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slap · 14-05-2021, 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Regrettably I have no pix to show, but a nice story about an ugly boat...

Around 1991 we returned to NZ for the cyclone season, and once cleared in, our Kiwi friends told us that we had just missed seeing the world's ugliest boat which had just cleared customs for sea. They were raucously deriding it as ugly, unseaworthy and in general an embarrassment to the NZ people who had to see it while it was there. We were amused and curious, but didn't think much about it.

Fast forward to 1997 and shift to Noumea, New Caledonia. We encountered a boat that fit the description, for it was in truth not very pretty. Called the New Liverbird, she was a 41 foot ketch rigged steelie and rough as guts. Later we met the crew and spent a fascinating afternoon on board with th em. The story was that they had built the boat from a big steel water tank that they had been given. Briefly, they cut the tank in half along its longitudinal center line, forming an empty U-shaped tube with bulkheads at each end. Cut out one bulkhead and cut a V-shaped notch in the bottom of the tube and forced the sides together forming a pointed "bow" and welded it up. The other bulkhead was now the transom of the hull. Portions of the other half of the tank were cut out, flattened into "sheet steel" and used to construct the deck and house. Kinda crude, she was, and ugly as a mud fence. Rig was all second hand, scrounged from wherever. How un-yottie!

BUT... they were at that point halfway through their THIRD circumnavigation in the boat, and having the time of their lives. Bert, the skipper, his wife and then teen aged daughter were delightful company, full of stories of adventures they'd had and looking forward to writing a book when they again reached the UK. The title was to be something like "Cruising on a penny a mile in the New Liverbird".

We never encountered them again, and have never seen the book, so I can't tell you the outcome of the saga, but they were IMO wonderful examples of what can be accomplished by folks with little money but a willingness to cast off conventions and work like hell to do their thing in life.

Ugly she may have been, but a laughingstock she was not, and I hope they did finish up once more in the UK, continuing their very successful lives.

Jim

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...ome-made-boat/

Celestialsailor · 14-05-2021, 20:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by GordMay

January, 2015:
James ‘Hot Rod’ Lane, and 4 his crew, were air-evacuated from the 65-ft “Flyin’ Hawaiian” catamaran, 120 miles west of Monterey, and the derelict was left to drift. According to the Coast Guard, she had been taking on water.

I find that hard to believe with all that Home Depot plywood and nails!...

**StuM** · 14-05-2021, 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by slap

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...ome-made-boat/

Is this the same one?
https://uncoverliverpool.com/events/...e-adventurers/

Spot · 15-05-2021, 10:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyfdl

There are still working tugs this side of the pond. Sheboygan WI has 3-4 (I think). Two Rivers has some. There are several still plying the waters of Green Bay from various ports, and (as I understand) quite a few working the waters of Lake Superior from Wisconsin. But I know their catches are closely regulated and I think they are now taking mostly whitefish.

Some fish tugs from Sheboygan, photos freshly taken by a friend of mine who hails from there. As mentioned upthread, they are kind of fetching from a form follows function sense, even if they are not 'pretty' or 'bristol',

Sailmonkey · 15-05-2021, 12:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Lets not forget the "Flyin' Hawaian"!

Attachment 238407

I can never forget the “Rutters”!!

admiral 31 · 15-05-2021, 12:42

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...ome-made-boat/

Back in the day (early 1990s) I used to work in the next workshop to Bernie at Fiddlers Ferry,

Both he & Sue were the most unassuming people you could ever wish to meet.

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...r-in-barbados/

Katapult Mike · 15-05-2021, 15:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by StuM

Is this the same one?
https://uncoverliverpool.com/events/...e-adventurers/

Hard to tell from the photo, not a lot of detail, but that boat doesn't look that ugly at a distance. On available evidence, I'd say it doesn't belong in this thread. Cool story though.

CyKlop · 17-05-2021, 06:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by coopec43

What about these for ugly yachts?

I most certainly wouldn't call this ugly! (Although it is called "Ugly Duckling"

Just remember that the ugly duckling in the story was a baby swan and turned out to be graceful and beautiful.

ErnestV · 17-05-2021, 06:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Which - the chick or the boat?

That's the bowsprit mermaid.

dbraymer · 17-05-2021, 07:08

I had the schooner in the yard at Port Townsend, and some of the vessels in that yard were not in great shape, and some of them you had to wonder who did the drawings;

When a man I will call Dave (cause that is his name) put me in my place as I pointed and laughed at a particularly bad design with appropriately poor maintenance.

"Don" he said, (cause that is my name) "every vessel in this yard is some man's loving dream"

Remember, there may be somebody somewhere who is pointing at your vessel and laughing.

ShakingTheTree · 17-05-2021, 07:13

I don't post often, but I read a lot (and learn a lot from you folks--thank you for that). Had to break silence today, though, because this thread was just the diversion I needed today!

I have a special affinity for those cobbled-together, heavily-modded works of... art? They're odd and wonderful, and they were a labor of love to the people who created them. Seeing the pictures of the... choices... people made put a huge grin on my face. It's a different kind of ingenuity.

I love a beautiful boat as much as any of us do... but... viva la weird.