PocketShip.net

CLC sent me a nice little decal outlining #of passengers, cargo weights etc. for PocketShips. It says only 4 people onboard. Seen some videos with 5 aboard. I guess this will be a no-no from here on out.

It says,

4 PERSONS OR 840 LBS
1408 LBS. PERSONS, MOTORS, GEAR

So, four 210-pound people. Or, eight 100-pound people and a dog? Or thirty-two toddlers the size of my daughter?

Yep. That's what it says. I stand corrected on the interpretation.

Thirty two toddlers would make me want to jump overboard... no matter the size of boat!

Aye! A bureaucrat has to do something. And we pay his salary and those in his chain of command. Let's hope many lives are saved because of this decal for all PocketShips.
Tattoo

Just a quick thank you to John for the really cool decal - it makes the boat really look professionally made. And to think they ran these off on a mimeograph machine in the back room one dark night. captain charlie

4 PERSONS OR 840 LBS
1408 LBS. PERSONS, MOTORS, GEAR

Not being an "old salt" by any stretch of the imagination (although I do qualify as an "old fart"), I'm a bit confused.

It looks to me like 1,408 lb. is the maximum payload. Was that figure determined independently by the Coast Guard? I'm sure it must have been, and that the determination was made after the maximum payload of 1,600 lb. was published on the CLC website.

Or is this yet another specification I am not aware of? Otherwise, one of the two figures is wrong.

I can see how that's confusing. The 1600-pound number on the website is really the boat's displacement with an average load, which is distinct from "payload." The stripped hull is 800 pounds or less; the displacement is how much EVERYTHING including the boat, rig, passengers, and gear weighs in ordinary use. Scrolling through PocketShip photos, I can eyeball the waterline height and run it back through our design software. If the chine is just touching the water, the boat is displacing exactly 1,393.33 pounds. If the chine is submerged by two inches, you're at 1,595 pounds and 5 ounces. If the transom is submerged to the chine, you're at 2,467 pounds. Heavily laden, but safe as long as it isn't all deck cargo...

1600 pounds of displacement represents a fairly ordinary load of adults and gear---probably not much more than 400 pounds of "payload." Ultimately, you can pile 1408 pounds of stuff into the boat and you're okay. Just for sanity's sake, visualize that 1408 pounds of payload would amount to a 200-pound singlehanded skipper, 80 pounds of outboard engine and petrol, and TWENTY-THREE 50-pound backpacks worth of gear. You're never going to need that much gear. And no, this isn't an invitation to load up and cross the Atlantic in a PocketShip.

The Coast Guard payload number is the result of a byzantine and tedious calculation. You can have a go at it, here: http://www.uscgboating.org/regulations/ ... parta.aspx

Short answer: you're not being cheated out of 192 pounds. The published 1600 pounds is just a round number that represents what the boat weighs in most of the photos.

So, shouldn't that say "Displacement"" instead of "Max. Payload?" Not trying to be picky--just trying to avoid confusion.

Yes, the website should say "Displacement" instead of "Max Payload." But at the moment the website template doesn't allow that. This is what happens when a kayak company gets into sailboats, and boatbuilders get turned into web designers.