(Note: I’ve been organizing my files now that I have closed the shop and finally have the time. So I have added a page at the top of the browser version of this blog called “The PK Fleet” with pictures of all my boats. My first build was launched in 1998, so I have been at this for 25 years!) November 11, 2023 Maine cruising is great with its spectacular scenery, snug anchorages and picture-perfect villages. But I have to say after two weeks cruising the northern Chesapeake, that creek crawling is almost equally scenic and very relaxing. It’s time for Tardis to head south and with a Viking cr ..read more

June 28, 2023 The weather in Maine has been cold and rainy, so I really haven’t done any cruising. But on the one decent day we had I took Tardis out on the Sheepscot River to test out the new transom, controls, etc. Here’s the report I sent to Mark: I think the new transom/engine configuration is a great success. — I guessed at the height of the splashwell, but not a drop came aboard. — With the engine a bit farther back, it seems easier to kick the boat’s stern around in reverse and back down onto the dock.  I am a terrible docker, and just being able to look over from the outside helm ..read more

June 28, 2023 I don’t take my big computer to Maine with me, so I am very late in getting the great news out that after 6 1/2 years of work Sytse Douna and Ton Schoenmakers launched Arnhem, Olga 28 Hull #3, in Kerr Lake Reservoir on the VA-NC border. Her’s some commentary from Ton and pictures: “After filling some gasoline in both tanks, we took a trip to Kerr Lake and got her ready for the wet stuff: water and champagne! We took time to run in the engine, had to train the Garmin Autopilot, get used to all the instruments, but after a few hours returned satisfied to the ramp. GPS told us our m ..read more

May 21, 2023 Tardis went to Maine yesterday, she looks great, the new engine installation seems to be working fine. I am exhausted. I left for a week for my sister’s 50th wedding anniversary on May 4. I had been glassing, fairing and painting every day when the temperature was up above 50, and drilling holes and running lines every day when it wasn’t. Hank Robinson, Brown’s Boatyard owner, even lent me a jig so I could drill the holes for the engine bolts. And Don Kacenski, Brown’s super-experienced mechanic showed up to pretty much confirm that my new engine control and hydraulic locations w ..read more

April 25, 2023 Pat Harris, a follower and great supporter of the Tardis Project, passed away recently. I knew Pat for 43 years. He was by boss, my business partner, my sailing buddy and most of all, my friend. He helped me get Memsahib across Canada from Georgian Bay clear through to Killarney, we ran between Norwalk and Newport many times either on Memsahib or his incredible trimaran Gypsy Heart and our last boating adventure was crossing Lake Okeechobee on Tardis. Pat was a talented and successful business person and we worked together on many groundbreaking projects in the media world — an ..read more

April 25, 2023 When we last left the transom relocation project, the new transom was built and glued in, the new bottom was roughed in, the longitudinal stringers reinforcing the transom were all in, and the top of the splashwell was tabbed in. Not much to go, right? Wrong as always. Because of the Memorial Day weekend, my intrepid hauler Kevin needs to take Tardis to Maine May 20. And I will be in Washington State for a week for my sister’s 50th anniversary. So cool weather, rain and what seems like a huge amount of glassing, painting and fairing for such a small project are stretching the t ..read more

October 13, 2022 The new transom is roughed in, tabbed and watertight enough to get it through the next couple weeks until the winter cover goes on. The pictures look pretty rough, since the two-part undercoat and topside paint I used were just miserable to grind off, so I only took it down to glass where I would be gluing and tabbing. Tardis looks pretty rough, too, after two years in Maine without serious paint and varnish maintenance. This took a lot more time than I thought, since with any fiberglass job, you put in a piece, glass, let it cure, put in another piece, glass, let it cure, et ..read more

September 22, 2022 Tardis was due to come back to Connecticut early for the rebuild of the transom, but I did get in one last cruise up Damariscotta River and John’s Bay just to the west, with a stop across the Sheepscot at Indiantown Island to start getting the boat ready to travel. Coming out of John’s Bay I went through the “Thread of Life,” a 50-yard passage about a mile long lined by huge houses on one side and ugly rocks on the other. Typical Maine cruising: heart thumping, eyes on the plotter, “I hope this is right;” but in reality, 85 feet of water under the keel, well-charted and extr ..read more

August 20, 2022 A great summer of Tardis cruising regardless of continued control problems threatening to sink it! When Molly and I got back from land cruising up to the incredibly scenic Rangely Lakes, it seemed that the basic problem was that the throttle cable was completely frozen due to salt water occasionally getting in through a tiny gap in the engine housing that we think was put there to ease access for servicing. That was easy enough to fix, everything seemed okay. So I took off from the dock for a cruise west of the Sheepscot into Harpswell Sound and the New Meadow River — with no t ..read more

June 14, 2022 At least the dock is in Maine. Tardis went in the water last week after a winter in storage at Derecktor Robinhood. Inside storage cost a small fortune, but it meant the boat came out in great shape. I was all provisioned and ready to take off for a short cruise, when during a routine engine check, I couldn’t move the throttle. So I tore the controls down hoping that they just needed lubrication, but woe is me, the Teleflex cable was shot. Normally, I would just get a new cable and fix it. But the cables twist and turn all through the bilge and Morse controls are real antiques, a ..read more