Photos from my shop from 1983 1996

Here are some shots of some of the projects that I was involved in during this period. I will be posting many more shots as I get the time.

This is the Mako 17 hull with my plug modifications on the bottom and stern , waxed and ready for mold gelcoat and glass.

Mako remake hull out of mold, solid glass hull ready for custom interior, 1984 just across the street from Cambells Marina Tavernier Florida Keys. Thats Lawnada my ex and Christian Kuerstiner  helping to lift hull into the garage we were renting for a shop.

These are the wood plugs I make to form the hatch drain moldings for the decks. The red is clay that becomes the radius edges. Very fast and simple to do.

Deck is laid up and flipped over and I am pulling out the hatch moldings. I now have this system down to very few parts. To make a custom deck this way it takes from start to finish about a week.

Bert Sherbs deck after all the plugs pulled. This is the deck idea that I believe that Silver King copied. 

This deck weighed about 100 lbs

Here I am 25 years old laying up cored stingers in 17 ft. Hull in 1983 using S- glass over core.

Interior shot of hull # 1 of Mako remakes 1983.

Stern lockers before floors going in. Way over built by my standards today as hull would be all core so would not need the stringer.

Charley Causeys hull just launched with Rick Justice who rigged it starting up the Merc. 1983.

Charley and I going out for test ride. I ended up building 3 different skiffs for Charley over the years.This is the canal inPlantation Key in1983.

This is Carl Naverras  all core skiff made up with all S- glass cloth and core. I believe this to be the first all core boat. 1984.

    Here I am in1984 just moved into my new shop in Tavernier , Key Largo finishing off Carls all core skiff " Back lash" . One time a couple of clients were in the shop as I was working and one said to the other " boy you sure couldnt get a Cuban to do this kind of work" . I looked up smiling and said , " well youre getting half of one right now as my dad is Cuban !" 

My mom was born in Sweden so I am a first generation half breed American.

 Hal Chittums Mako experimental skiff getting ready to flip over for painting. This boat was cored in all plywood. Weighed a ton .Thats Ray Dye and me in what is now the middle of World Wide Sportsmens shop in Islamorada. 1982.

Hal Chittums Mako Experimental skiff finished waiting for Ray Dye to rig. I am 24 years old in this shot.

 This is Sandy Morets all core Kevlar skiff one off that was finished in my new shop in 1986.

Sandy Morrets skiff.

Stern shot of one off skiff that I designed and built for Charley Causey that is the predecessor to the Whip Ray. I built this boat in Marathon Florida Keys  in 1995.

Whip Ray predecessor one off 1995 all core.

 Whip Ray predecessor one off .

Whip Ray predecessor side view ready for glass skin. I built these one off skiffs from design to finish alone in 3 months time in very simple work shops so I feel everybody should be able to do the same with a little guidance .

Finished skiff with a big ass motor on the stern 1996. This is the skiff that I told Hal Chittum and Flip Pallot to go for a ride in before we talked about their ultimate John Boat idea.This skiff cost fully rigged as a one off $ 20,000.00 . I have always built my skiffs on a set price and always made a living. The best deals out there today are used skiffs, but a one off can be built for a fraction of a new skiff if you have the inclination and drive.

 More photos to come and Chapter 2 about my time at Hells Bay. Thanks to my daughter Lillian for helping me post these shots as all this computer stuff is way above my pay grade.

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My design proposal to Ian Scott Devlin for his quest to find theultimate Glades Type Skiff

Ian Scott Devlin is one of several guys that I have met over the Internet this past year that are interested in ultra shallow draft fishing skiffs that could be used for a new emerging market and personal outdoor experience.

Ian and I have been talking back and forth this past year about his vison quest to find the perfect boat to fit his future fishing, guiding lifestyle. Ian is a guide up north that fishes, bird watches and just basically loves being in the out doors treating it with respect. I can see this from his posts online. I can also tell he is very detail oriented in his photos of wildlife and his fly tying and fishing rod design work.

Ive taken on his search as a challenge on my own to see if his dream boat could really exist without too many compromises. Can he have it all? Does it exist now out there in the market place. I feel I have a pretty good grasp of the challenges in designing a boat to fit his needs as I have spent the last 44 years climbing in and out of and operating very small light weight skiffs on a daily basis in all sea conditions from crossing the Gulf Stream in a 123" skiff, to carrying my wife and new born daughters on adventures through out the Caribbean . I also have as most of you know by now built with my own hands many small skiffs and dinghies both for myself on a budget and for others to pay for my future adventures. I will be comparing and discussing my design, thought process against the current boat market but will only provide drawings to explain what I see, think is happening or how it could perform against what I see out there today. I am not out to single out boat builders or boats so will not use photographs. All boats work, just some might work a bit better if the details have been thought through.

In this design I have put the amateur home builder in mind from the start. This skiff can be built by anyone that has a few tools, a dry shop or space and has the desire to create his own skiff at a fraction of the cost of a store bought one.  

I asked Ian a while back to send me his wish list. This he did right away. I have been sketching and thinking it over these past few months as I sail down the island chain here in the Antilles on my winter work break. I will be redoing a teak deck on a friends 44 sailboat in Antigua starting in May to pay for next years time off sailing to Panama.

I will start by showing you his list and then I will explain to you the hows and whys of what I feel can work, what  I think wont, with my design as a comparison to what now exists in the market. What I am doing here is what all builders-salesmen today should be explaining to you the buying public how and why their boat is the one to buy. Its pretty simple, not one skiff can fill the needs of everybody.

Ians vison wish list in the order I received it;

-   Silent hull, even in 12" chop.

-   Very dry ride, as smooth as can be for an ultra draft hull.

