Skip to main content

Jonboat?

I've learnt the Harmonica design loosely fits a plethora of monikers. (Tiny/Micro) Houseboat, Shanty Boat, canal Boat and Jonboat / Johnboat. All good, but most reflect their respective locations, whether UK or USA. In Australia it would probably be called a Tiny House Boat.
Anyway, the name Jonboat is unfamiliar to me and I decided to do some research. Wikipedia describes the boat as those seen on the "Swampmen" (?) tv program, about 20-feet long, aluminium, bench seated and powered by a massive outboard engine. I suspect that the similarities lay in the hull profile, flat with a sweep up at the bow. But there's bugger all else, no hard top, relaxed pace of life and so on. But the website advertising the disadvantages of a Jonboat got my attention. Just to be shore I wasn't building a floating coffin!
Here goes, the top five disadvantages:-
1. Inability to cut through heavy waves like a vee-hull does.
2. Lack of comfort due to rigid movement and lack of cushions.
3. Not very sporty due to their rough ride at speed.
4. Inability to carry a large (200hp) engine in shorter boats.
5. Engine noise unrestrained by engine box.

Well, sounds like if you want to poke around in calm waters of canals, streams, creeks, rivers, lagoons, lakes and harbours, and don't care to travel at rapid speeds, this boat is ideal.
The designer, John Michalak does advise that the Harmonica is best kept in calm waters. Apparently, the solid, slab sides and "birdwatcher roof" are actually safety features in that they allow the boat to survive a roll or partial capsize, without sinking. The builder of Flipper installed foam floatation in the corners of the hull, but Michalak says few buildershave done that.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is a Shanty Boat?

Well, i can hear you saying: "what the heel is a shanty boat?". It's true that we don't really have a shanty boat tradition as they have in the US of A. During the Depression Era, we did have shanty towns. Every major town areas where the poor and unemployed would build rough shelters from corrugated iron, hessian cloth and found timbers. Well shanty boating emerged from the same tough economic conditions, except that shanty boaters traded and fished on the river throughout the US. Harlan Hubbard has a great book on the topic, but a more concise description follows:- "There were scores of shantyboats moored to the banks of the river, where you could find all the gamblers, the poor, the unemployed, the fishermen, and the drunks living at the edge of society". Reference: https://peoplesriverhistory.us/blog/tell-us-about-shantyboat-communities/ So, what guides me in my shanty boat build is to be unique, use cheap or recycled materials, aim for comfor...

Basic Description of Harmonica

Length 13 feet, 5   feet wide, draw ing less than a foot. Weighing less than  400lbs empty, designed by Jim Michalak.     "Harmonica is a tiny shanty boat that sleeps two in its cabin. There is a porch up front suitable for lounging and a small room in the stern for the kitchen and the water closet. I think it is arranged so that two people could wait out an all day soaker without feeling too pressed. For protected waters only". Builder John wrote, "...The entire family (two adults and two children) has spent the night on Steel Will. I put 1x2's between the slats in the two forward bunks and created a single bunk that is five feet wide. We have found that the thick cushions sold to cover lawn furniture very adequate mattresses for boats." Harmonica soaks up four sheets of 3/8" plywood and six sheets of 1/4" plywood and uses simple glue and nail jigless construction. Reference for all the above: https://www.duckworks.com/product-p/jm-harmonica...

Hardware Shop

Well, that big hardware chain still had no 1/2" c grade ply, so I got 3/8" ply instead. Its ok, that's what Harmonica designer Jim Michalak wrote. Now I'm good to start making bulkheads. There are four all together; bow, stern, front of cabin and one divider just forward of the galley/WC section. They're identified by their respective distances from the bow. Spent so far, $140. More later.