Club Boat

[Paul Browne]

Hi Folks,

This post describes an idea that may have originated with John Bell, who has a real knack for boat design. Bruce Hector picked up the ball and is organizing a 4 foot beam protoytpe to be assembled and floated, next week actually, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

The concept is a modular boat. Participants build floating modules, haul them to a meet in an interesting location, and assemble them on the spot into one large vessel, capable of taking the whole gang. I'm suggesting that the concept be extended to a boating club, and the resulting boat or boats be large enough for weekend cruises on sheltered waters. The illustration below shows only one possibility.



Each club member builds two pontoons, along with deck, end, and side panels. These parts all fit onto a small utility trailer, and bolted together they make a small but competent shanty boat or even a hunt cabin. Folks lug aboard the loose furniture they want, cots, tables, chairs, rugs, curtains, porta-poties, etc.



But when two, tree, four, or maybe even five of these sub-assemblies are bolted together along with a similar "tractor module", the Club Boat Marie Liette results. She's a river boat, with man-sized pontoons. The beam is 12 feet, and there's one 4 foot side deck for sitting, whittling, and waving, and one 2 foot side deck for line handling and foot soaking. There's a very large upper deck for meals and socializing, and a back deck for trolling, smoking and contemplating where you've been. The engine is an outboard, say a hard-working 15 hp high thrust, and it's up forward, like in a trap skiff, to eliminate any control linkages. The helm is actually on the lower deck forward, and the helmsman uses a simple tiller extension, probably while sitting in a deck chair sipping a coke. There'll be anchors and rode and boathooks in all four corners, and lots of hands to holler, heave and haul.

Marie Liette won't be fast, maybe 4 1/2 knots upwind, maybe 6 1/2 knots downwind and down hill, but the passengers and crew won't care.

So there's the general concept and one possible Club Boat arrangement. There are a few more details in my album on this site, but they're not too important right now. I bet some of you have other ideas as to how it could look and work, and I'd sure like to hear about them.

Cheers,

Paul Browne