A replica of Ernest Hemingway's 38' 1934 sport fishing boat

 

 

Walter Schulz, N.A.,founder and president of Shannon Boat Company since 1975 is a hands-on President, overseeing design, engineering and production at Shannon, and also participates in the company’s sales, IT, marketing, accounting, and administration. Schulz is acknowledged in the marine industry for producing yachts of consistently high quality over four decades, and is recognized as a design and engineering leader and innovator. All Shannon models from 14 to 55 feet have been designed by Schulz. He has received sixr marine-related U.S. Patents for his design work. Besides a fiberglass boat builder, he has been restoring wooden boats as a hobby for over 40 years. Schulz has been awarded “Best Restoration to Original Design” three times on three very different wood boats at the prestigious Mystic Seaport Classic Yacht rendezvous over the years.

 

(left) Walt Schulz (center) with a group of participants in Shake-a-Leg Miami a charitable non- profit watersports commmunity

 

The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Walt Schulz scheduled for an upcoming magazine article.

 

 

What made you decide to build a replica of this particular boat?

 

                               "The whole project started one sunny day with my wife on stools at Schooner's Bar in Key West four years ago. I realized that there were no small harbor tour boats capable of giving passengers a tour of the island that has a rich and interesting history. Because Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West, he has become a is a big tourist attraction there. To date there have been many books written and movies produced about the man,  some movies still in the works. A smaller Wheeler replica (32') was converted to look like Pilar for a movie and there is a boat out of the water in an Islamorada clothing store that resembles Pilar which is a huge attraction. There is obviously a great fascination with the man and his boat and so I thought it would be an "interesting" idea to create a replica of Pilar to be used as a historical harbor tour boat."

 

Did you consider building Pilar from scratch?

 

                         "I knew that building a wood replica from scratch would cost well over a million dollars and out of my price range. But 5 months later I suddenly realized that I owned a 1960 38' wood boat  that I had restored years before, sold, and then bought back from the owner who could no longer keep it. It wasn't worth much in its present condition, but after taking a few measurements, to my surprise I realized that the length, beam and draft were very very close to Hemingway's Pilar."

 

Where did you get the lines and details required to build a replica?

 

                         "I had a long and informative conversation with the grandson of Wes Wheeler who designed and built the original Pilar for Hemingway and a Shannon owner who was able to get into Cuba on a special visa and photographed every detail and measure the cabin to scale. I had more than enough information to start my replica Pilar project."

 

Your "Pilar" looks amazingly close to the original "Pilar." What did you have to do to make the transformation from one boat to another?

 

                          " I had to cut away just about all of the original boat's plywood cabin structure and build up a new solid mahogany cabin, raise the sheer to create a step up, build a false stem or bow and graft it onto the boat's bow, remove the cockpit sole/floor, install laminated frames in the aft sections, replace the fuel tanks, replace the electrical system, replace all of the plumbing, pumps, exhaust hoses, install new twin helm steering system with autopilot, build new window frames, install new deck hardware, fabricate Hemingway's unique pipe "flying bridge" with steering along with an additional long list of work including air conditioning in the cabin and a new stall shower and toilet."

 

What about the underbody, and did you consider the boring worm issue in the tropics?

 

                        " The underwater condition of the hull was in remarkably great condition. The former owner spent a great deal of money over the years on the bottom. I didn't really have to do much to the bottom planks but I had a major concern about boring worms and constant hauling and drying out on the hard (marinas) during the hurricane season in Florida.   I developed a system that I used successfully on three other wood boats. It's very expensive, but effective solution. First we coat the entire bottom of the boat with a special flexible epoxy adhesive compound. Then a layer of 1/8" cedar is diagonally set in the compound and stapled with plastic staples. Another layer of cedar is epoxied and stapled in the opposite direction. Finally, two layers of 6 oz. cloth is epoxied over the entire bottom for abrasion resistance. Over a period of years, the high cost of the bottom covering will be recaptured by reduced maintenance costs."

 

When Pilar was finally completed, you then converted the finished interior and exterior for people with disabilities. What adaptive changes did you incorporate and why?

 

                           "Bill Ramos, who has been in charge of sales at Shannon Boat Company for 35 years, asked me if I could take his brother Dick, a retired dentist who has MS and lives in the Veterans home in Bristol out for a boat ride along with a few other wheel chair using veterans.  I wanted to take them out for a 3-4 hour scenic Newport boat ride, until Bill told me to keep the ride down to about an hour due to lavatory issues. There was no way any of them could get down the three steps or use the head due to the layout below! It never occurred to me that people with disabilities are totally precluded from the joys of extended boating due to toilet access. I realized that even my two hour harbor tour ride idea in key West would be physiologically or actually prohibitive to anyone with a mobility issue over lavatory access.

 

                          That one hour boat ride was an experience for me that altered my whole outlook on life. We all had such a great time and from that point on I knew I would make the changes in Pilar so that it would be entirely accessible to everyone regardless of age or mobility limitations. Pilar returned to the shop and over the winter of 2016 I engineered a wheelchair lift to access the cabin, widened the passageway and installed a sliding door to the head,  built a knees-under vanity, installed a ramp in the transom for easy access from the dock, and built a one level cockpit sole, with hitches for wheelchairs. These adaptations are easily removable until they may be needed.

 

Do you think that this new adaptive configuration will attract many tourists, with or without mobility issues?

 

                         Absolutely. To my knowledge, there are no sightseeing tour boats that can accommodate wheelchair users or even people with disabilities. The layout of Pilar was designed to make everyone comfortable, with or without disabilities.

 

OFFERED BY SHANNON BOAT COMPANY, 19 BROAD COMMON RD., BRISTOL, RI 02809 U.S.A.

 +1.401.253.2441   email sales@shannonyachts.com