IMB Sailboat 2002

Article By Shorty


"Land HO !", Bob Williams was calling. This is his newly constructed Michalak IMB.

Bob has built many boats, and this is the latest one that he has created. Every year we pull boats over on to their sides -- and I sure was twisting Bob's arm to pull this one over but he warned that the windows hadn't been caulked yet, and this would only be it's 2nd time on the water, so we didn't do the sideways test.

It was a long drive from Bob's home, so he camped in his IMB for the first time and said it was very adequate.

Here is a picture of Nancy and Bill Paxton.

Bill is considering his next boat to build, and traveled all the way down from Minnesota to get a ride in an all cabin boat to see what it is like. He was kind enough to write a review of his experience riding in the IMB (thanks Bill !)
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All right, I admit it. When it comes to sailboats, I'm a size bigot. Or at least I was until I took a ride in Bob Williams' IMB.

I truly like the idea of Jim Michalak's "birdwatcher" designs. These clever craft provide comfort and safety in boats that are easily built by any novice. I've spent a lot of time studying JM's Jewelbox. At 19' it's the largest of its type in Jim's repertoire. With a 12' cabin, it could host a whole Cub Scout Pack. It's a little large for my needs so I found myself pouring over Jim's Jewelbox Jr., a 16' version with an 8' cabin. Nice. Scram Pram and even Eisbox were considerations. But at no time did I seriously consider the IMB. Why? It's too short! How can a cabin sailboat with a length of 13.5' be taken seriously?

Man, was I ever wrong!

I met Bob Williams at the Lake Conroe Messabout, and I was immediately fixated on his new IMB. He patiently answered all my questions, and then, generous soul that he is, agreed to take me along with him and Bob Shipman for a ride. (You'd be hard pressed to find two finer sailing companions than the Bobs.)

The first thing that impressed me was the volume of space in the cabin. It' s 8' long. The three of us had plenty of space to sprawl out, and at no time did I feel like we were getting in each other's way. Skipper Bob mentioned that he had slept in the cabin Friday night, and said it was downright spacious.

A real surprise was the ease with which we could carry on a conversation inside the cabin. The sound bounced around nicely making it effortless to hear one another.

The breeze was gusty and unreliable. At times we were really flying along, and at other times we drifted from puff to puff. This gave me a chance to see if the cabin would heat up. It got a degree or two warmer than the 80 degree outside temperature, but that was about all. When making any decent speed at all there was a fair amount of breeze through the cabin.

I enjoyed sitting in the shade as we sailed along. With the large slot top down the middle it's impossible to stay in the shade all day on all tacks, but it's way more solar protection than I get in the open cockpit of my boat. I also like the idea of being able to stand up and stretch while under sail.

One of the things I was curious about was visibility. Would we really be able to see well enough looking out the windows? The answer is yes. I never felt we were in danger of other boats we failed to see. But there's always the option to sit on the aft deck, steer with your knees and swivel your head to your heart's content.

Under the aft and fore decks are storage areas large enough to hold camping supplies for one man for many days.

Did I mention how easily the boat handled choppy water? Oh sure, the wake from large powerboats tended to kill our speed when we hit them head on. But the multi-chine hull gives the boat "soft shoulders," and it never felt like we were in any danger of being pushed over.

Jim Michalak did a great job designing a boat that seems bigger on the inside than on the outside. Bob Williams did a fine job of building his IMB, Happy Camper, and I'm glad he brought it to Conroe. It sure taught me a thing or two.

Bill


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