erden Posted September 2, 2004 Posted September 2, 2004 Hi all; The ocean rowing boat is about to arrive at the end of September. It is in a container, sailing for the east coast of Canada, and it will be put on a train from there, destined for Seattle. I will take off for Miami à la Göran Kropp tentatively on Sept 29, pending the arrival of the boat. I will pull the boat out of US Customs, lock it up in a safe dry place, then pedal on. I plan to arrive at Miami at the end of November. I will fly back to Seattle to prepare the boat, train for rowing, and drive the boat over to FL in the second half of February. I intend to cast off rowing from Miami at the end of Feb 2005 - verifying with oceanographers on that... See the Around-n-Overweb site for the boat and its story. This is a picture of the boat on dry land. It was used earlier in 2004 by a mother-daughter British team who took 106 days to cross the Atlantic. So it is coming with a wonderful karma. I can't wait to receive the boat. It is a huge step forward. Best, Erden. Quote
JGowans Posted September 2, 2004 Posted September 2, 2004 Nice one mate!!! Best of luck. Give my best wishes to Nancy. Quote
Nick Posted September 2, 2004 Posted September 2, 2004 Sounds like you found a better boat, does this one need work as well? Quote
erden Posted September 2, 2004 Author Posted September 2, 2004 Thank you Jason, I will pass on the word to Nancy, and Nick yes it does need some work - nothing as serious as the previous boat that I had considered. This boat and another was inspected in UK before purchase. Feature by feature, this one scored better. During transport, these boats require a trailer. When the owners take off for an ocean crossing, they typically abondon the trailer at the starting point, then end up with a trailer at the finish line that is not necessarily compatible with the boat. During the loading and unloading into a container, the skeg which is the most vulnerable part of these boats usually gets dragged around, scraping the epoxy/fiberglass coating, which exposes the marine plywood underneath. Plywood is like a sponge and seawater will advance within it quite a ways causing rots. So before it goes back in the water, that scraped area needs patching. Of course our own insignia and sponsor logos, names and such need to be placed on the boat. Those are cosmetic stuff. The electronics need to be thoroughly checked for reliability's sake, and gel batteries may need to be replaced. I will probably overhaul the desalination unit, install a new one and take the old one on board as a spare. So, yeah, it requires work, but it is a structurally sound boat. Erden. Quote
wayne Posted September 2, 2004 Posted September 2, 2004 Nice looking rig E, Let us know the details on your send-off party when you find out! Quote
Stefan Posted September 3, 2004 Posted September 3, 2004 Come on Erden. You are strong enough--just pull the boat behind your bike! Quote
erden Posted September 3, 2004 Author Posted September 3, 2004 Come on Erden. You are strong enough--just pull the boat behind your bike! Nah - The rowing has to remain separate from the land phases, can't marry the two. I originally thought that I could load the bike, etc into the boat. But if I do, then the boat needs to be modified to such an extent that it will make its resale nearly impossible - not a good use of our non-profit funds. Besides, the bike would probably rust/rot to dust by the time the salt water is done with it. Think of the land phases and the summits as "sea to summit" and back. Each then will be from the point that I make landfall to the highest point on each continent. Technically, had I arrived at North America in Miami, I would have biked to AK for Denali, then biked back to the boat. I happen to live in Seattle, so that is why I now have to bike to Miami to cover that distance. Early 2011, I will ride back to Seattle from Miami and it is all complete and consistent... I am going to have to test the concept of personally pulling the boat on a trailer before I take off from FL. Kinda like the "world's strongest man" contestants pulling planes or trucks... This may be one possibility to get the boat across the Isthmus of Panama - they most likely will require me to get towed through the locks, still do not have a word on the Gatun Lake. If I could pull the boat up the 85 foot elevation gain around the first set of locks on the Atlantic side to put into Gatun Lake, then I can row to the locks on the Pacific side and put it back on the trailer to "lower" it to sea level. Worst case scenario, I accept the tow to the other side, then go back and jog/walk the distance, but I don't score style points that way!!! Long answer to your jab, Stefan Erden. Quote
erden Posted September 4, 2004 Author Posted September 4, 2004 Wayne - the send-off party is tentatively Tuesday evening on the 28th. Trying to confirm that, it will be great to see all the friends, order pizza and shoot the moon. Scott Harpell wrote: Killer boat! What kind of hull entry does it have? Good luck and keep us posted. I am not certain what you mean by hull entry Scott. The boat is 24.5 feet long, just over 6 feet wide in beam. The construction is marine plywood, stitched and glued by glass fiber and epoxy. It weighs about 550lbs when empty, about 1,100 lbs when loaded including 330 lbs of ballast in the center bulkheads. It has multiple bulkheads that are all watertight, preventing the boat from sinking when one springs a leak. Most bulkheads are accessible through a circular threaded hatch so that I can store food and supplies in them. The ballast is in plastic jugs in the center bulkheads that remain secured to the bottom. This makes the boat self righting. It is also self bailing - the deck is above water level, and I will be using a sliding seat above deck. The splash will drain from gunwales on the sides of the boat. The boat has a relatively large front storage compartment accessible by a rectangular hatch big enough to reach through. The rear compartment is the living quarters, this is where I would hide in nasty weather. This is accessible by a rectangular hatch big enough to let me through, and another at the top again big enough for me to escape - the latter would also serve as an access point to the rudder should I not feel like taking a dive. Does this help? Erden. Quote
billcoe Posted September 4, 2004 Posted September 4, 2004 Erden: massive effort sir: we all wish you safe and fullfilling passage and that your brightest dreams are fullfilled times 2. Wow Wow Wowsa in wonderment and amazement is all I have left to say. Quote
erden Posted September 4, 2004 Author Posted September 4, 2004 Good catch on the "killer boat" in the other thread billcoe -- we don't want to jinx the thing, now, do we? Besides, I will be changing its name too, can't have the cards stacked against me like that at the start Assuming that all goes according to plan, there are plenty of folks supporting me to get to the starting line. Then a bunch more will join me on the mountains. So, I have to spread the kudos around. Thank you for offering a good helping of encouragement there, Bill. Erden. Quote
ryland_moore Posted September 8, 2004 Posted September 8, 2004 Erden, keep us posted on arrival times in Feb. in Miami as I am having my bachelor party down there around that time. Awesome! Glad the next chapter is fully under way!!!! Quote
thelawgoddess Posted September 8, 2004 Posted September 8, 2004 definitely post when the send-off party is. looks like you'll be having way more fun than me for the next several months, erden! Quote
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