The Whipray skiff Hells Bay Boatworks story the beginning

This is to let all those that are interested in skiff history, the Whiprays origins and how Hal Chittum, I and Flip Pallot really came to be together in starting Hells Bay Boatworks.

I want you my readers to know and understand that this is my version of the tale of this skiff, and the company that was built on its success. I also want you to know that in my flats boat career that I have kept pretty good records of most all of the skiffs I have been involved with. During my time at HBBWs I kept all faxes, written letters and correspondence between the Chittums, Flip Pallot and myself. I have a very extensive paper trail, photos and the people that were around during this time to back this history. I do not talk flippantly with the details. Its my history too just as it is The Chittums, and Flip Pallots. Iam not in anyway trying to re write it like Chris Petterson , Flip Pallot and the crew at HBBWs are attempting to do.

I wrote my early flats boat history about five years ago and posted its rough draft on this blog in 

June 2014. Its way in the bottom. 

I added some pictures to this story to give everyone a time frame and an idea of what went on. 

I have added some new material along with my usual commentary, observations etc.

For the life of me I cannot figure out how to repost it here this month so if you are interested just go back to June 2014 where there are 3 posts. The Whipray stuff starts a ways down in St. Agustine.

Thanks to all of you that are reading my blog. I can see that there is a great intrest in the history and information about flats skiffs. I would never have thought this would be years ago or I would have kept better records. Almost half my readers are interested in the flats boat part of my life and the rest are reading about our sailboat and mucking about.

This winter I am planning on a better format to present more clarity to my drawings.

More posts coming soon;

My design and commentary for the cheapest flats boat ever that anyone can build in a week or so and how to use it. Iam reinventing the past here to try and get guys to build something and get out on the water. Then later they can build something more complicated.

Commentary and opinions as to why Chris Petterson, Flip Pallot and the advertising crew at HBBWs are trying to re write its history during the age of instant scrutiny. What? Why are they doing this.

 Why are they trying to write Hal Chittum out of the company ?

I will be publishing the lines of most all the skiffs I have drawn, but they will be redrawn to current thinking.

And my usual sailboat and cruising life stuff.

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Depoe Bay Boat Show and Crab Feed 2013

Doryman just got back from this years Depoe Bay Wooden Boat Show and Crab Feed. Being one of the first local shows of the season, the question on everyones mind is the weather. The participants and visitors to this annual April event are true coastal denizens who know to bring layers of clothing and be prepared for everything from sun to hail to snow.

This year, the weather gods smiled on Depoe Bay and though we felt a few sprinkles, the sun peeked out from behind scattered clouds often enough to keep spirits high. The harbor is a tiny hole in the rocks named for old Chief Depoe, who welcomed white settlers here in the late 1800s. The once thriving commercial fishery has been reduced, but a lively charter service thrives on the local bottom fishery and whale watching. Theres a lot of pride in this little coastal town and the residents pull out the stops to welcome guests with fresh cooked crab and amateur boat builders come from all around to show their craft and get caught up with gossip after a long, wet winter.

As for gossip, Doryman often gets so consumed with visiting, he almost forgets to take pictures to share with all of you. So here are a few, though to see all the boats, youll have to stop in next year yourself. You wont be disappointed, I guarantee it. Dont forget your raincoat and sunscreen!

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My flats boatbuilding story from 1982 through how Hells Bay Boatworks started

I wrote the story of how I got started in the flats boat world 5 years ago. I did this for two reasons. The first was that my daughters wanted me to tell, explain my side of the story as so much miss information and tales were being told that were not near the truth. Of course I want all of you to know that this is my version of what I incountered. I have kept records of most all the boats that I have built and most all information. In regards to my time at HBBWs I have every fax and piece of correspondence from my time working with Hal and Jamie Chittum along with Flip Pallot. In essence I have documentation of my intire time at HBBWs from before it started through the buyout of my shares of HB. This was before emails.

I have a very extensive photo and paper trail to corroborate my side of the story. Iam publishing this in detail as so many skiff owners would really like to know the true history of their skiff. 

