My flats boat early history re posted again!

I have no idea how it disappeared from my blog but my early history posting- story just dissapeared from this blog. Several followers emailed me to ask to share it with their friends so I emailed my daughter to assist me in reposting it. So it's back in its old time slot in June. Here are some photos to go with this story and time frame. 

This is the Sea Witch ketch that I grew up on sailing from California to Florida via the Panama Canal.

We are sailing in the San Blas Islands here. The cost to transit the canal in 1976 was $14.00 !

This boat did not have a winch on her. Every thing was a block and tackle. She really loved the wind in the Carribean sea. Otherwise she was a haystack to sail.

Back then with a wood hull you were always looking to paint your bottom because of ship worms.

The tides in Panama on the Pacific were from 8-24' so this was easy. I'am mixing the paint in the dinghy.

When we were cruising the San Blas islands I talked my dad into letting me sail the islands for 10 days with only a 5 gallon water jug , my spears and some fishing line. I wanted to try and live off the land and sea. I ate a lot of coconuts, lobster, sea urchins, and fish. This little flat bottom Garvey dinghy at 9' long with a loose footed lug sail and a leeboard sailed right along and was very seaworthy with the flair that it had. It rained every night and I would just sleep on the two oars with the sail over me. I'am 17 years old here. The Cuna Indians loved seeing what I was doing.

When we arrived in Florida in 1976 I got a job at Stamas Boats. I worked there for six months and saved enough to buy a nice bycycle and go on a 3,800 mike bike trek through the Pacific Northwest for a summer. This is near the Columbia Ice Fields in Alberta Canada.

On my bike tour I got this Big horn to eat my dried apples out of my hand. I asked him if he would like to have his head on my future house wall and he said not today! I'am 18 years old here. The white things around my ankles are plastic bags that I would wear over my socks to stay warm. It snowed that night. I did this trip averaging 75 miles a day for the trip and living off a $3.00 a day budget. Oh for the good old days!

While working at Stamas boats I bought this French designed and built Corsair sloop for $750.00.

This boat which was built out of plywood I then sailed through out the Exumas and as far south as Long Island in the Bahamas and then out to Conception ,Cat island, Eleuthera,the bight of Abaco, and the east side too coming back to Florida in West palm. My next trip over she hit something at 8:00 at night 18 miles out of Key largo in the Gulf Stream and sank in 10 minutes . Because I had no dinghy I ended up swimming for 20 hours making it back to Biscayne Bay. 

All my boats have been very strong since this episode.

She's sailing in George Town harbor in the Exumas in 1977 with only 12 boats at anchor in the peak of the season. At the time I was 19 years old and was having the time of my life. I have spent the my time since then trying to recapture the simplicity of that era.

After my little sloop sank I got a job at Glander Boat Works in Key Largo and built myself one of his Prudence hulls from the mold he had. Lawanda and I did most of the building in the water at Lews Marina in Islamorada.

This little sloop was a nice sailor. We did several trips to the Bahamas in her before I got into building flats skiffs. We lived aboard in what is called Little Basin in Islamorada right out front of what is now Bass Pro world Extravaganza whatever. Only 4 other sailboats then and maybe 6 guides.

Sailing in the Bahamas with my dad on his Alben Vega catching up to us.

This is a little bit of what was going on before I met Hal Chittum and got into the flats boat world.

Hogfish and Alert

 Jim Melcher was a good freind and a great sailor. I first met him by being asked to help carry his main mast for the Alert from the shed he had been repairing it in to the Alert to be raised in its own tabernacle. This mast weighed more than the hollow mainmast of the gaff rigged ketch that I had grown up on and had sailed from California on. This was in Key largo in the early 80s.

