Re: SV: [bolger] Bjorn's Video of Esmerelda
Bjoern Harbo wrote:
Was it built in the 70s by any chance?
Glad you liked the video. I cannot explain the color distortion.
Don't worry about it! It was easy enough to get around :)
Chris
To Bill Turnbull: your CD was sent earlier today. Sorry abt the delay.
>>From: Chris Lasdauskas [cml@...]Well, there you go, even a similar function - some sort of government :)
>>There is even a blocky looking red
>>(granite clad) building in a similar location - in Hobart that is the
>>Marine Board building, I wonder what it is in Oslo?
>>
>
> Thanks a lot, Chris. The mentioned building is our City Hall.
Was it built in the 70s by any chance?
Glad you liked the video. I cannot explain the color distortion.
Don't worry about it! It was easy enough to get around :)
Chris
To Bill Turnbull: your CD was sent earlier today. Sorry abt the delay.
> Bjørn
> From: Chris Lasdauskas [cml@...]Thanks a lot, Chris. The mentioned building is our City Hall. Glad you liked the video. I cannot explain the color distortion. To Bill Turnbull: your CD was sent earlier today. Sorry abt the delay.
> There is even a blocky looking red
> (granite clad) building in a similar location - in Hobart that is the
> Marine Board building, I wonder what it is in Oslo?
>
Bjørn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hi fellow Bolger nuts,
A couple of days ago I received a padded envelope from Bjorn Harbo
containing a freshly made CD of two seasons of Esmerelda's adventures.
First of all, I have to say I am very impressed with the Royal Norwegian
Postal Service (Posten Norge doesn't sound as impressive :))- this
envelope got here to Jakarta in 6 days - I pay for 'express' service
from the US and it takes 6 weeks! Even my mum's letters from Australia
(which is right next door) take 2-3 weeks most of the time.
I popped the disc into my pc and began to wonder what I had been smoking
- talk about psychodelia - for some reason Windows Media Player swaps
all the colours eg Blue becomes Orange. Never mind, I fired up Windows
Movie Maker, imported the file, put all the frames into the storyboard
and happily watched 34 minutes of interesting footage.
The difference between Esmerelda under 2-stroke power and under wind
power is astounding - SOooo peaceful when sailing, very slight water
noises, the sound of children chatting below etc (later the sound of a
child wailing about something :) ) Under 2 - stroke, welll.... let's
just say that the Indonesian government has recently said they will ban
two-strokes - for once Indonesia sets a good example!
Bjorn's kids seem very happy to be on a boat, sailing or powering, and
his daughter is angelic :) He seems to have taken half of Oslo out on
the boat the first season. Speaking of Oslo, the early shots really
reminded me of my home town - Hobart, Tasmania - apart from the lack of
a mountain in the background. There is even a blocky looking red
(granite clad) building in a similar location - in Hobart that is the
Marine Board building, I wonder what it is in Oslo?
However after the first few scenes the resemblance to Hobart vanishes -
everything gets this peculiar white stuff all over it, and there is
mention of the 'season' being over (October). Strange, very strange :)
Later footage includes all sorts of interesting shots, historic boats
and ships, general Oslo scenery, Museums (well the building anyway), and
a Laser? sailor flying along, capsizing, and demonstrating that he's
done that before - in the water to sailing again in about 20 seconds!
(Of course the temperature of the water may have been an incentive....).
The last few scenes feature some closeups of the damage to the lee-board
mount that Blorn mentioned a while back in a post. The final scene is a
nice family shot.
Great work Bjorn: the boat, the film and the family !:)
Thanks a heap for this,
Chris
A couple of days ago I received a padded envelope from Bjorn Harbo
containing a freshly made CD of two seasons of Esmerelda's adventures.
First of all, I have to say I am very impressed with the Royal Norwegian
Postal Service (Posten Norge doesn't sound as impressive :))- this
envelope got here to Jakarta in 6 days - I pay for 'express' service
from the US and it takes 6 weeks! Even my mum's letters from Australia
(which is right next door) take 2-3 weeks most of the time.
I popped the disc into my pc and began to wonder what I had been smoking
- talk about psychodelia - for some reason Windows Media Player swaps
all the colours eg Blue becomes Orange. Never mind, I fired up Windows
Movie Maker, imported the file, put all the frames into the storyboard
and happily watched 34 minutes of interesting footage.
