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Tampa Bay Boat Expo - Part 2 |
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by Bruce Hector - Kingston, Ontario - Canada |
“Plastic, Plastic Everywhere...
...and Not A Stick O’ Wood Anywhere!”
Review Part 1
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Never see any tuna towers in or around Kingston, or anywhere on the Great Lakes that I recall, Should be cool on a wide beam flat bottom, say a Pilgrim’s Pride 16 0r 18
(click images for larger views) |
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| Pilgrim’s Pride 16 as built by Michael Hitt of Cincinnati, Ohio. Pride 16 carries a wide 6 foot beam on a flat bottom, and the Pride 18 boosts that to 7 feet. Should be more than stable enough for a lightweight tower. |
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Now here’s a centre console with a roomy interior, enough for a head, so your wife or girlfriend will actually enjoy a day on the water with you! She might even come out again! |
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| The entire front of the console flips up providing built in privacy for the krewe to powder their nose in. Or store a ton of gear. Just cut the sides from a 4 foot high sheet of ply, and you’re off to centre console heaven. Add a window so its no exactly like the dark hole of Calcutta in there. |
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Another way to make head space in a console, with a side door. |
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| A very compact way of constructing a folding bow, or stern, ladder. |
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It telescopes closed for storage. |
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| And hides below under a hinged deck plate. Spiffy! |
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Some more underwater art, these barracuda chasing a lure. |
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| And a nice school of Jacks being stalked by a predator. Note the smaller game fish chasing the lure. Good use of light. |
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A nice way to set up a flattie, if you’re any good at welding aluminum, plans for a similar flattie available from Glen-L for the version below. |
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| Scooter |
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 Another nice sheer line. Stuff this line onto a Pilgrim’s Pride 18, add a console with a hidden head and a tuna tower, everyone would think you had a $60,000 boat. The joke, of course, would be on your banker and Exxon when you filled up your 25 horse power outboard’s tiny little tank.
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| A big flat bottomed skiff, similar to a Carolina Skiff, or you could build a Jim Michalak AF4 Grande as a big open skiff for a miniscule fraction of this vessel‘s cost. |
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Perfectly flat bottom with a 2 by 2 keel. Note the angled chines, probably do nothing for stability, and I’d eliminate them if I built a similar boat, but that is what lets the builder get the hull out of the mold. |
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| Another head hideaway, this in a pontoon day cruiser. |
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The head space is achieved by using the full height of the squared off cat hull. |
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| Here’s how I got to Tampa for the boat show. My Welsford Seagull Skiff on the way to the sun and fun of a January in Florida instead of Canada.! Nine feet of hull extending past my 6 feet long box, dang tiny truck, but it got the job done. |
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And here your traveling boat show buccaneer and correspondent me’veryownself, Bo’sun Blackheart Bruce Hector “Scourge O’ the Largo Narrows” relaxin‘ and dreaming in my own little bit of pirate haven. |
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Next time you find yourself at a traditional Javex Bottle Boat Show, don’t despair the lack of wooden boats, explore and hunt for treasure, a chest full o’ideas await ye’ man!
More articles by Bruce Hector
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