He invited me to go for a sail in a couple of days. The Alert is a Phil Bolger Manatee design that Jim had built and slightly modified by raising the main cabin height to give headroom. At the time I was living aboard my own slightly modified Prudence sloop built by my ex Lawanda and I. The Prudence is a 23' sloop. Jim was a very thin wiry guy with tons of energy. He was anchored in 3' of water on a lee shore with barly enough room to get away on a clean tack. Jim hoisted the huge single leg o mutton or sprit boom mainsail and let it luff. The mizzen was sheeted in flat. I stood in the bow well and pulled in the anchor road as we slowly made way up on the anchor road. The leeboards of this design were lowered to just even with the bottom of the hull, about 20". When the anchor started to break loose I said to Jim we were on the wrong tack as we fell off to the lee shore. Jim just said no worrys. As we made a boat length to the impending shore Jim sheeted in the mizzen let out the main sheet and pushed the tiller over hard to port. The boat headed up into the wind, the hull 2" above the bottom and as we came into the wind he let go the mizzen completely and we fell off on the next tack heading offshore. Once underway the lee leeboard was lowered ,the mizzen sheeted in a bit to draw and away we went. I fell in love with real shallow draft boats then and there. The Alert was a very radical design to me at the time as I had just built an old school Herrshoff Prudence sloop with all the right bronze hardware. This boat had a mizzen mast off center and a very weird hull shape, but sailed in shallow water well. Jim had sailed it down from New England. We became fast friends. Jim went on to sail this boat by my guess about 40,000 offshore miles with two Atlantic crossings by him. A fantastic seaman.

Here we are In the Bahamas chasing each other around just after I launched the Hogfish in her original state. 

Jim has hoisted a small jib on his anchor roller to try and get more speed to keep up with Hogfish.

We are sailing through his lee here.

Hogfish here dropping off friends on the beach

Hogfish sailing out of Cruise Bay in St. John's Virgin Islands with a 68' mast to carry to St Croix for a friends boat project. 

The " Red Baron" project

I move around a lot sailing from one project- job to the next. Right now a front is coming through here and it is raining so will sit down and share this story with you. Four years ago my friend Phil emails me a picture of an unfinished Ian Farrier 32 AX trimaran bare hull and some parts that is for sale in Oregon state. This is Phil's dream boat. The man that started it has died of a heart attack , the boat and parts are for sale by his young son-24 and his surviving sister. They are not sailors. Would I hop on a plane and go out and look at it and if it's worth finishing buy it and get it to Florida for me to Finnish the build? Sure why not I need to settle into a routine and be a normal dad for my youngest daughter as she finishes high school. This will be a good job. I was in the Bahamas working on building my house but this could be good. 

My wife and daughter were renting a small place in St Augustine fl. As they have good schools there. My wife was running a used antique book store. I sail on up. 

The first thing I do is look up this tris hull sections for me to see if I can get it into a freight box. I have 3" to spare if it is built to plans and I can get it in sideways. The place where the boat is being built is in the middle of no where in a garage. I will need to fly to Oregon drive 350 miles to the boat,look the boat over ,find a crane rental, line up a trucking company, meet with the son, make an offer and if accepted start the process of getting out and into the container all ASAP. 

The gentalman that started his dream project was an engineer at the nucular war head site in this town. His name was Charley Brown. Charles Brown. He was very detailed in building what he had done so far. The boat was being built in Systems Three Epoxy , Core Cell foam core with some modifications to the design aft cabin deck height. Smart move as it is way too low as designed unless you are an earth worm that likes to wiggle your way in and around and out of that coffin like aft cabin.

His work was perfect so far. He had gotten the two hull halves together, the outer Amas built , the daggerboard case and board. Some tools were there . Lots of supplies but all a long ways to go. 

I am always amazed at people that take on projects like this when they have retired. This design build is a huge under taking by anyone . Tons of hours to build. Nothing romantic about the whole project as it is all about glass work and fairing. No wood in site except for the plug work. Pretty much a thankless job unless you are getting paid to build it. It is by no means cheap to build on your own as the materials still cost a bundle. Labor still costs, but it will take you at least 3,500 + hours of yours so it's a part of your life. When done you will not make your money back unless you have a buyer waiting. It is way better in the long run to buy a used boat now and enjoy your life. But if you are like me you will take great joy and pride in creating your own flying carpet to explore the world. Forget the itch, the dust, smell, endless hours inside a shed with only a peak of the out side world waiting. Let's get going and see how this contraption sails.

