Reports - June 2002

June, 2002

Ahoy!

I am writing you with a special 'heads up' on a charitable raffle that is getting ready for it's official launch. You are receiving this as an early courtesy notice because of your interest in boating.

The Gift Of Love Foundation is raffling off Wm. F. Buckley's 1963 Schooner (See his book 'Airborne!") as soon as all the tickets are sold. There are a very few tickets as well, as we decided that for this raffle, we would keep the tickets just high enough to ensure that the winner is serious about wanting a classic wooden schooner.

The Cyrano is exceptionally roomy and makes a perfect live-aboard. It has a full galley with 4 burner shipmate stove and oven, full sized fridge, walk in closet, deep soaking bath tub, washer/dryer, and large cabin topside. Cyrano was built in 1963 is 80' long, has a beam of 18 feet and a draft of 6= feet. She is all wood, and powered by a 6 cylinder Perkins that gives her 10= knots under power

There are photos and more specifics about the schooner Cyrano at www.MyRaffleSite.com

Net proceeds of our raffles are distributed to organizations dedicated towards making the world a better place. Please check back frequently for updates and new drawings, as the content is subject to change.

This classic Schooner doesn't need much to be ready to go cruising again, and the winning ticket not only wins the Cyrano, but $20,000 as well!!!

Imagine owning your own yacht right on San Francisco Bay! Perfect for a home, vacation getaway, or even an office !!!

This beautiful yacht is going to go fast... Don't miss out on the opportunity to win your piece of history!!

Perhaps you don't need a home, imagine yourself renting the Cyrano out as an office space, or even a live aboard... Earn great income, with the Bay Area's high rent rates, this yacht might rent out for $1,500 to $2,500 per month!!!

We will be having the official launch of our Raffle site on July first, so get your tickets TODAY!!!

Thank you and Good Luck!

T.P. O'Halloran
Director, Marketing and IT
Gift Of Love Foundation
San Francisco, Ca
650.875.2499

June, 2002

From David Beede david@simplicityboats.com

Hey Chuck,

It's summer time and there's a lot cookin' at Simplicity Boats! I'm happy to report several Summer Breezes are being built, including one in Utrecht in the Netherlands - no pictures yet though.

There's a write up of a cheap and simple boat shelter out of PVC and polytarp. It's been through some storms now with wind gusts to 50mph and has held up fine.

My 15 1/2 ft sharpie skiff Daydream (originally designed to be built in a day) is being built by Brian Schmittling in Mississippi, while my own prototype of her is coming along as well. Neither of us are anywhere close to the one day build, and my rethinking of my "fast track" goals lead to this mini-rant. "Easy Does It? Variations on a dream." If at first you don't succeed, philosophize!

https://members.tripod.com/simplicityboats/easydoesit.html

My uncertainties about the frame sizes on Daydream inspired my creation of an adjustable frame jig for skiff designing.

https://members.tripod.com/simplicityboats/skiffjig.html

A one sheet Mini-Sharpie is also in the works and coming along nicely.

https://www.simplicityboats.com/minisharpie.html

Just launched a version of Fritz Funk's Wackie Lassie - since we did without the noodles we dubbed her Wackless Lassie.

https://simplicityboats.com/wackless.html

Motivated by David Colpitts and Shorty and the gang over at Gav's Mouse Boats list I started a new section called:
"Innovative Methods and Materials for Boat Building" to try to give some order to all the wild and crazy, clever and creative and often times down right effective approaches to boat building that are being tried these days.

https://members.tripod.com/simplicityboats/methodsnmaterials.html

Its a growing area and anyone is invited to contribute ideas about adhesives, coatings, build methods, boat camping, rigging and sail ideas. If you folks have any alternative approaches that fall a bit "outside the box" of even the newer, non-traditional boat building, let us know.

Thanks again for Duckworks. It sure helps us hear each other quacking!

