Killer Fishing Boat

Everything about this boat somehow looks right to me. I have a little 12′ Klamath aluminum boat with a 30-year-old 15 HP 2-stroke motor that was just rebuilt. I’m starting to explore Tomales Bay with it. The bay is clean, with white sand beaches on the west side. I’ve figured out how to get clams and mussels, and last week Doug and I put out 3 crab pots. (Rock crabs are legal year-around.)

With a boat like the above, I’d feel more secure about going through waves to get out into the ocean (which is what you have to do for salmon fishing here). But I plan to keep using the smaller boat for a while. Have thought of rigging it up so I could sleep on it at night in the bay. Swimming is great in the bay; water warmer than the ocean. I’m going up there this morning to pull the crab pots, get some clams, and swim.

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

4 Responses to Killer Fishing Boat

  1. Hi Lloyd. 12′ Tinnies are great boats and a 15hp is the perfect combo. An alloy dodger instead of a windscreen is good, slows you down a bit, (25mph top speed ) but means you can punch through waves with it. I wouldn’t add too much extra weight as the beauty of the 12 footer is their easy handling and the ability to be dragged over obstacles bigger boats can’t pass.
    I wonder if a hammok is an option?
    If you want a giggle, youtube ” Australian Dinghy Racing” Totally Mad.
    Still loving your books, I’m a builder and I often show them to other builders , as inspiration .
    All the best Marshall ( New Zealand )

  2. It’s funny how boats that are designed for strictly practical purposes, like fishing boats and tugboats, usually look beautiful, whereas boats that are designed to be expensive, attractive playthings always look ugly and pretentious!

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