Here's a couple of pictures Frank Smoot took of the beach line up for this years Everglades Challenge. They're was a record number of boats, again.

And here are a couple videos of this years Everglades Challenge with boats on the beach. The Coast Guard made them cancel the official race shortly after the start because they were getting too many calls for assistance. This is suppose to be an expedition style race where you don't get and shouldn't need any help but they had a lot of new people who may not have gotten the word. No one made them go out if it was too rough, that's the problem when things get too big.

I'm building my new boat because of Pat Johnson, it's all his fault. When I saw Pat's boat I just had to have one also and then he sent this video of his going warp speed. Of course my boat is going to be way better than his. They're both the same size, 18 ft by 6 ft with custom cabins and since we both build the same way, (make it up as we go along) there's no telling what comes out. Washington Dan also builds this way but we do know what his will look like. It doesn't matter the size, they all look the same. This video is via Facebook.

You saw the start of my boat last time, here's how far I am today. The plywood turned out to be pretty easy to bend into the shape I wanted, I pulled the front part with the most bend in about half way and let it sit overnight and the next day it finished the rest of the bend easily.

I used a couple layers of this really heavy ass cloth to get started. Phil gave us a big roll of this stuff so why not. We also have a bunch of rolls of the same weight cloth in these 6 inch "tape" rolls. I put one layer of this down the middle and then lots more of the four foot wide on the rest of the hull. I think the bow has six layers of this heavy stuff. The whole thing will get one more layer of heavy tri axial cloth to make a strong smooth cover. I'll have that done tomorrow and turn the hull over in a couple of days. What I'm after is a lobster boat look with a permanent hard top like a picnic boat that rides smoothly in a light chop at about 30 mph.

I can't hold a spreader anymore with my arthritic hands so I got some cheap squeegees from Lowes and slipped the spreader in where the rubber goes, works great. Why didn't you guys think of this, it makes glassing so much easier.

Here's how we got the "Mega Yacht" out of the shop. It was always a mystery to visitors (and us also) how we were going to get the big thing out with only three inches of clearance at the top. I'd say that we'd just hook it up to the truck and pull it out, no problem. At least I hoped it would be no problem, you can see how close it is.

And once it's out how do you get it on it's trailer? I think it even surprised the guys here when I told them that we'd just take the wheels off the trailer, put the tongue against a tree and slide it on. It couldn't be raised up any because of the roof. We Double blocked the boat with cables and chains around a tree out front, ran the end out to a truck and pulled it right out. Dam, if it didn't actually work. We couldn't put anything under the hull to help it slide because of the clearance so it just drug across the dirt floor. Good thing because the outdrive wouldn't go up high enough to clear the floor so it just dug a nice little ditch about three inches deep in the dirt.

Red showed up about this time, took one look and said "what the hell are you guys up to now and what happened to the wheels"? Howard jacked it up, put the wheels back on and that's it. He still has more work to do and then we'll have to figure what we're going to do with it.

I'll never understand horse power. Steve has been using this 14 foot skiff to come to "work" while he's redoing Chelsea. It has a 2 horse power Honda outboard and it'll plane with just him on board; he can out run me in Helen Marie. Makes you wonder why the 16 foot bass boats need 300 hp.

Lance and Kayak Kathy took one of my foam 14 footers out and immediately started building some for themselves. The things are amazing, they really perform and you can easily throw them up on your roof. He's adding a little red tint to the epoxy to get a color all the way through. They really do need two layers of cloth for strength and puncture protection. The big guy in one of my boats is Steve Hill, a kayak buddy of Crazy Steve. He went out a skeptic and came back a convert.

Another "why didn't I think of this" idea. Kevin Lott is on the final leg of his melonseed build and look what he did for the forward hatch cover. It's just a standard eight inch plastic screw in hatch that he did this to, brilliant. This shot of the inside shows that he was planning something. He's hoping to bring the boat to Cedar this year, it's the first full weekend in May, be there.

Be warned that if you're out in a boat and come anywhere near the dock you'll get sucked in, sometime even made to consume too much beer or whatever is available at the time. Bill and Barb and friend made that mistake and are now what we call "friends of the Tiki Hut" meaning that they're always welcome. We really hit it off, in 1969 Helen was an Army nurse in Viet Nam and Bill was an Army ground pounder who got shot in Vietnam but even better, they make wine and I drink wine; they own a vineyard in Southern Illinois. I don't know if I've ever had any Ill wine. They aren't pulling my leg are they?

The sun was in their eyes so these guys didn't see us waving at them from the dock. We really wanted to see this boat up close. It's a beauty isn't it.

These two pictures have something in common: Pop-I Schuster is making this model boat for the Port Aransas TX maritime center and Paul Anderson who is also a model builder who moved to somewhere in the middle of Florida had turkeys in his yard. I could say that they're both are a couple of turkeys but I won't.