Sailboat to Sidewheeler Conversion?

[guyvapeur]

My first steam boat was called Sagitawah. I purchased the hull as a scrapped old sailboat. I could not give the boat a manufactures name. I paid $100. for it. The seller kept the mast and rigging and the 2x4 steel plate that acted as the keel. When purchased the hull measured 20 feet in length by 6 feet 8 inches wide. This gave me 3 beams to length and proved to be a most stable hull. I fiberglassed in another 3 feet at the transom to give it the fantail look. I also build up the sheer from about mid-ship as I did not like the straight line of the sailboat. In hindsight, I would go even higher on the stern and also build up the stem a bit.

I would like to see the hull back in the water, but that would be a project for someone else. Anyone in the Ottawa area could be the new owner.

Inasmuch as building a steam boat from an existing hull, I would say that a sailboat hull could be cut down, modified to a steam application. My present boat was built on a hull that was two parts epoxied together. There is no reason why an existing hull cannot be separated and rebuilt to suit the new requirements. I have visited a few boat yards, and I know that a scrapped hull has hundreds of dollars worth of fiberglass ready to be re-invented into a new vessel.

When I go to a scrap yard, I do not ask myself what the item is. I ask myself, what can it be turned into.

[Lopez Mike]

Most interesting. Tell us more about your present boat. Any pictures of it?

Mike