Thinking of boats

Yep, I’m thinking of boats again or still, to be more honest. I love the boat I have, my Oday 19. My lovely wife and I have pushed it to the limit. There’s an awful lot that can be done with a sailboat with a swing keel. Lifting that keel got us into some very interesting places where a deeper draft boat can’t go.

We were able to anchor close enough to islands to be able to wade in. It worked in Florida, as the tides went from small to nearly non-existent. It won’t work other places where there’s significant tidal differences. Wading in warm water was no hardship either.

The coast of Maine isn’t very far and it is one of the world’s premiere sailing destinations. The tides, however, may prove to be a problem. We could stay at marinas and tie up to docks designed for the tides. The other option is to keep a close eye on the tides and limit our island visits so as not to be left high and dry, or out to sea.

There’s two ways to go with this. The obvious way is to get a bigger boat, one that can carry a dingy. The big boat rests safely at anchor in deep water and dingy get pulled up above the tide line. No problem. That’s pretty standard.

As it is, there’s no good way to carry a dingy on my 19 foot boat. I could tow one, but that has problems of its own. There’s no room onboad for a hard dingy, but an inflatable could be stored. Then there’s the hassle of inflating and deflating the dingy. Also, they can be a pain to row. No one is giving them away either.

Another solution is to go the other way, to a smaller boat. I’ve plans for an Ooze Goose. It’s big enough to have a cabin, but small enough to be dragged up a beach. I really want to build it this summer, if time and money allow.

The Ooze Goose is a small but capable boat would be fun to island hop with. It would be small enough to haul into the trees to stealth camp. I’ve a few place in mind where that would be darn handy.

Of course, there’s no reason not to have three or more sailboats, right?

-Sixbears