[Paddlewise] A Personal Kayak MotherShip

For some time now I've been kicking around the idea of providing my own
"mothership" for kayaking adventures. While I enjoy camping I'm not getting
any younger and it would be nice to sleep in a nice comfy bunk with books
and snacks close at hand. But the major reason is the incredible mobility a
mothership gives a kayaker. With many areas of the eastern North Pacific
(mostly Washington and British Columbia) inaccessible to automobiles and
requiring hundreds of miles of paddling, a mothership - even a relatively
modest mothership - could give me access to paddling grounds over a long
weekend that would otherwise require a week or more.

My wife's reaction to getting yet-another boat was predictable and need not
be explored in this forum (or any forum with children or sensitive adults
present). I'm confident that I can wear her down eventually. :)  Meanwhile
I've been platting... er, planning ahead.

Speed is not necessarily an issue. I spent years cruising sailboats with 5kt
cruising averages and can happily motor all night with no ill effects (with
enough coffee). One can cover quite a lot of distance in a 7kt powerboat in
24 hours. But a planing hull would be nice provided the engine were
econnomical and efficient.

At first my thoughts were to get a trawler-style single-engine diesel with
two staterooms. CHB 34-footers are pretty common in the $35k to $55k range
but the major drawback (besides spending the money to buy one) is the
expense of the moorage (dockspace). So one of my brighter ideas was to use
"Dagmars" in Everett for dry storage. Dagmars is unique in the area in that
they offer prodigious dry storage space for relatively large boats, but they
include several round-trip launches per month in the fee. The launches are
provided by enormous fork-lifts which can rapidly retrieve and launch
numerous boats up to about 45-feet in length (depending upon weight, of
course). They also have dock space for mooring while your boat is in the
water and actually *require* you to stay aboard your boat while it's at
these docks. Imagine that... they actually WANT you to use your boat!!!

Unfortunately Dagmars thinks that trawler-style hulls are not well suited to
their fork-lift launch and retrieval method. Nor are most sailboats. They
much prefer flat-bottomed power boats. So back to the drawing board.

I'd prefer a diesel engine because even though it's a little more expensive
and tends to smell up the boat a bit, it's a lot safer from a fire
standpoint and also more efficient in terms of BTUs available. However most
diesels are either on very large (and very expensive) powerboats or in
trawler-style hulls (or sailboats). There are remarkably few diesel-powered
cabin cruisers in the 24 to 28 foot range.

So how about a trailer-boat? Another can of worms. Bayliners and their ilk
are cheap but offer little in the way of any accommodations for carrying
kayaks. Sloped foredecks, tiny cockpits, no horizontal surfaces, poor
handling and gas engines abound in the 22 to 28 foot range.

I've also considered one of the older (and I can hardly bear to say this)
wooden power boats. Many of these were wonderfully constructed and have been
lovingly maintained. In addition, their prices can be ridiculously low. And
perhaps, just perhaps, with judicious (ok, lavish) applications of epoxy
resin and glass fiber they can be made to be relatively low maintenance.
These older boats often offer long, flat cabin tops perfect for holding
several kayaks. And their interiors, while not as roomy as the bigger
trawler-style boats, are warm and cozy. Unfortunately they also were
commonly gas powered and many remain that way.

So those are my ideas. Anyone out there have experience in their own
mothership and a few new ideas I may have overlooked?


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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