the launch site.

I purchased a mortise lock set for the master cabin bathroom door. The lock set is solid brass with a brushed nickel finish so my hope is the lock set will handle corrosion. I installed the lock set and Im happy with how it looks and works. Installing a mortise lock set is a slow, time consuming job with very little room for error. I roughed in the mortise with a 5/8 forstner bit, then cleaned out the mortise with a chisel. I had to make a jig to hold the door plumb with my drill press, and other than cutting the mortise a 1/4" shallow, all went well. From start to finish, I had about 2 1/2 hours in installing the lock set with 1/2 of an hour consumed with building the jig for the drill press. The lock set has a dead bolt so we can lock the door from inside of our cabin. I think Ill have dead bolts on our cabin doors, and the bathroom doors, but will use lock sets without dead bolts for the other doors.

I brushed two coats of gloss urethane finish on the doors. Im not incredibly happy with the finish and I think Ill spray the final coat of finish on the doors. No matter how hard I try, I just cant seem to brush a good finish on my work. I think my problem is Im expecting too much out of two coats of finish. Next summer, when the boat is at the launch site and were putting the final finish coats on everything, Im hoping Ill get some help on getting a decent top coat on all the wood. For right now, everything is getting two coats for protection, and thats the story Im sticking with.

The next job is to get the bathroom completed. There is really not a huge amount of work left to finish that room, and I should be able to get it off of my list in a week or so. I have to install the exhaust fan, install the ceiling, fabricate the interior trim ring for the portlight, and install the portlight.

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Pontoon Boat Plans | The skiffs of Dominica and the Boat Boy Mafia

Pontoon Boat Plans

Through out the islands of the West Indies you will encounter many types of characters coming up along side your vessel trying to engage you in hiring them in some form of capacity to sell you something. These are know as Boat Boys. In days gone by they would meet you way offshore paddling an old windsurfer or on a make shift raft. Today they zoom up in nice little fast wooden skiffs with big outboards at breakneck speeds to be the first on the scene to hopefully claim you as theirs.

Years ago we had many very unpleasant experiences with these guys trying to politely tell them to stay away from our top sides and no we did not want for a thing and did not want to rent a mooring. 

They , but not all of them would try and intimidate you with their skiffs as you would be sailing in after you declined their offers. Lots of charterers and other sailors would just give in and follow them to the appointed mooring buoy which the Boat Boy would be holding up from his skiff asking for the nights payment as the charterers would be grabbing the buoy line. The Boat Boy and his skiff banging along side till the cash was in hand, then taking off to the next victim. The unsuspecting boater would be so glad to have this skiff gone from the side of his boat that they paid him as quick as possible to get him off and away.

Now safely on their mooring they would settle back into the cockpit to relax and then start to realize that the boat next to them was dragging onto them. Sheesh ! But how can this be that the boat astern is dragging its bow into our stern !

Well the Boat Boys realize that to foreigners all their brightly painted skiffs kinda look alike so handing them a mooring buoy that is tied to an old 15 hp outboard is a good way to make a living. Said boat pays them, off they go to another mooring that is fake or not. While the latest victim is dragging down wind the next one is coming in the harbor and can see this going on so wants a good mooring so on goes the process.

The best place to see this Racket is in Admiralty Bay in Bequia. I anchored there for a month a few years ago watching this scam go on. I dove the entire harbor and would say that over half the moorings there can just about hold a dinghy, not an 18 ton Catamaran.

When sailing into Mindelo bay in the Cape Verde islands in 2004 we knew in advance of the potential crime and dinghy theft. The deal that was waiting for us was there would be at least 5-6 Boat Boys in small rowing craft that would be waiting for you at the harbors entrance to offer their services of guarding your dinghy from the others so it would not get stolen. They would ask for 5-6 euros a day for this service. So basically the deal was pay us or your skiff is a goner.

Knowing this in advance we sailed into the bay after a 7 day passage from the Canaries in the early morning. The Hogfish Maximus at that time sailed engine less so we were under full sail for the tack up the bay. Sure enough after rounding the breakwater 5 Boat boys awaited us in their 12" rowboats . They all started after the Hogfish but we were under sail and not power so this was to be a new challenge to them . They understood sailing so could see where our first tack would end up. Off they rowed racing each other to our possible tacking spot. Watching this go on as I threaded my way through all the anchored ships and yachts, I tacked 100 short of where they were waiting to grab ahold of our rail . Bam, off they all go chasing us onto the next tack. After playing with them for 3 more evasive tacks I was left with one Boat Boy following us up the anchorage till we anchored. Breathless, he came alongside and very politely offed his services. We struck our deal at 2 euros a day.

Later that day as we came alongside the dinghy dock he was there along with his competition. He could not belive I was still chaining my skiff up with 3/8" chain. I explained I did not trust anyone watching my skiff including the other yachties.

Today in Portsmouth Dominica the Boat Boys have formed an association and take their business very seriously. They are very polite , have fenders for the skiffs and understand that not all of us sailors have deep pockets. This so far was the safest place Ive felt in leaving our skiff while out hiking. Still locked up of course.

Typical old school Dominican skiff buit on the beach in wood.

New skiff being built in plywood with a heavy glass skin.

Underside of this skiff. All the supports will be remove when flipping over.

Todays Boat Boy all round skiff used for fishing and working the Yachties during the season.

Very nice running sea boats.

Skiff building on the beach.

The builder of most of the current skiffs in Portsouth Dominica, Alfonso. Very quiet guy but loved talking skiffs and building. I gave him a jack plane that was my fathers to replace his broken one and a bunch of hand saws. The chunk of curved wood laying on the keelson will be the inside of the stem in the foreground. Hes cutting it out with a chainsaw.

Met this guy in town and he said my Government might let me sail to his country someday. Can this be true ?!!!! If so thats where Ill be for the next bunch of years. My dad was born in Cuba.

Us with Sea Cat Boat Boy and hiking Guide  extrodainair . Here we are putting on volcanic mud on our hike to the boiling lake. We have done all our hikes unguided but he came so highly recommended for the way he explained the world about you we hired him and had a great time.

Sea Cat boiling eggs for us in the thermal vents.

Gayle , Tim , me and Rachel in the hot thermal sulfur water run off from the volcanic vents upstream.

This was a good rest as its quite a hike to get there and back.

Tree squashing de bus in hurricane Hugo

Fisherman netting Bahlou in Roseau 

 Roseau Boat Boy Desmound. The water is 160 deep up next to the shore but he had moorings placed there that had a good reputation. In the old days you would back your stern up to the beach dropping your anchor in maybe 60 and then tying your stern ashore with a line to someones house sea wall. Todays moorings are every where so hard to be on your own anymore. $ 10.00 US a night.

Yes he is , and the beer was very cold.

Sara another sailor on hike with us on the north coast. 

Roots

Lots of water falls

East coast.

North coast anchorage with skiffs.

And last , this is a typical fish haul from a huge gill net drawn in along the beach. Thses are all juvenile fish . But thats whats left. They are killing and eating every last thing . Sad.

Dominica has been a wonderful place to sail to and hike about.

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