The second reason I have put my tale to print is to show the public that a great vison can start and come to fruition with a very simple idea. I want to show you here that that in my career I have done well in my way by working very hard and having good common sense to look at projects with eyes wide open holding no prejudices towards the vision. By this I mean that I love all types of boats and have used this observational and real practical use to help me in thinking and creating outside the box.

This is the story of a high school dropouts journey in the flats boat world up to designing and building the Whipray flats skiff.

I have added photos to this post now as when I first published it I had not been able to get these pictures online. 

This story starts in 1982 on the island of Islamorada in the Florida Keys.  It was at Bayside Inn Marine where I met Hal Chittum who led me into this interesting niche of the boating market. First, in order to properly understand how this story came to be I must start at the beginning of my life on the sea.

Here I am building the tiki hut at what was Bayside Inn Marina in 1982.

I dont know if World Wide Sportman tore this down when they built Bass World there.

Go back to 1973 and you will find me at age 14. My parents have sold all of their possessions, have purchased a 36’ wooden Gaff Rigged Ketch and have the idea of sailing to Florida from San Diego, California. 

Our familys ketch sailing in the San Blas islands in Panama enroute to Florida in 1976

A few years later we arrived in Tarpon Springs. Go to 1976, Stamas Boats hired me to work in Research and Development. I was to be the helper of two old Florida boat builders in building all the plugs, molds and patterns for the line of Stamas Boats. I was 18 at the time and fell into an apprenticeship that would guide me throughout my boatbuilding career.

Kenny Karnu and Richard Stauffer took me under their wings and taught me how to channel my perfectionist nature into honing my skills at being a plug and mold builder. The most important lesson that they taught me was that with a clear vision of the finished product the process of building a mold could become very efficient. In the process of creating a concept it is crucial to keep things simple for if you add in too many designers and idea guys the process can easily become disjointed and go off in too many directions. Thanks to good fortune I have had the opportunity to put this into practice as I worked on many projects for many interesting people.

After a year in service to Stamas Boats, I left on my 18 foot, 10 year old plywood sloop passing through the Keys and then on to the Bahamas. It was 8:00 at night on December 3, 1977 when returning to the Bahamas my little sloop, Bilbo Baggins struck something as I neared the halfway mark in the Gulf Stream. Within minutes my sloop had sunk leaving me swimming, alone, without a dinghy only one fin, and a spear to defend myself. I swam for 20 hours and ended up 45 miles up the coast in Biscayne Bay as the sun set. The only person I knew in Florida to call at the time was living Key Largo which is how I ended up, within a week of losing everything I owned, working at Glander Boats, located in Key Largo. This job led to many others.

My 18 plywood sloop Billbo Baggins sailing off the Berry Islands in the Bahamas

Painting the bottom on the tide in Pipe Creek in the Exumas

By 1982 I was married to Lawanda Lillis and living aboard our own built sloop in “Little Basin” in Islamorada. This area is now owned by the World Wide Sportsman Company. We both worked at Bayside Inn Marina for Ray Dye, lawanda in the office and the yard,with me fixing,painting and repairing all that came through the place. Try to picture Islamorada in the early eighties. The Lorralie Restaurant had two sailboats anchored off it, Little Basin had a small dock and the number of fishing guides could be counted on your fingers.

Building our sloop "Shellan" next to what was then called the Sea Lark building in Islamorada. I built the hull when working for Glander boats after my little sloop sank.

Lawanda at the helm as we sail out to Florida Bay from Lews Marina which was next to Maxs Marina 

In Islamorada. 

Fitting deck beams to a 32 cutter that I was helping to build as project leader working for Dave Calvert in the Sea Lark Building.

Some statistics;

From 1977 to 1982 I had built for myself and others a total of 17 boats from 16 feet to 60 feet and I had logged 10,400 ocean sea miles under sail on my own boats.

Building a rowing dory in the evenings in what is now the main check out place in World Wide.

I love to sail, cruise, explore and fish. My passion was and is all kinds of boats from sail to power. At that time I knew of Flats Fishing but had no desire to own or build a skiff when I could have a great time sailing off to anchor and go fishing in my dinghy.

