Rivers at threat, Krugman getting it right, and some needful reading...
I'm pretty sure all of us have couple of boat designs floating around in our heads that pop up when daydreaming about sitting at anchor in some out-of-the-way harbor, drying out in some French fishing village, or lazily sailing towards someplace you've never been before...
This boat is one of mine.
Not exactly the sort of thing most people would choose I suspect.
Half the attraction is the great deck space which is something you get when you limit yourself to standing headroom to where you actually need it. Plenty of deck space for a good sized dinghy and two-person kayak stowage while passage making and, when in port, a huge space for those keen on outdoor living in pleasant climes. Plus, as an added bonus plenty of space for the cats to chase each other around the deck with the added security of full length bulwarks for our peace of mind while they're doing it.
The interior makes sense but for us I'd make a couple of changes. A double transverse berth in the aft cabin and a redo of the salon for starters (I really hate center line drop leaf dining tables on a cruising boat). The other change would be to convert the forward cabin into a hold/workshop separated from the rest by a watertight bulkhead.
I like the rig but have a sneaking suspicion that I'd like it even more as a schooner with a handkerchief sized jib set flying off a small bowsprit. As long as we're making changes I'd also lose the water ballast and replace it with a mix of inside/outside ballast in lead. Lastly I'd lose the outboard on the transom and move it into an off-center well while moving the rudder to the transom.
One nice thing about the resulting boat in my view is that its workboat heritage lends itself to good quality workboat construction/materials and it would be both cheap and fast to build with not a whit of temptation to turn it into a "y-a-c-h-t" or try to impress the neighbors.
The thing is, as long as you're honest with yourself, hind sight really is 20/20... So, in essence, I've just described a Loose Moose 2 with hindsight.
Listening to the Black Cadillacs
So it goes...
