Custom Search
   boat plans
   canoe/kayak
   electrical
   epoxy/supplies
   fasteners
   gear
   gift certificates
   hardware
   hatches/deckplates
   media
   paint/varnish
   rope/line
   rowing/sculling
   sailmaking
   sails
   tools
 
 
 
 
Join Duckworks
Get free newsletter
CLICK HERE
Advertise
on this site
Mike's
Boat
Indexes
 
 
by Diane Tucker - Farmington, Connecticut - USA

The big day for camp cruising finally arrived. While my daughter spent a month at sleep-away camp, I repurposed a mosquito netting tent I bought off an army-surplus website into a snug, bug-free boat tent. I tested our sleeping arrangements, including a hammock I had made. This was to hang between the bench seating in an arrangement ingeniously contrived by Greg. The idea is to sew pockets on either side of the hammock, through which large dowels which usually make up the front edge of the bench are inserted. The dowels are then replaced where they usually sit with the fabric stretching over the cockpit. The system works like a charm and is a very good way to solve the sleeping dilemma on a dinghy. However, I could not figure a way for me to get the hammock perfectly taught between the two benches. When two of us are to sleep aboard, gravity being what it is, whoever sleeps on a bench is very apt to roll into the hammock alongside her shipmate at some point in the night. With time drawing short, I took a few naps on the benches and decided they would do for the time being without the hammock. Certainly, we would get away with it for one night. During my nap-time experiments, I also learned that sleeping on the sole was very satisfactory provided a nice mop-up was done with a sponge prior to sleep. As a solo camp cruiser, Ladybug is a good choice, whether you sleep on the sole, or in a nifty hammock. For the time being, I folded the hammock away for another cruise and started thinking about the rest of our equipment.

The tent was easy to set up. I inserted a few hooks under Nancy Blackett's gunnels. Bungee cord went around the cockpit and behind the hooks. Using Byers Tarp Tie-Downs I hooked the mosquito netting under the bungee cording.

Provisioning was vital. We would spend the late afternoon and night aboard, with breakfast first thing the following morning. A reasonable, healthful and comforting dinner would be needed, plus snacks and breakfast. In consultation with my First Mate, we decided upon canned tomato soup with toast. We would carry milk for making the soup as well as for tea and for my daughter to have a good glass before bed. Dessert being the most important factor I made sure to have, as the Swallows and Amazons crew did, plenty of chocolate. Breakfast in the morning would be oatmeal with dried cranberries put in, along with mandarin oranges (no scurvy in this woman's navy) and good, hot tea with milk.

I have a wonderful "stores box" I got from John Owens at JO Woodworks down in Texas, another great guy I have had the luck and pleasure to run across since I got the boating bug. I put our Trangia alcohol stove, sporks, mugs, canned goods, baggy with pre made toast, chocolate bars, a box of Cheezits, tea bags, a baggy of sugar and a thermos of milk in there. Fire blanket and fire extinguisher were in a dry bag, to be placed near at hand while cooking. Another dry bag contained the lantern to be hung from the boom inside the tent for pre-bed reading. Sleeping bags were set, and I had made a nice set of comfy pillows last winter during a blizzard out of Sunbrella fabric that matched the color of the boat. A couple of warm sweatshirts, our pj's and we were ready for adventure.

I worried a bit when considering what might happen in the event of a midnight call of nature. The Ladybug is a small, open boat. We had a bucket aboard, but on a boat that size a bucket of "effluvia", would be at risk of seriously fouling the cockpit and its inhabitants should something (someone?) "kick the bucket". Another romp through the Army supply catalogue turned up an item called a Wag Bag. Eureka! The Wag Bag goes in the bucket, you go in the Wag Bag. Fancy chemicals in the Bag turn whatever you put in there into a gel-like, frozen state. You wrap the bag and its now inert contents into the ziplock provided with each Wag Bag and dispose of it all in the first trash bin you see on shore. No fuss, no mess, no smell. These things even come with TP and hand sanitizer. A lady mariner's sensibilities, as well as most gentleman mariners', are safe with a few of these things aboard. You could probably even use the "head" such as it would be, during daylight hours provided no one was nearby. At night, no worries at all! Talk about well provisioned!! Better to have and not need, than need and not have.

My daughter and I took a lovely late-afternoon cruise before anchoring off shore. Our little Eastport Pram bobbed next to our mooring. We use the pram as a tender to get to Nancy Blackett and for rowing for exercise. We kept well away from the mooring, not wanting the two boats to bump one another and keep us awake. Plus, we wanted to lie at anchor, not at the end of a mooring tether which would be sort of like camping out in one's backyard.

Over the summer, the Nancy Blackett attracted quite a bit of attention. Every sail (which was close to every day) people hailed us with compliments. They loved the color, they loved the sail, but generally they just loved the boat, asking, "What kind IS it?" I had lots of chances to toot the Michalak horn and tell his story. My favorite compliment was "You and your boat give our lake CLASS!" While anchoring that night, we made sure to give everyone on the lake a chance to see us and watch while we put up our tent. We thought it might be the first time such a thing had been seen there and were proud to add still more cachet to the Nancy Blackett's reputation.

The tent went up easily, and my daughter pronounced it "cool". Soon we were ready for supper. The hot soup went down a treat, and the toast was a comforting addition, just like home. The capacious Michalak bulkheads had swallowed so much gear we couldn't believe it. Though it was hard for us not to overpack, the Ladybug was more than a match for us.

As night fell, we settled in on our benches. They really weren't too bad for sleeping, maybe a tad narrow, but really not bad. We had Thermarest sleeping pads, and I've certainly slept in less comfortable quarters. The lamp dangled from the boom. We read our books. It was peaceful and wonderful! And then the fishermen arrived.

Suddenly the water around us was illuminated like a surgical suite. There were boats both port and starboard containing serious fishermen. One guy stayed all night. With my head below the level of the gunnel, I didn't notice it much. Julia was more bothered than I, but I think that goes with being nearly thirteen. One is nearly always a bit bothered at her time of life. Even with the fishing lights, I could still see the stars clearly, and far better than home in suburbia.

I slept until eight. By that time, according to my child, a fleet of kayaks, a man in a shell and a whole new cohort of fisherman had already passed my sleeping figure. We made our breakfast, which tasted fabulous, as outdoor breakfasts always do. It was time for a swim, and we wriggled into bathing suits below gunnel level lest the fishermen see us. Before we dove over Nancy Blackett's side, Julia grinned at me and said, "We HAVE to do this again".

Please see my previous article on the build itself: The Michalak Lady Bug: Nancy Blackett

To comment on Duckworks articles, please visit one of the following:

our Yahoo forum our Facebook page