Cabin for the Schooner.

 Our little schooner is our light wind boat. She sails best with wind that is about 8 to 10 knots, 10 knots being the upper end for a easy sail.  Above that you have to work and think too much. I made a second set of sails with booms and gaff booms for those sails that reduced the square footage by about 1/3. Changing sails and booms as a unit is fast and easier then removing and attaching sails to the booms each time. A reefed sail or a small sail on a long boom is also not pleasing to look at. Different sail sets lets us take her out more often, and the boat still looks good on the water. When there is no wind and you cannot get a shadow from the sails, you bake in the sun because there is no shade on the boat.

Last summer I had the grand idea that it would be fun to take the schooner on an overnight trip. Wendy was not overly thrilled about it. I figured we could make a tent over the front cockpit and sleep there. Her logical reasons for not doing it was: 1. No cabin

                                                                 2. No running lights

                                                                 3. No porta potty

                                                                 4.  Limited battery for trolling motor and lights

                                                                 5. Limited storage

                                                                 6. What about the Dog?

She did have some good points.  I said we would have to "ruff" it a little, and that the Dog would love it as long as he was with us. He was on my side. His tail was wagging. I lost the first round.

I started first with the No Cabin point. I made a cabin that would just fit over the front cockpit. It just nested over the lip of the cockpit so it would not move and could be easily secured to the boat, and still be removed when not wanted.

The running lights were easy. I had a pair of brass lantern oil lamps that I mounted on the new cabin. To light them I used a pair of solar powered LED yard lights from the garden center that cost only $4.00 each. Thus no oil needed, and no batteries needed. That was two down from the list and 4 to go.

The porta potty was now no problem now that there was a privacy cabin. That was one more from the list gone. I figured the Dog would always be on my side so I counted that one off also.

Now that there was a cabin, I had a place for a pair of solar panels on the cabin roof. The solar panels could help keep the batteries charged. There was space for extra batteries on each side of the trolling motor as well. Add another AGM battery, and that was good to go.

With the new cabin over the front cockpit, the fore sail was too big. No problem, I just made another little sail and boom set. Now storage of all the different boom and sail sets was getting to be a problem. Almost all the space I could hang things from on the happy hour porch was used. OK…I could just double a few of them up. Wendy would not notice.

    

I increased the usable storage area for a trip by making two sea chests. They could be filled with what was needed, be used as seats, and could be moved from one cockpit to the other as needed. A traditional sea chest is made with the bottom bigger than the top, so that they nest together when stacked, and they will not tip over as easily. The storage problem was now addressed.

I put drop down mosquito netting in the new cabin to address that problem before it came up. The feed store had Big Dog Beds on sale. Cheap padding for the front cockpit, and the Dog could use them also. 8-) 

 

The looks of the schooner had changed in a strange way. The sailing characteristic’s changed big time. Tacking now required motor assist to turn smoothly.  My wife was almost speechless when she saw the transformed boat. I think “oh my” was what she said and just looked over the boat. She can be very good at understatement at times.

We sailed the boat in cabin mode a few times, have taken it on dusk motor runs on nice evenings now that there were running lights, and we can fish from it now that there is a cabin where you can have some shade. We have not done an overnight on it.  The dog likes his two new beds just fine. 8-) Some ideas don’t work out.

The front cabin just lifts off to return the schooner to the original configuration. It is nice to have both setups though. In cabin mode it makes a unique motor launch. One thing about that boat, it always draws people’s attention. It is still more pleasing to the eye in schooner mode. In either mode it is a fun boat. 8-) The dog is still on my side...he likes it either way if he gets to go.