Could this be Raw Faith II?

[James McMullen]

It can take every bit as much effort and planning and money as a good boat too. In fact, I'm sure all of you who have been around for a while have witnessed a genuinely dreadful boat that cost quite a bit more in time and energy than a good boat would have taken. It's usually the case of an amateur chef who jumps into the kitchen and starts adding ingredients and changing proportions without ever having cooked the dish before. There's no question that there's more than one way to bake a pie, but there's many more ways to make a poor one than to make an excellent one. Follow the freakin recipe until you know what you're doing. And pick a good recipe to start with.

On the other hand, the flagrant disregard of the above advice is precisely why the schooner construction thread is so horribly entertaining. That dude is going out of his way to provide an example for the rest of us.

[62816inBerlin]

BUMP up

any news of progress??

Gernot H.

[Tom Hunter]

Taken at the end of December, no real updates to sailing anarchy since then.

I commend him on his progress and innovative use of common house building materials in yacht construction. If successful, this design will bring lower construction costs to the yachting industry and open up a world of possibilities.

[John Bell]

It will look nice once he gets the shingles on.

[Sailor]

He's not going to put shingles on that. Everyone knows you use copper in a marine environment. He'll copper her hiring the best copper roof installer guys he can find.

[John Bell]

Naw, he'll go for the beach house look with modern materials. Hardee-plank 'cedar' shakes it is.

[James McMullen]

I commend him on his progress and innovative use of common house building materials in yacht construction. If successful, this design will bring lower construction costs to the yachting industry and open up a world of possibilities.

You can't possibly be serious, can you? Did you really not look at any of the construction details? The problem of using common construction materials to build inexpensive yet seaworthy boats has already been solved by designers like Bolger and Wharram. But they actually knew what they were doing. This thing is a disaster waiting to murder somebody. Some of his structural details couldn't pass a residential earthquake code, let alone be passable for a dynamically loaded structure like a boat.

[John Bell]

Sarcasm, Jim, sarcasm...

[xsboats]

I believe that Kenjamin has almost finished with rig design. Since the boat's homeport will be far from any fuel docks, I heard that the engines will be fueled by criticism .There is an unlimited source for it on the internet.

And am I missing something, or has there been no mention of propulsion? Where are the engines or masts? Or is the real plan to park it in the marina and tease the passers-by with stories of the fabled South Seas?

[John Bell]

I hear he's got a rig from a Cal 25 and two nine horse outboards. Sounds about right to me...

[botebum]

It will look nice once he gets the shingles on.

Nah. Roofing tar-patch. The good stuff with the strands of fiberglass in it

Doug

[Binnacle Bat]

Nah. Roofing tar-patch. The good stuff with the strands of fiberglass in it

Doug

I thought we weren't allowed to use the F word here, except perhaps in the Bilge.

[westsail42]

The "builder" is in the press. He's looking for sponsors

http://marinscope.com/articles/2012/...8388727312.txt

[ILikeRust]

“I’m going to stay on this yacht until I’m dead,” Lane said.

That might come sooner than he expects, if he chooses to try to cross the Pacific on that thing.

[ILikeRust]

The designer is dismayed that he hasn’t had more support from professional boat-builders, who hesitate to loan tools or offer advice.

“The local riggers only say they’ll come out and do the work for me,” he said. “They don’t think anybody can build anything.”

Erm... yeah, because that's their business - i.e., what they do for a living. Most professionals - in any profession - are not in the business to come out and do work for free or give away free advice.

[Gerarddm]

Especially with the potential liability inherent in that thing. I see the author of that piece had the good sense to include skeptical comments.

If the owner is concerned about popping some windows due to flexing whilst transporting to the launch site, what can he expect in a moderate beam sea? Migod, I hope they all live once disaster strikes...

[Joe Dupere]

I have every confidence it will perform as expected. After all, he made the goosenecks and chain plates himself, it says so, right there in the article.

[Vince Brennan]

"How many politically-correct people does it take to screw in a light-bulb?"

"Look, I don't know, but that's not funny."

Oh, I'm stealing THAT one!

[gnack]

Here's the (huge) photo from the article linked above:

[Vince Brennan]

The "builder" is in the press. He's looking for sponsors

http://marinscope.com/articles/2012/...8388727312.txt

And my problem with this writer and her article is exactly the same as the problem(s) I had with all the well-meaning (or just grateful for something weird to fill column inches) publications which treated McKay's Insanity as a harmless little hobby-boat.

It's deja-vu all over again!

[Ian McColgin]

But his seamanship and navigational qualificatnions include "certified meterologist".

[ILikeRust]

He's certainly certified something-or-other.

But hey, look at the pic - he used galvanized joist hangers and everything!