The only fishing guide I knew at that time was Tony Lay who kept his side console Hewse Bonefisher without a tower at Bayside Inn.

This all changed when Ray Dye introduced me to Hal Chittum. Hal had a project for me to do. He and Eddie Whiteman had purchased two Mako 18 foot flats boat hulls with bait boxes on the transoms and had tried to get a custom builder in Miami to build the interiors and finish them out. The boats had the 17 Mako sheer cut down to Flats boat height with flush decks and simple drain  channels but had ¼ inch copper tubing for the drains. The boat amenities consisted of a forward hatch, main hatch bait well and a sump hatch. Cockpits were self bailing.

Eddie Whitman finished his skiff himself. The hull was solid glass and everything else was glassed over plywood with decks and hatches plywood cored. The finish was raw, the boat was a wreck and it weighed a “ton”. Hal was a busy guide so he gave me the project to finish. My quote to him was within an hour’s time of completion. Ray Dye rigged the boat.

Hals mako ready to paint the insides

This project got me talking with Hal about the guiding industry. Being a sailor, getting about on engineless sail boats and having designed and built some small rowing and sailing boats I told Hal in one of which has turned into one long discussion of what if, what about. I told Hal that in the sailing world where races are won by seconds that the state of the art is in building in foam core in construction with better quality materials. I said I could build the same skiff weighing ? less than his present skiff. He then could use a smaller engine, save on fuel, and would be easier to pole. It would float higher of course in shallow water but at that time it did not seem to be such a big deal. Hal asked if I would be interested in doing this.

“yes of course” what a challenge!

Two days later he came back with 3 clients for me to talk to; Charles Causey, Bert Sherb and Dick Negly.

Within the month Lawanda and I had quit our jobs, rented a commercial house next to Campbell’s Marina in Tavernier in Key Largo from Stu Marr and opened shop as BACK BAY BOATS. This was 1982, I was 25 and Hal was 31 years old.

My observations at the time of the skiffs that were about;

Shy Poke:

A grey coloured, deep vee skiff, heavy, no dry lockers but had a good ride. Billy Knowles had one.

Hewes Bonefisher:

Obviously it was a knock off of a lapstrake ski boat. The bottom had a built-in trim tab hook. The boats were built with solid glass hulls and the decks were cored with plywood.They had wooden carpet covered floors and wood glassed over stringers. No dry lockers and were heavy. Tony Lay had one.

Cuda Craft:

A very shallow soft vee at the stern with conventional chines. A simple glass interior. I was told they slid in a turn. A basic, plain skiff with classic looks.

Dolphin Skiff - Dave Exley:

This boat hull developed by Exley was at the time a crude open skiff built in Homestead. It was very heavy with a rough finish, had no dry storage and a deep draft. It was a good camp rough and ready skiff at that time. They ran great but were tippy.They made no noise,but nobody was thinking of that then.Except Steve Huff and Harry Spear.

Fiber Craft:

A long, lean but massively layed-up hull. This very heavy skiff had a rounded bow and a very narrow spray rail at mid point of topsides but not big enough to really work. I kept in mind some of these points to my future designs. Davie Wilson built his own Fiber Craft skiff.

Sidewinder Skiff - Bass Boat Type:

I made a custom deck for Carl Naverrae with a side console. Deep vee.Similar to a Shypoke

Willy Roberts

Willy and I became friends while I had  my shop in Tavernier. It was my dream to have a shop equal to his. He was building fiberglass boats at this time molded from his plywood designs.I do not remember if he used foam core at this time or balsa core. At the time they were a classic.

Maverick - Lenny Berg:

The 18 ft was a big deep vee boat with a good conventional flats boat deck and interior. I was told it had a great ride, was wet, poled like a tank and made lots of noise. Hank Brown used to hang a piece of carpet over the bow to stop the noise.

Challenger:

These little skiffs were custom made from existing hulls that were originally little play boats. They had a very flat run that flowed into a rounded bow shape. It was originally designed to sit in and sport around in with a wheel forward.To make the boats work for fishing. The owner’s fitted spray rails low aft, near the water and high in the bow. The boats were heavy and tippy. I think of them like bass lures with metal cheeks wobbling along. They have a loyal following. I learned from this design and incorporated much of what I learned into my future designs. They had an offshoot of this called the WIND RIVER SKIFF.

