continued
from san juan del sur HOME
On Wednesday the
13th of February, after three attempts, Richard Hook (aged 47 from Pennsylvania)
saw the hull of his dream boat carried, dragged and pushed by three
excavators across the beach and officially launched “au natural”
by the incoming tide.
The replica 1708 Baltimore clipper was then towed into Bahia San Juan
where it will wait for the right moon to calm the waters (first week
of March) for Richard to tow it with his 1957, 47 ton motor sailor,
the “Don Boscoe”, to its final destination, Coco Beach,
Costa Rica.
There, a 400 horse
power Caterpillar engine will be installed as well as two 75 ft masts
complete with “Captain Morgan” sponsored square rig sails
before the boat goes to work as the ultimate (US$ 300,000) party boat
with a bar, slot machines and a few more surprises.
“We
started building it on an empty beach lot two and a half years ago and
then moved to the beach when the owner wanted to build on the lot”
said Richard. He added “I thought it would take a year but heck,
he’s finished a two thousand square feet home in that time and
we still have 8 more months to go!”
Native Nicaragua woods have been used throughout the construction, all
chosen for their different qualities. Pochote for the Planking, Laurel
for the Ribs and the keel is made from Guapinol. The lumber is all held
together with about 1,000 pounds of nails, the same weight in half inch
bolts and about 100 more bolts made from stainless steel. “By
the time she’s done she’s going to weigh about 50 tons”
said Captain Hook.
Amelio Lopez (a boat builder from San Juan del Sur) designed and built
the boat. Richard told me how Amelio came up with the design. “I
showed him some pictures and he carved a scale model out of one inch
planks stacked together. Each plank represented one foot of height and
from there he worked out where all the ribs should be”.
Richard’s son Dylan named the 75 feet long and 24 feet wide boat
“Perlanegra” (Black Pearl) after the award winning Johnny
Depp movies.
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San Juan del Sur
