This is somewhat OT but in the spirit of the fishboard and paddleboard threads, I think it is appropriate.
SITUATION: USA today listed my town as on of the top 10 places to buy a home. Everybody and their extended family are moving here it seems. My 5 minute drive to the beach will soon be a 30 minute drive with traffic, stoplights, and parking. All this and we don’t have california waves. We do, however, have california crowds. So I will drive 5 miles in 30 minutes to surf waist high waves with shoulder to shoulder dudes.
I was lucky enough to get some property on a tidal creek before property got so damn expensive. It is navigable with a small boat (13ft whaler) and larger boat at higher tides. There is a channel cut through the oyster beds to accomodate. This creek leads to the intercoastal waterway and is near an inlet to the ocean. On one side of this inlet is a private island with decent, uncrowded beachbreak surf.
I cannot leave a boat overnight at the available dock. I’ve paddled the POSSUP from this dock to the ocean. In semi unfavorable wind and tide conditions, this took 45 minutes each way. It was also pretty tiring.
OBJECTIVE: I would like to construct a small powered craft to shuttle me out to the barrier islands in less time and conserving energy. Ideally, I should be able to port it and its propusion by myself as well as a surfboard. 1 to 2 passengers. Weight is the prority though. It must draft little or no water to clear the odd oyster bed.
If the combined creativity of swaylocks could toss in on this one, that would be really great. I am open to all suggestions. At present, I was thinking as follows:
7’ by 3’ eps platform with nose rocker and a flat tail. 6 inches thick. Box rails. Rectangular plashape. Balsa compsand type skins: 6 balsa 6x6 top and bottom. Electric trolling motor. I was thinking of trying to incorporate some sort of self-contained trailer/wheels into the equation.
Critiques and alternative proposals are very welcome. Please note that this is not a BS thread. I will follow through with this, one way or another.
A good friend of mine used to make a Dories 12’ to 16’, out of 1/2’’ to 1’’ thick PU foam and epoxy and fiberglass. The boats could be ported by one man, and easily cartopped. He used them for fishing the Sea of Cortez, in Baja. The unladen boats would only draw two to four inches of water. Find a copy of ‘‘The Dory Book’’, by Gardener. It has good plans for many size Dories.
I guess the easiest thig to do would be to buy a beat up ol hobie cat 14 or 16, strip the mast and rigging, get a 10hp outboard, jerry-rig this to the beam between the hulls. This should be portable enough, they have little wheelbarrow thingies you prop up under the hulls to lugg em around… or you could just get a trailer for it.
Alternatly, you make two hulls yourself and devise a way to link em quick, a bar in the middle of each hull and then ropes that clamp up either side?? This should be shallow and wake free if you make your hulls boardshapeish, like two big SUPS.
ohhhhhhhhhhhh, do make a fishing board a la manoa style. That thing is soooo ill, and pretty multifunctional. Im tossing around the idea of building one myself for spearfishing/diving the kelp paddies 3-4 miles offshore… maybe I’ll be working on one in Feb. so that it will be done for the summertime. Thats if Jami talks me out of building a cat…
I just finished looking at bert’s river sled thing. I can’t believe I missed that the first time. Thanks benny and havaard. I’m thinking a hybrid between the manoa and the bert would be the ticket.