Action Craft:

It had sloping outboard side decks and a very sharp angular look with a moderate vee bottom. To me it was very ugly.Action Craft started their company in 1983 with this boat using a foam in its deck core.

Mako 18 Experimental:

As explained earlier the 18 was a cut down 17 Mako on the sheer, with bait boxes added. The Mako construction had wood stringers, plywood or balsa cored, foam filled with chop and roving construction. This was a very heavy way to build yet standard practice at the time. The boat slid in a turn.

John Boats:

Well, there is nothing more classic and simple than this flat bottom skiff in wood or aluminum or glass. The boats would still rule if everybody was not in a such a great big fucking rush.

This is my opinion from my perspective at that time. There were a sprinkling of other one off boats as well. Billy Pate had a monster built from the Shypoke hull style. There were little cold mold

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Sabtu, 13 Februari 2016

Some more Hells Bay Boatworks photos and history and other past history

Today taking a break from a design commission Iam drawing up, a small house, I have found these photos from my past. Its very rolly and windy today with guts in the 30s . Even anchored well behind and what would seem to be the lee in these big islands the anchorages here can be uncomfortable. You have to imagine getting in and out of the bath tub and thats how the seas make it around the corners of these islands. 

This is Jack Nicklauss  yacht " The Bear" with three HBBWs skiffs on deck.We knew a Captian that knew Jacks Captian that said Jack was interested in our skiffs. I took three of our skiff models down to West Palm to meet up with Jack.

We spent half a day riding around in each skiff with me trying to show him how to drive them. At first he just did not understand that you had to run these skiffs like a sports car. Once he got the hang of it he loved our boats. He orderd all three models. I had a great time with him and meeting his wife.

He was to be leaving for the Bahamas to go fishing for a few weeks so I offered to come back in a few days to measure his boat for all the skiffs cradles to be made and bring him a loner skiff to use for his trip. It would be awhile before we had his skiffs built.

When I returned a few days later his Captian was ready to put this loaner skiff on deck. We had a brand new Guide for him to use. I brought along an employee to photograph this skiff being lifted onto the deck of Jacks boat. We had just really started getting into putting skiffs on decks of yachts. The deal was the Davits that lift these skiffs can only lift 1,000 lbs or less. Our skiffs all weighed with fuel way under this load so we had the market all to our shelfs. When hooking up the lift cable I explained to the Captian that he had it on wrong and when it was to be turned it would put a huge strain on his hook and tackle. No I was wrong according to him and his mates. Up goes the boat with me saying its no good and when they went to turn the boat to lower BAM !!! Breaks the hook and the cable with my skiff bouncing over Jacks yacht and over the side. No one was hurt physically except the captains ego. 

Iam the guy thats pushing my skiff away from Jacks new boat. We lowered the Guide down to the dock . I now retied the lift my way and we lifted it up on deck and all worked fine. The damage to this Kevlar Guide consisted of two minor scratches that I could fix no problem. Jacks new aluminum yacht had four 4 cracks in its deck with the davit being the worst having broke away partially from the deck.

I looked the captain in the eye and said I wont tell if you wont , and Ill fix my damage and you can deal with yours. Yes please he said . Shit happens . Ive always wondered how he explained the repair bill.

This is the Marquesa skiff plug starting. I have just cut out all the stations and installed them on the building jig. You  can see the two chine levels going in and the foam core planking going on. Thats Stan Nash walking by. Having guys like Stan Nash working at HBBWs from the beginning really made the difference.

One side of the core skin almost on. Once on you can glass over this and pull off and glass the inside and then you have a cored hull . In the past I used cedar as it was cheaper.

