Everything on my blog, including talking animals, is true. In case you had doubt, here are a few photos from my walkabout.
Back at camp just before sunset. Pretty isn’t it?
For several days while camping, this is what I saw as I brewed my morning coffee.
It’s only a tiny boat, but the water’s just as blue and beautiful.
Someone (not me) said “small boat, big adventure”. It is true that things get lively when waves are a couple feet high. Not too crazy, I reefed the sail and that seemed adequate. The boat handles waves better than the novice captain.
I pulled up to an unnamed island and felt like Tom Sawyer exploring for pirate treasure. What a silly and wondrous thing it is to wander around a little island, barefoot in the sand, thinking “this is my island”. At least for a while… it was all mine.
Exploring Tom Sawyer Island.
I can row whenever the wind stops. I’m still working on the ergonomics. At first is was chaos. Then I fiddled with the reef points to get the boom to hang above my head, pulled the rudder above water, removed the daggerboard, and everything calmed down. It worked! Not as fun as sailing, but I wasn’t stuck without options in windless conditions.
The boat is capable of sailing in “thin” water. If I pull the daggerboard and retract the rudder it can float along in almost nothing.
The new tent is a success. The kayak was my “backup plan” if the boat didn’t work out.
In this photo my gear is a bit of a mess, but you can see I’ve got room for a decent amount of camping/fishing gear. That cheap nylon anchor rode is total shit. It seems to exist only to tangle around me feet. I’m going to replace that. Also I can easily move at “canoe speed” while eating Pringles. Win!
Notice the inspection port for the port side buoyancy tank. (There’s another one on the starboard buoyancy tank too.) It’s not strictly necessary to have an inspection port on a small boat like this but I cut a hole in both perfect airboxes anyway. I had two reasons. First, I can cram gear in there. Pretty much anything that can fit in an 8″ circle can go in the airbox. Once I know what’s most useful I’ll probably stick some tools and emergency gear in there permanently. Second, I wanted to be able to cross the American/Canadian border without some badged nitwit freaking out that I’ve sealed six kilos of coke in the airbox. (No insult intended to our friends to the north. Almost every Canadian border guard I’ve met has been kind and reasonable. The nitwits are from my side.)
By the way, dual redundant airboxes… how cool is that? You could hit this thing with a meteor and it wouldn’t swamp. Small but (within reason) safe is the way to go. I haven’t done a capsize test but will try it when the water’s warmer. Having built it myself I’m pretty confident in the craft’s seaworthiness.
Speaking of nitwits, this is the sign installed to keep people like me from doing precisely what I was pondering.
All I needed was a few tablespoons of cheap coffee grounds. What I got were two bottles of Starbucks Frappuccino. They probably saved my caffeine addicted life. I intend to pay it forward someday… I’ll become the Johnny Appleseed of overpriced sugary Frappuccino?
You are livin’ the life! Glad you showed us the pics. I is inspired.
Your boat’s lines are what Grandma Moses woulda made had she been a boatwright rather than a painter.
High wind makes for exciting sailing. My first time out was after reading the little pamphlet that came with a relative’s un-tried boat. Storm came up. People on shore freaking out. I had the time of my life heeled over like a maniac Popeye. I was ten, maybe twelve? Fun! Oddly, we weren’t allowed out after that.
“overpriced sugary Frappuccino” means instant gastric distress for me. No, thankew.
I’m glad you liked the photos. I usually don’t do photos but this time seemed worth an exception.
Sweet little pram! And a worthy accomplishment – anyone who builds a wooden boat has my highest respect – it’s a different plane of carpentry than building bookshelves or cabinets. Your story reminds me of the Kenneth Grahame quote: “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
Yes! Messing about building a boat was almost unreasonably fun. I really had no idea what fun it would be.
Nice little pram. People have crossed oceans in boats only a bit more elaborate. Well done.
Thanks.
Have you ever thought about putting a sail………..on a canoe? My old Grumman has a bracket on the floor for some sail post thingy.
I considered modifying my canoe but decided to go deeper down the rabbit hole. I wanted something purpose built for a sail. Not that a sail on a canoe is a bad idea, just that I wanted more “seaworthiness”. There are “sailing canoes” that are just what one would expect from the name and they’re cool (and look very classy) but I suspect they’re a little “tippy”. No keel + no outriggers = tippy. On the other side of the equation, many people have mixed a sail and a regular canoe without a lot of overthinking it and I don’t mock them. They probably have a lot of fun, though with various levels of stability.
Part of my thinking is that I invariably will “push the envelope” of anything I own. A Grumman with a windsurfing sail is totally fine for fun on a sunny afternoon but unwise for challenging conditions. I’ve got a personality that will be drawn to go out on longer jaunts or worse weather. I can’t help myself. Even while I was complaining that I didn’t know how to sail, I went a mile and a half offshore. This was on the second day the thing got wet. I was trying to “be conservative” and couldn’t help myself. As soon as I get my sailing skills “leveled up” I’m going to make my tiny boat do things that make no sense for a tiny boat.
Outstanding! Is she one of Phil Bolger’s designs?
It’s a derivative of a Bolger design. It’s called a Puddle Duck Racer.
Nice boat & you built it yourself! Did you use plans or was it a back of a napkin affair?
The basic design is free on the internet but I bought plans and followed them with the care one associates with defusing a bomb. I really wanted to “do it right”.
As always, AC, a pleasure to read. The earlier installments of the Walkabout series had me spraying coffee out my nose, but this one brings peace.
And that’s a good looking little craft you have there. Bring it up to SK sometime and I can show you a couple nice places to run it about (if your dog will allow it, of course).