-   20 long ( ample room for three people ).

-   To pole effortless and row super easy, track straight, but turn pivot easily.

-   Weigh no more than 250 lbs.

-   High freeboard; 18"-20"

-   Self bailing hull , inside the cockpit to be knee deep.

-   Minimal layout

-   5-6 casting decks, lots of cockpit room.

-   4"-5" draft with 800 lbs in the finished boat, ( thats people, engine, gas, tackle).

-   Operates with no more than a 30 hp outboard tiller engine, and portable 6 gal. Gas tank.

-   Able to be launched in remote areas / can be picked up by two people when engine is removed.

-   Wants to row and pole it in- no trolling motor zones.

-   Flush oar mounts that can be flip up and make no noise

-   Glass bottom viewing port.

-   Seating on either a coffin box, cooler, or chars.

-   Massive dry storage under both fore and aft decks.

-   Micro skiff performance that offers more room for anglers.

-   Boat to cost under $15,000.00 US to build.

Im a list guy. I like to have all the details up front. This is a good start. Ive built one off custom boats for clients that gave me pages of details that they wanted to see in their vision. When I start on my design I then have a good idea of what they are looking for with me being the guy that they would trust to say this can work ,this wont, all the rest I can make happen.

I will go down the list and go over each request one at a time and explain my thoughts .Then I will present my proposed design and explain my ideas.

-   Silent hull, even in 12" of chop.

To get a quiet hull most designers and people now know you cannot have any Chines or hard corners coming out of the water or anywhere near it. These pockets and hard spots even if slightly rounded will cause some noise or pressure waves that can spook fish that are used to being harassed all the time.

If polling in a 12" chop in a long lean lightweight skiff with 2 sports aboard plus you in wind, you will most likely be poling into it or crabbing your way across a flat. If your upper Chines are high enough you will not make any noise. But in a long low light weight skiff to get any use out of an upper chine or sheer spray rail it cannot be too high. In my design I have drawn in a rounded stern to make the boat as quiet as possible when poling, drifting or rowing down wind. It will be interesting if this rounded stern detail will catch on in other designs.

Most all skiffs out there now look to be pretty quiet hulls. Lots look to be really wet in a chop though when under power.

-   Very dry ride, as smooth as can be for an ultra shallow draft hull.

The first thing you have going for yourself in this boat type is its going to be long and narrow. This makes it ride better right off. Where I make my departure from all the present skiffs on the market is the way they all treat the last 7-8 of their in the water bows. All are designed with a straight bottom keel, that is their centerline , with the bow area that is coming out of the water as an after thought. In watching these skiffs perform over half of the skiffs bottoms are out of the water when planing in flat water. This is fine till you get a bit of chop. Now you can trim the bow down with trim tabs or just by re-trimming the outboards angle. What happens then is you have a very long hull that in order to make the bow work you will have to submerge the entire bottom hull length to get the bow down to get to what ever vee is there. In this process if you have no vee then you will pound away with the spray coming over the side. Of course the real idea behind most of these skiffs is to run and fish in very protected waters. To cross deeper bays in choppy conditions say in a cold front, you can always run straight into the wind to get to the other side and then in protected waters make your way to your next poling spot.

To make my 20 skiff ride as dry as can be, ( you must help the skiff stay dry by being creative in crossing expanses of deeper water) I have designed in rocker into the bottom keel line of my hull. This will help greatly in poling, rowing and maneuvering this skiff in choppy water crossings, say up to 

2-1/2.The rocker lets the water flow past at slow speeds with minimal drag as compared to a straight keel bottom. No transom drag. The rocker facilitates turning greatly. The rocker lets the bow ride up in big seas but the main part of the boat is still in the water without the bow half rising out of the water. Less windage when running. This bow as drawn has ample buoyancy and sheer height forward , the others dont as they are designed as protected water boats only. When trimming this bow down the vee that is in the hull forward of amidships is enough to give a good ride in a 2-1/2 choppy sea if going head into it. Going off on a beam sea all boats are going to be wet except in this one the spray will find the driver but those forwards should be dry.

Ian has not specified boats speeds in flat water, with 1-2 more people in the boat and what to expect in rough conditions. From experience in my past HBBWs skiff designs, being in and out of my 130 lb. dinghy on a daily basis and having been out in a variety of other skiff shapes and designs I will say that my design with a 25 hp short shaft two stroke outboard this skiff should ,with one man aboard do close to 30 mph in flat water. In rough water, say traveling in a 2-1/2 chop with the swells that will go with it and the boat- engine trimmed properly you will be able to go along at about 18 mph across most any bay or open water.

With two more people aboard and all your stuff aboard youll be looking at a top speed of 25 mph or so in flat water and a bit less depending on the sea conditions. This design if driven within a moderate speed frame should be very comfortable in rough water with the spray being caught amidships forward. Catching spray amidships aft is very hard on any small skiff when traveling in a beam sea and wind. You just cannot go fast enough to evade it if its windy out. So the guide or helmsmen gets some spray. Standing up with a tiller extension and a bar to steady you only your midsection down will get wet.

Trim the engine down and the bow in my skiff will take all the pounding when going into a head sea. This being a light uncored hull it will be very taught and a bit flexible in the sides as you fly along letting the bow take all the abuse. In the current skiff market lots of the skiffs do not have well developed bows for this kind of sea-chop state. They are too flat forward. They will be very quiet with their soft rounded bows but are limited to very protected waters. 

I have designed a very easy to build strip planked hull that you can make a single skin fiberglass hull off of. You then add on a purpose built spray rail. You can stick with the strip planked hull which will weigh more or you can use this to make other hulls from and then finish the plug hull and use-sell last.