Fair Winds and Happy Sawdust.
David
www.simplicityboats.com

June, 2002

From Mike Connelly Michael.Connelly3@verizon.net

Chuck,

Did you look at that cover photo on the Birchbark canoe book? (Good, succinct review by the way I thought!) I mean, if I'm not mistaken, there's a fully grown man *KNEELING* on wood! And not just flat, smooth, soft wood either, but hard narrow pieces of wood with spaces between that actually increase the already painful psi on the old kneecaps! This is one of the many reasons that canoes and I tend to remain at arm's distance.

My wife went canoeing on the Moosonee River in Canada somewhere and I remember her describing the choice of drinking the hot cocoa (needed to keep warm in July!) either through the mosquito netting hats or else taking off the netting and getting bitten while mosquitoes dive bombed into the cocoa, but, she told me, you could filter them with your teeth if you were careful. Great trip she said. I looked at her like the creature from Outer Space she had revealed herself to be and told her to remember that I never, ever wanted to go with her to such a place unless there was snow on the ground.

Ah, canoes, you paddle them with these weird strokes in order to compensate for the fact that you A) want to go in a straight line and B) you are paddling over on one side which causes a person just pushing the water back (or the canoe forward-- it's all relative) to veer off the other way.

Then you go out with a nitwit from New York who didn't even get his drivers license 'til he was 33, thinking, "Ah, this is great, he'll paddle on one side, and I on the other and we'll go in a straight line." This works fine 'til he sees something really unusual, a bird or a tree or something like that and stands up to get a better look and then WHOOSH!, there you both go into the cold Androscoggin River, floating things bobbing about you and things that don't float, like the radio that you were listening to the Iran Contra hearings on, not.

--Mike

June, 2002

From David Nolan DavidNolan598@hotmail.com

Hi Chuck,

Here's a couple of fishing Dhows (click to enlarge) in the Harbor of Doha Qatar (Persian Gulf). Interesting boats and you would be surprised to see the steering on some of these hulls... a giant tiller!!!

All the dhows are single engine boats. There are so many they anchor from the stern and ease line to within about 8-10 feet of the dock and then use a large gangplank to disembark.

They fish large fish and crab pots made from cheap wire constructed on the dock and them brought out to the fishing grounds on the stern and on top of the boats.

They also put up protection on the flats on top of the dhows... it is hot here - today was the 27th consecutive day over 100 and we had a no *&$#^&$ high of 119 about ten days ago and the real bad season is coming up..Jul-Aug.

Anyway - I will be back in New Jersey again in about three weeks... my Tolman Skiff https://www.fishyfish.com/tolmanskiff.html misses me!!!

Dave Nolan, Brick NJ, DavidNolan598@hotmail.com / currently serving in Qatar..

PS On the smaller boats, 9 of 10 outboards here are Yamaha's. They seem to love 'em here.

June, 2002

From Bob Archibald arch@svic.net

Thought that this warning about rodent's might be worthwhile passing on to your readership as a lot of cruising people are eating out of cans:

Subject: Health Concern

Jonathan, A stock clerk was sent to clean up a storeroom in Maui, Hawaii. When he got back he was complaining that the storeroom was really filthy and that he had noticed dried mouse or rat droppings in some areas. A couple of days later, he started to feel like he was coming down with a stomach flu, complained of sore joints and headaches, and began to vomit. He went to bed and never really got up again. Within two days he was severely ill and weak. His blood sugar count was down to 66, and his face and eyeballs were yellow. He was rushed to the emergency at Pali-Momi, where he was diagnosed to be suffering from massive organ failure. He died shortly before midnight.

