[TO NARRATIVES AND PHOTOS LIST]
March 19, 2001
Page 2 of 2
I recall so very well my experiences with the dinghy on the schooner "Silver Heels". That dinghy was a "hat floater", an old term
for a small boat that appears seaworthy but quickly takes on water and sinks when people get aboard. We launched "Silver Heels' "
dinghy, after it spent a winter in the shed. Over the winter the little boat had dried out and the planks
had shrunk badly, opening the seams. We put her in the water, got in and tried to row a hundred yards
to the schooner moored offshore. With the planks shrunk and the seams open, the
small boat took on water fast. Settling lower and lower as we rowed, we barely made it to the big boat.
Assuming that the dinghy had sunk with us aboard, only our hats would be floatting.
I'm now building a dinghy that will float properly when I get in and row. This picture shows the mold with about
six planks fastened. It can be rowed, sculled, powered with an outboard and sailed. I'm
going to make the mast, boom and gaff; Ellen's going to sew the sail. It WILL float!
We've been babysitting Sarah's dogs. These two dogs (our grand dogs), living aboard the boat with us, have made me
acutely aware of canine needs. When the wind blows above 20 knots, the halyards, boom and mast
develop a shimmy and some strange-to-a-dog thumping noises. Being "pack animals", the two dogs bark at every thump,
twang or humm caused by the wind. They "notify" the rest of the pack, namely Ellen and myself, by panting and barking.
When we don't respond, they hunker down under the galley table. This is "Lulu" wishing
she was somewhere on a Montana ranch with cattle to herd. She'll never make a boat dog.
In the morning both dogs develop internal pressures, of course, pressures that cannot be relieved aboard the boat.
That means a trip up the dock,across the parking lot to the grassy field across the street.