[Bob Cleek]

Ah-ha! Maybe we all were too hasty in judging him. I see from the latest article that there's a critical bit of information that was missing from all the other news reports. He plans to sheath it all in multiple layers of fibreglass. If the "stitch-n-gloo-ers" are any indication, this is THE way to build a wooden boat these days. Enough tape, fillets and glassed cloth and you could build a tank out of plywood, or so it seems they think. With enough fibreglass on her, it won't matter if the two by fours hold together or not... right?

[James McMullen]

Hey, come on you guys! Have any of you ever built a 100' long catamaran with standard construction 2x4's and joist hangers? No, didn't think so! So how do you know it can't be done?

Look, he's got a GPS and a sextant--what could possibly go wrong?

[James McMullen]

Okay, that last post was an attempt at levity. What I really think, after looking up details of the construction again, is that any knowledgable shipwright who offers this guy assistance in setting sail out to the open ocean would be complicit in no less than manslaughter, if not actual murder.

This thing wouldn't meet code for a land-bound house in a seismic zone. It probably won't even take a storm to do her in, the open swell will likely wrack it hull from hull within a just a few weeks of launching.

Poor bastard. Sounds like he had once had enough money to build a decent boat for himself, if only he'd had the judgment to do the right thing and follow some proven plans. But you can hear from the aggrieved tone in his quotes that he's already working up a way in his mind for it to be someone else's fault.

[Vince Brennan]

to msouthall

“I’m a pilot and a certified meteorologist,” he claimed. “I’m not an uninformed individual.”

Roughly analogous to proclaiming that because someone is a Nuclear Physicist and a Licensed Psychotherapist, they should be considered a concert violinist.

While I'm sure your article was written from the aspect of an "interesting character" view, it will, all unwittingly, contribute to the eventual and inevitable disaster which results from these self-designed and home-built monstrosities.

Case in point is the "Raw Faith", conceived, designed, built, and sunk by George McKay (who does NOT, incidentally, rate the term "Captain" by ANY rational application of the term) and which cost the United States Coastguard, over three years, nearly two million dollars in rescue and towing costs. The fact that no-one died during this debacle is attributable only to the intervention of a Higher Being, although why It could not have consulted on the construction of this joke remains an ineluctable mystery.

It's deja vu... all over again.


Vince Brennan, Artisan

Of course, I'LL be the monster trying to stifle individual expression and a man's ability to determine his own fate.

So be it.

[donald branscom]

Where is a photo.? I do not want to look through the IJ archives for a needle in a haystack.
Would be nice if a photo was posted on this forum.

[donald branscom]

Here's the (huge) photo from the article linked above:

Thanks for posting the photo. The boat looks like these other modern mega yachts. He should fit right in.
Just needs a little stainless here and there.

[Vince Brennan]

Apparently, I wasn't the monster, after all!

Thank you so much for responding to the story about the catamaran. Please tell me how you saw/heard of it all the way from Philadelphia?


I plan to use your article as a letter to the editor.


As you probably know, a journalist's opinion is not supposed to be evident in a story; the story must let the reader draw his/her own conclusions which, apparently, you have accurately done.

Mary Southall

A reasonable response, that was...

My letter, which - to the general reader - may seem a bit harsh, is meant only to point out that this gentleman, while (I am sure) well-meaning, is going to kill someone. People like this, like Col. Kilgore, have "that protective aura about them:" and usually come out without a scratch, all the while proclaiming either, "Circumstances conspired against them", or "The experts all had it in for me because I wouldn't join the club...", etc. We've heard it all before and seen it all before.

I am NOT an expert boat-builder (nor do I play one on T. V. ) but I am empirically quite conversant with construction techniques from wood thru concrete construction and am a fair judge of what will and what will not work at sea. This is one that will not.

I am hoping that just once, someone in authority might consider the fact that - despite the best of intentions - allowing this person to actually go to sea in that contraption is akin to handing him a loaded gun. No-one will actually be responsible for the catastrophe, of course, but the catastrophe WILL occur.

I perceive from your email's last line that you may see some validity in my opinion. If so, I think the best thing you can do is to not give this fellow any more publicity and to pass along these thoughts when asked for background by the next publication that inevitably will see him as "Don Quixote with a watery Rocinante".

As to how someone in Philadelphia became aware of your article, I have been following Mr. Lane's progress for just under a year, since I was sent a link to the Marin Journal (IIRC) and an article by Jessica Bernstein. I've been hoping against hope that he'd come to whatever is left of his senses, but apparently it is not to be.

Thank you for your reply... I quite enjoyed the style in which your article was written despite being less than sanguine about the content.

[Jazzman]

What are the checker plate end caps for?