The difference between Esmerelda under 2-stroke power and under wind
power is astounding - SOooo peaceful when sailing, very slight water
noises, the sound of children chatting below etc (later the sound of a
child wailing about something :) ) Under 2 - stroke, welll.... let's
just say that the Indonesian government has recently said they will ban
two-strokes - for once Indonesia sets a good example!
Bjorn's kids seem very happy to be on a boat, sailing or powering, and
his daughter is angelic :) He seems to have taken half of Oslo out on
the boat the first season. Speaking of Oslo, the early shots really
reminded me of my home town - Hobart, Tasmania - apart from the lack of
a mountain in the background. There is even a blocky looking red
(granite clad) building in a similar location - in Hobart that is the
Marine Board building, I wonder what it is in Oslo?
However after the first few scenes the resemblance to Hobart vanishes -
everything gets this peculiar white stuff all over it, and there is
mention of the 'season' being over (October). Strange, very strange :)
Later footage includes all sorts of interesting shots, historic boats
and ships, general Oslo scenery, Museums (well the building anyway), and
a Laser? sailor flying along, capsizing, and demonstrating that he's
done that before - in the water to sailing again in about 20 seconds!
(Of course the temperature of the water may have been an incentive....).
The last few scenes feature some closeups of the damage to the lee-board
mount that Blorn mentioned a while back in a post. The final scene is a
nice family shot.
Great work Bjorn: the boat, the film and the family !:)
Thanks a heap for this,
Chris
Hi Paul,
Great Write-up and thanks for ecouraging Aeneas for giving us an
update. I have been to Lac La Ronge many times and I can imagine it
would be a great boat for there. That profile looks great!
Are you planning to send PCB&F a copy of the article? I bet they will
love it!
Cheers< nels
Great Write-up and thanks for ecouraging Aeneas for giving us an
update. I have been to Lac La Ronge many times and I can imagine it
would be a great boat for there. That profile looks great!
Are you planning to send PCB&F a copy of the article? I bet they will
love it!
Cheers< nels
--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <kayaker37@h...> wrote:
>
>
> In MAIB February 1993, there was an article on Aeneas Precht's
> Airex/Aluminum Birdwatcher.
In MAIB February 1993, there was an article on Aeneas Precht's
Airex/Aluminum Birdwatcher. I asked him to write an update on his
Birdwatcher on how it's done after all these years. I've created a
geocities web site, but since it usually shuts down after a certain
number of hits, I've enclosed his article below. If you get an error
accessing the pics try again later.
http://www.geocities.com/kayaker37/Aeneas_Birdwatcher.html
http://www.geocities.com/kayaker37/Aeneas_BW_Pics.html
article:
The Birdwatcher is an enigma. It doesn't look like a "real" sailboat
should, and yet as I've found over the years, it's sometimes better
than a "real" sailboat.
My last boat, "DIDO" (custom Bolger design) burned on me back in
the winter of 1991. I wrote Phil and told him my tail of woe and asked
what he had that was simple to build and smaller than Dido. The
Birdwatcher was one of the designs that came back to me. I didn't like
it. My girlfriend Lois asked me what was wrong with it?
"Too much window," I replied.
"Can't you change that?" she asked.... within a month I was
building a Birdwatcher.
The Birdwatcher is a simple boat to build. Since I intended
building a mold and produce an Airex-cored fibreglass boat, simple is
very, very good. If you've ever built a complex boat shape, then
you'll know why simplicity has its attractions. And with its unique
superstructure it was obvious I wouldn't have to build a second mold
to mate to the hull to complete the boat. In fact I built the
superstructure out of welded aluminum tubing and afixed the
plexi-glass and deck to the framework.
I started the boat April Fool's Day and finished it August 20. I
christened it "POCO" as in Italian scoring for music. It means
"little" or "a little". It turned out very well indeed.
Then came the learning process of handling a Birdwatcher.
As you can see from the photos, I changed the profile in order to
accomplish three things. First I wanted "less" in the way of window so
I raised the hull sides by about 3 inches. That's a personal
preference. I also wanted more room in the cockpit, so I sloped the
deck over the cockpit straight back to the rudder post, duplicating
the front run of the deck. And third I wanted access through the tarp
so as to be able to handle the sails with the tarp in place so as to
be able to reef or stow sails while underway in the rain.
The first two ideas worked splendidly. Actually so did the access
"through the tarp." Unfortunately, the rain found this out too. I went
through three modifications before I learned how to keep the wet out
of the boat... but the first days out were wet and miserable. My
original idea didn't work very well at all.