No one would have made the connection between his job and his death, had it not been for a doctor who specifically asked if he had been in a warehouse exposed to dry rat or mouse droppings at any time. They said there is a virus (much like the Hanta virus) that lives in dried rat and mouse droppings. Once dried, these droppings are like dust and can easily be breathed in or ingested if a person does not wear protective gear or fails to wash face and hands thoroughly. An autopsy was performed on the clerk to verify the doctor's suspicions. This is why it is extremely important to ALWAYS carefully rinse off the tops of canned sodas or foods, and to wipe off pasta packaging, cereal boxes, and so on. Almost everything you buy in a supermarket was stored in a warehouse at one time or another, and stores themselves often have rodents.

Most of us remember to wash vegetables and fruits but never think of boxes and cans. The ugly truth is, even the most modern, upper class, super store has rats and mice. And their warehouse most assuredly does! Whenever you buy any canned soft drink, please make sure that you wash the top with running water and soap or, if that is not available, drink with a straw.

The investigation of soda cans by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta discovered that the tops of soda cans can be encrusted with dried rat's urine, which is so toxic it can be lethal. Canned drinks and other foodstuffs are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents, and then they get transported to retail outlets without being properly cleaned. Please forward this message to the people you care about.
>> (I JUST DID!)

June, 2002

From Craig O'Donnell dadadata@friend.ly.net

Hi Chuck,

here's a handy link for anyone in the Chesapeake area. It's the only complete (as complete as we can make it) listing of Messabouts/Paddling Events and Canoe-Kayak Races on the web for the summer and early Fall.

https://www.clcboats.com/clc_racing.html

one more link. Chesapeake Light Craft's Spring-Summer newsletter online:

https://www.clcboats.com/news.html

another boat in the queue!

Info at https://www.clcboats.com/sporttandem.php3

The Sport Tandem: 10th Member of the Chesapeake Kayak Family

The sleek Chesapeake Sport Tandem double sea kayak is ideal for light touring, exercise, or racing. While the Sport Tandem shares the Chesapeake Double's ease of construction and sturdy, fiberglass-sheathed hull, the boat is low and fine-lined, with a handsome sheerline and plenty of volume in the bow for lifting over waves at speed. The new boat has less overall volume than the popular Chesapeake Double for those who don't need to pack mountains of wilderness gear. The cockpits, grouped close amidships, keep the crew weight centered. Freeboard is lower so crosswinds have less grip on the boat. The hull weight is around 65lbs, less than many plastic or fiberglass single kayaks!

Like all of CLC's new designs, a prototype circulated for a year among local paddling clubs for trial and comment. Ellis Andersen & Ron Vennell paddled the prototype at last Fall's 2001 Broad Creek Blast in Laurel, Delaware, part of the Delmarva Paddlers Racing Circuit. Though it was their first time in the boat, they took first place against a competitive field.

Hard chines permit a narrow waterline for speed with excellent secondary stability. A coordinated team can lean the Sport Tandem to carve turns. Designer John Harris remarks, "The concept is very much like our North Bay Greenland-style hull, lengthened, with the same swoopy lines. Unlike the North Bay, however, the stern has been tweaked to take a standard Feathercraft K2 rudder." A rudder, in fact, is a good idea on a tandem of this length and straight-line tracking ability.

At 21'8" overall and 22" beam, the Sport Tandem is racy but still retains room for gear. The cockpit openings are 31" by 17", as in all Chesapeake touring boats. Adults of average size will find the seating comfortable.

It is a perfect kit for experienced paddlers desiring a high-performance tandem kayak.

Specifications The Chesapeake Sport Tandem: $899
Length: 21' 8" - Beam 22"
Weight (Okoume Mahogany): 65 lbs.

The kit includes: Plans, instruction manual, pre-cut parts, hatches and bulkheads, full deck rigging, KeepersT adjustable footbraces, epoxy kit, fiberglass for hull and deck, foam seats and backbands.

Customer Contact Information
Chesapeake Light Craft, LLC
1805 George Avenue Annapolis, MD 21401

Call (410) 267-0137
9 am - 5 pm EST weekdays
10 am - 2 pm EST Saturday

Fax 24 hours/day to (301) 858-6335.