[Paddlewise] Update on the Muthah-Ship

Since it's incredibly quiet on this list lately I thought I'd pad
up.... er.... update you all on the Muthah Ship project.

The object of the muthah-ship project, as you all surely must know by
now, is to provide a platform for transporting kayaks to nifty
paddling locations as well as providing a dry, warm, comfortable
environment for the paddler; namely, me. To that end I have been
working on a 25-foot 1974 Carver Santa Cruz which I purchased for a
paltry sum on Craigslist about January of 2008. During that time I
have managed to get the boat from a serious project to a running
in-the-water project. This is not an inconsiderable feat since 1974
power boats are....well... old and cranky.

Not as old and not as cranky as me, however.

Last week I spent 3 days and 3 nights aboard the muthah-ship in the
Oak Harbor Marina where I have it in a covered slip. This marina was
carefully chosen for its location (only 10 miles or so from Deception
Pass and about 20 miles from Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands
archipelago north of Seattle) and for its price ($185 a month...
including water and power). The purpose of the trip was to acquire -
at reaasonable or cheap cost - a Zodiac inflatable dinghy and a
suitable outboard motor.

Because the muthah-ship is going to be used for kayaking it seems
reasonable to provide some means of getting into and out of a kayak in
some more-or-less efficient manner. Over the past year I have pondered
several different methods and have finally settled on the "get into
the Zodiac and from there get into the kayak" method. The reasoning is
simple. The Zodiac is a stable inflatable platform and serves well as
an intermediary between either the kayak or the water and the
muthah-ship. That is, you can get into the inflatable from the water
as well as from a kayak and from there you can pretty easily get into
the muthah-ship.

There were a few other options. One was an inflatable dock that you
simply carry in the muthah-ship and inflate when you are wherever it
is you want to kayak. These are relatively new to the marketplace and
do offer a large and stable area that is dead easy to use for entering
and exiting kayaks. They are not cheap (over US$1k) and they server
essentially only one purpose. You could probably paddle one of them to
shore with the grandkids but I'm thinking not. Another option was a
platform attached to the muthah-ship that would allow access to a
kayak cockpit. But since we actually needed a dinghy anyway the Zodiac
won out. Due to the new inflatable floorboards of the Zodiac we found
that one of the most annoying features of inflatable sport boats
(where to store the floorboards) has been eliminated. The entire boat
stows away in a handy valise pack.

So, during those 3 days at the muthah-ship I did acquire a real Zodiac
sportboat in relatively good condition. It's 10'2" in length and rated
for up to a 10hp 4-stroke (heavier) outboard motor. When we were
cruising aboard our sailboat "Kibitka" we had an Achilles sportboat of
about 8' in length that we put a 7hp Yamaha outboard on. This little
boat would move out pretty quickly with that power. I decided to try
to find a suitable 10hp outboard - preferably 4-stroke - on craigslist
and use it for both the dinghy and as a "standby" engine for the
muthah-ship. That proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated
in a short window. I did manage to find a Mercury 9.9hp outboard but
it is far too bulky and heavy to easily transfer between the Zodiac
and the mothah-ship. It will work fine on one or the other, but not
both interchangeably. At least not without a floating crane.

The result has been that, like many plans, we have gone to plan...
ummm..... "W" (I think). The Mercury will be mounted on its own
bracket on the transom of the muthah-ship and we will let the little
Suzuki 2.5 hp outboard (which we already own) be the engine-of-choice
for the Zodiac. This means that the Zodiac won't be nearly as quick as
it would be with the 9.9hp outboard but it is easily stowed on the
muthah-ship along with the little Suzuki and can be used for transport
to and from shore as well as for entering and exiting the kayaks.

Between shopping for outboards and Zodiacs I discovered that the
muthah-ship is downright comfortable for living aboard. At least for
one person for 3 days and nights. The vee berth is certainly cozy for
two but large and spacious for one and the dinette makes for a fine
place to lounge back (with suitable cushions) and read a book while
still being able to watch the comings and goings in the marina and
still stay out of the rain. And the cockpit is perfect for sitting in
a folding Director's chair and keeping an eye on the marina mascot...
a gigantic blue heron that has lost almost all its fear of mankind.

Still lots of project and the major problem - how to actually carry at
least two kayaks - has yet to be entirely worked out. But the
extremely low mass (weight) of a skin-on-frame kayak has made that
much less of a problem than it had been. I'll let you all know how
that works out.

Oh... the iphone has worked out incredibly well to keep me in contact
with both work and home. I can use some special software to gain
access to the servers and routers I manage remotely and do what I need
to keep them operating.

Total cost of the project including some incredibly good deals off
craigslist in the way of GPS charting equipment, the new Zodiac and
the outboard is US$8,400. This is about US$1400 over my original
estimate of costs but since the Zodiac is auxiliary (like the kayaks)
I can pretend it's still in the ballpark. Even so, this is not a lot
more than a couple of brand new kevlar kayaks and equipment.

I'll keep you all posted on how this goes. Photos of the muthah-ship
are on www.nwkayaking.net.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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