It was as a young naval officer back in the seventies that I learned about and began to love the seagoing life. First on the west coast sailing the Pacific in minesweepers and frigates learning and developing the skills needed. Then, after receiving the Queen's commission, out to the east coast sailing the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas in ships of the 1st and 5th Destroyer Squadrons.

It was after HMCS Huron returned from the Queen's Silver Jubilee review in Portsmouth England back in June of 1977 that I was posted onboard. This was my first home as a young Royal Canadian Naval Officer. On Huron, I shared a small cabin with 3 other junior officers not much bigger than my current office.

Ready the Brave
HMCS Huron Circa 1977

After the Captain awarded me with my bridge watchkeeping certificate (meaning he trusted me enough to drive, operate and fight Huron in his absence), I spent many months at sea, clocking more sea time (we got a $170 monthly bonus for all the hours and time spent away), gaining invaluable operational bridge watchkeeping experience through round the clock watches on the Bridge.

Huron's navigator, Art McClusky, broke his wrist during a heavy storm shortly after leaving port and picked me to be his surrogate. It was very intense initially as the English Channel can be a busy spot for a novice navigator but with his guidance I soon gained the skill and confidence to do the job for the remainder of that deployment. I enjoyed navigating Huron back to Halifax so much that I requested more formal training at the fleet school.

After successful completion of the Destroyer Navigating Officer's course, I was posted as Navigator Officer to HMCS Athabaskan, a sister ship to HMCS Huron.

We Fight as One
HMCS Athabaskan Circa 1979

She was just coming out of her first refit and getting ready for her next 5 year operational cycle. I navigated her through post refit trials, workups, and an operational combat readiness assessment (which included many days at the live weapons range at the island of Vieques near Puerto Rico) as well as the rest of her operational cycle.

At the time, the Vieques range was the only live fire range in the Atlantic. All NATO, US, European and Canadian naval ships used it, so it was a fairly busy place. Often between live firing exercises we would anchor off Christiansted waiting for another run on the range. Christiansted is a warm water anchorage not far from the range. It's a favourite spot for American hobby sailors so we'd often have dozens of beautiful sailboats plying the crystal clear water around us while we were at anchor.

We succeeded brilliantly on the range, so we were deemed operational again and immediately sent into the Med. We were headed into the Adriatic where we would act as an orange force to 'attack' NATO's newly formed Standing Naval Force Atlantic (StaNavForLant) during squadron workups.

The Dream Take Hold

It was standing anchor watches off Christiansted that I decided, that if I had the means, I would live on the water after I retired. Having years of experience on my two favourite ships in the Navy HMCS Huron and Athabaskan, I was sure that was what I wanted 40 odd years down the road.

I decided that living on the water in the warmer climate that the south offered sounded like a great plan for my wind down phase. Now, some of you may not know, but like diesel submarines, most sailboats generally aren't all that comfortable for tall sailors planning long stays. I can attest to that being true because of submarine tests I was involved in and a two week tour on HMCS Oriole when she circumnavigated Vancouver Island.

HMCS Oriole
Navy Sail Training Vessel

HMCS Oriole Wiki

Oriole is a 102 foot ketch where the Navy teaches young officers to sail. Being fairly practical I realized that if I didn't find Oriole all that comfortable, a retirement sailboat may not be the right choice for me. After that short tour I expected that I'd probably lose all my hair prematurely after all the head bumps I took and look what happened!

It was then that I formed my initial plans for a retirement houseboat. But it would have one unusual requirement. It would have to be easily transportable anywhere I wanted to go. I already knew I didn't want to spend winters in Canada after 6 straight winters at sea in the Caribbean and the South Atlantic. While I doubted this plan would ever see the light of day, here we are.

The Dream is Realized

While I know many people found COVID a real pain and for some it was very detrimental, for me it was a God send. I had two full years to conduct the detailed analysis needed to complete my long clositered plans and prove my idea was feasible. And Janet can confirm, I didn't waste any of it.

In addition to my original ideas, I added 2 additional requirements: 1) The houseboat could not be powered by fossil fuels; and 2) That a unpack/build/launch or a recovery/disassemble/store cycle had to be less than 48 hours. Needless to say, those two new requirements impacted my original plan substantially. However, I had decided that if I was going to do it, I wanted it to be a green example of what is possible with current technology, and I didn't want to waste a lot of time between transport and launch.

I had initially estimated it would take about a year and a half to address all the issues and constraints that needed to be solved. Solutions to all issues/problems were needed before I'd be able to confirm the feasibility of my idea and each one had the potential to cause significant changes or scuttle the plan altogether. Slowly but surely, one by one, I was able to resolve all critical issues and devise alternative workable solutions where required. With every solution found, my confidence grew and slowly the feasibility of my plan became clear to the point where I was able to make a project 'GO' decision last February.

My brother-in-law John very graciously offered me the use of his hangar this summer while all his tenant plane owners are gone and I have committed to being totally out of his hangar by 1 October when the planes return, so I have no time to waste. We are now well into the 5 month construction phase and so far all is going according to plan. If you want to follow my journey, building my dream, visit this site often. I post new pictures and commentary most every week. We are not out of the woods yet as any delay in a long lead item's delivery could blow my 1 October deadline out of the water. But so far so good, I have had no unplanned delays and every week behind us is one less we have to worry about.

You can see the lastest Project Status which shows plan examples and pictures of weekly progress.