Return To Messing About In Boats' First Page
May 1, 1999 Issue
May 15, 1999 IssueMay 1, 1999 Issue
Dreamboats -- Uncle Gabe's Skiff
By Richard CarsenThe skiff hereby depicted was published in Boatbuilding in Your Own Backyard by Sam Rable, N.A. Sam, dunng WWII, when the German subs were sinking more ships than we could build, traveled for the government around the country, showing small shipyards how they could build small parts of Libeny ships, that then could be transported to a central yard and assembled.
When I built this craft, I had lots of ad-verse comments. Never mind that this design appeared, as sketches, in a publication from the hand of a well-known and accredited naval architect who certainly could not afford to endorse a design that wouldn't work.Rabl's book is in libraries across the country, and if you wish to build "just a boat" (Rabl) you need no other information. In Basil Greenhill's Archeology of the Boat, you will find this craft mentioned as a basic design, still being used.
You will find that the bottom line of the sideplank is shaped in an S. When I suggested we make a model, I was greeted with gales of laughter and utter derision. From a cardboard box I cut two sides to scale with the S-shaped bottom. These I bent around the scaled down middle mold. Scotch tape held the stems of the sides together. The sides were bent around the mold and I didn't even bother with a tran-som, but held the ends at the proper distance with tape. Voila! The S-shaped bottom became a smooth rockered bottom line.
Amazement, surprise, wonder and silence. You cannot argue with a simple demonstration like that can you now? Obviously the "it's got to be designed and build just so" crowd can. There was no doubt, it would sink. How a boat built entirely from 1" planking, could sink even when swamped, is a mystery to me. But even when I wrote the would-be owner that I had launched the craft and it had indeed sunk, as a joke, which I thought he would understand, he lapped it up like the cat her milk, and was totally confused when I suggested, on his retum, that we go sailing in his boat.
"I thought it had sunk", he said.
"You believed that wild letter?" I asked.
This is one of the reasons why one of my dictums is: People will believe absolutely anything but the truth. As a former teacher of mine said, "When everybody laughs, you probably have it right." It is one of those rules-of-thumb that will save you a lot of heartache, especially if you are emboldened to set out and build a boat.
I gave my boat the two-masted sharpie ng. It also had a leaky centerboard case. I hadn't caulked it properly. But I assure you, in spite of that shortcoming, it never sank, although I didn't bother to take it apart and recaulk it. At least in my day all wooden craft seemed to leak somewhat some-where. It was not con-sidered any big thing by the professional users.
I show you a deck and a Chinese leeboard. The leeboard, if you want to use the rowing pin, will probably have to be longer than shown. Make it 50% longer. it is easier to cut off than to add on.
Top Of Page
May 15, 1999
"The Old Ed Stories" -- Living Aboard
By Eric P RussellEveryone who has had a boat has dreamed of just cutting loose from the land-bound life and living aboard. Some of us have done it, summer and winter. After all, if you can find a place where they'll let you live aboard, why would anyone want a house or apartment, except for establishing a legal address and having a place to store everything that won't fit on the boat?
Afew years ago we had a community like that on the Kill. There were a few people who followed the sun, but most of the group were resident. In the New York area, it took some hanging in during the winters, but it was worth it. The core group was only about 15 people, but they were all the kind of people you would enjoy having around. The boats were as varied as the people and ranged from houseboats through a couple of real yachts, even though most of the boats were in the 40' range.
We never entirely understood why the marina didn't love us or encourage others to move in and join us. When the city proposed new regulations, almost all the live-aboards both from our marina and others in the area, pitched in with the marina owners and commercial boat interests to stop them from creating impossible demands and rules which would have driven most marinas out of business, and made it impossible for a boat owner even to stay overnight on his own boat.
The boats were actively used, both at dockside and for other pleasures. The boats generally looked better that the average boat around them. Most of the residents were married couples who ranged from doctors and lawyers to a hotel manager, a frequently unemployed psychologist, and a guy who didn't get along with his wife. Interestingly, only two of the boats there were owned by marina employees. One was the marina manager, who lived on a big old Chris Craft. He also had a good-sized ketch he had built himself. The other was a 28' sloop on which one of the employees lived with his wife and two huge chocolate Labs in well-planned chaos.
On my boat, I had a deck leak right over my berth I never was able to find the source, much less stop it. Even with wet bedding, the salt air must have been salutory. In the five ears I lived aboard, I never even had a cold.
There were times it was inconvenient to live almost two miles from the main road, like when it snowed heavily and it was necessary to get to work. The supermarket was reasonbly close by bicycle. There were two really positive features; first, even with all the people round, everyone, including children, seemed to have both a well-developed sense of privacy and a strong feeling of community. Second, it is not possible to conceive of a more beautiful place to live within a city.
On a really clear day, it was often possible to make out individual windows on the World Trade Center, 15 miles away. We were right under the Eastern Flyway. It is difficult not to be a bird watcher when beautiful, abundant variety is all around you.
Would I move back aboard? Like a shot! All I need is a large enough schooner as well as an apartment to store all my junk. All that beauty and privacy is good for the soul as well as the social life.
My boat had a leak. When I first got her, Nettie K was an old schooner with a busted engine and an almost dry bilge. In warm weather it was necessary to throw water into the bilges to keep her sweet. She had one major weakness. She was iron fastened and her frames were reaching the point where nail sickness was attacking the ribs in places where the boat would have to be torn apart to be rebuilt.
Everything was fine for the first few months I lived with her. Then a hurricane came through and punched the lazarette against a protruding dock beam. First, I left that marina. Then I began to rebuild the after part of the boat while she was afloat, eliminating short planks as I went. That part went fairly well except for the fact that the hit had also loosened a plank butt somewhere amidships.
At first the leak was not severe. The boat was so old that the plank stayed in place, even though the end was loose. This also made it harder to find when she was hauled, as the caulking stayed in place, too. Eventually, she was making about 100 gallons hourly and had to be hauled again. By then, the leak had taken all the caulking out of the plank butt where it had been. A series of storms had also cleaned out both sides of the horn timber seams. As they were above the waterline, they did not leak except in bad weather. As the Arkansas traveler heard from the old farmer, "You can't fix the roof while it's raining, and it don't leak when it ain't."
Just before I hauled her, another hurricane came our way. We took our cars to higher ground, just in case, and walked back to the marina. The plan was to stand by our boats and do our best to keep from sinking. Know-ing my boat's problems, one of my fellow live-aboards asked me what I would do if the storm made things worse than I could handle. My response at the time was, "Step onto the dock. Even the most beloved boat is just an object." There is no sense in risking yourself beyond reason.
Return To Messing About In Boats' First Page Top Of Page