The son and his Aunt wanted a lot of $ for the bare hull and parts. My offer was this; the boat as it sits is pretty much not worth anything till built. Does not matter what was spent to date , the boat must be in the water to have real value. They had several offers. I offered them way less than the others but said

 " Iam  the only one that will have the boat built in a little over a year from now. The others will not be doing this if at all. If you want to see Charley's boat sailing I will be be the one to do it". Seeing the boat finished was worth more to them than a bit more cash. 

I took working alone 13 months to finish building Charley's dream boat and making it into Phil's. My deal with Phil was I would charge $25.00 an hour for labor and would get all the materials at cost or better and pass the savings on to him. He would cover all expenses. I am very good at finding deals as I have been around for awhile. The finished boat cost $226,000.00 with my labor at just under $40,000.00. 

A friend was building one in Canada in a professional shop with the cost going out the door at over $350,000.00. So we were ahead of it a bit.

This was a good project . I lived in a house for this period , and kinda acted like a regular guy during this time. As soon as the sea trials were over Rachel and I sailed back to the Bahamas. Our daughter Lillian had been awarded a full scholarship to finish her 11 th and 12 th grade schooling in an IB program in the UWC in Duino Italy during this time.She escaped before we did.

 Arriving from Oregon ready to lift out . I built the cradle there and loaded the boat and parts in myself. The truck driver being an American weighed at least 350 lbs and could barely breath. He made it though across the states.

I think everyone should have a machine like this , so much fun. Never used one before this project but you can rent for very little and learn on the job or poke a hole in something.

Nothing like a strong light weight hull.

Everything is cored so you just make up these sheets and start putting the puzzle together. I still have to glass everything in here and then fair.

The folding system that Ian Farrier has designed is complicated but works beautifull when done. You only have 3 mm of play to work with so have to have a secure level boat and pay attention to all the details. Kinda like building a plane.

Daggerboard rudder before glassing.

Interior shot after Awlgripping. I use a full face mask. Your eye balls are an open skin membrane so if they are protected from the fumes then you can work and paint away. If not you drop dead. This was a total bitch and nightmare to fair and paint. The shop at this point was at mid summer about 100 degrees so I sweated up a storm but I am used to this being in the tropics my whole life.

A detail of the stern and the daggerboard rudder. I like these as you just lift the rudder up an can still sail. With a kick up rudder you tremendous weather helm. 

This is not Bondo but the System Three fairing putty they sell. Since this was all epoxy no fumes and plenty of working time.

My home made fairing rig. Works like a charm but you have to cover your eyes and like to work in a dust storm. I was renting a small storage bay so could not blow the dust out the door. Had to do all this with the door shut. I like to wear all cotton shirts and jeans even though it is 100 degrees plus in here my sweat cools me off. The fan provides a breeze but because the door is closed the dust storm will be about for a bit. I then Vacume out the whole shop.

The boat had a beam of 25' and the shop was 20' wide . I just built one Ama  and Aka at a time and then slid the boat over to the other side. Saved a ton on rent. Rent was $750.00 a month. The building was metal and the inside was sheet rock nothing else. I had to buy insurance to rent . My landlord said to insure for $100,00.00. The insurance company's said they would only insure for a minimum of $500,00.00. Crooks. The custom trailer people are about to arrive.

The Epoxy that the boat was being built out of had to be cured to 120 degrees for 4 hours taking up to ten hours to slowly cure this type of epoxy resin. I built this shed over the boat with all parts inside , renting a propane furnace heater . I installed 10 thermometers around the box . Took a day to build , a day to cure and a day to remove. I had no need for the wood and all that good insulation and offered it to the guy in the next bay. He said a friend was building a shed and would get it in the morning. He shows up with his Fire Marshall uniform on , looks at the furnace and me and says " I don't want to know what you were up to". To this date with a bright red hull no print through.

