Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | My love affair with Hogfishes

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

 People always ask what is a Hogfish and why would you name your boat after one.

When I first sailed to the Bahamas in 1977 spearing a Hogfish was the most sought after goal of all boaters as they are the best tasting fish around. They can be speared relatively easily if they have never been approached before. If they have been shot at and you missed then they can be a challenge to get near for a kill shot. You have to have a kill shot if using a Hawaiian sling or you will loose your spear. 

Spearing them with a pole spear you can just hang on to the rubber and get towed about if your shot is in a solid spot. This has been lots of fun over the years for me.

When I first designed and built the original Hogfish sailing Sharpie yawl I knew it was going to be a different looking sailboat than the norm. I wanted a boat that just fit me with my type of sailing, cruising and lifestyle. With this in mind I needed a good name to go with this new boat. The Hogfish is a goofy looking fish when swimming about the bottom. I has a fearsome looking mouth but these fish are really just big Wrasses that eat crabs, sea biscuits and what ever comes their way. They can change their

body colors in an instant to camouflage themshelfs. When they die they can be very beautiful, like a sunset. 

Following are some pictures of my carved Hogfish and others that have crossed my path.

Carved for Kim Sands in Abaco out of cedar

Carved from a mahogany tree that washed ashore on Powell Cay in Abaco for an American client.

Carved for Dale and Mandy Roberts in Abaco 22 years ago

A female. All Hogfishes are transsexual where as the dominate female will turn into a male and grow the long snout and take over the female harem. I wonder how all the Christian male homophobic spear-fisherman deal with this fact. Can the fish just decide not to change at any time?

About as big as they get.

A stylized one for Bill Hutcherson

Our house with a neighbor. I love the colors here in this shot.

Mahogany with copper "Spriggs" as they call the three dorsale fins here in Spanish Wells. I have seen up to four at times.

Rachel on our front porch awhile back. The trees and bushes are now 10 higher. Our neighbors that have just built a house next door are always asking us to cut them down saying they are blocking their view. Some people want to sit in the front row and still be able to look at everything on both sides. We just smile at them knowing that all our grey water from our house is watering these native plants that give us shade, privacy, protection from storms and give a place for all the creatures that inhabit them to live. Our neighbours have cut 80% of their trees and bushes down replacing it with grass.

Kalessin with a Hogfish I speared in Exuma 23 years ago free diving in 45 of water. I have used a tracing of this fish for all the carvings you see here.

Back in my ole spear fishing for a living days.

Made of crab wood I found in Bequia a while back. Now in the home of Theo and Kims in Spanish Wells.

When I designed and built the original Hogfish sailing Yawl I wrote a note to myself naming my design company " Hogfish Designs". This was 26 years ago. I knew back then that the hogfish was going to some day be the "it" fish. I mailed this to myself and keep this  unopened letter as a sort of copyright time frame of when I thought it was cool for me to sail about the Carribean sea in a boat with a huge pink stripe down the side calling itself the "Hogfish".

I like to think I made it easier for men to now wear bright colors .

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Boat Plans Pdf | More islands rain forests Hogfish life

Boat Plans Pdf

 We have been doing more hikes and climbs on different islands lately. Every island has its own distinct flaura and feel. They are all so different it being impossible to decide on a favorite climb. Lots has changed since we last sailed this way. More boats but the big thing is the islanders have been very friendly this time. In years past lots of places were avoided because of the rudeness of the locals to us boaters. Seemed like they had a chip on their shoulders. Now its like being in Bermuda. After a few days there years ago I asked our waitress why everyone was so nice. She explained that many years  ago they changed their work description from being a "service " industry to a "hospitality" one. Taking the service= servatuide out of the equation changed it all in their minds. Now they are hosting us as guests.  

Seems like that its been adopted down here so far. Everyone looks happy. Looks like and feels like they understand we are here to enjoy their country and will be spending a bit of our hard earned cash too.

Climbing up a dubious iron ladder to get to the source of the fresh water on Neivis after a two hour hike.

Jungle. 

Sailing by Redonda island on our way to Montserrat

I want to be King of Redonda so I have found my Throne here in a 1930s Fife schooner.

Rachel posing in front of our yacht.... Its anchored out in the bay behind these little ones in Antigua

Peeping in port holes at night in Antigua.

Our dinghy looks huge . It is ! We needed a big one raising kids and to use exploring. Iam rowing for a few days exercise.

Tim next to a nice big root.

No dinosaurs seen on this hike up a river in Guadaloupe

Wild Bird passing us in a bit of wind.

Gayle and Rachel trying to find the airport in Guadaloupe. We have just climbed out from a water drainage canal that on the chart showed it was in walking distance of the airport. Trying to save $25 dollars in taxi fare one way. Close but not as close as theyd hoped.

  French road side menu. Rachel can speak French . I know a little spanish. We always try to learn something. We both can understand the locals when talking their version of English as we have been in the islands sailing and working for years. But when they all start talking at once I just say , please speak the Queens  English, this works most of the time .

Tim and I going back down the canal.

Nice skiffs seen on this expedition 

Two hour hike up in muddy trails to get to this waterfall. I had not swam in fresh water in years so felt like I was drowning at first.

Gayle , rocks , and jungle

Another one

Fish market in Guadaloupe selling shark and Ray. 

