Marine toilet installation in FISHERS HORNPIPE (Groco Skipper). I have pondered the question of optimum head location for many years, always being less than happy with most traditional arrangements. Having lived on sail and power boats intermittently since the 1950’s, I think I have experienced most of the possible choices for location and type of marine toilet… and they have all been dreadful!...
The Whiskey Plank
The whiskey plank, traditionally, is the last plank fastened into the hull. The occasion is typically marked by a party to celebrate.
The views expressed are those of the authors and may not necessarily reflect those of WoodenBoat.
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October 08, 2014 -
September 26, 2014Transiting the Panama Canal in FISHERS HORNPIPE in late 1980 with crew Tage With, and line-handlers Cal and Janet from INDIAN PRINCESS. I sailed FISHERS HORNPIPE, my first cruising sailboat, from California to Florida in 1979/1980, through the Panama Canal. On the Caribbean side of the Canal, I was told that one of the prime places to visit was Portobelo, site of a historic Spanish fort, from... -
September 10, 2014A Bahamian Fishing Sloop beached for painting in Rolleville, Great Exuma, in 1987. In the foreground is a class of school children on a field trip. In my last blog I wrote about Bahamian sloops as Regatta race boats. The Regatta, initiated in the mid-1950s, did wonders for preserving the sloops—but it also transformed them from humble, pragmatic work boats into hotrod racing machines. No Bahamian... -
August 18, 2014Class A sloops racing in 2005—photo by Delfine (Reuel’s Angel #1). I first sailed to the Bahamas in March/April of 1981. I had sailed my cutter FISHERS HORNPIPE from California, via the Panama Canal. I immediately fell in love with the Bahamas, and have been visiting them every opportunity since. That first trip, we were in George Town, Great Exuma for the Family Island Regatta—native sloop races... -
July 30, 2014Tapered wooden stanchions on the schooner LEOPARD. Around thirty-five years ago, I was at sea on a sailboat with conventional stainless steel stanchions and plastic-coated stainless steel wire-rope lifelines. This was off the California coast, and one of those big northwest rollers heeled the vessel suddenly and sharply, throwing me bodily against a stanchion. The top of it caught me in the ribs... -
July 14, 2014Chesapeake Bay brogans circa 1901 from Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes and Bugeyes by M. V. Brewerton (photo by George Barrie Jr.). The missing link in the well-known evolution of Chesapeake Bay oyster fishermen is the Brogan. First came sailing log canoes, which are still extant on the Bay, and are raced very competitively to this day. Last came the bugeye and the skipjack—bugeyes are getting scarce,... -
June 20, 2014Hurricane Georges, September 25, 1998, over the Florida Keys I recently read Jim Carrier’s excellent book: THE SHIP AND THE STORM—Hurricane Mitch and the loss of the FANTOME . This is a very sobering non-fiction book, published in 2001 by International Marine (my original publisher), and re-published by Harcourt/Harvest in 2002. Hurricane Mitch, of October 1998, was one of the most powerful and... -
June 10, 2014I just read Dudley Dix’s excellent analytical account of his capsize in BLACK CAT during the 2014 Cape to Rio Race in the current issue (#149) of Professional Boatbuilder . Dudley Dix is a South African Yacht designer now living in the US (Virginia). BLACK CAT is a 1995 cold-molded plywood/epoxy racer/cruiser, about 38 feet long, sloop-rigged with a fin keel and spade rudder. Her construction... -
May 22, 2014Hurricane Gloria, Sept 25, 1985. I don’t know how many hurricanes I have been through—certainly several dozen if I include my childhood years on the south shore of Long Island. But I have also been through quite a few while living on board one or another of my six cruising sailboat homes over the past 35 years. Most memorable of these was Hurricane Gloria, which struck Connecticut on September 27... -
May 09, 2014Steam boxes seem to have drifted into the realm of anachronisms. About once every ten years someone asks me how the devil you make one in a hurry… so here’s how. I start by cruising around middle-class neighborhoods on trash day. Or you can check the local dump. What I am looking for is a discarded hot water heater, of average size. It seems plumbers tell their clients they need a new one, and...