The second thing that became self-evident about a Birdwatcher is
that they are very tippy and really don't like to be jibed in heavy
weather. My last boat Dido was a powerful boat, and if I had to reef,
it meant we were in the middle of a hurricaine. Poco is not like that.
I was off with my girlfriend Jane (yup new boat, new babe... that
is another story that won't be told here) who was very inexperienced.
There was heavy wind and we came out from a cut between two islands
and headed downwind on a four mile run through open water to the
safety of Hunter Narrows at the northeast corner of Lac la Ronge in
Central Saskatchewan. This is a large lake, about 600 square miles
with something like 1,000 islands and reefs in it.
I had the tarp in place, full main up. As with most sharpie/ flat
bottom boats, there is a lot of weather helm when they're pushed hard.
I asked Jane to take the helm while I went forward for some gear.
Halfway to the bow the boat suddenly sheered sideways and went
completely over. I scrambled aft across a myriad of loose items and
watched mesmerized as the water rose up and down on the clear
plexi-glass which is supposed to face up, but was now the new
starboard side of the half-inverted hull. Slowly the boat blew
downwind of the mast and sail, at which point the top of the mast and
sail cleared a wave top and the boat popped back upright. None of
this took longer than 30 seconds from start to finish, but I don't
mind telling you... it seemed forever.
It actually took me the rest of the day to piece together in my
mind what happened because I had been concentrating on my search for
some gear when events happened.
We'd gone through an accidental jibe in heavy winds. The result
was a complete knockdown.
I learned several things from that incident. First and foremost,
the boat can take a complete knockdown and recover. Second, the boat
is very tender to an accidental jibe. Third, never sail a new boat the
same way you sailed an older boat. Fourth, never give responsibility
of the helm to someone inexperienced when in heavy weather, it's not
fair to them and could cost you dearly.
You really have to be careful jibing a Birdwatcher. Myself, I will
now double tack if the winds are over 12 m.p.h. rather than jibe. I
built Poco with the big rig, and quite frankly I think you'd be silly
to do otherwise. You can always reef if the wind gets up, but you
can't add extra sail when you don't have it. It's amazing how little
wind it takes to make Poco move with her maximum amount of sail. And
that small jib gives an amazing extra bit of speed to the boat. Often
when I'm forced to reef, I'll reef the main and leave the jib up as it
gives me more speed -- even if tacking is then more difficult because
of the sprit being more forward.
And on the subject of reefing. First whitecap -- first reef.
Succeeding whitecaps -- second reef. I've had the boat knocked
over to 60 degrees and beyond many times when fighting heavy seas, but
never felt endangered. I really think you need two reefs in the main
for safety sake and the ability to go up wind in the heavy stuff.
Poco is best in light to medium winds and goes like a thoroughbred
in such conditions, especially to weather. In heavy airs, you can't
point as high, and her light weight slows her down. You've also got to
bear off more. In light to medium winds she'll tack at least 45
degrees by the compass (or 90 degrees double tack). In heavy wind you
may have to bear off as much as 60 degrees (or 120 degrees double
tack) to keep any speed going (I'm not sure how much leeway you'd make
in either of these conditions. Her tacking ability I'm reporting is
strictly one of compass bearing) In critical conditions I drop the
main and run downwind with just the jib. Doing that you can take an
awful lot of bad weather and it gives you probably 150 degrees of
steerability before you start overpowering her ability to move in the
desired direction.
I've sailed Poco every year since I've built her. I've sailed her
a lot. I've been to Florida, Lake of the Woods, Lac la Ronge and a
number of smaller lakes around me. I probably average three to four
weeks of liveaboard every year.... albeit never more than 2 weeks at a
time. I find one week to 10 days to be optimum... after that I want
ashore and room!
Poco is a tender boat but that does have it's advantages. I've
learned to sit on the lee side when pounding to weather to present
more of a "V" to the waves. This works well but is more than a trifle
disconcerting the first few times you perch your butt to leeward. You
always have the feeling she's going to go over, but as long as you're
carrying the appropriate amount of sail, she never does even if you
get caught in a bad gust. And if you can find a number of people to
sail with you then you can put everyone to windward and carry as much
sail as you think your mast can take. She's powerful then and will
give everyone a really thrilling ride with lots of spray and green
water flying everywhere.