Stern with a custom engine mount .

Rachel posing like the bikini girls on my walls. Getting ready to put the bling on the boat.

Only an inch at the door. Ian Farriers plans are very detailed but kind of scattered with the info. 

Tied up along side the Hogfish. I knew the Hogfish would not be jealous of me spending so much time with this sexy new boat. Although lean light and super fast this red thing could only carry a six pack of beer and you could poke a hole through her sides in an instant. Nothing like the battle horse you know and love.

Calvert sails, wing mast, 18 knots in 12 . 

Screecher 

The end of a good project with a happy owner. 

Scrapping , being cheap or Eco friendly

Building our place over here in the Bahamas can be very expensive if you cannot do all the work yourself. We have done 98% of the work here with only short term day help with a concrete pour or when plastering. The most fun thing for me is collecting drift wood from along the shore line as we go about exploring . This wood is all in pretty good shape. What we do is flip the board over to use it's old hidden side and give it a new life. The bonus is most boards come with their own nails !

All this costs us is some labor a little gas and some imagination to where it will all go.

A $30.00 new board or the same thing with a little history behind it for free? What would you do?

Our dinghy can hold up to 1,500 lbs easily. So it's just a matter of stacking and the sea state getting back home.

Ok ... Now we need some to go here and over there.

This walk way all  from the shore line.

We collected all the rocks to cover the outside of our house. The dark rocks are from the Azores to the Cape Verde islands from their beaches.

Remember ! All this wood was once floating in the ocean so you better have a strong boat.

Will be looking for you out there scrapping.

 

Exumas

Years ago we used to live in the Exumas at anchor off of Saddle Back Cay. We had a loose arangement with one of the owners that let us use the main island as a base in exchange for keeping people from messing with it. Now you would think who would be around to try and break into 70 year old shacks to see what was in them in the middle of no where. Boaters . Sail boaters, power boaters, mega yacht owners . Living at anchor or sitting on the bottom there over a three year period using the main hill top house as our day place it was amazing how many people would just walk right past my generator and art work, the diapers drying on the clothes lines, our boat at anchor at the bottom of the hill , the barking dog and come right into the house and say what a cool place it was. We had to explain that all the islands are privately owned as this one was for the past 80 years . And enjoy the view on the way down.If we locked the house up and went for a few days sail someone would always try to break in .

 Funny there were no locals for at least 45 miles around so it always came down to being the boaters. Why is this?

This past August after our Daughter Lillian went back to collage after hanging out with Bequia and me I sailed down to Saddle back with a nice north wind curtesy  of hurricane Christobal . I wanted to get away from our place to see some  really clear water ,  visit old friends ,explore old haunts and to have some time to finish some art commissions with out interruptions . The sail down was great with "Sinclair"our Aries wind vane doing the work when there were no coral heads to watch out for. We have done this trip dozens of times so can do it in the dark if needed.

The time there was great except for a few nights of horrendous lighting and rain squalls up to 40 knots. 

I always anchor well so had 3 anchors out being 75 lb. fishermans with 350' of line and chain each and the main anchor chain with a 66 lb Bruce. In one fierce squall we dragged one kedge back 65'.  We were anchored in 3' of water over beautiful sand but the wind was something . The squall just slowly drug this one anchor through the sand . I have to confess that I converted during the worst lightening storm of my life in one of these tempests. I am now a child of the God Thor . I will continue to pray to him to spare my boat and all it's electrical needs from now on every time I see a flash and boom in the same instant.

Sailing wing and wing towards the Exumas which are 52 miles away from our place. This takes us on average about 9 hours .

