Early in the life of OffCenterHarbor we OCH Guides were asked to come up with three boats we lust after. One of the ones I talked about was a “Creek Crawler”. At the time, I was lusting more for the idea than for the actual boat, but it started me thinking more about what such a boat might be, and how I might make this flight of fancya reality.
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Chris Methot says:
I am a little late posting this but someone might see it.
Concerning the solid fuel stove. An alternative might be a diesel stove. These folks make several…
http://www.wallas.fi/index.php?id=53
Of course there is significantly less danger with fumes with diesel and there actually are diesel outboards…
http://www.klaxondieseloutboardmotors.com/category/outboards/simple-4hp/
This way your heating and propusion “system” can be the same, widely available and safe.
Chris
Reagan Tucker says:
How about sexing it up just a bit with some faux push knees (storage areas?) to more resemble a river push boat? or mini trawler? a few open ports instead of windows and a forward wheelhouse? Hull would stay the same pram type design. your design would be a great bayou cruiser in la and tx. Cheers, Reagan.
Paige McIntire says:
Sorry to bother you again, but what do you think about the motorsailer ketch in WB NO. 239? Do you think it could make it from MDI Maine to Florida? Thanks as always, you rock! Tom. P.S. My name us Tom, but thus is my moms iPad ;)
Havilah Hawkins says:
Tom, sorry to be so late in replying to your response to the “creek crawler”.
I am not familiar with the boat you speak of but it is not the boat so much as how you get along with it that is important. Feel free to contact me at havilahhawkins(at)gmail.com with any questions you might have.
Havilah
Jerry Kirschenbaum says:
Havilah…..Jerry Kirschenbaum (ex owner of Bucks Harbor Marine) here……you might want to take a drive up to [location deleted for Privacy] this summer and see the shanty boat in reality! A local lobsterman named Chris Bates built a shanty boat for himself and his wife in the harbor…..sort of a weekend getaway from his land-home in Brooksville…..with the subtext of getting his wife to enjoy living on the water so he can someday do a liveaboard walkabout with her. Chris did an extremely nice job…..and this year is adding a “garage” as a bolt on addition to the main house float. He has a composting toilet, stove, sun deck, and a full sized bed…..a very nice guy to talk to.
Paige McIntire says:
Dear Havilah. I would appreciate a walk through tore of vela, and also, a vid on designing a sailboat, thanks, Tom. P.S if there are any good books on designing a boat for the first time, could you reply? And also how to draw one? Thanks
Havilah Hawkins says:
Paige
A tore of Vela could be fun,we’ll have to talk to steve.
When it comes to designing a sailboat, I think you should consult Woodenboat magazine.
They have an extensive book store, plus courses at their school around boat design and drawing.
I learned from my dad.
All the best and good luck
Havilah
Paige McIntire says:
Thanks havilah
Havilah Hawkins says:
Hey Barry
I can certainly sympathize with your dilemma. Keep me posted.
Havilah
Havilah Hawkins says:
Tim
I do not have a set of study plans as yet but would be glad to have a conversation with you about construction, materials, and process. I think there could be many ways to approach the construction depending on availability, skill, etc.
Feel free to contact me, anytime.
Havilah
Havilah Hawkins says:
Ned
I would love to see your vessel some time. Where is she most of the time? You should do the mid coast of Maine and say hi.
Havilah
Havilah Hawkins says:
Richard
I am fascinated by your retierment home ideas and experience with the Florida Keys.
Have you made any sketches or drawings of your boat? I would love to see them.
Let me know if I can be of help with your project, it sounds like fun.