-   20 long ( ample room for three people )

Being 20 long you can get the clients up forward a bit where the ride will be dryer. The next problem is when you get into some chop the clients will feel it first. Trim down with not good bow spray catching designs then its oilskins time. Being a narrow boat it will have the feeling of room but its really just a long stretched out dinghy. The majority of these skiffs built today have side decks . This adds lots of weight to a boat that wants to be ultra lite. I have drawn in a nice wide sheer cap rail that will help as the last defense in spray, makes a good rub rail that is very strong and light and will feel good to sit on. Not everyone on one side though at once! I have drawn in the lightest deck platforms that I know will work. They are very strong but the compromise in saving weight here is they can be dented by a heavy anchor or rough usage. Mine in my skiffs have some dents from handling my 75 lb. anchors in them but they are still going strong after 22 years. These can be built on a sheet of Formica plywood making very detailed hatch channel plugs-& forms out of wood to glass over to come up with your flush hatch. Will look like the best but can be built by anyone very easily.

-   To pole effortlessly, row well, tracks straight, but turns / pivots easily 

 Not asking much here Ian are you? By the sheer length of these skiffs and they being narrow and relatively light in weight as opposed to what the other more traditional flats skiff weigh they all should pole well. Some that I see have tried to make them into long lean machines with everything on board so will be the heaviest. Nothing like a simple stripped out skiff to muck about in though. All should pole well. Spinning should not be a problem as theres nothing below the waterline. They all should track straight as the skiff will have a long lean waterline.  If the bow has too much flotation then it could blow off if too much weight in the stern . You must make the boat float level .

I have drawn in a chine drop in pocket in the aft section of my skiffs bottom to act as mini keels and to redirect the aft spray. I have also drawn in two keel fins to stop any sliding and make this skiff pole straight. When pivoting I feel they will not hinder a turn as they are small in lateral plane, but will help greatly In poling and running at speed. I have windsurfed, paddle boarded and surfed enough to see how a little a skeg can help. In poling in 5" of water they will drag a bit but will be like a knife in the mud. I have drawn in a good bit of rocker into the bottom fore and aft in this skiff. This will make it rowable. Having a straight flat bottom will cause too much back eddy drag. Ive rowed a ton in my life and trust me this is the only way to go. I control the boat trim in running by using a simple fin bolted onto the cavitation plate on the out board. I started using these when I saw the first DOLPHIN plates being used. They were designed to be off to the side of the Cavitation plates. Silly wasting all that thrust going out aft . I made mine to hang over the rear of the engine to use that thrust and catch it and for 30 plus years have called it my unpatented WHALES  TAIL. You just have to stop the boat, lift the engine and change the engine angle with its rear pin. Takes 30 seconds. No need for trim tabs, batteries. Oh! But youll say I need all that extra stuff to perform at my peak at all times.

I say if you want a simple light weight skiff then slow down, chill out and when you are adjusting the engine trim for that romp across the bay tell your clients a quick tale or joke.

-   Weigh no more than 250 lbs.

Heres a hard one. A boat- skiff this size could-can weigh just barley in at the 250 lb. mark and still be a long lasting strong boat. But it will have to be ultra simple and cared for and handled properly to last.

I would suggest going out and weighing your present skiff and others. Strip the engines off and try and lift a couple of these skiffs. Some are light for sure. But would they fit into Ians criteria?

Heres how I would build this skiff to make this target weight and make it affordable.

I would find at least three other people that would want one of these skiffs that could afford its price to go in on putting up the $ to get the hull plug built. I would find a shop that works in one off projects or one of you has the time and inclination to make the first hull.

I would then have them or you build the hull that Ive drawn in strip plank cedar or foam. What I have drawn is very simple to build in strip plank. Glass over and lightly fair. I would then vacuum bag or just carefully layup over this waxed plug a Carbon fiber layup as designed in epoxy or vinylester. The transom would be cored in later. This skiff will be an uncored solid carbon and e-glass skin hull with only cored decks, hatches and bulkheads. The spray rail will be made up of cored glass. The sheer rail and rub rail will be glassed over PVC pipe as shown. 

Get the shop to bag the hull skins for you and then you can very quickly finish off the skiffs yourself.

Once the hulls are pulled off the plug it would take an amature at the most 2 weeks to finish out one of these skiffs, very simple. Simple tools needed. Years ago I had a mold that friends would all get together after work and layup a hull in. Took a couple hours. They did this for 12 hulls and everyone then went on to finish each skiff at their own pace all having different interiors but the same hull. Very cost affective and fun way to go.

I have not designed a cored hull as to be very light the skins would be very thin. You would have the extra weight in all the core and adhesive. We are going for extremely light weight here. This skiff in plain old eglass and polyester resin would be a bit heavier. About 50-60 lbs and lots less in price. In strip planked cedar add the weight of the cedar or core to this. Still a great skiff. The heavier skiffs will feel better too. The draft differences will be unnoticeable.

The key to getting to this weight is in every little detail that is left in. All thats removed is extra weight.

-   High freeboard 18"-20"

This parts easy, just draw in that height of freeboard. In my design it works well. In a totally empty skiff of this design it will be a very rigid taught skiff if built in carbon. But with people aboard and weight in it this height really makes sense for what Ian would be using it for. I have drawn in a curved sheer so this skiff will be pleasing to the eye and not have that squashed look like so many of these skiffs today. Being light, long and with a reasonable amount of draft with one person sitting this skiff will handle well in a breeze when poling. Its narrow so with tall big fat people in it that dont understand that they are in a narrow skiff it could feel tippy with them plopping about the boat.

-   Self bailing hull, inside the cockpit to be knee deep.