I loved this cover. We had hired my sister whos a professional photographer to take pictures of all our skiffs. Flip had this idea of a shot. The shuttle was going up while she was in town so lets get as close as we can and set it up. During that time a few unmanned rockets had exploded and the shuttle was always being postponed. I thought this was a waste of time. Flip knew exactly where to go. Flip and Hal with the Guide skiff are in 1 of water anchored bow and stern. We are in another skiff with ladders in the water in about 2 of water. Flips wife  Diane has a camera with one lens size and my sister with another. Iam standing in the water holding up these two ladders for the girls so they are steady grumbling to myself of what a waste of time. The radio is tuned into the countdown,its a beautiful day... Suddenly its 9 8 7 6 .... The water around us starts vibrating like a shaking pool . We are 11 miles away from the launch site but its so big it seems weer going to get the smoke . 2 1 blast off ,and up she goes.

The picture used here was taken by Diane Pallot. We photo shopped the anchor line out of the picture.

When taking all the early morning sunrise pictures with my sister I would lay in the water and hold the skiffs still. 

Chris Peterson, whats Hal Chittum doing in this advertizement?

Sailing in the Bahamas at the age of 19 in my little sloop. Looks like shark for dinner.

In todays sailing world a flat top mainsail is all the rage. This is one i fitted to my sailing dinghy 28 years ago. Iam sailing onto the beach in Cat Island Bahamas. Way ahead of my time ....no ,I just only had so long of a mast.

This is Dick Negleys Scooter boat I built in all Kevlar. Iam in the Laguna Madre in 6" of water with my feet holding the skiif still.

Rachel next to Hogfish Maximus showing off Hoggys nice box shape.

Ah spear fishing below Andros on the Bahama banks. All shot on one coral head free diving. Thats Cress Newbold the best man at our wedding in Spanish Wells 26 years ago.

Chris Pinder in red and Rupert Sawyer with a morning catch of crawfish- lobster. No sun protection back then. 

Johnny Pinder coming up with a few 

I will leave you with this shot from the 70s of a bahamian sailing sloop hauled out on the shore in Lisbon Creek Andos. Theyre all gone now.

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Chris Peterson Hells Bay Boatworks Creating a name brand

This past month I have had the opportunity to go through all my old photos of sailing, raising our girls, and looking over some pictures of the beginning  days of HBBWs . Rachel and I will be off sailing for a couple of years or more so were taking this time to reminisce.

Since posting some of these old pictures of my flats boat designing and building days I have gotten a very nice amount of responses with thank yous and lots of skiff questions. This has been fun for me .

On my facebook page I have had a bunch of freind requests from avid skiff owners and fisherman. Lots of these guys do not own one of my past skiffs but just want to talk skiffs. This I like doing very much.

From their profile pages I get to see lots of different skiff pictures.

A few years ago coming back from the West Indies to St. Augustine to build a trimaran I collected a bunch of stuff from my time at HBBWs when passing by our place here. I wanted to pass some things on to Scott Peterson who had bought HBBWs  from the bank after it went bankrupt. Scott had reintroduced my name back into HBs history so I wanted to say thanks for this by giving him the original Whipray half model that I had made to take the lines off of to loft the skiff. I also gave him all the original sale brochures , a hat and the photos that I took of building the Whipray plugs and molds under a plastic tarp up in ST. Augustine. Scott and I talked for an hour and he graciously lent me my old mold for the ultimate dinghy. My original skiff had been stolen the year before in the Grenadines

So I got to build a new one. While waiting an hour for Scott to show up to meet me , as he had forgotten about our appointment I got to look around my old shop and talk to a couple of past employees. I have to say my time with Scott and seeing how the shop was being run was a big let down. Was not impressed. 

Fast forward to this year my daughter emails me to look at the HB facebook site and watch the video of Flip , Chris and one of HBs employees listen to Flips version of how we came up with the Whipray design and what HB was all about at that time. This was Chris Petersons promo of re selling the idea of a legend. Flip tells his tale and fortunately includes Hal Chittums name in this. Of course Hal no longer exists in the current HB lore as I guess Chris Peterson is miffed at him for starting another company and dissing HBs old designs to promote Hals new boat ideas. Lots of things Hal has said about our original ideas and his new ideas are true. Did not bother me. I dont agree with Hals new boat construction and all the hoopla that goes with it but I like some of his skiffs details. One thing I find disconcerting for Hal is claiming to spending a quarter mill on R&D for this skiff when he spent less than $35,000.00 on my Whipray design and all the plugs and molds. Inflation I guess ?