Havilah
Richard Mau says:
Havilah,
I want to thank you for your kind and encouraging response to my idea. my first job will be To get my sailboat in shape to make the move to the keys. I hope to be able to make the move by next winter. After that I will play by ear for a bit and living aboard attack some projects on the sailboat. If all goes well Iand I get a good enough offer for the sailboat I have friends in north Fl. Former Key west fishermen with the skills and a place to build the houseboat & sailing skiff. We could launch it in Palatka and (I think) come south on the Saint Johns river and join up with the intracoastal waterway and slowly continue to the keys . It should be a fun cruise. I think two layers of 1/2″ plywood for the bottem should be sufficient. If not two layers of 3/4″ should do the trick. as to the sides perhaps 1/2″ all framed on 2×4’s and the floor one layer of 3/4″. The rounded bows I think could be done with layered thin plyood. Basicly I want to strech your creek crawler and make a few simple mods for storage, furnature and head privacy. I haven’t worked things out yet as I’m still a long way from turning this dream into a reality. But I have a good start on the dream. I appreciate your offer of help and if you see any piffalls in my ideas so far I’d like to hear your views. I need all the help I can get.
Thanks again,
Richard
Tim Roberts says:
I have a set of plans for the sailings scow shantyboat Rufus that I often dream over. Now I am interested in your idea and your boat and the 1″ cedar planking vs. plywood and glass. I’d love to see some details on this one. How about some study plans? Which comes first, the boat or the trailer? Hmmm…..
Ned Flanagan says:
Great idea, built one that fits your description almost exactly; some may have seen it anchored off the wooden boat show last couple years. For the time/dollars invested is probably the most return I’ve ever gotten from a vessel. In the last five years it has cruised Moosehead Lake, Casco Bay, Block Island, Little Narragansett Bay, Connecticut River, Thimble Islands Ct and numerous creeks and lakes in-between. Cruises to come; Hudson River, Erie and Champlain Canal, maybe Chesapeake Bay.
Dimensions 22’ x 8’3”,draft 6”, about 1’6″ engine down, cabin size 9’ x 7’ 6”, 6”3” head room, power 15 hp etech high thrust (15 amp alternator), 1/2gph 5knots. LED cabin and running lights.
Trailer: modified a tandem axle pontoon boat trailer(10 inch tires). Trailering no problem behind a six-cylinder Toyota 4Runner (gas mileage drops to terrible). Estimated total weight trailer and boat, if I don’t fill with too much stuff about 4500 pounds.
Scow/barge type hull, plywood covered with fiberglass mat, house cedar shingled, as many windows could fit structurally, arced roof. Insulated roof and walls, Tiny Tot heating stove.
Some lessons learned, summer use as much outside space as possible- roof, decks etc., cold-weather use- just a nice stove, a good book and a quiet creek.
General layout: aft moving forward, 7’ stern deck steering station small hard top, step down into cabin, to port 4’ galley counter, gravity feed water, single burner stove , starboard side small head/changing room. Remainder of the starboard side has a “couch”, back swings up makes bunk beds bottom pulls out to make a double berth, port moving forward from the galley; space for cooler (woodstove in the winter), forward of that bookshelf desk/ dinner table. Out the front door 5’ forward deck, ladder to the roof deck.
Barry King says:
Thank you Haddie,
This fuels my interest in building a small houseboat for weekending…not that I get many weekends, none as a matter of fact, but the chance to go sit in the far reaches of “Curtis Cove” or just stay aboard after a busy Saturday night but still get away from the office would be a welcome thing. Now that we have an inner harbor berth with mandatory dimensions of 8’x22′ (it only took 15 years!) this design does make sense in more way than you intentioned.
Be careful what we wish for, eh? See you out on the bay. Again, thanks.
Richard Mau says:
I’ve been playing with the idea of a shantyboat houseboat to live on as my only home in my retirement and I’ve looked at some real interesting designs,some a little to big, adding expense,and some a little too small like escargot to call home and your creek crawler is the most intriguing of them all. I’m thinking of building in plywood and making the beam 8′ and stretching her to 26′ to 28’seeing as I don’t plan on trailering her around the country. I think that would be plenty of room and still keep the cost down. I really like your thinking. I would want to extend the roof over the foredeck and Perhaps raise the foredeck floor to gain storage underneath and that would mean raising the foredeck roof to maintain standing headroom and stretching her would add room for storage and furniture. otherwise I like everything about creek crawler chaffing strips on the bottom would protect the hull from grounding, I would think and add strength. I think the 15HP outboard would be a perfect match in the event I’d like some occasional solitude and having looker at your flat bottomed sharpie skiffs it seems they would make a perfect companion boat for an old duffer like myself. I intend to live in the Florida keys. I have a 2KW Honda quiet generator that would easily meet my small electrical needs on board. If at some later date if I wished to go off grid and had the means she could easily be powered with solar & wind. Presently I own a 33′ cat ketch and a10′ glass Bahama dinghy. Not being as young and spry as I once was I think a change is in the offering and it would while simple, still satisfy my urge to sail. Thank you for sharing some great practical ideas. Richard, a Florida fan.