Thanks.
Good job! It is always nice to succeed in a big project like that.
Thanks for the pictures!
Is your next step to camp from it?
My long term goal is to camp from it (or one of my boats). That said I chose to dial back on my “optimism” and learn sailing first. I plan most of my camping will be close to my truck for a while (that’s why I got a huge tent that’s far too unwieldy to haul far from the truck bed). I also plan to sail with an oversized “ditch bag” on board that’s big enough to use for camping if the mood strikes me (or things go pear shaped).
Also, sailing is enough of a handful that I haven’t yet fished while sailing. That’s also part of the plan. It’s practically to spend all day on a lake without trying to land a “shore lunch” but I’m not sure I can tack / jibe without snapping my fishing pole. I can tell you that trolling in a canoe is hard on the arms and a slow sailboat is just about the right speed. It’s only a matter of time before I mount a pole holder. I’m dying to see how it works to run a Rapalla from a slowly moving sailboat.
For the tangled ropes and keeping them neat while sailing, the best way is to run up a couple of pouches to hold the ropes – normally two or three open topped pouches on the one backing cloth (think of pillow cases except a bit smaller). Attach them to the boat in a suitable place with something like velcro and as you pull in the rope, allow the free end to drop into the pouch and self stow. It keeps the cockpit clear and less likelihood of tripping up and you falling overboard 1 1/2 miles offshore …
Also when you want to let the rope out, it won’t be tangled and saves “embarrassment”. Ahem! Ask me how I know … >};o)
I’ll look for (or make) pouches like you mentioned. I don’t like the boat turning into a chaotic rummage sale as I use it. I think by the end of the summer I’ll have it figured out. Right now I’m still learning what I need to bring and what I can leave behind.
If you are boating and camping away from people, places or cell service, one thing you might want is a Personal Locator Beacon. Most are under $300 and if you never use it, it was money well spent.
That’s a good idea. I spend a lot of time beyond cell service and I’m often alone in the wilderness. So I did get a locator beacon.
I recently purchased a Spot X 2-Way Satellite Messenger. Strictly speaking it’s not a marine beacon but it’s a better fit for my purposes. There are pros and cons to a “pure” marine device which make them perhaps more useful on a large craft and less useful for one dude wandering about camping/hunting/4×4 etc…
Spot X communicators are new generation devices. They only hit the market last fall. In addition to the “oh shit” button you press to summon emergency aid, there’s two way texting. That’s pretty handy, especially for mundane non-emergency issues. The device is not perfect but it’s pretty close. I think they frustrate people who expect a “space cell phone” and discover it’s not going to play Angry Birds, take photos, or help you catch Pokemon. All of this is a selling point for me; I think daily use cell phones and “emergency safety gear” should never be the same thing.
I’ve been experimenting with it. I can tell you that it’ll get a text out (and receive them!) in parts of North America where cell phones are a lost cause. It’s not always instant. I’ve seen lag times from 30 seconds to 6 minutes or so. (Which is just fine for me but pisses off people that think “satellite coms” and “cell phone” are the same.) The GPS is spot on accurate but a bit slow. It doesn’t seem to like my truck’s metal roof on a short boot up but is fine when I let it “find it’s location” by sitting on the dash for a few minutes before texting. Etc…
I plan to post about it sometime in the next month. (I wanted to be able to truly report its performance rather than just “assume”.)
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I used to sail dinks when I was a young ‘un; GREAT FUN! Prams are great little boats! I’m not sure if your craft incorporates this, but if the mast has nothing to keep it in its step, I’d come up with something. The dink I had didn’t have this when I got it, neither did it have flotation in the mast. The first time I rolled ‘er, the mast came out of its step and stharted its trek to the bottom. I had my shoes tied around the mast. Those went to Davie Jone’s locker. I was able to grab the mast just before it did the same, but that left me with one hand hanging onto the overturned dink, and the other hanging onto the mast. As God would have it, someone I knew happened by in his Mako and dragged me to the shallows so I could put everything back together and sail home. Good luck with your new little girl!
The mast does not have shrouds (is that the word?). It threads through a reinforced hole in the deck and down to the mast step (on the hull). It seems pretty secure. If I capsize it could come out of it’s mast step but it would be tangled in the sail and lines.
Also the mast is hollow. I think it would float. Haven’t tested my theory but I’m pretty sure of it. I didn’t like the plans for the mast and dithered several weeks trying to find an alternate idea. In the end I followed the pattern and I’m glad I did. The mast I made is pretty damn cool. Not bad for a novice builder like me. Gotta’ hand it to the guys who make these plans, they know their shit!
Funny story. I built it so the mast fit very snugly into the step. My first “overnight” with the boat I left the mast in the step and the wood swelled just a teeny tiny bit. Just enough to lock that sucker in the mast step tighter than a drum! When it was time to trailer up and go home I couldn’t pull the mast out no way, no how! Finally I tied a rope to the base, used a tire iron as a grip, stood on my truck’s tailgate, and lifted with all my strength. That did the trick. As soon as I got home I shaved 1/16″ or so of the mast base. Hopefully that shit won’t happen again.
Great pix, and a great story. There is nothing so addictive as sailing. When you’ve got her healed over with that apparent wind in your face – there’s nothing like it.
Many people fish while they’re sailing, and some even catch dinner along the way. Most people have a rod holder on the stern, and after they’ve got the boat on tack, they put a line in the water.
I love sailing. Thanks for the post!
You’re welcome. I’ll post more as I test the little boat’s capabilities (and mine!).
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