|
From
Latitude 38 |
||||
|
Seayanika Update -- Space Case Once or twice a day I amble across the street to check on the building progress my husband is making on our custom 49-foot sailboat Seayanika. These days, I'm always amazed -- now that he has a full-time helper, the progress rate seems to be tripling! A couple of days ago I climbed up on the scaffolding, so Erik could show me the work he was doing on the lazarette. To my inexperienced eye, the lazarette looked enormous, and I wondered why he made it so large. “Wouldn’t some of this space be better utilized in our aft master stateroom?” I asked. After a heavenward glance (uh oh, I must be acting blond again), he commented that the lazarette can never be too large. “Where do you think we are going to put all the toys?” he said. After querying him on the list of items to be stored in the lazarette, my new question became, “How in the heck is all that going to fit in that teeny tiny space?” The list of absolute necessities he reeled off (which I’m sure is only a partial list), included the following: - 10-foot inflatable Avon with rigid transom, along with its 15-hp outboard and fuel tank, oars and seat boards - Two 20-lb propane tanks for the stove and oven - Dive compressor, dive tanks and associated gear - Honda 110 trail bike (for shore transportation) - A 20 gallon reserve gas tank (for the Avon and the Honda) - Stern anchor and rode - Various docklines and fenders Somehow, this 9’ x 4-ft space seemed grossly inadequate. What if we decided we needed other toys? Erik has yet to mention the golf clubs, mountain bikes, sailboard, surfboard and fishing gear. Where were they going? |
Meanwhile, Erik has been busy glassing-in separate vapor-proof lockers for the propane and gasoline storage, and other compartments, shelves, nooks and crannies in our veritable marine equipment storehouse. So far, he seems to have found a place for everything. Everything that is….except the one item I am least likely to leave behind, namely, our Honda 110. How exactly are we going to explore all those great little ports and islands, and toot around town re-provisioning, without a means of transportation? While visiting various boat shows, we looked at all the folding bicycles and folding scooters, dismissing each in turn, either because of exorbitantly pricing or because we’d have to purchase two of them. The Honda 110 -- a sort of cross between a moped and a small trail bike, will carry both of us. But is it small enough (even detaching the front wheel), to fit in our 'immense' lazarette with all our other goodies? We obviously don’t want to clutter up our deck or subject the scoot to unnecessary salt spray. I know one thing -- it ain’t going in my galley, or even down the companionway hatch. I have faith that Erik will find a way to fit it in. all he has to do is make the lazarette a little bigger.... Readers -- The Vaders began the construction earlier this year of their 'bare hull' 1974 Cal 46 down in Vista, California. Despite his wife's initial misgivings, Erik is a recently retired contractor who has both the time and skills to devote nearly full-time effort to the job, which to our minds gives it a reasonable chance of splashing down on as planned sometime in the late summer of 2002. Since not many cruisers take this route any more -- and many who do get sidetracked and never finish -- we asked the Vaders to keep up updated on their progress, not so much on the nuts and bolts aspect, but on the real-world concerns and human interest angles of such a large project. This is the second installment of what we hope will be regular reports. |
||
