Boat of the Week: Sheldabue </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 9:20 PM on Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Boat of the Week: Sheldabue

BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

If you're a busy physician's assistant based in Homer, working part-time in Seldovia and you're renting out your house on Bishop's Beach, where do you stay when you're on the Homer side of Kachemak Bay? Boat owner Sue Christiansen has found a perfect solution for her occasional nights in Homer: the Sheldabue.

A 30-foot boat moored in the Homer harbor, the Sheldabue has become Christiansen's own pied-a-terre -- "foot on the ground," the French phrase for temporary housing in the city.

"It's a good little retreat," Christiansen said. "For right now, it serves a purpose," she added.

Photo by Michael Armstrong

A bow view of the Sheldabue.

The Sheldabue packs a lot of living in a small space. Entering off the stern through a porch, there's a small galley about 11 feet wide and 5 feet long. The main cabin has a couch that converts into a bed, and there are two cabins forward and top with double beds. A solar panel on the roof provides electrical power.

"I have a minimalist ethic about everything," Christiansen said. "Really, that's all I need."

Christiansen helped her friend Jan Scofield Eaton sell the Sheldabue earlier, but when the new owner wanted to sell last fall, she bought the boat. The Sheldabue was built in 1990 by Anchor Point carpenter Wally Waldorf. He bought the original ferrocement hull in an auction at Northern Enterprises Boat Yard.

"I ended up buying it for a lot less than I expected," Waldorf said. "Everybody thought I was nuts."

Waldorf and his wife Carol came up with an idea for a live-aboard boat while skiing in Norway. They stayed at a hut called the Sheldabue, which means "little cabin in the fjord."

"That night, the light bulb kicked on, and I said, 'I'm going to do this,'" he said.

A 29,000-pound ferrocement trimaran hull makes the Sheldabue rock solid. Waldorf stripped the old boat down to the hull and built a new superstructure from scratch. The deck has spruce flooring with cedar siding on a fir frame with lots of bolts and seismic connections. The hull is foam insulated.

"It's not just thrown together, which is why it's still there," Waldorf said. "It's got stability galore."

Don't call it a houseboat, though, Waldorf said. Legally, it's a marine vessel, with U.S. Coast Guard approved running lights and other gear to classify it as a boat.

"It was born a vessel," Waldorf said, "It's a boat. It's a bunny-boot boat."

Photo by Michael Armstrong

Sue Christiansen in the galley of her boat, the Sheldabue.

Originally intended as a base for the Kachemak Bay Dungeness crab season, that plan changed when the fishery was shut down. Before selling it about five years ago, Waldorf used it as a home while doing construction across the bay.

The tri-hull design and ferrocement construction make it bottom heavy -- and tricky to tow.

"It has a really unique feeling in the water," Waldorf said. "It doesn't respond to weight changes or waves quickly."

One time Waldorf towed the Sheldabue in 4-foot seas across the inner bay to Northern Enterprises to be hauled out on the travel-lift. He had one shot to come in at a 45-degree angle to the lift lines.

"We slid in there. It was amazing," Waldorf said. "My cup of coffee was still on the counter, and it hadn't spilled a drop."

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com.