Written by Ken Carman with plenty of assistance from Pat Johnson
No, this is not a story of some college frat party and chugging pitchers. This is the story of a man who loves beer, loves boats and how he has been able to use both of these to help his homebrew club and his home town.
Pensacola Beach. Blue green water. Crystal white sand. Just a few days ago on the boardwalk the Bamboo Willie’s Anything that Floats race was about to start. Being president of Escambia Bay Homebrewers, and owner of Pensacola Boatworks, Pat Johnson is standing proudly near his magnificent flotation creation: the world famous “Chuggerboat…” watching over his beloved Chuggerboat.
Well, maybe he’s watching more than his boat.
Here’s the Chuggerboat with a banner promoting one of the best: most fun, homebrew clubs in the country: Escambia Bay Homebrewers: Pensacola, Florida…. and this event also allowed them to sell more tickets to another famous Pensacola event: Escambia Bay Brewers famous beerfest they have every year.
Aye, they be pirates too, perhaps? The pirates: better known as members of Escambia Bay Homebrewers anchored the boat in 4 inches of water and drank beer until it was their turn to race.
Of course they also used the Chuggerboat to haul several Corny kegs of homebrew to the Boardwalk from the launch site several miles away.
Then they paddled fast to get back to club members because the beer was on board the Chuggerboat. Any resulting win they may have had may have been “a result of trying to get back quick than it was to actually win,” Pat said. Yes, they did win. “Regardless the event was a good one for the club and the participants,” Pat added.
Here is a little more about the Chuggerboat from Pat…
“Although my boat is significantly different, I was inspired by many of the ideas and design from Steven Lewis at the Lewis Boat Works and named my boat after his in tribute. The Chuggerboat is 12 feet long and 4 feet wide. The cabin is 6 feet long but the area under the bow extends another 2 feet making the bed 8 feet long when the filler is inserted between the bench seats. The filler stores like a drawer under the bow. The entire boat weights about 175 pounds. The side windows do not open but the front one swings up to let the breeze in. The hatch in the top is 2 feet by two feet and allows plenty of room to stand up and turn around in. It also allows more air circulation inside. The hatch stores directly aft of the hatch opening when open. The back of the cabin has a open area nearly 3 feet wide and almost 4 feet high making it easy to get into and out of the cabin from the cockpit in the back. The cockpit is 4 feet square and (there) is plenty of room for two people to sit comfortably in. The boat could safely operate with as many as 6 people in it, but it would be awfully crowded. The total cost to build the boat was approximately $500 plus a little labor and a lot of thought.”
The quote above was from Duckworks magazine. You can find out more about Pat’s amazing boat…
HERE
