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.

Marlin Fishing

At the end of my Freshman year in collage my Dad took my brother and I on a fishing trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He thought it might be the last trip we would go on as a family since we were all starting to go our separate ways. He was right about that. He had been told by one of his co-workers that the Sea of Cortez was one of the few places big sail fish could still be caught. We flew from Chicago to L.A., then took a prop plane to Cabo San Lucas. We stayed at the Hacienda Cabo San Lucas, and took charter boats out from there.

None of the charter boats looked in great condition, but the Hacienda man said they were OK. I remembered that almost everything cost 8 pesos. It was 8 pesos for a Coke, 8 pesos for a hat, 8 pesos for sun glasses and so on…it was always 8 pesos for whatever.

The charter Captains knew what they were doing. We each caught a Marlin, two were in the 120 to 150 lbs. range. The other was about 75 lbs. The two big ones were 12’ to 15’ long and it took about an hour to land one. You would pull them in near the boat, they would see the boat and come out of the water tail walking and then take off. It was almost heart stopping. My brother caught the small sailfish and we had that one stuffed. The cost to have that done was almost unreasonable.

When it was shipped to my Dad’s house we could not believe how big this small one my brother had  caught was.  It was over 7’ long and there was only one wall in the house it would fit on. It held a place on the wall, neatly jumping over the TV in the family room till my parents died.. Everything else in the room was dwarfed by the fish.. Dad and I loved it. It is now in my house, jumping over the piano, making the piano look small. 

My brother and sister did not want the fish after my parents died and I was living on a boat. The fish was put in storage for about 10 years. My wife thought it was wonderful when she saw it and said we would have a place for it no matter what. I think I lucked out on that also.

Hot Dogs As Bait

The fish in the river are not as picky about the bait they hit on as salt water fish.  When a pair of good old boys passed our dock fishing I ask them if they had had any luck and what they were using for bait. One of the guys held up a nice large-mouth bass and said hot dogs. I smiled and gave him a thumb up.

When I told the story to a coworker and he said they would do a lot better with real bait.

The following weekend we did our regular sail on the river, trolling as we sailed along­­. We did get one hit and the fish took the lure. I had brought a hot dog along just as a joke. With nothing to lose we made two hot dog fish from the wiener.  A hook slid into it neatly and over the side it went.  We were passing the opening of an oxbow and a fish hit the wiener fish. It was a beautiful bass. I made the comment that one more like this and we would have a nice fish dinner. The second wiener fish was put on the line.  The same thing happened.  A second bass was caught.  When we got back to the dock, I had to have a photo taken to show my coworker

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We have not had such great luck again, but hot dogs are good bait and they are cheap.

Fishing from a Sailboat

 

Sail boats have been used in fishing for years, but today most use a motorboat. The motorboat has many advantages over the sailboat when fishing.  Myself, I like the advantages of the sailboat.

When fishing using a sailboat, it takes longer to get to your fishing spot, but you have a delightful sail getting there. You can troll as you go, so not all is lost in that respect. This time sailing also lets you get everything set up and ready to use when you get there, and you have time for pleasant conversation.

Sailing is ideal for trolling. The speed is slow, and the boat is quiet (not like the noise you put up with from a power boat). The ride is also (usually) much smoother than a bouncing powerboat. We run two lines out, one from each side of the stern. If we get something on the line we can heave-to (Heaving-to is holding your position in open water) until you land the fish and then continue on. Heaving-to lets you leave your sails up but not move all that much. When you reach your fishing spot you can drop the sails while you fish.

Line fishing is good. Casting is a bad idea. The standing rigging, your sails, all the lines like the halyards and sheet lines, all are hook magnets. Fishing lines love to spin around a shroud and lock in to a line. They almost always have to be cut off these so no damage is done.

When fishing from a sailboat you get plenty of time to relax. This time can be used  to come up with great stories about the one that got away and rid yourself of stress as you sail back to port.