MEANTIME BACK IN CURACAO .......

If you recall ...... Our friends TIMO and ANNEMIEKE in CURACAO have been really busy building their beautiful mahogany replacement yacht for the one they lost in Los Aves, a group of small islands off the coast of VENEZUELA last year ..... A real tragedy but a lesson for all cruisers .... Even last week, the yacht "CHINOOK WIND" was lost during the night when she ran onto a reef at 1am in the same location, notwithstanding that she was being sailed by a very experienced New Zealand couple on the return leg of a circumnavigation ...... They survived, were picked off the wreck by the 'Guardia Costa' and flew home ...... Their yacht a total loss as was TIMO's "BLUE MARLIN" ....



TIMO's method has been unique ...... Loft his design, cut the panels and then build a flotation platform on which to construct the vessel ......... And now the project is nearing completion, or at least the hull is almost done .......



Each of the bulkhead frames was fabricated and put into its vertical position and held in place by temporary stringers ...... The magic of all this is that everything is being done on the water, and not on land ....... Even the fabricated rudder will be laminated and epoxy-coated ......



The keel, the counter-balance in the sail plan, is being manufactured on land in steel and will be sunk and the hull floated over the top of it before being bolted on ...... Talk about thinking outside the box ...... Or the keel, in this case ......



Now I have been with TIMO while we slung engine blocks beneath his runabout and dropped them in the water as mooring blocks ...... Thus I have no doubt that when it comes to suspending this steel keel beneath his runabout, he will do it all with "Style and Grace" ..... And maybe a little sweat and tears ....... It will be no easy task to do that ...... for mere mortals I mean .....



You just have to admire a man with such patience and determination...... Each of the hundreds of pieces of mahogany are screwed and epoxy-glued onto the previous strips and bent around the frames as he works aft .......



Then again, when the workplace is rafted up to your house and living on the water is as normal as living on land, ........... Well then, maybe it all comes naturally ....



Vistors have to raft up on the other side of the houseboat, and to show them how it all works, TIMO has even constructed this 1 in 10 scale model of the new yacht which is to be called " LAZY LIZ " ..........


But bit by bit the hull takes shape and form and gets its strength from all the epoxy joints which are finally sanded, as the hull nears completion .......... Smooth as a baby's bottom ........ Even the tapered pieces are glued in, to make the smooth curve of the hull ..... The transom will follow .....



He has managed to line up a mast from somewhere ....... So finish the hull and before you know it TIMO and ANNEMIEKE, his wonderful artist wife will be out sailing again ...... Hopefully in time for us to sail to CURACAO and spend another hurricane season in the delightful SPANISH WATERS with them before we head for Cartagena and the SAN BLAS Islands ..... This time on "SOUTHERN COMFORT" ......... We've always disliked that expression " SOUTHERN COMFORT ON THE ROCKS" ....... We much prefer "Southern Comfort Neat" ......