I believe Ian wants the self bailing cockpit for safety reasons. It can be designed in with still having the knee height hes looking for. Barefoot from my cabin sole to the middle of my knees are right at 18" but Im only 53" tall so he must be guiding Hobbits about like me. 

Self bailing floors raise the level of gravity in a skiff and in a narrow boat this will make it feel and be more tippy. The advantage is the floor is flat and level out to the hull sides so no getting about in a curved hull bottom. In a light skiff like this the self bailing part can only work when you are out of the boat. The floor has to be just above the loaded waterline at rest. To have it work with everyone aboard it just gets to high. You also have to drain it which is a pain. I could see a short floor just aft of the forward bulkhead to be able to put a small folding chair on facing aft for one of the clients to sit in.

I would highly advise against putting one in. The extra weight is huge in a skiff like this. All you will need to bail this skiff out with is a sawed off Clorox bottle bottom to get water out if it rains or youre a sloppy driver. You could put a drain out the stern from the aft bulkhead but I hate putting in unneeded holes in a perfectly sound hull. If left in the rain this skiffs cockpit will fill up but it will have to be a good pour. The engine if tilted will stay out of the water if completely filled up. I have seen this in my own skiff many times. I would paint the hull inside with an aggressive nonskid if going for ultra light weight. If not the new rubber stuff I see but have never been around looks like the way to go. 

-   Minimal layout

Most all of these skiffs today are pretty simple inside. This design calls for no trim tabs, smallest battery possible for running lights. With LEDs today this means flash light size. I would run the stern light off the engine and just have stick on bow lights. It will have just two hatches. One will use my my new no hinge design and the aft one will be a drop over kayak type hatch. I would have very simple rod racks.

I recommend using inflatable bags fore and aft for flotation to satisfy the Coast Guard. I have drawn in a flat 5-1/2" wide gunnel sheer that will help as a spray catcher, a place to put the oar locks and push pole holders. The oars would-should be 12 long to be good for getting about and they would stow blades aft on the stern seat-deck. Poling tower legs could fit into glassed in sockets in the stern deck so it could be removed by lifting out. So pretty simple. No stern plug, through hulls, hoses. The only metal on the boat will be the 4 oarlock sockets in bronze and two 10-24 bolts for the forward hatch.

Minimal for sure.

-   5-6 casting decks, lots of cockpit room

The stern deck is 4 long with its raised hatch off the starboard side for the guide to sit on with a cushion on top to get some height. This type of hatch is extremely waterproof. Plus no hinges.

The foredeck is 6-6" long with a flush hatch that has my latest no fastening hinge design. This will be equally very water proof. Both decks are lower than the sheer so the hull will make a great fly line catcher. You can make these decks on a simple sheet of Formica plywood that has been waxed. Very simple and easy to do.The cockpit will have room but its realities are what you fill it up with. This skiff has too much storage space already so I would get one of those Yeti type coolers, glass in a bracket for it in the hull bottom when building. Thats a seat for one client or have them sit one looking one way the other the other way for balance. Remember you do not need trim tabs in a long narrow skiff, just shift body weight. Ha ! But theyre Americans and dont want to share a seat. Put one facing aft on the bow platform. Nope ! OK then you have to make a seat to fit in the floor that can be removed. Better to get the sports to sit lower in anyway. Or only guide people that are into what you are into.

I see lots of great cockpit layouts today in skiffs with the roll bar hand grip for the helmsman. This system I like very much if your not looking to save weight. Lots of ways to go if not planning on carrying this boat by hand.

-   4"-5" draft with 800 lbs in it ( thats people ,engine, gas, and tackle)

The draft displacement shown is at the 4" level with a load in it. The Coast Guard when I last looked, wants us to rate people at 160 lbs. they put this number out there I believe as a person floating in the water is not going to be as much as they are on dry land. I weigh at 53" under 155lbs. when I figure in my hull draft weights I base my final drafts by putting in the average American at  220 lbs. What,You say! To be honest this is a very conservative weight. Get your clients to step on a scale before going out. Any body over 220 lbs. costs mo

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My flats boatbuilding story from 1982 through how Hells Bay Boatworks started

I wrote the story of how I got started in the flats boat world 5 years ago. I did this for two reasons. The first was that my daughters wanted me to tell, explain my side of the story as so much miss information and tales were being told that were not near the truth. Of course I want all of you to know that this is my version of what I incountered. I have kept records of most all the boats that I have built and most all information. In regards to my time at HBBWs I have every fax and piece of correspondence from my time working with Hal and Jamie Chittum along with Flip Pallot. In essence I have documentation of my intire time at HBBWs from before it started through the buyout of my shares of HB. This was before emails.

I have a very extensive photo and paper trail to corroborate my side of the story. Iam publishing this in detail as so many skiff owners would really like to know the true history of their skiff. 

The second reason I have put my tale to print is to show the public that a great vison can start and come to fruition with a very simple idea. I want to show you here that that in my career I have done well in my way by working very hard and having good common sense to look at projects with eyes wide open holding no prejudices towards the vision. By this I mean that I love all types of boats and have used this observational and real practical use to help me in thinking and creating outside the box.

This is the story of a high school dropouts journey in the flats boat world up to designing and building the Whipray flats skiff.

I have added photos to this post now as when I first published it I had not been able to get these pictures online. 

This story starts in 1982 on the island of Islamorada in the Florida Keys.  It was at Bayside Inn Marine where I met Hal Chittum who led me into this interesting niche of the boating market. First, in order to properly understand how this story came to be I must start at the beginning of my life on the sea.

Here I am building the tiki hut at what was Bayside Inn Marina in 1982.

I dont know if World Wide Sportman tore this down when they built Bass World there.

