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"I
couldn't find Okume plywood anywhere near
Orlando, and since Vandemere N.C. was only
twelve hours away, I drove up and bought my wood from Graham. The money I
saved paid for the trip and I got a chance to sail Graham's boat and see
some other boats he's designed. Graham teaches boatbuilding at the local
community college and has a wonderful way of explaining things; he could
write BOATBUILDING FOR IDIOTS. |
|
Since my
one-car garage is full of things I don't need and can't find, I needed a
place to build my boat. ( Just saying 'my boat'
was cool. ) With the help of some friends, I poured a pad next to the
garage and rigged a tarp over it. A real roof would have been well worth
the trouble. The basic hull went together like it was supposed to, and
then I cut off three inches of freeboard. You could hardly hear Graham
choke when I told him. |
|
 Next
came the fun part. The great thing about building my own boat was that I
could modify it to be exactly what I wanted. All the technical stuff had
been handled. Like how much sail area did I
need. Where does the center board go, and how big should it be etc. The
interior, however, was different. There were constant revisions to
revisions, and Graham and Carla were always there with encouragement,
suggestions, or hints that maybe I should rethink a modification or two. |
| The
final result turned out better than I could have hoped. The seats join
about the middle of the centerboard trunk and from that point forward
continue as a large casting deck. Under the starboard seat is a seven and
a half foot rod locker, and on the port side of the centerboard trunk is a
live well that can be opened to fresh sea water. Most of the lockers are
water tight or nearly so, except the aft eighteen inches of each seat.
These are trash lockers and this is the first boat I've had that didn't
have soda cans rolling around the bilges. |
| The
entire lazarette is a built-in cooler divided
into three sections. The outside compartments have their own six inch
round plastic hatches and are for sodas, sandwiches, and a beer or two.
The inner section is for ice and dead fish. The interior dividers are one
eighth inch plywood and stop about two inches from the top. It works
great! |
| The top
of the lazarette is a poling platform. |
| The
boat sails like a dream! The cat-ketch rig with sprits takes just minutes
to rig and when we fish we just roll the sails around the masts. I put an
extra mast step just forward of the mizzen and use it for a place to park
the main when we fish. Graham designed a third mast step giving the option
of sailing with just one sail on a windy day. We use it to ghost across
the flats with one fisherman forward of the mast on the casting deck
looking for Redfish. If we aren't trying to go to windward we can leave
the board up and only need about eight inches of water. I don't think any
boat, power or otherwise, could do as well. |
| With
both sails, and a fresh breeze, this is a seventeen foot dingy. She really
moves out. My GPS has reported seven and a half knots and I'm sure a more
competent sailor could do better. In the No Motor Zone we were doing 4.7
knots close hauled, up wind, towing a guy in a canoe who really didn't
want to paddle the last two miles up wind to get back to the launch site.
|
| It took
me eight months to build, but if I'd had a better facility it would have
taken half as long. No single step in the construction was really
difficult, and Graham and Carla were always just a phone call away. I kept
reminding myself that this was to be a fishing boat and not a show-piece
or I'd never finish it. I'd planned to paint the whole thing, but the
Okume just looked too good. The deck, seat
sides, and hull interior are finished bright. Although I get lots of
complements on it, all I see are all the little goof-ups. I just don't
point them out. |
| If
anyone is contemplating building a Core Sound 17, I'd be delighted to talk
to them. |
| If you
have any questions please e-mail me:
sirgordy@peoplepc.com
 |