Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
Troubling news from Puerto Rico, regarding drug dealers, and the word for today is r-a-g-e-o-c-r-a-c-y...
From the first time I saw Phil Thiel's Joliboat I wanted to build one. What's not to like... It's pretty much the ultimate tiny house/boat combo.
The word for today (and, just maybe, the foreseeable future) is K-L-E-P-T-O-C-R-A-C-Y, a worried comedian making some good points, and over in the "fuck-all that can be done about it" department...
The other day I heard someone who happened to be younger than I am saying that, as he was getting on in years it was about time to replace his sailboat with a big trawler. Apparently his thinking was at the grand old age of 55 sailing is no longer a sensible option.
Which is nonsense of course, as I have known many folk in their seventies who are still kicking butt and sailing significant voyages who, I suspect, would shudder at the thought of ending up in a trawler.
That said, once you hit a certain age, the thought of a less strenuous lifestyle does have its appeals and I'll admit to having considered retiring at some point (like when I'm eighty or so) so I can mess around on the water, play guitar, read, and indulge in gastronomic indulgences while waiting for the answer to that big question on a boat not unlike this one...
A little good news, some seriously scary shit, and a very impressive trip...
It's funny what goes through your mind when you are working on a boat project...
I really do need a new iPod... I have to get more music from Glossary, "Blood on the Knobs" is such a great song...
We were planning on crossing over to the Med in the upcoming crossing window but as various things seemed to get in the way it makes sense to hang around the Caribbean for another year...
One of the reasons for going over to Europe (other than torturing French folks with my Spanish cow rendition of their language) is the fact that a good chunk of our charter business is derived from peniche charters on the canals of Europe and it is no bad thing to spend time on the canals from time to time both from a business and simple enjoyment level as the canals of Europe simply are one of the great places to be...
Having done the whole mast on the deck craziness of cruising the canals with a sailboat before, I had a... well, the words cunning plan sort of sums it up, where I would build a tiny canal boat that we could use instead of having to drop the mast, put it on the deck, and later put it up again. Plus, the idea of having a small "pied-à-eau" on the canals would make it much easier to pop back and forth for visits and suchlike... Fact is I was really looking forward to building a non-sail boat for a change and seeing just how efficient I could get in terms of the most living space I could get into a smallest possible envelope...
It's interesting how in these days of depressed economy that design geared towards what makes sense as opposed to the same old, same old is getting its day of fame... In fact yesterday on Inhabitat they said ... "Small houses are the new black right now"... So it goes!
Sadly though a lot of all this new design fad is simply reinventing the wheel and anyone familiar with boat design knows that boat designers are masters at getting the most usable living space from a minimal envelope and house design is playing catch-up... Big time!
While not on the short list, here is a design by Philip Thiel that I have long kept in my back pocket to use someday for a dedicated little office or living space for the French canals ... a "pied-à-eau" if you will!
Jolly Boat is a small canal barge based on the Escargot which was designed for pedal power... Just slightly bigger and sporting a 9.8HP outboard it is just right for doing the French canals on a tiny budget.
Of course it is tiny... But the design is so simple and so well done that there is more than enough room to be comfortable on a level far surpassing its size. Actually these are so neat that I could see building a couple, one for fun and one as a dedicated little film/edit studio ... What better way to edit a film than on the side of a canal in the south of France with a view like this...
For more info contact
Philip Thiel
Sea/Land Design
4720
When I lived in France, for a good part of the time we lived on a Peniche just outside of Paris while we built our first boat. After we launched Loose Moose we lived next to one of the French Movie studios in Joinville-le-Pont. Our years on the canals gave us something of a taste for the canals and I just cannot envision a boat that would not allow us to spend a bit of time on the canals when the desire for a bit of fresh water cruising seemed like the thing to do...
The problem of course with multihulls is simply that they are too wide for the locks which allow you to travel from one end of Europe to the other...
A lot of folks don't quite get the appeal... but here is something that may give you an idea of just how special the canals can be!
For more information on the whole barging and canal thing check out our Barging Blog.