Go back to 1973 and you will find me at age 14. My parents have sold all of their possessions, have purchased a 36’ wooden Gaff Rigged Ketch and have the idea of sailing to Florida from San Diego, California. 

Our familys ketch sailing in the San Blas islands in Panama enroute to Florida in 1976

A few years later we arrived in Tarpon Springs. Go to 1976, Stamas Boats hired me to work in Research and Development. I was to be the helper of two old Florida boat builders in building all the plugs, molds and patterns for the line of Stamas Boats. I was 18 at the time and fell into an apprenticeship that would guide me throughout my boatbuilding career.

Kenny Karnu and Richard Stauffer took me under their wings and taught me how to channel my perfectionist nature into honing my skills at being a plug and mold builder. The most important lesson that they taught me was that with a clear vision of the finished product the process of building a mold could become very efficient. In the process of creating a concept it is crucial to keep things simple for if you add in too many designers and idea guys the process can easily become disjointed and go off in too many directions. Thanks to good fortune I have had the opportunity to put this into practice as I worked on many projects for many interesting people.

After a year in service to Stamas Boats, I left on my 18 foot, 10 year old plywood sloop passing through the Keys and then on to the Bahamas. It was 8:00 at night on December 3, 1977 when returning to the Bahamas my little sloop, Bilbo Baggins struck something as I neared the halfway mark in the Gulf Stream. Within minutes my sloop had sunk leaving me swimming, alone, without a dinghy only one fin, and a spear to defend myself. I swam for 20 hours and ended up 45 miles up the coast in Biscayne Bay as the sun set. The only person I knew in Florida to call at the time was living Key Largo which is how I ended up, within a week of losing everything I owned, working at Glander Boats, located in Key Largo. This job led to many others.

My 18 plywood sloop Billbo Baggins sailing off the Berry Islands in the Bahamas

Painting the bottom on the tide in Pipe Creek in the Exumas

By 1982 I was married to Lawanda Lillis and living aboard our own built sloop in “Little Basin” in Islamorada. This area is now owned by the World Wide Sportsman Company. We both worked at Bayside Inn Marina for Ray Dye, lawanda in the office and the yard,with me fixing,painting and repairing all that came through the place. Try to picture Islamorada in the early eighties. The Lorralie Restaurant had two sailboats anchored off it, Little Basin had a small dock and the number of fishing guides could be counted on your fingers.

Building our sloop "Shellan" next to what was then called the Sea Lark building in Islamorada. I built the hull when working for Glander boats after my little sloop sank.

Lawanda at the helm as we sail out to Florida Bay from Lews Marina which was next to Maxs Marina 

In Islamorada. 

Fitting deck beams to a 32 cutter that I was helping to build as project leader working for Dave Calvert in the Sea Lark Building.

Some statistics;

From 1977 to 1982 I had built for myself and others a total of 17 boats from 16 feet to 60 feet and I had logged 10,400 ocean sea miles under sail on my own boats.

Building a rowing dory in the evenings in what is now the main check out place in World Wide.

I love to sail, cruise, explore and fish. My passion was and is all kinds of boats from sail to power. At that time I knew of Flats Fishing but had no desire to own or build a skiff when I could have a great time sailing off to anchor and go fishing in my dinghy.

The only fishing guide I knew at that time was Tony Lay who kept his side console Hewse Bonefisher without a tower at Bayside Inn.

This all changed when Ray Dye introduced me to Hal Chittum. Hal had a project for me to do. He and Eddie Whiteman had purchased two Mako 18 foot flats boat hulls with bait boxes on the transoms and had tried to get a custom builder in Miami to build the interiors and finish them out. The boats had the 17 Mako sheer cut down to Flats boat height with flush decks and simple drain  channels but had ¼ inch copper tubing for the drains. The boat amenities consisted of a forward hatch, main hatch bait well and a sump hatch. Cockpits were self bailing.

Eddie Whitman finished his skiff himself. The hull was solid glass and everything else was glassed over plywood with decks and hatches plywood cored. The finish was raw, the boat was a wreck and it weighed a “ton”. Hal was a busy guide so he gave me the project to finish. My quote to him was within an hour’s time of completion. Ray Dye rigged the boat.

Hals mako ready to paint the insides

This project got me talking with Hal about the guiding industry. Being a sailor, getting about on engineless sail boats and having designed and built some small rowing and sailing boats I told Hal in one of which has turned into one long discussion of what if, what about. I told Hal that in the sailing world where races are won by seconds that the state of the art is in building in foam core in construction with better quality materials. I said I could build the same skiff weighing ? less than his present skiff. He then could use a smaller engine, save on fuel, and would be easier to pole. It would float higher of course in shallow water but at that time it did not seem to be such a big deal. Hal asked if I would be interested in doing this.

“yes of course” what a challenge!

Two days later he came back with 3 clients for me to talk to; Charles Causey, Bert Sherb and Dick Negly.

Within the month Lawanda and I had quit our jobs, rented a commercial house next to Campbell’s Marina in Tavernier in Key Largo from Stu Marr and opened shop as BACK BAY BOATS. This was 1982, I was 25 and Hal was 31 years old.

My observations at the time of the skiffs that were about;

Shy Poke:

A grey coloured, deep vee skiff, heavy, no dry lockers but had a good ride. Billy Knowles had one.

Hewes Bonefisher:

Obviously it was a knock off of a lapstrake ski boat. The bottom had a built-in trim tab hook. The boats were built with solid glass hulls and the decks were cored with plywood.They had wooden carpet covered floors and wood glassed over stringers. No dry lockers and were heavy. Tony Lay had one.