Brian Crow says:
Ahh yes! A shanty boat! I can’t think of any of my sailing friends that has not dreamed of building one. My particular vessel would have square ends, with the bow able to drop (like a landing craft) to enable me to ride on and off with my sidecar rig. Extreme beam and height constrained by the interior dimensions of a shipping container. Europe, here I come!! I have already sketched it out, and figured that 24 ft would be minimum, all the other stuff; composting head, solid fuel stove, outboard powered, etc. I am in line with. Using anything but lumberyard materials would make it to expensive for me to build, being so far away from sources of good timber, but, what fun!!
Havilah Hawkins says:
Brian
I love the landing craft idea, The thought had crossed my mind but simplicity won out. However the side car thing would make it really worth while, what a great way to see Europe.
I had another option pop into my heat the other day. You could power the boat in this piece with two motors one in either side, and leave the middle open as an after entrance with the floor just a few inches above the water line. This would also be a great place for a swimming ladder.
The two motors gives a redundancy that could come in handy, plus you could putter along on one if you were not in a hurry.
The boat could easily be made longer, in fact it started out about ten feet longer.
I am all over lumber yard materials. I think you can get cedar decking for planking.
Keep us posted!
Havilah
Brian Crow says:
Havilah, great minds think alike! I’m going to go with an electric motor to hydraulic to prop, solar panels and a few batteries. I’m planning to build a working model, and did more drawings last night. I also just picked up a 12v electric motor for the model, which will be built with door skins. The dimension’s seemed to be sorting out to about 7′ beam, on a 20’wl, 28′ oa, ,with the total height being 7′. Beam seems a touch narrow, but the model should help test stability. Cheers, Brian
Havilah Hawkins says:
William
Thank you for the Recurring Dream contact.
The boat looks great, another take on the same theme, I love it.
Eric Blake says:
Haddie,
This reminds me of our many conversations around the idea that it is really easy to make anything you build really complicated, but it is really difficult to make something dead simple.
I love everything about this, mainly that you started by asking yourself “why?”
Sweet ride.
It is so refreshing looking at a new boat design with the designers thought process as to what considerations went into getting where you ended up.
Many thanks,
Eric
Martin Mueller says:
I liked watching the wheels in your head turning. Thanks!
Richard Maldonado says:
HH,
I am, as yet, new to building boats myself, and the 3 that I have built have been small boats of plywood hulls with timber frames and chines….very light, nail and glue affairs with glass amour for the bottoms, thus my ideas on this boat. I believe that H Bryans boat was all solid wood, and I would absolutely prefer to build a more traditional constructed boat, though I worry about my skills to do so.
The smell of cedar in a boat is one of my favorite things. I used reclaimed cedar for the floors in a 13 foot skiff and have left them bare, and they give of a great smell every time they get wet, which is just about every time I use it. I now associate that smell with lazy days rowing or sailing that skiff on the lake. Would you run the bottom planks for and aft, or across the beam of the boat, like your skiffs?
Another thing I like about this type of trailerable house boat is that it can have a land use as well. I imagine being able to use it as a trailer/camper behind the tow vehicle while on the road between bodies of water. It would be no bigger, smaller in fact than most RV’s that I have seen in the state and National parks campgrounds.
I like your idea of windows as awnings. I think an aft deck modesty curtain for a solar heated/rainwater-collected shower could be an easy and quality of life enhancing addition.
Havilah Hawkins says:
Richard,
The bottom planking should go across the beam. I think I would start with the boat upside down, set up the fore and aft pieces,and plank them over, calk putty and paint the whole bottom, then turn her over and start going up.
