I mentioned last week a boat I saw at the Boats Afloat Show. I wrote thusly: “a 23′ powerboat that could be described as the Norwegian version of my little C-Dory.”

Here it is, the little Skibsplast 730HT:

I can almost hear you saying “What?! That doesn’t look like a C-Dory!” No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t look like most American-designed boats. But it’s a compact, all-weather cabin cruiser, and it packs a lot of cruising features into a small package, much like the C-Dory, Sea Sport, and Arima boats do.

For instance, it’s got a fully-enclosed cabin, complete with…um…”Alaska bulkhead”. Sort of. It’s got a tiny enclosed head. It re-uses space at least three ways: a convertible forward-facing seat underway becomes an aft-facing dinette seat while in port; a fold-open galley surface encroaches into the helm seat area, acknowledging the fact that “cooking underway” virtually never occurs on small coastal cruisers; and the V-berth expands aft into the cabin at night.

This last feature is actually kind of unique. The forepeak, in and of itself, is really too small to accommodate a full-length V-berth. But it has a sort of “lid” enclosing it, which folds down an aft. Here’s the clever bit: Underway, in the closed position, the outside of this lid constitutes a forward companionway to the bow. The sloped windshield on the port side is a hatch, folding open and allowing one to walk right up onto the foredeck.

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It’s a drug runner, actually. Technically, it’s known as an SPSS, a Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible.

I’ve no idea how these are built, but it sure looks like the outline of a sailboat hull. Which might make sense, since a sailboat hull would already have a ballasted keel to keep the thing upright when you load it so heavily with fuel and cocaine that it’s essentially awash.

By the way, that contraption aft is not a weapon; it’s breathing tubes for the engine below, designed, one assumes, to keep water out while allowing air in and exhaust out.

With help from a US Navy maritime patrol aircraft, personnel from US Coast Guard Cutter Midgett seized this vessel, including seven tons of cocaine, in open ocean south of Mexico. That’s about $196 million dollars worth.

Anyway, this ain’t azackly what I had in mind when I wrote recently about mini-submarines!

Here’s the news release, including links to video and more images:

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Ben Ellison over at Panbo is reporting the following:

Today two reliable sources told me that all five FCC commissioners have now signed off on Class B AIS for US waters, though neither knows when the Order will become effective. The final step should be an announcement in the FCC Daily Digest.

Good news for those awaiting Class B. In case you don’t know or can’t recall what the heck Class B AIS is, here are some previous Navagear posts to bring you up to speed:

• AIS Class B Naysayers, Unite!
• More Talk About Class B AIS
• Class B AIS: Can’t We All Just Get Along?
• Class B AIS Now Available!

If you look through those posts, you’ll be able to follow the REST of the discussion within Panbo’s recent post: The “But is it all worthless?” part!

I’ve written about my fascination with small submarines before. Well, at the Boats Afloat Show here in Seattle, I got to climb around inside a real, working mini sub.

This is the U.S. Submarines S-101, a two-person diesel electric submarine. It’s for sale; just reduced to $480k. There’s a PDF info sheet you can look at. It’s 32 feet long, it weighs 4.2 tons, and can operate as deep as 300 ft for over 8 hours.

That may not seem like a long time, but keep in mind there’s no head aboard. “How long can you hold it?”, asks U.S. Subs Vice President Ellis Adams.

Also, it’s a bit cramped in there. I doubt most sane people would want to spend more than a couple hours inside without taking a break to stand up and stretch. Here are some more of my photos…I think you’ll see what I mean.

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My pal and fellow bluewater sailor Dan Richman has a great piece in the business section of today’s Seattle Post-Inteligencer entitled “Ballard shipyard gives old boats some luxury.”

I had lunch with Dan yesterday, and we shared a chuckle over the opening paragraph he’d come up with: “Forget how the other half lives. Here’s a glimpse of how the other 0.15 percent lives.”

Anyway, the article is about a local boatyard, Stabbert Maritime. They’ve got the 142′ motor yacht Devotion on display at the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show, which is underway this weekend in Seattle. Devotion is easily the largest boat ever displayed at a Seattle boat show.