The boat rows easily. I've gotten lazy in the last couple of years
and added a small electric trolling motor. This runs Poco at rowing
speed for a very long time.
Disadvantages? Of course there are. I've mentioned my observations
about her sailing peccadilloes. For a long while I always had
mosquitoes bother me at night. It took a season and a half before I
found out where the damn mosquitoes were coming in from... One very
early morning I as I was sitting on the pottee I happened to look up
at the mast only to see a sliver of daylight peeking through the tarp
tie-off and a mosquito walking down into the boat. I now spray a
little repellent on a sock (I still use the same sock) and wrap it
around the mast before tying the tarp up... no more mosquitos. As I
said, I went through three designs to keep the rain out. Solved that
one too! The centreboard is both noisy and wet. At first I hated the
sound of the water sloshing around the centreboard trunk. Now I think
it's quite fun and gives a big ship, big adventure sound to a little
boat. The wet I've taken care of with a hindged flap that I snap down
over the centreboard slot when the board is down. The rudder/tiller is
a complicated thing and has a small amount of play which translates
into a certain amount of clicking and clacking. With two people on
board you're forced to sleep with your feet higher than your head
because you'll have to sleep with your bodies facing forward to have
any room for your torso. Single handing I sleep facing aft. If you
spend any time in a marina aboard your boat at night, you'll have to
make up privacy curtains otherwise you're going to find yourself live
and in color on some porn site. In super heavy rain you'll tend to get
a tiny bit of wet coming in from the mast, the seams on your tarp, and
sometimes I swear, through the fibreglass itself. Most of this can be
creatively cured. I've never had more than a cupfull come down into
the cockpit area even in deluges of biblical proportions. And finally,
sometimes those damn windows will let in too much light when you're
trying to sleep.
Advantages... you bet. Those damn windows are wonderful things in
the rain or the evening. If there's enough light to read outside, you
can read inside. You can see all around you and everything... all the
time. Try doing that on any other sailboat! With maximum sail this is
a fast little boat. It points really well for a simple light boat, and
except for being hardmouthed from weatherhelm in the puffy stuff and
testy when jibing, is otherwise well mannered. I've rigged up a
reefing system that allows me to go from ahead to reefed to ahead in
60 seconds. By utilizing zippered hatches in both ends of the tarp, I
can reef with the tarp in place. Being able to sail or row with the
tarp in place means you never have to wear rain gear again. It's nice
to be able to sail past someone who looks like a drowned rat while
you're sipping on a cup of coffee, lounging in your shorts and leaning
back against the hull... You have to remember to give them a nice
wave as they aren't having a good day. There are the advantages of
shallow draft. Because you use the cockpit for your sleeping berth you
can use the rest of the boat for stowage. I defy anyone to put more
stuff into a boat this small. And strangely enough, even overloaded
you still have lots of of people room. It defies believability. I've
added shelving back in the cockpit and small hammocks anywhere there's
room. With the tarp off you have running headroom virtually the entire
length of the boat. The back -- top of the deck extends aft in a line
identical to the way the front -- top deck slopes forward This means
you can sit on the cockpit side-decks or back end of the hatch and
sail the birdwatcher like a dingy... terrific fun.
The Birdwatcher is a small boat with big potential even if she
doesn't look like a "real" boat.. but like I said, she's an enigma.
Aeneas Precht
Airex/Aluminum Birdwatcher. I asked him to write an update on his
Birdwatcher on how it's done after all these years. I've created a
geocities web site, but since it usually shuts down after a certain
number of hits, I've enclosed his article below. If you get an error
accessing the pics try again later.
http://www.geocities.com/kayaker37/Aeneas_Birdwatcher.html
http://www.geocities.com/kayaker37/Aeneas_BW_Pics.html
article:
The Birdwatcher is an enigma. It doesn't look like a "real" sailboat
should, and yet as I've found over the years, it's sometimes better
than a "real" sailboat.
My last boat, "DIDO" (custom Bolger design) burned on me back in
the winter of 1991. I wrote Phil and told him my tail of woe and asked
what he had that was simple to build and smaller than Dido. The
Birdwatcher was one of the designs that came back to me. I didn't like
it. My girlfriend Lois asked me what was wrong with it?
"Too much window," I replied.
"Can't you change that?" she asked.... within a month I was
building a Birdwatcher.
