The Doc Bremer and the H. W. Taunt

One of the best shantyboat sites (besides this one, of course) is Shantyboatliving.com. The site has been the inspiration for quite a few of the articles I’ve posted here.

Bryan Lowe runs the site and has actually built several shanty boats. Among them are his version of Phil Theil’s Escargot:

Bryan also has a great sense of humor for building this:

Click the link to see his micro shanty in action. https://youtu.be/sC9zhGb_x-s

Lately, though he’s been thinking along bigger lines than a 4X8-foot micro shanty. His wife is demanding more headroom than the Escargot offers and Bryan has been inspired by two old boats. The Doc Bemer on the Mississippi river:

And the H.W. Taunt over in England…

These seem to be variations on the Loire river barges in France…

The Loire barges were working boats and carry a HUGE square sail when the wind is right.

Bryan has done some Sketchup drawings and has actually started putting together an egg crate framing

I really like where this is heading and would love to do one myself.