Plywood Boat Plans | Exumas

Plywood Boat Plans

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 its 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. Thats 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.

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Boat Blind Plans | Hogfish and Alert

Boat Blind Plans

 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. Johns Virgin Islands with a 68 mast to carry to St Croix for a friends boat project. 

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Boat Plans Bartender | Fishing under sail

Boat Plans Bartender

Do we eat a lot of fish while out sailing? Well the answer is , sometimes a lot but most times only when we want to. Catching fish today in a lot of the worlds oceans is not what it once was for me growing up on the water. The worlds oceans are really under human pressure. I will fish when under way if the weather is good so that my crew will eat the fish I catch and not be too sea sick to take a pass on on it. We sail without refrigeration so what we catch has got to be eaten in 24 hours. I like dried raw fish but going through the process of drying it and then watching me eat it makes most of my crews squirm. When I troll lines astern my method is to put out three lines of three different lengths with the shortest just out 35 and the longest at the end of my bubble stream from the rudder. I like all my lures to be popping out of the water every few feet. This I belive makes them look like scattering flying fish with the bigger fish not having the time to really get a good look at whats up. As a young kid sailing in the Pacific I used to want to catch every thing and the biggest thing I could. Today I just want a fish that we can eat in a day so I use small 20 lb treble hooks that will bend out if a big fish bites. My hooks get bent a lot but those fish will have learned a lesson and live another day. Catching big fish and trying to relaese them is a death sentence to them. Too much trauma and handling.

The biggest fish I have landed on a hand line to date was a 200 lb Blue Marlin while on a delivery trip. We were sailing off the coast of Dominica at daylight when the Blue struck. After an hours time I landed the fish and winched it up the stern of the catamran I was delivering. I then headed into shore and found some Dominicans fishing out of a small canoe and gave them the fish . They were very happy.

We kept 20 lbs to eat. That was the last time I put out a rig that will land just about anything.

Fish on ! Most times we hook a couple at a time as the school goes by.

Skipjack tuna the best for tasting like a steak if broiled right.

A Skipjack tuna as we drift away from the lee of Maderia

The four of us consumed 68 lbs of tuna felays in 18 days sailing to Barbados . 

Schoolie Dolfhin .. Perfect size

Early morning tuna in the Cape Verde islands. We like to have broiled tuna steaks for lunch and dinner. Then pressure cook the rest with it staying sealed in the pressure cooker till the next day and then make the best tuna salad ever. Then we lay off fishing for a few days.

We have extra fish ... Get on the VHF. And see if anyone wants some.

Breakfast , lunch, dinner and a weeks worth of fish jerky for me! I soak the fish in Soy sauce overnight then hang to dry during the day bringing down below at night to stay dry. Takes two days and is then good to go. This I chew on during my watches. No kissing Rachel till this is all eaten though.

A nice little Waho off the Silverbanks enroute from the BVIs to the Bahamas.

Catching Tuna while becalmed using a spinning rod enroute to Bermuda

Baby Barracuda goes back in

Some happy fish mongers in The Cape Verde islands. Blue fin tuna Caught  that day was $ .90 cents a pound so.... Lots of stern Bar B Qing while there.

Sorry ! But you taste so good

Too much carnage in the cockpit. Good thing we have all that water around us to clean up with

And when you get board with fish you can always find some lobsters to noose when at anchor.

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