The Birdwatcher is a simple boat to build. Since I intended
building a mold and produce an Airex-cored fibreglass boat, simple is
very, very good. If you've ever built a complex boat shape, then
you'll know why simplicity has its attractions. And with its unique
superstructure it was obvious I wouldn't have to build a second mold
to mate to the hull to complete the boat. In fact I built the
superstructure out of welded aluminum tubing and afixed the
plexi-glass and deck to the framework.
I started the boat April Fool's Day and finished it August 20. I
christened it "POCO" as in Italian scoring for music. It means
"little" or "a little". It turned out very well indeed.
Then came the learning process of handling a Birdwatcher.
As you can see from the photos, I changed the profile in order to
accomplish three things. First I wanted "less" in the way of window so
I raised the hull sides by about 3 inches. That's a personal
preference. I also wanted more room in the cockpit, so I sloped the
deck over the cockpit straight back to the rudder post, duplicating
the front run of the deck. And third I wanted access through the tarp
so as to be able to handle the sails with the tarp in place so as to
be able to reef or stow sails while underway in the rain.
The first two ideas worked splendidly. Actually so did the access
"through the tarp." Unfortunately, the rain found this out too. I went
through three modifications before I learned how to keep the wet out
of the boat... but the first days out were wet and miserable. My
original idea didn't work very well at all.
The second thing that became self-evident about a Birdwatcher is
that they are very tippy and really don't like to be jibed in heavy
weather. My last boat Dido was a powerful boat, and if I had to reef,
it meant we were in the middle of a hurricaine. Poco is not like that.
I was off with my girlfriend Jane (yup new boat, new babe... that
is another story that won't be told here) who was very inexperienced.
There was heavy wind and we came out from a cut between two islands
and headed downwind on a four mile run through open water to the
safety of Hunter Narrows at the northeast corner of Lac la Ronge in
Central Saskatchewan. This is a large lake, about 600 square miles
with something like 1,000 islands and reefs in it.
I had the tarp in place, full main up. As with most sharpie/ flat
bottom boats, there is a lot of weather helm when they're pushed hard.
I asked Jane to take the helm while I went forward for some gear.
Halfway to the bow the boat suddenly sheered sideways and went
completely over. I scrambled aft across a myriad of loose items and
watched mesmerized as the water rose up and down on the clear
plexi-glass which is supposed to face up, but was now the new
starboard side of the half-inverted hull. Slowly the boat blew
downwind of the mast and sail, at which point the top of the mast and
sail cleared a wave top and the boat popped back upright. None of
this took longer than 30 seconds from start to finish, but I don't
mind telling you... it seemed forever.
It actually took me the rest of the day to piece together in my
mind what happened because I had been concentrating on my search for
some gear when events happened.
We'd gone through an accidental jibe in heavy winds. The result
was a complete knockdown.
I learned several things from that incident. First and foremost,
the boat can take a complete knockdown and recover. Second, the boat
is very tender to an accidental jibe. Third, never sail a new boat the
same way you sailed an older boat. Fourth, never give responsibility
of the helm to someone inexperienced when in heavy weather, it's not
fair to them and could cost you dearly.
You really have to be careful jibing a Birdwatcher. Myself, I will
now double tack if the winds are over 12 m.p.h. rather than jibe. I
built Poco with the big rig, and quite frankly I think you'd be silly
to do otherwise. You can always reef if the wind gets up, but you
can't add extra sail when you don't have it. It's amazing how little
wind it takes to make Poco move with her maximum amount of sail. And
that small jib gives an amazing extra bit of speed to the boat. Often
when I'm forced to reef, I'll reef the main and leave the jib up as it
gives me more speed -- even if tacking is then more difficult because
of the sprit being more forward.
And on the subject of reefing. First whitecap -- first reef.
Succeeding whitecaps -- second reef. I've had the boat knocked
over to 60 degrees and beyond many times when fighting heavy seas, but
never felt endangered. I really think you need two reefs in the main
for safety sake and the ability to go up wind in the heavy stuff.
Poco is best in light to medium winds and goes like a thoroughbred
in such conditions, especially to weather. In heavy airs, you can't
point as high, and her light weight slows her down. You've also got to
bear off more. In light to medium winds she'll tack at least 45
degrees by the compass (or 90 degrees double tack). In heavy wind you
may have to bear off as much as 60 degrees (or 120 degrees double
tack) to keep any speed going (I'm not sure how much leeway you'd make
in either of these conditions. Her tacking ability I'm reporting is
strictly one of compass bearing) In critical conditions I drop the
main and run downwind with just the jib. Doing that you can take an
awful lot of bad weather and it gives you probably 150 degrees of
steerability before you start overpowering her ability to move in the
desired direction.