Salted fish is a traditional leftover from when salt was the refrigeration of the day. I love eating this kind of fish. Its very cheap if you go eat where the locals do. Salted Cod in a pita bread is about $1.50

I hike mostly barefoot as I have spent most of my life avoiding shoes. 

Rocks I collected on our last sail around the Atlantic from all the beaches where all the great navigators went ashore from the Azores, Maderias, Canarys, Cape Verdes and through out the Caribbean Sea.

This trip I have a bunch so far from each island to bring back to our home In the Bahamas to build into our place. That way I can say that I own a piece of land from most of the islands in the Atlantic.

Madera rocks getting the salt washed off before stowing away. They can drive you nuts if not put away right as when you get sailing wing and wing downwind  just one of these suckers rolling back and forth is a nightmare to find.

Ile Saints, going up to the top on a hike.

Higher

Skiffs in the morning

Roots in Dominica

River skiffs

Well its more jungle, water and damp soil. 

Thanks everyone for your comments . 

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Boat Plans Aluminum | Shoal draft sailboats

Boat Plans Aluminum

In the islands here I get to see lots of other shoal draft sailboats . 98% are designs from Europeans. They have lots of places over there with big tides so they want boats that can dry out with out any problems.

Most of these designs sport twin rudders, swing ballast keels , are built in aluminum, steel, wood and glass. They average a bit more depth than the HFM being mostly in the 31/2 depth range verses my 27" draft. 

All the boats shown here are here now sailing about. Enjoy!

Kelt 38 swing keel fiberglass.

French aluminum sloop ,1 meter draft , twin rudder swing keel.

Similar type of swing keel boat but built in glass. I did not notice the family was taking the afternoon swim and shower. 

Ted Hood design, Fiberglass 38 centerboard french built. 41/2 draft.

French aluminum go any where twin rudder swing keel design. The twin dagger boards on the stern are used when going downwind for better control. They also use one to leeward when going to weather as they are slightly toed in as to give lift. Draft over 1 meter.

Nice sturdy sailing machine.

French Ovini sloop. Lots of these about . Shoal draft centerboard. Single rudder. This boat has the disease . TOO much stuff.

French one off made in Fiberglass. Centerboard, 1 meter draft. Nice 

Rachel speaks French and I dont. She learned it in high school.  All the Frenchmen that I ask about their boats in English and sign language try and tell me about their vessels. Its lots of fun. They are all very nice to me . I have told Rachel my fantasy is to hook up with a French girl that only speaks French and cannot understand me, vs Versa. So she speaks French to me and we keep this illusion alive at times..... Works for me.

Intresting French sloop in glass. You can see the daggerboard on deck. The prop must be a nightmare with all the freaking fish pots around here. The French islands are killing everything. I hate fish pots for the destruction of what they do to the inviroment.

Would not want to bump over a shoal with this kind of rudder set up.

 What a wonderful shape. This is one design I would love to sail on to see whats up.

French fiberglass over some kind of planking, steel centerboard and rudders, lots of stuff on deck.

Doing some glass work to the keel.

French, steel cutter , keel with twin out board daggerboards. Very old school hardware on deck so this boat has probably been everywhere. Iam not a fan of the daggerboard trunks so close to the outside of the hull as its very hard to see whats going on in between the two. Not much room. Most steel boats rust through from the inside out. Will look fine on the outside but poke at it from inside and bingo! Theres a hole.

Heres its complicated rudder system. A daggerboard rudder too.

A big Dutch aluminum Centerboard sloop with a thick fairing on the intire hull that is giving problems under the waterline. Tons of small holes. I have seen this in plenty of aluminum boats. Iam not a fan of aluminum below the waterline. My neighbor in the Bahamas has a French built one off boat pulled up on his land. Its 31 long and has been corroding from the inside out with hundreds of small holes while up on dry land! Yikes! Not for me . I like glass over wood. Ask any one that has been out here sailing for years will say that glass over wood is the best, easiest to repair and maintain construction. Fiberglass is strong but not as strong as a good cold molded hull. Steel rusts from day one, aluminum can be an electrolysis nightmare and is not maintence free, fiberglass cored boats have to be built right and can be fragile if its a lightweight design, classic wood is fine if you can do the maintence yourself but having grown up in a carvel planked ketch that always leaked, having sunk in a small French built plywood planked sloop with out a glass overlay I will stick to my system of heavy glass over multiple plywood skins. Solid glass can last forever it seems, but you have to hide it just like on a metal boat so you end up building the boat twice... Kinda. Plus solid glass sweats like a metal boat so if you are going to be in cold weather you have to insulate it too.

 Heres a very fast Pogo 38 fiberglass ultra light sloop with a swing keel. 

Same design, Pogo 

These sloops are very wide , light in weight built in core. They pound like crazy and make tons of noise, 

But can be very fast if you know how to handle them. You cannot carry much in them either because of their light displacement. Many have been sailed all over the world in all oceans. I would love to do a cruise in one but they cost too much for me. I built the HFM in 1999 launched and sailing for $35,000.00 US $ so I would be short about $ 150,000.00 more for one of these beautys.

Small steel sloop with a swing keel. This design has packed in a lot in a 31 hull. Draft looks to be 1 meter.

21 plywood sloop with daggerboards.

Intresting boat.

Hogfish sporting her French curtesy flag and some laundry .

Wish we could lift the skirts on all these other world crushing shoal draft boats to see whats underneath but I will show you Hoggys bottom here again.

Just shows you that there are all kinds of ways to get to the same goal of shallow water adventuring.

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