[Garth Jones]

Why would anybody agree to sponsor this project? It's not a charity; he has no plans to take disadvantaged kids cruising, etc. Anyway, this is really sad - he could have easily had some sort of really capable boat for the money and effort he has put in.

One technical question - are there any provisions for auxiliary power or is this a sail-only craft?

[Paul Montgomery]

I get the feeling that the reason this thing has to be so big is that the builder doesn't want to be all cramped up on a boat. A house is so much more comfortable.

[John Bell]

Why would anybody agree to sponsor this project? It's not a charity; he has no plans to take disadvantaged kids cruising, etc. Anyway, this is really sad - he could have easily had some sort of really capable boat for the money and effort he has put in.

One technical question - are there any provisions for auxiliary power or is this a sail-only craft?

I read somewhere he intended to use two outboards for auxilaries.

All this is moot, because as soon as the boat gets in any seas at all it's going quickly break itself into bits of wreckage for the crew to cling to. The construction details I saw were frightening: the bridge deck beams are 2x4s that do not extend much beyond and are only screwed to the frames on the inside of the hull instead of going all the way across to the shear clamp.

[Willin']

What are the checker plate end caps for?

To ease the re-entry? Just to show his chops as a yacht designer? To slice through following seas? To class up the looks of the thing?

The possibilities are endless.

[John Bell]

To ease the re-entry? Just to show his chops as a yacht designer? To slice through following seas? To class up the looks of the thing?

The possibilities are endless.

Rudder hangers? If so, oh dear!

[Willin']

I particularly liked this quote...

"A craft flexes a great deal when it is moved from land to the water; Lane hopes none of the craft’s 44 salon windows pop out."

I wonder if that's similar to the flexing that takes place amid towering seas and high winds?

I'm probably overthinking the issue, though.

[Garth Jones]

I read somewhere he intended to use two outboards for auxilaries.

All this is moot, because as soon as the boat gets in any seas at all it's going quickly break itself into bits of wreckage for the crew to cling to. The construction details I saw were frightening: the bridge deck beams are 2x4s that do not extend much beyond and are only screwed to the frames on the inside of the hull instead of going all the way across to the shear clamp.

Wow! Well, it sounds more lightly built than most houses. If the hulls are that poorly attached, I don't see how he is going to even get it to the water in one piece. If he does, you're right - it will be in pieces shortly.

[Mike Vogdes]

Wonder where the helm will be located? If it's on the aft deck where he's sitting the visibility is horrible there.

[donald branscom]

I wonder why the Coast Gaurd does not send an engineer/naval architect over to take a look at the construction instead of waiting until he approaches the line of demarcation. If he makes it that far.
I sure would like to see some other photos of this craft.

That porch thing could be temporary. That glass sliding door is very scary though.

i wonder if it is built to any plans??? The reporter sure did a poor job on this story.
If I could have gone over I would have written a much better story.

[Steve McMahon]

Golly. This has the potential to not end very well.

[westsail42]

That porch thing could be temporary. That glass sliding door is very scary though.

I suspect that HomeDepot sliding glass door is the stiffest part of the boat.

[BETTY-B]

Hmmm...I wonder why he is still there? He's way past his launch date. Must be an issue with his account at Flagpole Supply regarding the rigging.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

A craft flexes a great deal when it is moved from land to the water; Lane hopes none of the craft’s 44 salon windows pop out.

Yeah, that could be a bad thing.

[Vince Brennan]

We find the propulsive method at last!

[Jay Greer]

Building an ugly boat is like marrying an ugly woman. No one will want to steal her away from you.
Jay

[SchoonerRat]

I just don't know what to say.

You just can't legislate against stupid.

I'm not sure you should be able to stop anybody from following their dream.

But DAMN! Somehow "Captain Mackay" got away without killing somebody — is this guy gonna be so lucky?

Maybe there oughta be a law.

I'm sitting here arguing with myself. That's one fight I'll never win...

[Larks]

Have any of you guys, who have obviously been there to take photos, had the opportunity to talk to this guy?

I reckon you have an obligation to this forum to go and say gidday and try and give us a bit of an objective report on the project.

[Willin']

Hmmmmmn, I now wonder if those diamondplate thingies might be motor mounts or enclosures? It's gonna take some mighty massive outboards to swing that puppy in tight quarters with those lines.

[BETTY-B]

Have any of you guys, who have obviously been there to take photos, had the opportunity to talk to this guy?

I reckon you have an obligation to this forum to go and say gidday and try and give us a bit of an objective report on the project.

I'm 800 miles away in Seattle. I had a friend stop by to take those shots. This was his comment in the email: "I don't get this at all. All I can say is: "Weyerhauser" , "Home Depot" and "don't take that outside man . . . . " will not work out . . . . . . at all . . . . . . ."

[Yeadon]

Where again is the boat?