Sea Snark...Beer Cooler Sailboat

Article By Richard Frye

This Sea Snark..."Beer cooler" boat as some call it.... was a gift for helping a guy rig up his other boat...a pram! I didn't want it! But didn't want to hurt his feelings so I said, "If I can get the whole sheebang, mast and all inside I'll take it!" I should have kept my mouth shut! It not only went inside the van tail first but I was able to close the rear hatch too!

The mast and spars are in perfect condition but he sail was rotten. Oh well....like I need another boat! Got about 13 or 14 now and no place to put any of them! I was sailing out with a homemade tarp sail that was made for VanDuck to meet Mike in the Siren 17 while he was playing with the electric motor he got from me. It is almost identical in size to the Snark sail......And Ken Andrews the Moraine Sailing Club Commodore was on his Sunfish.

These were fun pics that Dave took at the dock when he came in with his Skipper 14. Anyway...I laid back in the boat cause my back was hurting and they thought I fell out! Fooled their a**es! Had fun anyway...got back to the dock, stepped out, reached and lifted the 40 pound boat up and walked off the dock carrying it.

I laid it in the grass and Monkey got away from Chrissie and jumped in the boat with his paws on the side and really gave me hell for not taking him! He barked for 15 minutes straight..non-stop! Well I had to play a little by myself. It paddles very well too with a kayak paddle. AND...I got a SunFlower hull too that same day from the sailing club that needs to be restored! I'll work on it after the PDR thing is over and use it as a cartopper. I'm about to order a new sail from Castlecraft for the Sea Snark. It's 98 bucks, plus 12 more for shipping and handling.

I need to fill at least 20000 ding holes in the foam with foam and epoxy, then I might just glass it with epoxy and cover it with 6 oz cloth this winter. I like a cartopper! What can I say? They were free anyway...BUT....I had a helluva time explaining all that to Chrissie as to WHY I got more boats....still explaining!