Aptly Named? The Hedonist

[Carl Cramer]

is the topic of "My Wooden Boat of the Week" this week.

I truly know nothing about this boat. If you do, please post at the "Comments" section of the website.

Certainly not "my" kind of boat. But I hope she appeals to one or more of you here at the Forum.

To view, go to www.woodenboat.com/boat

[James McMullen]

That boat is a disgusting display of conspicuous consumption and excess. How many gallons of fuel per minute? And then there's the enormous amount of irreplaceable old growth virgin rainforest timber that went into that guzzler. I think you do a disservice to us all by celebrating an example of waste like that.

[wizbang 13]

I saw that hideous thing blasting around Anguilla last year. The "roostertail" was 150' long and 50' high!

[Lewisboater]

I like the way you "throw in" the traditional Catboat just as a companion story right after.

[mizzenman]

could it be they misspelled hideous?

[callsign222]

This is the "Favorite Boat of the Week?"
.
.
.
WOW.

What James said, +1.

This is a good example on how Wooden Boat struggles with identity issues/targeting a larger audience. At least it's not in the magazine, yet.

[Canoez]

This is the part that I think Mac McCarthy got right with the Wee Lassie - and with other small boats as well. You only need enough boat to get you safely out on the water to do what you want to do - it doesn't need to be a display of excess consumption. Taste is subjective, so I won't comment on that.

[David G]

OK... I'll play the contrarian.

As a piece of functional sculpture, I can appreciate it. It's not my favorite aesthetic, but it has a coherent look that is attractive in its own way.

But yes, as a boat it appears to be another wrongheaded example of wretched excess.

But as one of the people who often admires large, shapely sailboats... I'm not sure how much room I have to talk. I mean those boats that cost as much to buy as some folks make in a lifetime, and require a crew to operate, and need $1,000 to $20,000 and up worth of varnishing each season, and need sails worth tens of thousands (which need to be replaced periiodically), and go through How Much diesel in a season?

As I'm writing, the idea is forming that maybe the objection is - at base - an aesthetic one. While the great sailing yachts exhibit a voluptuous grace and style, these boats present a harder-edged, more aggressive face to the world.

[Thorne]

I'll join my Twin in contrariness...

Probably better that these sort of boats be built from wood than other materials. It may help other wooden boat owners since the wealthy will be insuring them as "wooden boats", and may tend to repair the poor reputation ( rot and sinking at the dock) that wooden boats have in some quarters.

[callsign222]

But as one of the people who often admires large, shapely sailboats... I'm not sure how much room I have to talk. I mean those boats that cost as much to buy as some folks make in a lifetime, and require a crew to operate, and need $1,000 to $20,000 and up worth of varnishing each season, and need sails worth tens of thousands (which need to be replaced periiodically), and go through How Much diesel in a season?

As I'm writing, the idea is forming that maybe the objection is - at base - an aesthetic one. While the great sailing yachts exhibit a voluptuous grace and style, these boats present a harder-edged, more aggressive face to the world.

Personally, I feel the same way about the big wooden varnished sailing yachts that you describe as I do about the boat on hand, aesthetically pleasing or not, they are both wasteful. Just my opinion. This boat and her owners, for example, while beautiful, will never have to worry about losing local public water access, won't grace the garages or backyards of budding boatbuilders, won't necessarily teach lots of kids that there are worthwhile hobbies to pursue and maybe even careers, and to boot it will swallow a generous amount of resources. I'm the kind of guy that likes to believe there is power in numbers and knowledge, so for me at least, small boats are beautiful because of the huge return on investment they make not only for the builder/owner/sailor, but for the water-loving community at large. If that makes any sense. It does to me.

It's also a knee-jerk reaction because after working at various marinas and boatyards during my adolescence and early 20's I'm kinda tired of the the ownership group and their attitudes that are usually (but no always) tied to these types of vessels.

[Tom Lathrop]

Carl, any boat builder who describes his work as kinetic art and names them Hedonist and Masochist is on the wrong side of my ideas. Most people choose boats that are exhibits of their personality. There have always been people on both ends of the spectrum. Some people tend to suck all the oxygen out of the air when they enter a room. People who buy boats like this are some of those.

[The OP]

Carl, any boat builder who describes his work as kinetic art and names them Hedonist and Masochist is on the wrong side of my ideas. Most people choose boats that are exhibits of their personality.

I think I may fall into the more normal catagory of wooden boat owner and I have definately chosen to exhibit my personallity through her! Whilst I have to be 'Kinetic' to stop her falling apart. I am definately a 'Hedonist' when I sail her and a 'Masochist' when working on her! She was built in 1919 from wood and by hand and has worked up until 12 years ago! For a lot of her life she had very little in the way of motive power other than sails and is rapidly heading back that way!

Matt...

[skaraborgcraft]

i had the same thought as post6. I worked in the Med on stuff like this....so for me it was a pay day....my personal opinion on boats like that and their owners...i will keep to myself. It does go to show that wooden boats still are a going concern....i wonder how it will look like in 60 years..

[donald branscom]

Disgusting -car thinking. "to get the chicks" penis type deal.
Scare every living thing around for one mile swath.

[OconeePirate]

Carl, any boat builder who describes his work as kinetic art and names them Hedonist and Masochist is on the wrong side of my ideas. Most people choose boats that are exhibits of their personality. There have always been people on both ends of the spectrum. Some people tend to suck all the oxygen out of the air when they enter a room. People who buy boats like this are some of those.