Cuda Craft:

A very shallow soft vee at the stern with conventional chines. A simple glass interior. I was told they slid in a turn. A basic, plain skiff with classic looks.

Dolphin Skiff - Dave Exley:

This boat hull developed by Exley was at the time a crude open skiff built in Homestead. It was very heavy with a rough finish, had no dry storage and a deep draft. It was a good camp rough and ready skiff at that time. They ran great but were tippy.They made no noise,but nobody was thinking of that then.Except Steve Huff and Harry Spear.

Fiber Craft:

A long, lean but massively layed-up hull. This very heavy skiff had a rounded bow and a very narrow spray rail at mid point of topsides but not big enough to really work. I kept in mind some of these points to my future designs. Davie Wilson built his own Fiber Craft skiff.

Sidewinder Skiff - Bass Boat Type:

I made a custom deck for Carl Naverrae with a side console. Deep vee.Similar to a Shypoke

Willy Roberts

Willy and I became friends while I had  my shop in Tavernier. It was my dream to have a shop equal to his. He was building fiberglass boats at this time molded from his plywood designs.I do not remember if he used foam core at this time or balsa core. At the time they were a classic.

Maverick - Lenny Berg:

The 18 ft was a big deep vee boat with a good conventional flats boat deck and interior. I was told it had a great ride, was wet, poled like a tank and made lots of noise. Hank Brown used to hang a piece of carpet over the bow to stop the noise.

Challenger:

These little skiffs were custom made from existing hulls that were originally little play boats. They had a very flat run that flowed into a rounded bow shape. It was originally designed to sit in and sport around in with a wheel forward.To make the boats work for fishing. The owner’s fitted spray rails low aft, near the water and high in the bow. The boats were heavy and tippy. I think of them like bass lures with metal cheeks wobbling along. They have a loyal following. I learned from this design and incorporated much of what I learned into my future designs. They had an offshoot of this called the WIND RIVER SKIFF.

Action Craft:

It had sloping outboard side decks and a very sharp angular look with a moderate vee bottom. To me it was very ugly.Action Craft started their company in 1983 with this boat using a foam in its deck core.

Mako 18 Experimental:

As explained earlier the 18 was a cut down 17 Mako on the sheer, with bait boxes added. The Mako construction had wood stringers, plywood or balsa cored, foam filled with chop and roving construction. This was a very heavy way to build yet standard practice at the time. The boat slid in a turn.

John Boats:

Well, there is nothing more classic and simple than this flat bottom skiff in wood or aluminum or glass. The boats would still rule if everybody was not in a such a great big fucking rush.

This is my opinion from my perspective at that time. There were a sprinkling of other one off boats as well. Billy Pate had a monster built from the Shypoke hull style. There were little cold mold

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Rudders bows Bolger Culler Parker Chappelle Martin Kirby Monroe my thoughts

While sitting on land in the boat yard here in Jolly Harbour Antigua I took a few minutes to photograph some of the boats bows and rudders here. I have been disscussing for the past several years optimum rudder shapes and bow depths on the Boat Design net website. Lots of intresting people from around the world have weighed in with their thoughts, suggestions and other internet info on what would,

should work for a shallow draft vessel. The Hogfish Maximus has been one of the boats that has been of intrest to these gentlemen along with late Boat Designer Phillp Bolgers designs and many others.

The thread of this on going discussion has gone from large sailboats to small ones. As I sail mostly in the ocean getting to places that have shallow waters to explore my designs have to be ocean capable first and then be able to handle shallows later. I want to do both well. Thats why I have been pushing the subject of why all flat bottom cruising bows must be submerged at least 4-6" to stop them from pounding when at rest. Its just plain logical. But if you have never spent a night at anchor in a 10 knot breeze then you will never know what it will be like in a boat that pounds incessantly. Also Iam amazed at the reluctance of so many amature designers that are looking to past antiquated designs for rudders and bow depth. They will not grasp that past ideas have evolved as have boats. I believe that this is happening from a lack of actual sailing exsperience in many different sailing conditions and sailing time on these old designs.

Its very hard to get sea time in when you are back home dreaming of building your own sailboat in a land locked environment. Thus you look to others for help and inspiration. Beware !! Lots of designers lack boatbuilding exsperience and real sea time. This has led people down paths that may not really work out for them. 

In todays world materials are expensive. Your time is now taken up by so many more distractions ( like ready this blog !) that building the wrong boat could waste time enjoying life. The warning signs to me of inexperienced designers are when they always refer to their "Cad Program". When they go on about all these tank test optimal theorys on pressure waves a such jargon.

Computers dont think up boats humans do. With computers its garbage in garbage out. I dont trust anyone that cant draw a boat on paper first. I feel that Cad programs have made amature designers lazy in that they will never learn by feel the process of delineating an idea by hand and simple math.

Yes I cheat today by using a calculator to speed up my math. I also have used Cad programs to check my calculations against. Its fun. I also do not use a sextant anymore. GPS has changed my life at sea for the better. But I have put my time in at sea and know how to navigate the tried and true way. 

What I want to attempt to get across here with these photos is to show how rudders have changed in  performance. Lots better performance but at a huge compromise in its liability to damage and use. Yes boats with all the details put together in the proper manner can be a joy to sail. Lots of the boats in this yard today sail ok but have huge sail and steering issues when over canvassed and in heavy weather. But with the right crew aboard they will get you there either way.

Lets look at what I see

Well start with the HFM rudder. The main rudder itself is supported by three large gudgeons with the bottom one at the heel of the shallow skeg. The folding rudder blade has very good support in the main rudders case. When sailing over a fish pot, weeds, a whale or such the rudder will kick up and all will slide by. You then have to pull a block and tackle line to pull it back down again. The pintal pin that goes through the gudgeons is a 1" SS shaft that be be removed from above or below in about a minute. This enables the intire rudder to be removed for maintence. This can be done in the water. The rudder blade can be removed by taking out the pin. When in its full down postion as shown the steering is finger tip easy until the boat is over pressed with canvas at which time if racing you just keep on steering or if cruising you reduce sail area. 

