KAPITEL:
Building and Sailing Thlaloca Dos
For appearance sake, teak is for boats the king of woods. Today, 26 years later, the price of this precious fiber is out of sight. In 1973 we paid $1.63 a b.ft., so we didn't hesitate using it throughout, inside and on deck. The result is a warm and attractive interior. As of cabin sole, we became friends with a chemist, Walter Clark, who also was a wood enthusiast, collecting wood from every place he was stationed. When another job transfer was in the offing, his wife, Kitty, red him the riot act--the wood or me! Under pressure of this ultimatum he tearfully parted with some of his treasure, very much to our benefit. While stationed in New England, a horse stable, used during the Civil War, had to be torn down. Walter bid on it and so became owner of a huge pile of chestnut timber. Well saturated with "horse de manure" (which in time has lost its not entirely unpleasant odor) made our cabin sole.
The
boat has a center cockpit, which divides the main cabin from the one aft. The
design was changed to have bridge decks fore and aft of the cockpit for safety
reasons. (In an ocean-going vessel I see little sense having a large cockpit
with open ends, where a flooded cockpit has free access into the cabins.) Not
only that, the mid-part of a vessel should be the strongest, therefore we
couldn't swallow sacrificing such important structural integrity. Later, when we
have to admit being too frail lifting our legs that will be the time to
quit sailing.
Siggi
Hein
Siggi, Hein, my sister (Hein) Brigitte and husband Wolfgang
Son in-law Ed, daughter Margitta with son Sascha, Hein