I've sailed Poco every year since I've built her. I've sailed her
a lot. I've been to Florida, Lake of the Woods, Lac la Ronge and a
number of smaller lakes around me. I probably average three to four
weeks of liveaboard every year.... albeit never more than 2 weeks at a
time. I find one week to 10 days to be optimum... after that I want
ashore and room!
Poco is a tender boat but that does have it's advantages. I've
learned to sit on the lee side when pounding to weather to present
more of a "V" to the waves. This works well but is more than a trifle
disconcerting the first few times you perch your butt to leeward. You
always have the feeling she's going to go over, but as long as you're
carrying the appropriate amount of sail, she never does even if you
get caught in a bad gust. And if you can find a number of people to
sail with you then you can put everyone to windward and carry as much
sail as you think your mast can take. She's powerful then and will
give everyone a really thrilling ride with lots of spray and green
water flying everywhere.
The boat rows easily. I've gotten lazy in the last couple of years
and added a small electric trolling motor. This runs Poco at rowing
speed for a very long time.
Disadvantages? Of course there are. I've mentioned my observations
about her sailing peccadilloes. For a long while I always had
mosquitoes bother me at night. It took a season and a half before I
found out where the damn mosquitoes were coming in from... One very
early morning I as I was sitting on the pottee I happened to look up
at the mast only to see a sliver of daylight peeking through the tarp
tie-off and a mosquito walking down into the boat. I now spray a
little repellent on a sock (I still use the same sock) and wrap it
around the mast before tying the tarp up... no more mosquitos. As I
said, I went through three designs to keep the rain out. Solved that
one too! The centreboard is both noisy and wet. At first I hated the
sound of the water sloshing around the centreboard trunk. Now I think
it's quite fun and gives a big ship, big adventure sound to a little
boat. The wet I've taken care of with a hindged flap that I snap down
over the centreboard slot when the board is down. The rudder/tiller is
a complicated thing and has a small amount of play which translates
into a certain amount of clicking and clacking. With two people on
board you're forced to sleep with your feet higher than your head
because you'll have to sleep with your bodies facing forward to have
any room for your torso. Single handing I sleep facing aft. If you
spend any time in a marina aboard your boat at night, you'll have to
make up privacy curtains otherwise you're going to find yourself live
and in color on some porn site. In super heavy rain you'll tend to get
a tiny bit of wet coming in from the mast, the seams on your tarp, and
sometimes I swear, through the fibreglass itself. Most of this can be
creatively cured. I've never had more than a cupfull come down into
the cockpit area even in deluges of biblical proportions. And finally,
sometimes those damn windows will let in too much light when you're
trying to sleep.
Advantages... you bet. Those damn windows are wonderful things in
the rain or the evening. If there's enough light to read outside, you
can read inside. You can see all around you and everything... all the
time. Try doing that on any other sailboat! With maximum sail this is
a fast little boat. It points really well for a simple light boat, and
except for being hardmouthed from weatherhelm in the puffy stuff and
testy when jibing, is otherwise well mannered. I've rigged up a
reefing system that allows me to go from ahead to reefed to ahead in
60 seconds. By utilizing zippered hatches in both ends of the tarp, I
can reef with the tarp in place. Being able to sail or row with the
tarp in place means you never have to wear rain gear again. It's nice
to be able to sail past someone who looks like a drowned rat while
you're sipping on a cup of coffee, lounging in your shorts and leaning
back against the hull... You have to remember to give them a nice
wave as they aren't having a good day. There are the advantages of
shallow draft. Because you use the cockpit for your sleeping berth you
can use the rest of the boat for stowage. I defy anyone to put more
stuff into a boat this small. And strangely enough, even overloaded
you still have lots of of people room. It defies believability. I've
added shelving back in the cockpit and small hammocks anywhere there's
room. With the tarp off you have running headroom virtually the entire
length of the boat. The back -- top of the deck extends aft in a line
identical to the way the front -- top deck slopes forward This means
you can sit on the cockpit side-decks or back end of the hatch and
sail the birdwatcher like a dingy... terrific fun.
The Birdwatcher is a small boat with big potential even if she
doesn't look like a "real" boat.. but like I said, she's an enigma.
Aeneas Precht