The fiberglass rudder gudgeon.

 

The bottom of the rudder with a plastic spacing ring which the shaft goes through to the bottom of the skeg . No line can catch here ever.

The top of the rudder with its Edson Rack and pinion steering system. A seat goes over this. If this were to fail I would remove the two bolts at the rudder head and remove it and then attach the large tiller that I have made that bolts in place with the same bolts. I have a block and tackle system that also goes in place to steady the rudder. This takes a few minutes to do.

This is Wild Birds rudder. This boat is 44 long and is a Van de Stadt design. She weighs 40,000 lbs.

Lots of control here with a nice good heel fitting. The rudder stock is 3" stainless and goes all the way up to the deck. The emergency tiller to steer from the deck would be a nightmare. She did not seem to catch many seaweeds this winter. I believe its because the rudder is so deep. She draws74" ! Sheesh not for me. This ketch was not any stiffer when sailing against the Hogfish in all winds this winter. But she is faster. 

Heres a Bermuda 40 rudder a design by Bill Tripp. Typical Hinkley complicated boat as you have to move the engine to remove the shaft to get the propeller off. This boat draws about 4 with its board up. They are lovely to sail and look at. The Hogfish cannot out sail them. Ive tried.

An oyster 46 with its contemporary rudder. Nice heel fitting. Remove this and lift the boat up about 3 more and the rudder will slide out. Or dig a hole.

Here is a Niad 46 with to me a terrible rudder design. Just think of diving down up in Maine waters when you get a lobster pot line in between the rudder and that skeg. At night !

Its not worth that little bit of balance you will get. Any boat that has a rudder setup like this I feel the designer, and the builders salesmen should have to show you how easy it is to clear away stuff from this trap at night at sea. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Heres another one on a french design. Forget owning a boat with this set up. Did I forget to say STUPID!

Heres one where the owners have temporarily installed a plate in front to stop the madness.

This is the same thing but not down so deep. This is a Westerly bilge keel sloop. I see lots of rudders like this with a 3/8" bolt coming down from the hull right in front of the gap between the rudder and the hull. This stops a pot line from jamming in here so not so bad.

This is the worst rudder design in the yard. See the balanced part at the bottom about 4-1/2 down underwater. The entire bottom of this rudder is unsupported with this hockey puck for a rudder bottom waiting to snag water ever you sail over. This is a South African design that trys to look traditional on deck but is modern under water. A huge step back here.

 Now onto the standard charter boat rudder. This is a Bavarias rudder. These boats sail along alright but are tender and have to be reefed early. This is a wonderfull rudder design for the right boat. Unfortunately though when you run aground this type of rudder is very vulnerable to damage as its only a few inches shallower than the keel. It also has a very short rudder stock inside the boat so that set up has to be built very well  built with its long lever arm and strains imposed upon it.

These boats keels are always coming loose. I will be doing a blog post showing all the fin keels coming off of boats soon.

A deep one on a french 42er. I race a lot on this design as main sheet man. When hard on the wind and pressed this boat will spin out of control if the mainsail sheet is not eased in and out to maintain control. A pain in the ass. I get yelled at a lot." Let her the F&%#K out Chris!!!! More!!! In INNNNN come on ! OOOUUUTTTT!!!  Racing is lots of fun. Thats why I drink so much beer afterwards.

A C&C rudder from days of old.

A long one on an old aluminum racer from Europe. With this type of rudder you have to have the right cord shape or the rudder will stall out and you will loose control when pressed.

You have to have steering control at all times. When I sail through an anchorage I cannot spin out or loose control at any time with the millions of dollars of boats anchored about. I have sailed many boats by well known designers and builders that where a hand full to control and scary to be sailing in tight harbours.

A big wide sled sloop with twin rudders. Well if youre going to sail about with a bulb keel shaped like a torpedo that draws 10 why not have this set up. What could go wrong ?

Now onto more sane rudders. This is a 65 Swans rudder. Look at how nice that fairs in. A proper setup. The prop of course is folding so everything slips by.

A full skeg rudder on a Nicolson  34 sloop. The prop will do all the catching.

Classic rudder on an old fiberglass Ketch. I do not like the hole in the rudder. I agree with Herrshoff in that all props should be offset with the props blade trust facing the hull side. 

An Amel ketch. Faired in very nicely but the rudder stock has to go up out through the cabin top.

I believe he thought of everything but some of his stuff is very complicated and costly to maintain.

This rudder has a wire running from the bottom of the skeg to the aft trailing edge of the keel to stop lines and such from getting to the prop.

This is a Nicolson  ketches rudder. So nice and simple. The rake angle in front of the skeg will not hold any weeds or lines. Classic smarts. Except the prop will catch the fish pot line. You will need a folding prop to save yourself.

Here is a Charlie Morgan design. An Out Island 51 ketch. This rudder will be a bitch to steer.

I dont know what design this boat is but it has a very nice skeg setup with its angle being enough to shed weeds. Lots of rudder there. It was the biggest in area with all its contemporay designs next to it.

 Brewer 45 cutter. A brute of a big boat. Solid rudder set up but lots of drag by todays standards.

A Stevens 44 cutter. 

 Home made concrete sloop with a complicated rudder. Lots to hook onto here. The rudder un bolts in many places to remove.

Nothing like a classic rudder on a beautiful steel ketch. Would have to remove the prop shaft to get this rudder out.