I don’t have detailed construction plans, but I did a few drawings on graph paper to work some things out enough to know I wasn’t getting into to much trouble. Building a scale model of her at say 1 1/2′ to the foot to work stuff out could be a fun project in its self.
You are right the boat could be as much fun on land as on the water. I like the idea of having a flat bead trailer left over when the boat is not on it.
In this model there is no place to stand up in the after deck, but a sun-shower could be used on the fore deck. I personally think a sponge bath works well, especially with a with a dip in the water you are floating in.
Be careful you could talk yourself into a project. Keep in touch.
Havilah Hawkins says:
Richard
Thank you for your enthusiasm.
I think it is easy to start down the glass plywood road but for me it takes some of the fun out of the project. Glass sounds good but if it chafes through, it creates all kinds of problems. Calked cedar is much more forgiving and much lighter. The skiffs I use take a phenomenal amount of abuse with little maintenance. I also think the round ends of this boat would be harder to build in plywood.
Richard Maldonado says:
A few years back, before I read “Shanty Boat” by Harlan Hubbard, I had already started this same day dreaming. I fell in love with Harry Bryan’s inspired version of it. Those rough dimensions 8’x20′, seem to be just about ideal, the “GoldiLocks” theory of not to big, not to small. The idea seems to have so many advantages over a cabin in the woods, or, as I get older, a tent. A warm drink, drift wood burning in the solid fuel stove, and windows all around to watch the Fall affect up and down the waterways sounds just right. I think a fiberglass reinforced bottom for protection when grounding and ease of storing and trailering makes great sense. I like the decked over outboard idea for sound and smell insulation. The whole thing could be so very inexpensive to build too.
David Tew says:
So THIS is the project you hinted at when we met at the PMM schooner gam! It’s GREAT!!!
I’ve daydreamed about an Atkin ‘Retreat’ type houseboat ever since I first saw it in his book. We explored the creeks and marshes of Georgia for twenty years while staying weekends with friends at their minimalist ‘ballast island’ camp. A creek/lake/canal crawler like this would do so nicely for that in winters there, summers here in Maine as a grandchildren’s clubhouse to learn their ‘water freedom’ and fall trips among, as you say, the lakes of New England or canals from New York through to Canada. A ‘dream boat’ indeed!
William McClure says:
Here in Portland OR, an artist named Than Monk has built and moved into a similar boat. Its called Recurring Dream, and seems like a lovely way to live. You can google it up, or here is a link to his facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/RecurringDreamHouseboat
Havilah Hawkins says:
Frank
The beam is 7’6″ and the length is 22′,the total height without the chimney is 7’3″ . She started out at 8’x20,’ but I wanted to get between the wheels of a flat bed trailer. 20′ was a little short of deck space. The whole thing was designed around the windows, which are a stock 2’x3′ fully divided barn sash.
Frank Coletta says:
I love the concept. It sounds like the beam would be about 6-7′. What did you figure for the length?
Frank
Jerry Rose says:
Great ideas -they don’t sound like dreams to me. Towing this vessel behind a standard pick up might be a serious endeavor tho. Keeping it light would help. The best cruising grounds for a boat like this would be the canals of Europe mainly the french canals. I took my sailboat through the Canal Du Midi on my way to the Med and I vowed I would return someday with a vessel very much like the one you drew. You could pack yours in a shipping container.
Good job and keep the dreams rolling.
Stephen Burne says:
Every journey begins with a dream; thanks for sharing yours. On the St. Lawrence River, I get to view every sort of craft, from kayaks to freighters, from super-yachts to rent-a-wreck house boats. The common denominator for all is the smile on the captain’s face. Name her well.
Havilah Hawkins says:
Jerry
I did not go into the construction of this vessel but I believe without the use of plywood or glass and epoxy the boat would be quite light indeed. One inch cedar and spruce frame,well engineered would make this boat lighter than most vessels of similar size. Europe would be great but so would Moose head lake here in Maine, during fall foliage season. The possibilities are endless.
Stephen
The smile is the important part, wether she is built or not, the dreaming is a lot of fun. Thank you.