By my count Flip tells about 10 little fibs and miss truths in his recounting of how it all came about. 

Some glaring miss truths are , 

- I did not make the half model in front of him .  

- The photos I gave to Chris Peterson , they did not come from Flip.

- I am a boat designer and builder but not a flats fishing person, so why would i need to hook up with these two to build three skiffs when I could do this on my own at any time. I have never owned a flats skiff.

- When we started HB none of us had a clue about Vacume bagging. Thanks for the allocades Flip, but iam no genius .

- When I sold out to my three HB partners I was making over six figures in salary with company sales going through the roof with very little company dept. The company failed after I was bought out and left. 

 I could go on. But why? Does not make a difference to the skiffs being built. But if you are buying into a name brand it would be nice to know how it all really came about. You are spending your hard earned money to be part of this.

I contacted Chris Peterson about this via email and said that a lot of what was said was off ,I could live with it but that the part of us partners not being good businessmen was not to my liking.

Chris emailed back and said it was Flips version and he had nothing to do about it. But he would like to know my version and he would post it on his web sites. 

This started a few emails back and forth with me sending him my story to read and the photos of  the early boats in my career to explain that Chris was alining himself up with a dubious tale.

This I did before posting on my blog, to give him first shot of what really went down with all the paperwork and photos to go with it. I had written my history down 2 years before but had not had the time to post it here. I felt it would be great for the current owner of a company that was being promoted as the end all to flats fishing would want to be part of this. I offered him copies of all the original lines drawings and all the info I had of HB. The very essence of the beginning of the " legend". For free, no strings attached.He never emailed back after receiving all you see on this blog. 

I have not heard from him since.

When Chris Peterson bought Hells Bay he bought all the building processes,  the ideas , the experience of  Flip, Hal, myself and the employees that made Hells Bay a major player in the flats word. This he did with a bit of money. 

The interm owner, Chris and who ever makes decisions in designing there has changed the bottoms a bit, made different models, but what makes Hell Bay Boats work is how they are built. Lots of other boat companys now benefit from this building , design, and engeneering process. Iam proud of the part I played in this. I really like seeing all the clones and the use of these past ideas. Some are getting it and improving on HB.

Today Hells Bay Boatworks is a major name brand in the industry. This has been accomplished by very good advertizing , marketing, and the money it takes to make this happen. Its not cheap.

 Its very nice to see all the clout of HB going to all these good causes.

I wish the best for the Petersons and HB but till this company comes out with a new ground breaking design by their pro staff they are just living and reinventing the past.

And so are all the other companys that are making facsimiles .

Flip Pallot , Hal Chittum in the first production Hells Bay Whipray at 12:00 at night at the boat ramp in Tittusvlle dying to go for our first ride. I just finished rigging the skiff. The photos are taken by me as Rachel was on the boat with our kids. We were still living on the original Hogfish.

Flip and Hal untying the skiff

Hull number one of the Whipray. The skiff you see with Flip in on HBs facebook site is the hull I built in St. Augstine.

The  real Founding Fathers of Hells Bay Boatworks. Hals wife Jamie owned 26% but stayed out of the picture .

This is a picture of Flip on HBBWS facebook page today that states he is the founding father of Hells Bay.

This is the skiff I built under the tarp. It would be nice if Chris Peterson would tell the complete story of HB instead of rewriting it.

Boy that old skiff is sitting low in the stern , but Flip is a big guy. See the low Chines.

Whipray hull # 1 which was the prototype at Frank and Liz Steels Fly shop in the first few weeks of moving to Tittusville and starting up HB. This is the water tank that we had just done at the Huston Shallow Water Boat show. 

Starting to build the predecessor of the Whipray on an island in Marathon Florida.

My daughter Lillian in this picture turns 20 next week. Give me a project and I will build it anywhere.

Myself , Tom Gorden , and an onlooker while we bag the first HB skiff. My Bilabong is starting to show!

Stan Nash and I making patterns for the first skiffs.

A bit of the past, now what shall the future hold?

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