Home built steel sloop that the builder made sure would not snag anything. The rudder unbolts at the top to remove. Lots of steel boats do it this way.

Kick up rudder on a light weight trimaran. 

Simple skeg rudders on a Prout Catamaran. I dont understand owning a multihull that is deep draft. Why have keels and deep rudders when you can have boards and kick up rudders.

The last rudder is the best for a deep boat. An Island Packet 38 cutter. With a long keel this set up is quite simple. Remove the bottom plate and the rudder shaft is about 20" up in the hull going to a rack and pinion steering system. The thing I have noticed on all these Island Packets is no one ever buys a folding prop. These boats do sail along so why not buy a good prop on EBay and go a bit faster?

Your average bowl hull shape of today.

Thats my load waterline on HFM. When we hauled out last week the travelift said we weighed 29,500lbs. We are a bit light with not much water, tools and food supplies aboard.

Bow of an Oyster 46 cutter.

Niad 46 sloop.

The Oyster and Niads bows look almost the same. The red boat is a Hinkely 46

Amel 46 ketch. Dont forget to pull up the bow thruster !

Nice racing sloop.

Bow, bow , bow all about the same in depth.

Looks like cookie cutter boats but all from different builders and designers.

Ah a nice Swan 65 bow. This sloop has sailed several hundred thousand miles. 

I think this is a Robert Perry design. It has a lifting bulb keel. See the bow is not out of the water.

Ok now youve seen a typical selection of rudders and bows that are out and about to day.

What I want all you shallow draft design people to look at and think about is this. If you are going to only sail in very protected waters at all times then you can get away with a simple horizontal Bolger type rudder. It will not be fun to steer, it will be cranky as the wind changes. It will limit you to this small world. But it will set you apart as being old school and stubborn. 

I delete my blog photos as I go along to make room for more. If you look back on my other shoal draft sailboat posts you will see these boats rudders. Some got it others not yet. It shows as you never see the bad designs out sailing.

Most all the rudders shown here are of big moderate to heavy displacement boats. A few were light displacement. Most all have very shallow bodied hulls with fin keels or separated keels. None of these hulls will sail with a small little rudder up under its hull. 

Ask Rodger Martin or Bruce Kirby to put a Bolger rudder on one of their designs and see what they say.

Ruel Parker redesigns old designs from the past. These are very lovely looking boats with most being coast wise capable but not offshore able. The last boat that Ruel Parker built was his redesign of the Howard Chappelle San Jaun Island halibut sharpie schooner. These boats look so cool on paper. They fished mostly with a bit of ice in the hold. Had low freeboard to be able to fish. Did not stay offshore for long periods. Could only carry so much load. With his new remake he added two huge cabins to get headroom and worst of all built in a swing keel which weighed several tons instead of a simple centerboard. Now this boat cannot slip along In Shallow water unless the keel is totally raised. He worrys about the keel hitting bottom and then dropping and breaking the lift cable.

Ruel asked us when we last sailed by for a visit if our boat pounded at anchor a lot because his sure did. "No ours doesnt because we did not copy an outdated design."Our bow is underwater. But Ruel made it across the 50 miles of the Gulf Stream to Andros so its got to be seaworthy.

If you want to sail across an ocean you will have to find a boat that is designed for that first and then will work well in shallow water when you get there. I feel I have found that combination that works for me.

All of the bows shown are under water. All of the French aluminum Ovini sailboats bow are under water.

Pete Culler designed and built some of the most beautiful salty looking craft ever. But several had terrible sea fates of sinking and abandonment. This gets back to my "people sail boats not boats sail people" saying. Some of what he says in his books has been proven wrong and outdated. Its time to move on.

Phil Bolger drew some incredible boats. Really got me off the traditional track to start thinking outside the box. He did lots of his designs in an era of home builders and cheap wood. So much has been learned since he drew up the Black Skimmer, Manatee, and all his other shallow boats. Lots of his designs turned out just like he called them when drawing up an idea. His cartoon.

I have sailed on many of his boats and have built two. I learned much from all of them. To me most need lots of redesign thinking. They are all old school. I would not build a Piver trimaran just because so many were built at one time. Time to move on.

Howard Chappelle got me going with his American Small Craft designs book. So much history. But nobody fishes under sail anymore in the Real world. His Sharpie cruising designs in todays world would be deemed unsafe to sail if you go over the numbers. I have read of many stories in old yachting magazines of people building these old Sharpie designs and having disasters in them when sailing.

Chappelle and Ruel Parker have designed along the same path of trying to reinvent the past when its so much easier to start from scratch. That is unless you want to live and sail in a boat with no headroom, low freeboard that cannot take a sea or a short chop, with a rudder that is a torment to hold underway.

Commodore Monroe got it right during his era. Look at his designs and boats. Lots of sail area with very minimal spar size. All his boats were sailed with no deck clutter. They all looked to be great fun for the bays and coastal waters that he plied. The Egret is a wonderful small boat. The Presto has a hull shape section much like a Dorys vee. But it is a deep running hull shape compared to an unloaded dory with a bunch of ballest in her. Rodger Martins Presto is similar in name only. In todays money you could have probably bought all of the Florida keys for what it costs for one of these beauties today.

Iam quite sure Monroe and Herrshoff would go nuts sailing Rodger Martins Presto across Biscayne bay if we had a time machine. Just think of how transoms, rudders, bows, centerboards and daggerboards would have changed then. The stinky snot could be shown to them last.

 

To finish up my thoughts here.

 Look to the past for inspiration, and knowledge.

Look at the present and separate what is working now and whats not.

Just because I said it, it does not mean its true, go find out for yourself.

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