Even if you’re not in the market for a new boat, you can always see something interesting and learn something new at a boat show.

I spent some time at the show yesterday, talked with some people, looked at some boats, and saw a few items I’ll be writing about here. In particular, stay tuned for items on a tiny two-person submarine, the new Laser “Sport Boat”, and a 23′ powerboat that could be described as the Norwegian version of my little C-Dory.

[GILLES MARTIN-RAGET / BMW ORACLE RACING]

And not your father’s coastal cruiser, either. It’s all about speed, ladies and gentleman, and the recently launched trimaran BMW Oracle Racing appears to be capable of achieving a great deal of it.

Anyway, Ron Judd has a feature about it in today’s Seattle Times. Good reading, and lots of great photos, too.

I’m not going to comment on the America’s Cup, or express an opinion about the last time a multihull competed, or even take a side in the current America’s Cup controversy.

I just wish Fishmeal was still actively rousing the rabble like he did with the America’s Cup Free Press back in 1995. Those were the days, eh?

You may have seen a headline like this in your paper: Lawn-Mower Emission Rule May Be Costly. Mentioned briefly in Megan Greenwell’s Washington Post article:

“All gas-powered recreational boats must reduce emissions by 70 percent [by 2010].”

Wait a minute…What?! “ALL”? Not just “newly manufactured” boats or engines?

The article doesn’t focus on boats, so I did my own research. Here’s what I learned from the EPA’s website:

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adopting new exhaust emission standards for marine spark-ignition engines and small land-based nonroad engines.  EPA is also adopting evaporative emission standards for equipment and vessels using these engines.  These standards apply only to newly manufactured products. The standards will reduce the harmful health effects of ozone and carbon monoxide from these engines, equipment, and vessels.”

Ah, OK. That’s fine, then. I’m all for it. Newer, cleaner engine technology provides benefits all around, in my opinion.

For instance, I love the 4-stroke, electronic-fuel-injected Johnson (but-manufactured-by-Suzuki) outboard motor hanging off Two Lucky Fish’s transom. It’s relatively quiet, relatively clean, and incredibly reliable. Except, you know, for the unacceptable corrosion failure mine experienced and BRP/Johnson’s clever-but-disingenuous liability-dodging on the issue.

Scott Williams has reprinted his review of the Astral Buoyancy V-Eight PFD, an article he wrote for Sea Kayaker magazine.

This PFD costs about $100, and might be a reasonably comfortable alternative for those not quite ready to spend $200+ on an automatic inflatable.

Anyway, while you’re checking out the PFD review, poke around a bit on Scott’s Boat Pages blog. It wasn’t familiar to me, but I’m glad I know about it now…there is plenty of great material over there: http://scottsboatpages.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Boat Bits for the lead.

Am I the only one who’s afraid Time Out is going to gently roll off of those inflatable pontoons the next time a big storm hits the area? I guess I’ve played with too many floppy swimming pool “air mattress” toys.

But if it works as advertised, this could be a real benefit to some boat owners. Here’s a portion of the press release:

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Apparently, High Tech Fabric Guard by 303 Products is THE STUFF to restore the water repellency of Sunbrella boat canvas.

I sure hope so! My cockpit bimini top started leaking this summer. Not so much “leaking” as “the water soaks in instead of running off, and eventually starts dripping from the bottom of the fabric.”

So yeah, leaking, I guess. Anyway, I’ve just used up a whole 16-ounce, $18 spray bottle of the stuff I got from the helpful folks at Seattle Fabrics.

Sixteen ounces is supposed to coat 40-80 square feet for heavier fabrics. I guess I overdid it a little, since my top measures about 30 square feet. Oh well, what would I do with a leftover four ounces of this precious stuff?

By the way, I cleaned the fabric the day before, with Woolite in the washing machine on “delicates” cycle, as recommended by Sunbrella. I let it air-dry overnight, and through the first half of the day today. It’s windy, reasonably warm, and partly sunny today, so the magic spray should set up pretty well on the fabric.

Now, I’ll just let it dry. Four to 72 hours, depending on conditions. I’ll hang it in the carport and leave it until my next trip down to the marina. With school (and work!) starting up again this week, that’ll be at least 72 hours from now.