" Sinclair " the wind vane is an Aries Mark  IV that I bought for $600.00 dollars. It is 45 years old and was never used. The name comes from the used junk dealer that I bought it from. I have used a Navick  

Vane on small boats which work great but are a pain to adjust . I had an Aries Mark III for awhile in aluminum that was very good. I really liked how you could adjust the vane in the dark by feeling the clicks on the adjustment line. On the Hogfish I used a Hasler vane that I found at Sailormans for $150.00 . This to me was the best vane ever as that huge vane blade really works well in light winds. The only complaint is that it is big and hard to rig to some boats. I traded this vane for my mast on HFM. On HFM over the past 24,000 miles we have used a Monitor that I bought for $250.00 from a burnt wreck . The plastic was not melted so I figured it would be alright. This vane works very well when it does but they have a flaw in that the geared teeth sometimes come loose which is a pain to realine . Also because they are all stainless steel mine was always cracking. The Aries we now have is the best ever as it is super simple ,very strong, and made up mostly of bronze. Plus it steers very well.

I could go on for hours about all my past relationships with my vanes as you have to really get to know all their habits and treat them well. For me going offshore they are one of the most important parts of an offshore boat.

Bequia after a hard days sail.

This is little Spirit cay where I went through my lightening conversion .

The dock at Saddle Back cay where tourist now come by boat for the day. That's a nice Benny Albury skiff.

I am going to write a book called " 50 Shades of tan" 

 A mermaid for a northern client .

Naked turtles about to be colored.

In the process of painting and staining my turtles.

All done

The water really is clear in the Exumas.

Presto ! And Hogfish Maximus

The yacht designer Rodger Martin and his wife Patty have stopped by our place in the Bahamas a couple of times on their way south and going north. They trailer the Presto down from New Port RI and  launch her in Florida were they start their winter cruise .The Presto is a magnificent sailing machine. She sails like a dream and is very comfortable to be on. I thought she would be very jumpy because of the light weight of her concept. She does move about for her weight but is still very pleasent to be on at anchor. Under sail she is fast and fun. 

This boat is perfect for short term cruising with minimal stuff aboard. By this I mean a few months and to not bring your hard back book collection , and every tool for every occasion with you. Add weight ,loose speed. To make this boat go as fast as she does she has to be built very strong and light. To do this Rodger has engineered a very high tech light weight hull and spars. This boat is not cheap to build.

$185,000.00 and upwards are what they go for. To build in strip plank with aluminum spars and a simpler interior going lower tech will still cost to build by an amature at around $80,000.00 plus at best for materials. I was asked to build 2 similar boats and did the cost analysis  .

The wood boats will not be as fast as the cored boats with the god awfull expensive carbon masts.

I would love to race a Presto in the Carribean regattas for a season with a bunch of heavy mates for rail meat. This boat would kick butt.

Here we are rafted together behind our place.

 

Notice the size of Prestos spars, very small. Aluminum ones would be twice a big around. Also look at the freeboard of both boats. Hogfish Maximuses cabin top- deck is almost as low as Prestos. The spars and booms built by Hall Spars cost as much as what I built the HFM for originally.

The front dinghy is the one we carry on deck and use as our life boat and all around truckster. It weighs 130 lbs. 

Rodger and Patty Martin at our house.

Sailing south... See you you guys out there!

15 minutes of fame

We were caretakers for Saddle Back Cay in the Exumas for three years 20 years ago. We lived on the Hogfish which dried out on this flat being on the bottom for all but an hour or so. This worked in the summer months with the prevailing trade winds. In the winter we moved a bit from side to side of this little Key.

Our girls were 5 and 1 at the time it being the most fun times I have ever had. Not many people around but just enough visitors. I did my art work in a tabby shed up on the hill. We collected our own rainwater  with Rachel doing the cloth diapers up the hill next to the cistern. We had food to last for a year so only needed the occasional beer now and then. The kids didn't know any better so we were all just having a great adventure.

The tide is high in this shot. We have no idea who took this picture and when he did . Skip Allen who owns Southern Boating was a collector of my art and a good friend. He kept his motor yacht POR at Highbourne Cay and would come down to see what the Morejohn's were up to when he was in "town".

I love the colors in this cover shot.