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The Boat - OOPS! as we call her - is a funky little thing!!
She is a 28 foot sloop, with a 5 foot bowsprit, has a 10 foot beam, and draws about 3 feet. Now they tell me 30 inches...but I'd rather be on the safe side!!!
The glorious thing about that is that we can slide in close to beaches and islands where many larger boats can't go!! That makes for more fun 'gunkholing'!!
She was custom-built in Rockport , Texas, about 6 years ago. (I don't know how long it took them to build it!! But it's been in the water for that long.)
They built her from a New Zealand design by Hartley, called 'Stardrift.' I have the original prints. It is a wooden boat - encased, of course, in a coat of fiberglass!! She has a full keel with twin bilge keels.
Because they built it for their comfort and needs, it is not like a common, production boat!! The cabin is very roomy (we've had sit-down dinners for 8 folks), and with lots of headroom (as long as you aren't over 6 feet tall!!)
Lots of individual craftsmanship went into the construction of the boat. They constructed all of the brass fittings and interior details themselves. We had 2 brass kerosene lamps (we have one left - and don't ask about the other one, please!!!) and we sport a hand-crafted brass helm wheel. All the port holes are brass and they actually OPEN!!! I went around the boat and polished all the brass to a nice, shiny glow. Thanks to the salt air around here - that sure didn't last very long!! But at least, they are no longer black!!!
The boat is a very unusual hybrid - and I plan to capitalize on that. Instead of being embarrassed because it doesn't look like other boats, we are going to accentuate the differences.
There is an inboard diesel - a Farryman 5.5 HP.
I added 2 solar panels, with 4 storage batteries. This supplies all the power we need.
Of course, we have a VHF radio and depth finder. We use a handheld GPS.
Everyone always asks a lot of other questions - but this is enough so that I don't have to repeat myself too often!
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