Kling-on battlecruiser!!!! 12 meters of youthful funtime building and living aboard by T and I in 2002-2004. My first big build and self design and man did I make some mistakes. Floated on its designed waterline though so I didn't too too badly anyway. It was still pretty cool though and lots of fun to live aboard in the coastal waters of northwest Florida.
The finish was "workboat" style and more like a small wilderness cabin. I made all the windows and deck gear. It even had a cargo hoist to bring things aboard from a dock.... like Ts springer spaniel. The sides were single 3/4" formply and the bottom a robust double layer to 1" thick.
The vessel suffered multiple redesigns..... what I see now after 10 more wood boat builds is often a fatal mistake. The final incarnation was motor cruiser. It was a "sharpie" design overall..... long, slim, trim, flat bottomed, and super shoal draft able to dry out with the tides.
It was named after the Zappa song "Wild Love":
It was 7 feet bottom beam and 10 top built with a joined 5 sheet panel of 3/4" ply and bent around a center frame "instant boat" style with a crew of amigos one fine day when all the pieces went together. The top went through a redesign and the above pic was the final one. It even had a huge forward hatch that raised up and made a fine wind scoop at anchor.
It had a shitpot of interior room and was pleasant to live in...... very airy and that's a good thing in the often stultifying heat of a gulf coast summer.
The raised double bed in the very rear was cool and spacious with a grand view out off the stern. That is a "wylie" style window by my head. The plexiglass can either be dogged shut, left slanted out in a rain, or taken out completely and a small bug screen inserted. At Apalachicola alligators would swim by off the stern often.
The first topsides were too heavy but man were they trippy!!! It had water catch built in also to capture rainwater. The stern was the galley and dining area, then center cockpit with hold below, then a super spacious fwd master stateroom with double bed and huge hatch to open up above the bed. Kling-On Battlecruiser one friend called it and quite right.