As someone who at times makes his living off of being an art f@&, I hate art f@& BS. I have trouble with anything that has to be sold on rhetoric rather than on sheer beauty or functionality.

[Chip-skiff]

Sculpture? Hardly.

It looks like a late-model Dodge Ram pickup.

[seanz]

Good Lord!

Surely Carl Cramer is trolling?

He'll be posting in the Bilge next.


I don't like the boat and if I could afford it, I'd spend my money on something else.....something quieter.....but, as they say, what-ever floats your boat.

[Tom Lathrop]

I think I may fall into the more normal catagory of wooden boat owner and I have definately chosen to exhibit my personallity through her! Whilst I have to be 'Kinetic' to stop her falling apart. I am definately a 'Hedonist' when I sail her and a 'Masochist' when working on her! She was built in 1919 from wood and by hand and has worked up until 12 years ago! For a lot of her life she had very little in the way of motive power other than sails and is rapidly heading back that way!

Matt...

Matt, As my wife often says to me, "I stand approved".

[C. Ross]

A test!

Where in this line do you say "Yes!" "Maybe..." and "No!"

1929 Dingle


1949 Hackercraft


1956 Shepherd


1961 Greavette


The Hedonist

[Woxbox]

Touche

[htom]

Looking at the collection, I'd draw a line just before the Hedonist; it's enclosed, the others are open. If I had the money, I'd pick one of the earlier ones, and keep the change; others tastes will vary.

[C. Ross]

... I'd draw a line just before the Hedonist; it's enclosed, the others are open.

Ahhh! OK, here's a series of closed boats for the eagle-eyed and discerning htom.

1909 Moore


1932 Chris-Craft (the well-known Sugar Lady)


The famous Thunderbird (sorry for the image size, but it's a terrific picture...)


1959 Century


The Hedonist

If I had the money, I'd pick one of the earlier ones, and keep the change; others tastes will vary.

Me too. Heck, I'd take four or five of the earlier ones for the same price and operating cost!

[James McMullen]

I don't like a single goddamned one of 'em. I don't want to hear them, I don't want to smell their exhausts, I don't want to feel their wakes, I don't want to see the riverbank and eelgrass bed erosion that they cause, and I damn sure don't want to see the greasy sheen of an oilslick that those antique engines are always prone to. I would be perfectly content if speedboats didn't exist at all. Fishing boats and cargo ships and economical power cruisers are all one thing, but going nowhere as fast as possible and making a hell of a noise and splash while you do it is puerile. Nobody within earshot of the lake is spared from your selfish impact in a boat like those.

[C. Ross]

James, are you a NASCAR fan? <grin>

On my stretch of the Mississippi, very active towboat traffic, a yacht club, an excursion boat company, a busy rowing club full of sculls and shells and plenty of kayaks and canoes manage to co-exist. Probably because the vast majority of power boaters run cruisers at hull speed and at no wake around the rowers, which is unusual. (The rowers and paddlers behave, too...)

[James McMullen]

That is so unusual as to be positively shocking from my experience. That is most certainly not the custom around here, alas. In these parts, a higher horsepower ratio seems to have a direct one-to-one correspondence with the a$$hole index.

[C. Ross]

Yeah, that's the norm.

I found this picture of my boat on Google Earth. Not an unusual evening, actually...

[James McMullen]

Thank you for setting a good, responsible example, Mr. Ross. May others follow your lead

[Hwyl]

We're all guilty to some extent, ever read this book?

[wizbang 13]

James, When I'm doing 50 in Wizbang, I cus out 1" rowboat wakes! They make my rear end hurt!

[coucal]

Boats are a broad church. I like the fact that I can open our host magazine (or Carl's blog) and find a 3-point hydroplane next to a Colin Archer double ender next to a planing 18-foot skiff next to a Concordia Yawl next to an Indonesian Bugis Perahu.

More, more more. (Please.)
Even if it's not my bag, show me something I haven't seen before.

[OconeePirate]

If I felt the need to go stupid fast and make an a$$ of myself on the water I think I'd prefer something along these lines...


http://narberthpa.com/Bale/bmp/dbc/R..._long_intr.htm

There is a cruel beauty to raw speed.

[Brian Palmer]

I am willing to give large sailboats a pass compared to the same size powerboat simply because the sailboat can take the same number of people out for days or weeks at a time while using very little fuel and creating very little noise or air pollution. They also tend to engage the whole crew in their operation, rather than just a driver. They can often enhance the aesthetic environment of those outside the boat, or at least they don't detract from it the way a large noisy powerboat does.

Brian

[htom]

The Thunderbird seems to be in the same class as the Hedonist, but somehow more classy. Maybe it's that the Hedonist is trying to be in the same class as the Thunderbird, and failing? I'd still pass on either. The Century doesn't appeal to me as much as it did when it was new, either. The others are tasty.

Look, all "great" boats are expensive, but some of these seem to be expensive for the sake of showing off how expensive they can be.

[WilyBCool]

No thank you.

Not what I would call beauty. I don't mind modern designs, just not what I would call "form and function" more like "display for reaction" styling. Just like wearing really ugly expensive shoes just to show that you can afford them.

[OconeePirate]

From this angle it looks cheap. None of the elements really seem to fit together.