well yeah but Im a happy idiot

Some bad news on the snow/water front in California, Yowza, and maybe its all just too fucked up to fix...

Someone wrote to me the other day to point out that boats were complicated/expensive affairs and that my suggesting that they could be any other way was simply idiotic.

Over the course of this blog experiment I have come to the conclusion that, at best, selling or promoting simplicity and sustainability as an alternative to the consumerist led status quo was something of an idiotic pasttime... So yeah, Ill admit to being something of an idiot.

For those like minded idiots who read this blog on a regular basis I highly recommend picking up the current excellent issue of WoodenBoat as there is a great article entitled "A Sound Boat and Simple Living" youll want to read.

Oh yeah, there is also a neat cruising design concept from the dynamic duo of  McGowan & Schacht that is well worth perusing...

Listening to the Idiot Bastard Band (because its what we happy idots do)

So it goes...

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a quick note on what it takes to be happy

About that so-called "Persecution", a little situational awareness, and some old good advice...

I was reading an old cruising log the other day detailing a familys cruise from the UK to the Med then on to the Caribbean and back to the UK and it reminded me just how much cruising has changed in the last thirty years.

They didnt have electronics of any sort. Not even a radio. Lighting was kerosene as was the stove and there was no ice box with the more perishable provisions being simply kept in the bilge.

Their boat (an Eventide) was all of 26-feet for the four of them with not so much an inkling of mutiny...

Oh yeah, they also seemed to be having a great time in the process.

Listening to Kevin Kinney

So it goes...

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Happy September!

Late Summer Update and Announcement

The KDI project is fully funded thanks to a group of enthusiastic sponsors. Thank you! I now have a lot of work to do through October!

Drake Raceboat in perspective (more screenshots below)

In November and December I hope to have funding to further develop the Drake Raceboat. A campaign to get this crowdfunded begins. Three sponsors at $600 each (or six at $300) will get the project funded and you will get a full suite of plans, and preferred status for first kit cutting with a 10% discount. Please contact me at boatkits@gmail.com if interested. The final design brief for the DRB is as follows:

• A fast rowboat in the Drake spirit optimized for single, fixed- or sliding-seat rowing
• Ideal for fitness rowing and the open water racing curcuit 
• 183" LOA (kit) stretchable up to 20 by spacing out molds (plans)
• Waterline length almost 17, 27 1/2" waterline beam
• Max beam is set at 4 so boat can be rowed in fixed seat class with 8 1/2 oars
• Sliding seat is an equal option in this boat, the Poseidon rig being the ideal, using sculling length oars
• Oarlocks for sliding seat can be mounted using Shaw and Tenney oarlock brackets or a custom made outrigger that fastens to gunwales (TBD)
• 5 kts speed potential race pace with 6kts in sprints
• Flotation tanks optional in sides or ends, but more likely flotation bags will be used and canvas decks to shed water
• Glued lapstrake construction, 4 strakes per side (4mm), no fiberglass 
• Estimated weight below 75 lbs at kit length
• Numbers from computer model"

Cp = 0.58
Volume Displacement = 306 lbs
Center of Buoyancy = 53.9% aft
Wetted Surface Area = 27.74 sf
Waterline Length = 16 11 1/2"
Maximum Waterline Beam = 27.6781"
Water Plane Area = 24.5 sf
Center of Floatation = 53% aft
MSA 70.1711896 (+/- 1e-08) square inches

More screenshots from the computer model of the DRB

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